Introduction/ How do you choose which schools to apply to?

I'm also a Texan (prior Air Force) with about a 3.3... I got into one school, which (thankfully) is all it takes, because only that one school separates me from being a very, very unhappy person right now. I'm a little terrified by how close I came to a very bad outcome, but all I really can do is tell you what I did and how it worked out for me. No magic rules of thumb here.

Well, one rule of thumb: if you're asking yourself whether to apply to a particular school or category, envision yourself holding only one acceptance at the end of the cycle. If you'd rather take it than take a year off, apply there. A good example is osteopathic schools: would you rather wait a year on allopathic, or go this year to an osteopathic? Unless it's totally incompatible with your career goals, apply at least to the Texas osteopathic school, and maybe to other osteopathic schools as well.

Apply widely. The low GPA put us seriously behind the 8-ball. I really got the feeling that many OOS schools did a spreadsheet-sort, and people with a sub-3.X GPA (where 3.X>>3.3) just kind of fell off the list. No reading personal statements, no considering what major or anything else. Just gone.
Do an mdapplicants search for TX residents with <3.4 who got in somewhere. See which schools they got into. I think you can even bias it to older applicants if you want.

The common wisdom is to apply to schools with a range of numbers. I can't really confirm that approach did me any good, but it's worth a try.

I let some applications slide when I got a rush of early interviews. Don't do that. The early interviews weren't followed by early acceptances. Get used to opening your wallet -- my 15 apps cost me about $5,000 -- and that was probably not as many as I should have sent in.

I don't know whether you were Texan during the screwing-around phase of your life. If you were, investigate the Hazelwood Act (or is it spelled Hazlewood?) and the Fresh Start provisions in the UT system. I don't really know anything about the latter; I've just heard that it exists.

Do you have good research credentials? If not, try to apply to schools that put less emphasis on those. For example, the Vanderbilt secondary devoted some space to talking about research. I had none -- no love for me.

Finally, have a little fun with it. If I were still young and single I would just love to go to Mount Sinai and live in the dorms right by central park. Most of the schools in the country will give you pretty much the same education, so find a place you'd love being. I tried to prioritize small class sizes. You might go for urban areas or rural areas -- whatever your particular thing is. (Mine was places where my husband might be more employable. Not so entertaining. )

Sorry to ramble -- hope this helps.

 

I didn't -- would have loved to if I'd still been single, but we aren't really sure how my husband's career would fare with active duty movings-around, so I'll be sticking with Guard/Reserves.

 

Good Advice! I agree You only need one acceptance but you need a net not a one fishing pole in this game to reel in the one catch....................................