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There was a thread about this from a few years ago but it was more about curricula.
When deciding which schools to apply to, how do you use the percentiles given in the MSAR? My original plan was to only apply to schools where my MCAT and GPA is at or above the median for accepted students. But after thinking about it and looking at the MSAR, this means that half the class is getting in with numbers at least slightly lower than mine and a lot of people are getting in with much lower numbers. But should we assume that those in the bottom quarter or 40%-tile did something super gnarly or some sort of academic work that isn't reflected in those GPAs, or is it not quite as competitive as it seems?
I don't want to waste a bunch of money for secondaries at places where I never had a realistic chance, but it would be nice to have some options too.
I talked to the premed advisor where I went to undergrad and she basically said "apply to 10-15 schools" but didn't provide much other advice about how to pick the ones that made the most sense. Thanks!
When deciding which schools to apply to, how do you use the percentiles given in the MSAR? My original plan was to only apply to schools where my MCAT and GPA is at or above the median for accepted students. But after thinking about it and looking at the MSAR, this means that half the class is getting in with numbers at least slightly lower than mine and a lot of people are getting in with much lower numbers. But should we assume that those in the bottom quarter or 40%-tile did something super gnarly or some sort of academic work that isn't reflected in those GPAs, or is it not quite as competitive as it seems?
I don't want to waste a bunch of money for secondaries at places where I never had a realistic chance, but it would be nice to have some options too.
I talked to the premed advisor where I went to undergrad and she basically said "apply to 10-15 schools" but didn't provide much other advice about how to pick the ones that made the most sense. Thanks!