multiple acceptances?

[mheart]

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So I am just curious if it is not uncommon to get multiple acceptances. It seems that all I ever hear of are people who apply to 19 schools and only get into 1 (or none!), but I have never heard of people making a decision from 4 or 5 that accepted them.

ALSO, for the people that apply to so many schools, how do you afford it? I spoke to someone who applied to 17 schools then realized that would cost over 1000$. I could never do that.

Thanks!

 

[nevercold]

So I am just curious if it is not uncommon to get multiple acceptances. It seems that all I ever hear of are people who apply to 19 schools and only get into 1 (or none!), but I have never heard of people making a decision from 4 or 5 that accepted them.

ALSO, for the people that apply to so many schools, how do you afford it? I spoke to someone who applied to 17 schools then realized that would cost over 1000$. I could never do that.

Thanks!

Your numbers and the strength of your application matter. I applied to a few top schools, a few in the next tier, and a few lower down. In total I submitted 11 secondaries, got 9 interviews, went on 7 of them, and got 6 acceptances and 1 waitlist. But my numbers were strong, I had the experiences I needed to show I knew what I was getting into, and I write well. The numbers are numbers, but I think the make-or-break point comes with the written quality of the application and the way you bring together your experiences both in type and in the interview.

 

[167649]

So I am just curious if it is not uncommon to get multiple acceptances. It seems that all I ever hear of are people who apply to 19 schools and only get into 1 (or none!), but I have never heard of people making a decision from 4 or 5 that accepted them.

ALSO, for the people that apply to so many schools, how do you afford it? I spoke to someone who applied to 17 schools then realized that would cost over 1000$. I could never do that.

Thanks!

I wouldn't say they are uncommon, some people do get lots of multiple acceptances. Keep in mind though most people (about 60% these days?) can't even get into one. So even with one acceptance in the bag you are way ahead of the game.

 

[njbmd]

It takes one acceptance for you to get into medical school. If you have one acceptance (and one would assume you applied to schools that you WANTED to attend), then you have the baseline for becoming a physician. Whether or not you get into any other school becomes meaningless.

In terms of the practice of medicine, medical school is four years and any medical school in this country can prepare you for any residency provided you do well. (If you manage to pass everything you still will get into some residency but your choices go down if you have a poor performance).

There will still be a majority of folks who will NOT get into any medical school in any given year. Either you are in or you are not. If not, you won't become a physician unless you reapply and get in.

Bottom line: Get in somewhere in this county and you are on your way. Put your emphasis on your acceptances/performan and tune out what others are doing. In the end, you are responsible for yourself only.

 

[nevercold]

It takes one acceptance for you to get into medical school. If you have one acceptance (and one would assume you applied to schools that you WANTED to attend), then you have the baseline for becoming a physician. Whether or not you get into any other school becomes meaningless.

Agree with sentences 1 and 2. Disagree with sentence 3. It is nice to have choices, because until you interview you don't know as much as you really need to know about these places to make the best choice possible. You also don't necessarily know how the finances will work out.

 

[TexPre-Med]

So I am just curious if it is not uncommon to get multiple acceptances. It seems that all I ever hear of are people who apply to 19 schools and only get into 1 (or none!), but I have never heard of people making a decision from 4 or 5 that accepted them.

ALSO, for the people that apply to so many schools, how do you afford it? I spoke to someone who applied to 17 schools then realized that would cost over 1000$. I could never do that.

Thanks!

Applied: 12 schools
Interviewed: 10 schools
Accepted: 9 schools

$1000 is a drop in the hat and financially sound. Think about it. In 15 years, you will be a physician making over $150,000 conservatively. By not dropping the $1000 to apply and instead possibly waiting a year to reapply, you may make what......$40,000 doing some other job in the meantime. 15 years later, you lost out on at least $110,000 by not putting in the $1000 ante at the beginning.

I knew a girl who spent two years applying to only 7 schools at a time, before she applied to 30 during her third try. She regrets not doing the 30 the first time because she lost 2 years of her life bettering her application while making $35,000/year. She now has 3 acceptances and counting.

Apply to as many schools as you can. Its worth it.

 

[elderjack21]

Apply to as many schools as you can. Its worth it.

I think if you can try to be as objective as you can about yourself and comparing your stats to that of the schools out there, you will have a pretty good idea of where you should apply to and not need to waste a ton of money or a ton of time. Most people say to apply to 12-15 schools. If your application is weak consider a few more, or some DO schools.

I bought the MSAR. Went page by page through the schools, first time through I dog-eared the places I could even consider living for fours year, then a few weeks later, I went through those again and looked at stats, program qualities etc. I didn't "shoot for the stars" with most of my choices instead chose schools I would be happy at if accepted.

applied to 15 schools
have gotten into a few so far, but instead of playing the "how many acceptances can I get game" (although it was tempting after working so hard to get to this point) I withdrew my application from 7 of the schools in late october, declined 1 interview, and have turned down 3 acceptances so far. I am trying to decide where I will go to between the remaining schools.

 

[littlealex]

I also think applying to more schools is worth it. Even if you applied to 10 extra schools and did not get an acceptance from any of them, at least there are no doubts left in your mind of "could I had gotten in Harvard?"

As for multiple acceptances I think it is quite common. If you're good enough for 1 school, many other schools probably think you deserve an acceptance as well. If I have to just blindly estimate, I'd guess maybe 80% of the final accepted applicants have at least 2 acceptances unless they just turned down all the interviews after 1 acceptance.

After all, an acceptance means your grades are good enough, your MCAT is good enough, your ECs are good enough, and you don't suck at interviews.

 

[1956Goldtop]

a sizable portion of people with one acceptance likely get multiple acceptances because they are desirable candidates.

 

[aaj117]

if you're planning to apply to medical school, be prepared to spend well over $1,000. To do it right and hopefully only once, you need to spend a sizeable chunk; my primary alone was $700, then secondaries are on average nearly $100 each. Traveling to interviews costs money, a suit costs money, hotels cost money, etc. This is not a time to be too cheap; you don't want to have to spend the money to do it again.