Maximum number of schools to apply to?

[peony]

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What do you guys think is a realistic maximum? Is 30 too many? It seems really hard to figure out which schools one has a good chance at because admissions are so unpredictable if you're right around the school's avg. MCAT/GPA range.

Also, how did you narrow down your list of schools? Geography isn't extremely important to me; I'd pretty much just like to maximize my chances of getting into a great school. Thanks!

 

[drizzt3117]

What do you guys think is a realistic maximum? Is 30 too many? It seems really hard to figure out which schools one has a good chance at because admissions are so unpredictable if you're right around the school's avg. MCAT/GPA range.

Apply to as many as you can afford, but use the MSAR to determine how many seats are usually granted to OOS students for state schools to maximize your chances. 30 schools is on the higher side but not out of line really. I applied to 32, and ended up withdrawing from 10 of them, but it's always easier to withdraw than scramble to fill out secondaries late.

 

[lacesoutdan]

I applied to 20 and if I had to do it again I'd do 25 or 30.

Of course, if I knew then what I know now I'd save some loot and only apply to the couple that accepted or waitlisted me. 🙂

 

[Corker]

I've been kind of flamed for this before, but I will agree with drizz and tell you to apply to AS MANY as you can afford and that you would be willing to attend (that take OOS, etc.) I applied to way more than 30, but I wound up with 16 interview invites (went to 9 of them), and 8 great acceptances to choose from (and now I'm looking at fin. aid. packages.) Applying broadly is your greatest tool in this process. If you definitely want an acceptance this year, bite the bullet and make your list BROAD!!! Good luck.

 

[lacesoutdan]

Also, how did you narrow down your list of schools?

I applied to all my state schools and all the privates in my state that my numbers were remotely close to. If you look at the MSAR's data on instate v. out-of-state acceptance rates, you'll see that private schools often still like to admit instaters at a higher percentage.

Then you apply to out-of-state private schools with numbers close to yours.

Finally (and this is what got me in), you check the MSAR to find state schools outside of your state which accept relatively large numbers of out-of-staters. Off the top of my head, the public schools in New York, Vermont, Pennsylvania and Virginia do this. If I had to apply again, I would pick 5 more schools from this category.

 

[custard]

AS MANY AS YOU CAN AFFORD.

I applied to 38. 10 interviews (including from places that were "reaches"), a lot of rejections (including from places that were "safeties") and a lot of silence. Now, I think about what if I had only applied to those schools that rejected me/ignored me? This process really does feel pretty random, so apply to as many schools as you can.

 

[ChakDeyPhutteMD]

def apply to as many as you can afford...you can get schools to give you more finaid too if you have more choices.

 

[blurrc1]

I'd have to agree with everyone here. Apply to as many as you can afford but also make sure you would actually want to attend there if it is the best (in your mind) or only school you get into. Also, remember that secondaries are very expensive and that that primary fee is nowhere near what you will spend on likely secondaries and interviews.

 

[shevie]

i agree with everyone on here. I applied to 38 initially. But i withdrew from the chicago and pennsylvania schools presecondary because after talking it over w/ my husband, we decided that moving to those places wouldnt have worked for him professionally. So I ended up filling out something like 22 or 23 secondaries. I dont see how applying to more schools can EVER harm you, but I can see how someone would regret not applying to x school, at the end of a cycle, if G-d forbid theyre left w/ no acceptances.

 

[pedro4199]

Apply to as many as you can afford, but use the MSAR to determine how many seats are usually granted to OOS students for state schools to maximize your chances. 30 schools is on the higher side but not out of line really. I applied to 32, and ended up withdrawing from 10 of them, but it's always easier to withdraw than scramble to fill out secondaries late.

I second this. 👍

If you arn't in-state for state school X and are thinking of applying, pay close attention to how many OOS applicants they interview. You can save yourself some money by not applying to schools like University of Washington since they take almost no OOS applicants.

 

[thoffen]

Apply to every school you can see yourself attending.

 

[justme456]

i applied to 4

 

[qkqh]

What do you guys think is a realistic maximum? Is 30 too many? It seems really hard to figure out which schools one has a good chance at because admissions are so unpredictable if you're right around the school's avg. MCAT/GPA range.

Also, how did you narrow down your list of schools? Geography isn't extremely important to me; I'd pretty much just like to maximize my chances of getting into a great school. Thanks!

30 is not that many.. i know several people, including myself, applying to 35+ schools and they've managed to do so without too much difficulty.

 

[vasyaiya]

30 is not that many.. i know several people, including myself, applying to 35+ schools and they've managed to do so without too much difficulty.

Do not think I am crazy.
I applied to 60 schools.
For a number of reason.
1. I could afford it.
2. I did not have a clue outside of my state which school would end up takinga second look at me.
3. I really wanted to get into med school.

ended up with 7 interviews, went to 4 of them. 2 acceptances and 1 waitlist so far.
Sounds like too much effort for too little reward. For me, it was worth it.
I had no clue that a school like Cincinnati will absolutely love me and offer me an admission. (I do love them back as well)
And schools like Georgetown and UC Davis would reject me on the spot.

Big time guessing game.
With all the research and MSAR help I narrowed it down to about half of the US schools.🙂

 

[Lokhtar]

I am planning on applying to anywhere between 40 and 60 schools.

 

[Corker]

Do not think I am crazy.
I applied to 60 schools.
For a number of reason.
1. I could afford it.
2. I did not have a clue outside of my state which school would end up takinga second look at me.
3. I really wanted to get into med school.

ended up with 7 interviews, went to 4 of them. 2 acceptances and 1 waitlist so far.
Sounds like too much effort for too little reward. For me, it was worth it.
I had no clue that a school like Cincinnati will absolutely love me and offer me an admission. (I do love them back as well)
And schools like Georgetown and UC Davis would reject me on the spot.

Big time guessing game.
With all the research and MSAR help I narrowed it down to about half of the US schools.🙂

We don't think you're crazy. Just wanted to validate you!

Ditto to all you said. I was shocked by the negative responses from some schools and the positive responses from others.

Congrats on your success. The extra $5000 or so will definitely pay off in the end!!!

 

[ParvatiP]

It depends on how strong of a candidate you are. I was limited on funds, so I only applied to 15 schools (and withdrew from 1 pre-secondary). Even that still cost me ~$1900 in fees alone, plus ~$1000+ in interview expenses. Sometimes I wish I'd applied to more schools, but in the end, I'm pretty happy with how things have turned out so far and I'm glad I didn't have to spend so much money.

If you have a lot of state schools, especially ones with MCAT/gpa averages lower than yours, then you really don't need to apply to so many low-tier private schools.

If you are a borderline candidate, then sure you should apply broadly to best improve your chances.

 

[mimivirus]

hi! i felt exactly how you felt in the beginning of this process (was *desperate* to attend A medical school and really didnt feel very confident about my stats and what type of schools id have opportunities at...)

i looked through the MSAR and tried to pick out schools that had a high OOS interviewee/applicant ratio as well as an overall high interviewee/applicant ratio (which eliminated some schools like loyola--that gets a super LARGE number of apps if i remember correctly--but i still applied to some of those schools) and tried to apply as 'broadly'--meaning having representation from schools of all geographic locations as well as rankings, and acceptance score ranges...

i think in the end i submitted my primary amcas to ~45 schools--they arent all indicated on my mdapps because many of them i did not complete a secondary for and i just found it too tedious to add all the bajillion schools i had checked off in my primary on my mdapps...

i could not afford all the schools (off the primary) at once, and so did them diff months on diff paychecks---i saved a LOT in anticipation of this process but still (of course) ended up using A LOT of credit card monayys (no loans though---which is good =) )

i am very happy about my application process and do not at all regret applying to so many schools--it really is a crapshoot and before i had an acceptance and the interview invites came trickling in (at first VERy slowly!) it was nice to still have applications open, even unfinished, as to me they gave room for hope and future opportunity....

the things i did wish i had done was maybe more strategy in which schools i completed the secondary first--as in..finish the rolling schools first and hopefully get feedback from them etc...basically i did not hear very much at all in the fall--had 4 interview invites in 2007 and then a much larger volume in 2008 --and that for me was very stressful--but having so many applications meant that i still had other applications to complete, even as i wasnt hearing back from my already completed schools...(aka after i had already been rejected from dartmouth and cornell --i still had my stanford and duke apps to complete --and this allowed me some time/room to learn from mistakes --most people would prob not recommend this--as i think applying as early as possible is better--but in my case this was my only option..i just didnt have enough time...)

ah baH totally rambling and avoiding my experiment 😵; i hope that helps at all and just didnt waste scrolling space. haha GOOD LUCK!!!

What do you guys think is a realistic maximum? Is 30 too many? It seems really hard to figure out which schools one has a good chance at because admissions are so unpredictable if you're right around the school's avg. MCAT/GPA range.

Also, how did you narrow down your list of schools? Geography isn't extremely important to me; I'd pretty much just like to maximize my chances of getting into a great school. Thanks!

 

[TheRealMD]

i applied to 4

Texas is different. 🙄

I got away with 5.

 

[paranoid_eyes]

if you're from cali, it doesn't matter what your stats are, apply to every school you can get your hands on...

 

[Mr hawkings]

I was told by an adcom that they the average number of schools applied to per applicant was 12.
So it seems that the people on SDN are way above the national average in general so dont push yourself into applying to more schools than you can afford (or would not want to attend) just because of what you see on SDN.

 

[wutwinb]

You also need to think about the amount of money you will have to spend on interviews after you've applied to these 30+ schools. I probably spent $400 per interview, and ended up spending more than I ever thought I would at the end of the process. It might seem okay to apply to 40 schools with just the AMCAS and secondary fees, but the cost rises immensely once interviewing begins.

I know that having "too many" interviews isn't really seen as a problem, but when you have limited funds (like me), it really can be very stressful to pay for this whole process. You don't want to be lucky enough to get interviews, and end up not being able to go to them.

 

[justme456]

Texas is different. 🙄

I got away with 5.

Thats why I love Texas😍

 

[Mbekweni]

You also need to think about the amount of money you will have to spend on interviews after you've applied to these 30+ schools. I probably spent $400 per interview, and ended up spending more than I ever thought I would at the end of the process. It might seem okay to apply to 40 schools with just the AMCAS and secondary fees, but the cost rises immensely once interviewing begins.

I know that having "too many" interviews isn't really seen as a problem, but when you have limited funds (like me), it really can be very stressful to pay for this whole process. You don't want to be lucky enough to get interviews, and end up not being able to go to them.

Much more than a money issue, only apply to a number of schools that will allow you do to quality secondaries for them. In talking to one medical school dean, I was told that it's amazing how many people work so hard in school, get great numbers, and then do a mediocre job on the secondary essays. Secondaries are very important. Especially for the top-tier schools who can have their pick of good applicants, where your writing and ability to distinguish yourself could make all the difference. If you can apply to 40 schools and do quality applications for each of them, go for it. But I'd be willing to bet that applying to 15 well chosen schools and doing and excellent job with your essays will take you a lot farther than 40 poor secondaries ever will.

Also, don't buy the 48 hour turnaround rule you hear a lot on SDN. If you can get the essay written ahead of time for school who don't screen (SDN has a list of past essay questions, and they rarely change) then that would be great. However, I believe that starting early, then taking your time and getting a quality product is the best way to go.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

Maximum number of schools to apply to??? I think 125 allopathic, but some of them dont accept OOS, so maybe 110?

 

[vasyaiya]

Whoever mentioned Cali is absolutely right.
My mcat is 35 and gpa is 3.72 with science gpa of 4.0
3 years of clinical experience, diverse academic background, volunteering and shaddowing. I also work in the hospital. So I know medicine back and forth, down and dirty.
So guess what I got from california? Nothing with the exception of Loma Linda.
Most straight denied me and the rest like Stanford and UCLA are dragging their feet in order to extend my suffering and deny me at the end.
But being a more or less competitive applicant I applied to almost all Cali schools, and broadly.
I got into Cinci and Minnesota. Who would ever predict?
When I was making my list of schools to apply to, I could have easily passed on those two state schools with strong preference to in-state applicants.
I thought I would have more luck in NY or Chicago if ever.
Well, anyways. I loved the schools I interviewed at.
I chose not to go to all interviews for several reasons:
1. I already got into at least one school,
2. I still wanted to save money (after spending so much moola on secondaries and primary it really hit me hard, even though I could afford it)
3. I decided I was not particularly interested in some of them.

If you can choose just 12 schools of your top choice and get into one of them, all power to you.
This year though, as all of you know, we see the number of applicants beating almost all the records. So I am delighted I got into the schools I did.

 

[erica31]

Yah, but you are probably a TX resident... and since TX has awesome med schools with a high pref for in-state residents... no need to apply to many more 🙂

I applied to 10... but only filled out 5 secondaries, b/c I got accepted to my first choice VERY early, so I just stopped my application cycle right at that point. *thanks god for lowering my stress and stopping the freaking out*👍

I know this 1 dude that applied to 50... he just looked at the US news & World Report rankings and applied to the bottom 50.......... on geez

i applied to 4

 

[Corker]

Yah, but you are probably a TX resident... and since TX has awesome med schools with a high pref for in-state residents... no need to apply to many more 🙂

I applied to 10... but only filled out 5 secondaries, b/c I got accepted to my first choice VERY early, so I just stopped my application cycle right at that point. *thanks god for lowering my stress and stopping the freaking out*👍

I know this 1 dude that applied to 50... he just looked at the US news & World Report rankings and applied to the bottom 50.......... on geez

Your friend's strategy is pretty low yield. Some of those schools probably don't even accept OOS students. I worked on my list for a couple of weeks, then e-mailed each school to make sure they accepted CC credits for prerequs, etc. That narrowed down my list by about 5 or 6 schools.

Also, to the Cali applicant above with no love from Cali...so sorry. That was my big fear, too, in this process. Seriously...if you're from Cali, you don't know WHO will like you OOS, and there is no guarantee in our state for IS admission, no matter how awesome your application may be! Apply as broadly as you can!

And I agree with the "quality" statement about secondaries...BUT...IF you are a fast, eloquent writer who can knock out the essays over the summer and can afford the cost of the apps....DO IT! It is time-consuming, but well worth it. I'd rather be turning down interviews for lack of funds AFTER my first acceptance than be holding my breath for an acceptance in January or later!

 

[pedro4199]

Maximum number?? It's obviously the total number of allopathic school--125.

If you want to apply to osteopathic schools as well, start adding from there.

 

[LovelyMD]

Much more than a money issue, only apply to a number of schools that will allow you do to quality secondaries for them. In talking to one medical school dean, I was told that it's amazing how many people work so hard in school, get great numbers, and then do a mediocre job on the secondary essays. Secondaries are very important. Especially for the top-tier schools who can have their pick of good applicants, where your writing and ability to distinguish yourself could make all the difference. If you can apply to 40 schools and do quality applications for each of them, go for it. But I'd be willing to bet that applying to 15 well chosen schools and doing and excellent job with your essays will take you a lot farther than 40 poor secondaries ever will.

Also, don't buy the 48 hour turnaround rule you hear a lot on SDN. If you can get the essay written ahead of time for school who don't screen (SDN has a list of past essay questions, and they rarely change) then that would be great. However, I believe that starting early, then taking your time and getting a quality product is the best way to go.

I second this. There's no point in applying to 50 schools if you know you will not have time to write quality essays for 50 secondaries. If you're going to just end up rushing through the secondaries, then you've done yourself a disservice. After all that time spent getting those good grades & MCAT scores, and the hours spent writing that personal statement, do you really want to jeopardize your chances by sending in hastily written secondary essays? Some schools really do pay particular attention to the secondary essays when deciding who they should interview. So think about how much time you have available to spend on applications when you consider the # of schools.

 

[Tensyle]

whatever you do, make sure you apply to Stewart University. YOu will definitely not go wrong there.