My List of Programs

[Plasmodel]

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So, I have a pretty standard CV etc except that I am currently on a national scholarship in Europe....

I will be applying solely to MD/PhD programs and I was wondering if you guys think I should add more safeties (first of all, I don't if there can be safeties for MD/PhD...). I really want to stick to urban (or suburban areas)...and I am originally from Cali.

So, I am applying to:

UCSF
Stanford
UCD (safety?)
UCI (safety?)
UCSD
UCLA (want to do my PhD at Caltech but I hear they have only 2-3 (?) spots per year).
Harvard
Cornell
Columbia
NYU
Colorado (safety?)

I think I will be set with 14 schools. Do you think I need more safeties? If so, what count as safeties for MD/PhD?

 

[ChirasBartlett]

the list looks top-heavy to me. Also, are you an international applicant (Europe)? You should check if the schools you are applying to have funding for international students.

 

[fastrandstrongr]

looks top heavy to me as well, but i guess it depends on your stats/research/ec's. not really possible to throw out MSTP suggestions without giving us ballpark figures.

 

[Plasmodel]

So, like i said in the OP, I am from the US. So, I would say in total (4 years (of undergraduate)+ 2 years of graduate research).

 

[Ombret]

If you are on a Fulbright or something (whatever, we don't need to know), then you are obviously a pretty strong applicant. I personally think you are fine in terms of selectivity but I see a lot of California and then a few east coast programs. If you are so interested in the West Coast, maybe replace NYU with UW or think about OHSU.

 

[gbwillner]

I would add more programs, regardless of competitiveness. Get out there and see different parts of the country. This is your chance. Besides, you never know with this process. It's not all about stats. That may be a cutoff for secondaries, and usually for interviews, but it doesn't guarantee you anything. Give yourself more chances. I think you have a good number of safety schools, but there are lots of other great urban programs out there worth checking out. I think every great applicant should at least visit/apply to at least one of the two largest programs- Penn and WashU, to compare to everything else.

 

[Neuronix]

California schools are never safeties due to high demand to be in California. Neither is Colorado for that matter. There's enough people who love mountains and very few spots in the mountain states. I'd add at least a few decent programs in the midwest and/or some more programs on the east coast.

Not that there really is such a thing as a safety, but location does count for a lot. And California and NYC are the most competitive locations.