Making Best School List?

[Beetwoodhero]

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Hey Everyone, I am trying to create my school list and was wondering if I could get some help?

I am from the Maine (no state school) and go to school in Boston. I have a 3.93ish GPA, 37 MCAT (12/12/13). I would say I have well above average research experience (oral presentations, publications, poster presentations, grants, national awards), average to slightly above average clinical experience, 80 hrs of shadowing, average to slightly above average nonclinical volunteering (with an organization I am very passionate about), and above average leadership experience. In regards to non-cookie cutter stuff, I love backpacking and hopefully will have been to all of the continents besides Antarctica by the time I apply, and I enjoy teaching myself to play instruments. I can be more specific about my ECs if that would help. I am also confident I can get a number of strong LoRs.

I do not have a large geographical preference (although I do like living in a city, I wouldn't mind being outside of one), and paying as little as possible to go to med school will likely be the biggest factor in my decision. Based on my research on SDN, I think it is possible I could have a chance at a merit scholarship somewhere, so I have tried to include schools that are known to give them. I am concerned my school list may be a little top heavy...

Currently my school list is as follows

Harvard
Boston University
Tufts
UVA
Uchicago
Northwestern
Georgetown
George Washington
Vanderbilt
Yale
Columbia
Cornell
Mount Sinai
NYU
Einstein
Stanford
Upenn
Duke

Maybe add Temple, Jefferson, VCU? Take any out? I feel like I'm too top heavy here, and obviously my biggest goal is to ensure I get into at least one of the schools I apply to. I have saved up a lot of money for the application process, so I think I should be ok adding a few more schools if necessary.

Thank you very much for your help! My premed advisers have been less than helpful, so I really appreciate SDN!

 

[tarheel1408]

You have a strong application, but your list of schools is very top heavy. I think adding the schools you mentioned would be a very good idea, and I'd even suggest adding a few more mid tier schools. That being said, I think you have an excellent chance at acceptance. Good work.

Wrong forum, by the way.

 

[woltej1]

It does seem pretty top heavy, I suggest getting the MSAR and looking into schools with mid admission stats in areas where you would actually want to live to have a coupe of safety nets.

Side note: if all you have is 80 hours of shadowing then that is hardly any clinical exposure so if still can or need to in the future work on that part of your app.

 

[mmmcdowe]

Add Pitt and UMich to your list, they have substantial merit scholarships. Moving to WAMC

 

[NickNaylor]

As others said, you need more balance in your list. Go through the MSAR and find some schools that you think you could tolerate going to but which have average numbers at or below your own. The top schools are extremely competitive. They reject plenty of well-qualified applicants every year. The worst thing that could happen is having to reapply because of a poorly picked school list.


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[Beetwoodhero]

Thank you for the responses. I think adding Pitt and Umich for scholarship potential sounds reasonable. Additionally, in order to increase the chances that I get into a school, I think I may add the following schools... Temple, VCU, Jefferson, Rosalind Franklin, UW-Madison, University of Vermont. Maybe Oregon and University of Washington as well (although idk if it is worth it considering their in-state preference 75% and 60%, respectively).

Does this list seem sufficiently balanced now?

 

[gyngyn]

Thank you for the responses. I think adding Pitt and Umich for scholarship potential sounds reasonable. Additionally, in order to increase the chances that I get into a school, I think I may add the following schools... Temple, VCU, Jefferson, Rosalind Franklin, UW-Madison, University of Vermont. Maybe Oregon and University of Washington as well (although idk if it is worth it considering their in-state preference 75% and 60%, respectively).

Does this list seem sufficiently balanced now?

Both OHSU and U of W have a strong regional bias. Their OOS tend to come from agreements that allow nearby states to count as IS (not Maine!).

 

[hellanutella]

Hey, Beetwood! I remember seeing you around the Jan MCAT thread. Congrats on your score!
I'm in a similar pickle – our stats are very close and our ECs have a similar spread (research heavy).

Maybe toss in Vermont and Dartmouth? I don't think they give a boost to Maine residents, but you could stress your geographical proximity on secondaries. Some other schools I have been toying around with are: VCU, UMiami, UCF, Stony Brook (only ~20% OOS), Wake Forest, SLU, and Rush. Arizona is now taking 50% OOS, but I'm not sure if their OOS-ers are primarily from the western states.

Jefferson requires you to get LORs from chemistry, biology, and physics faculty, which could be a bit of a headache.

MDApps is littered with plenty of people (even with godly stats and Ivy acceptances) who got U of Wash pre-secondary rejections for not fulfilling WWAMI residency requirements. I believe you can only apply out-of-region if you are disadvantaged or opting for their MD/PhD track.

I think OHSU is more forgiving. OOS candidates must fulfil a certain stat cutoff to fall into one of their "mission based groups." You can find the cutoff on their class thread, but I am sure your stats already exceed it.

 

[sat0ri]

Hey, Beetwood! I remember seeing you around the Jan MCAT thread. Congrats on your score!
I'm in a similar pickle – our stats are very close and our ECs have a similar spread (research heavy).

Maybe toss in Vermont and Dartmouth? I don't think they give a boost to Maine residents, but you could stress your geographical proximity on secondaries. Some other schools I have been toying around with are: VCU, UMiami, UCF, Stony Brook (only ~20% OOS), Wake Forest, SLU, and Rush. Arizona is now taking 50% OOS, but I'm not sure if their OOS-ers are primarily from the western states.

Jefferson requires you to get LORs from chemistry, biology, and physics faculty, which could be a bit of a headache.

MDApps is littered with plenty of people (even with godly stats and Ivy acceptances) who got U of Wash pre-secondary rejections for not fulfilling WWAMI residency requirements. I believe you can only apply out-of-region if you are disadvantaged or opting for their MD/PhD track.

I think OHSU is more forgiving. OOS candidates must fulfil a certain stat cutoff to fall into one of their "mission based groups." You can find the cutoff on their class thread, but I am sure your stats already exceed it.

Just curious--why UCF? and why not UF (bc I see you have UMiami)? Sorry FL resident

 

[hellanutella]

Just curious--why UCF? and why not UF (bc I see you have UMiami)? Sorry FL resident

UF is <10% OOS, and neither Beetwood nor I are FL residents. UMiami is nearly 50% OOS and UCF is >25% OOS.

 

[sat0ri]

UF is <10% OOS, and neither Beetwood nor I are FL residents. UMiami is nearly 50% OOS and UCF is >25% OOS.

Oh I never had to worry about that when looking at these schools. Makes sense now though. Harvard and UCF on the same list?

Edit: Hopefully I'm not derailing, but if you were suggesting adding these schools to this list, maybe it is relevant to OP

 

[ciestar]

Hey, Beetwood! I remember seeing you around the Jan MCAT thread. Congrats on your score!
I'm in a similar pickle – our stats are very close and our ECs have a similar spread (research heavy).

Maybe toss in Vermont and Dartmouth? I don't think they give a boost to Maine residents, but you could stress your geographical proximity on secondaries. Some other schools I have been toying around with are: VCU, UMiami, UCF, Stony Brook (only ~20% OOS), Wake Forest, SLU, and Rush. Arizona is now taking 50% OOS, but I'm not sure if their OOS-ers are primarily from the western states.

Jefferson requires you to get LORs from chemistry, biology, and physics faculty, which could be a bit of a headache.

MDApps is littered with plenty of people (even with godly stats and Ivy acceptances) who got U of Wash pre-secondary rejections for not fulfilling WWAMI residency requirements. I believe you can only apply out-of-region if you are disadvantaged or opting for their MD/PhD track.

I think OHSU is more forgiving. OOS candidates must fulfil a certain stat cutoff to fall into one of their "mission based groups." You can find the cutoff on their class thread, but I am sure your stats already exceed it.

For Jefferson, if you have the committee letter you don't have to worry about that letter requirement which also includes a humanities professor as well.

 

[Beetwoodhero]

Hey hellanutella, congrats on your score too!
I think I'll take out Oregon and Washington thanks to your advice, and add Vermont and Dartmouth. Other than that I think my school list looks pretty good at this point. The original ones I listed plus Pitt, Umich, Temple, VCU, Jefferson, Rosalind Franklin, UW-Madison, University of Vermont, and Dartmouth.