Need additional safety school

[Mr. Beefy Lion]

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Hi, I'm looking to apply to one more safety school as I am getting paranoid my list is too top heavy. Is anyone aware of any safety schools for me (LizzyM~77) that don't have secondary essays? I live in the Midwest. Thanks

 

[Softballgal96]

No such thing as a safety in med school admissions. Lower tier yes, but not safety. Schools may sense you're using it as a safety and reject even with your high stats.

 

[candbgirl]

I think people would/could give suggestions but we don't know where you have applied. But I agree there really is no such thing as a safety school.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Lizzy M scores are too vague. What is your MCAT score? If you are someone with a 3.8/39 type breakdown you run the risk at being over the 90th percentile on the MCAT for alot of lower tiers and those above the 90th percentile are not all that likely to get interviews at those schools.

So yes, give us alot more info and give us your list of schools otherwise you won't get anything out of this thread. Also secondary essay prompts are posted all over this site. For specfic schools its not hard to find what the essay prompts are and how many of them there are.

 

[Mr. Beefy Lion]

No such thing as a safety in med school admissions. Lower tier yes, but not safety. Schools may sense you're using it as a safety and reject even with your high stats.

Agreed, sorry, posted real fast without really thinking about it. Mcat of 519 so around the equivalent of a 37 and slightly under a 4.0. I have applied to all Illinois schools and St. Louis, as far as schools in the Midwest.

 

[Mr. Beefy Lion]

Lizzy M scores are too vague. What is your MCAT score? If you are someone with a 3.8/39 type breakdown you run the risk at being over the 90th percentile on the MCAT for alot of lower tiers and those above the 90th percentile are not all that likely to get interviews at those schools.

So yes, give us alot more info and give us your list of schools otherwise you won't get anything out of this thread. Also secondary essay prompts are posted all over this site. For specfic schools its not hard to find what the essay prompts are and how many of them there are.

I will post the complete list as soon as I get home and have access to my list. I'm aware of the school specific threads, however I was hoping someone on here was aware of any schools that meet this requirements so I don't end up reading through pages and pages on this forum

 

[GrapesofRath]

I will post the complete list as soon as I get home and have access to my list. I'm aware of the school specific threads, however I was hoping someone on here was aware of any schools that meet this requirements so I don't end up reading through pages and pages on this forum

Invest in MSAR and look at 90th percentile MCAT stats for lower tier schools. If you have a 4.0/37 I wouldn't use safeties on schools where your MCAT is above that school's 90th percentile.

Just as a rough estimate here might be some good "safeties": Hofstra, Miami, Tulane, Tufts, Saint Louis, Jefferson. I believe all of these schools have MCAT medians of at least 33 so you aren't that high above their median like you would be at a school such as GW or Penn State.

If you are an Illinois resident you have a solid range of lower tiers. U of I, Rush, Loyola and Rosalind all show at least some IS bias. You don't need that many more lower tiers being from there.

 

[Doug Underhill]

Hofstra
Miami
Vermont
Saint Louis
Tufts
Boston
Ohio State
UVA

All of these are good picks for mid-tier. The state schools on the list do not show much in-state bias.

 

[700003]

Hofstra
Miami
Vermont
Saint Louis
Tufts
Boston
Ohio State
UVA

All of these are good picks for mid-tier. The state schools on the list do not show much in-state bias.

UVA is mid-tier? 😕

 

[sliceofbread136]

Invest in MSAR and look at 90th percentile MCAT stats for lower tier schools. If you have a 4.0/37 I wouldn't use safeties on schools where your MCAT is above that school's 90th percentile.

Just as a rough estimate here might be some good "safeties": Hofstra, Miami, Tulane, Tufts, Saint Louis, Jefferson. I believe all of these schools have MCAT medians of at least 33 so you aren't that high above their median like you would be at a school such as GW or Penn State.

If you are an Illinois resident you have a solid range of lower tiers. U of I, Rush, Loyola and Rosalind all show at least some IS bias. You don't need that many more lower tiers being from there.

Is this a new thing? I got interviews at tons places where I was above the 90th

 

[GrapesofRath]

Is this a new thing? I got interviews at tons places where I was above the 90th

It's not new it's just something ADCOMs on here have cautioned about. Obviously there is flexibility this isn't some steadfast rule. A 3.6/37 can still get a number of interviews at lower tiers. Likewise even some 4.0/37s have gotten interviews at Drexel type schools State schools are a different issue.

It's just a general rule that top applicants at schools where there stats are above the 90th percentile aren't all that likely to get interviews. Schools have no interest wasting limited interview spots on people they know won't attend. It's the same reason why slot of schools don't consider Texas residents anymore; they know they won't attend and will just go to their cheap Texas schools unless they are good enough for significant merit money elsewhere.

 

[sliceofbread136]

It's not new it's just something ADCOMs on here have cautioned about. Obviously there is flexibility this isn't some steadfast rule. A 3.6/37 can still get a number of interviews at lower tiers. Likewise even some 4.0/37s have gotten interviews at Drexel type schools State schools are a different issue.

It's just a general rule that top applicants at schools where there stats are above the 90th percentile aren't all that likely to get interviews. Schools have no interest wasting limited interview spots on people they know won't attend. It's the same reason why slot of schools don't consider Texas residents anymore; they know they won't attend and will just go to their cheap Texas schools unless they are good enough for significant merit money elsewhere.

I guess it's different for everyone. I had exactly a 4.0/37 and was a Texas and did not run into problems with either. Perhaps I was lucky

 

[WedgeDawg]

UVA is mid-tier? 😕

If you want to split hairs, you could call it upper mid, but it's similar to Emory/Case (probably sits somewhere in the middle of them in terms of competitiveness), so ultimately, yes, I would put it in mid tier.

 

[GrapesofRath]

If you want to split hairs, you could call it upper mid, but it's similar to Emory/Case (probably sits somewhere in the middle of them in terms of competitiveness), so ultimately, yes, I would put it in mid tier.

Ehhhhh but UVA takes half of their class in state. They can say what they want about not showing IS bias but I think even our convo the other day kinda got at the idea that being a VA resident puts you at an advantage for UVA

A completely pointless debate I might add btw haha buts it is kind of weird to call schools with 35 median mcats "backups"

 

[Goro]

CCOM
MUCOM
DMU
At Still
MSU
OHUCOM

I can help you better if I see your list, dan!

Hi, I'm looking to apply to one more safety school as I am getting paranoid my list is too top heavy. Is anyone aware of any safety schools for me (LizzyM~77) that don't have secondary essays? I live in the Midwest. Thanks

 

[Mr. Beefy Lion]

CCOM
MUCOM
DMU
At Still
MSU
OHUCOM

I can help you better if I see your list, dan!

Invest in MSAR and look at 90th percentile MCAT stats for lower tier schools. If you have a 4.0/37 I wouldn't use safeties on schools where your MCAT is above that school's 90th percentile.

Just as a rough estimate here might be some good "safeties": Hofstra, Miami, Tulane, Tufts, Saint Louis, Jefferson. I believe all of these schools have MCAT medians of at least 33 so you aren't that high above their median like you would be at a school such as GW or Penn State.

If you are an Illinois resident you have a solid range of lower tiers. U of I, Rush, Loyola and Rosalind all show at least some IS bias. You don't need that many more lower tiers being from there.

So a friend told me he thought my school was too top heavy so now I'm kind of worried, here are schools i have applied to (IL resident):

Tufts
Boston U
Jefferson
Loyola
Hofstra
Duke
Rochester
St. Louis
University of florida
Baylor
Rosy
Rush
U of Illinois
U of Iowa
U of miami
Northwestern
USC Keck
Tulane
Pitt
Vanderbilt

Thanks in advance

 

[GrapesofRath]

So a friend told me he thought my school was too top heavy so now I'm kind of worried, here are schools i have applied to (IL resident):

Tufts
Boston U
Jefferson
Loyola
Hofstra
Duke
Rochester
St. Louis
University of florida
Baylor
Rosy
Rush
U of Illinois
U of Iowa
U of miami
Northwestern
USC Keck
Tulane
Pitt
Vanderbilt

Thanks in advance

This list is not too top heavy at all. It looks pretty good honestly. Outside of Illinois schools, you really don't need too many OOS lower tier schools. Honestly you could replace Iowa, Florida and Miami with top 20 caliber schools.

But all in all your list is fine. There's nothing to worry about here. Most 4.0/37's at least take a stab at the JHU, WASHU, Harvard, Penn UCSF types; I don't think it's a bad idea at all for you to do the same.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Not top heavy at all

Edit: beaten to the punch

 

[Mr. Beefy Lion]

This list is not too top heavy at all. It looks pretty good honestly. Outside of Illinois schools, you really don't need too many OOS lower tier schools. Honestly you could replace Iowa, Florida and Miami with top 20 caliber schools.

But all in all your list is fine. There's nothing to worry about here. Most 4.0/37's at least take a stab at the JHU, WASHU, Harvard, Penn UCSF types; I don't think it's a bad idea at all for you to do the same.

Not top heavy at all

Edit: beaten to the punch

Thanks for the advice. Ill add Harvard because I think it will be cool to get a rejection from them and to say I applied lol. Are their any upper tier school you are aware of with little or no essays? Im getting really burnt out with secondaries to be honest

 

[GrapesofRath]

Thanks for the advice. Ill add Harvard because I think it will be cool to get a rejection from them and to say I applied lol. Are their any upper tier school you are aware of with little or no essays? Im getting really burnt out with secondaries to be honest

Honestly just go through this site and search the secondary prompts. There are what maybe 10 upper tier schools you still need to look into and want to consider adding? Shouldn't take long to find 10 schools essay prompts.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Thanks for the advice. Ill add Harvard because I think it will be cool to get a rejection from them and to say I applied lol. Are their any upper tier school you are aware of with little or no essays? Im getting really burnt out with secondaries to be honest

Harvard has none. UCSF has a optional one. WashU has (I believe, but I could be wrong) 2 optional ones, but they're long if you choose to do them. Mayo has none. Penn's is only a short (1000 character) "why Penn?". Pitt and Cornell have the exact same essays with similar word limits, so you can more or less copy/paste (neither are specific to the schools).

 

[Mr. Beefy Lion]

Harvard has none. UCSF has a optional one. WashU has (I believe, but I could be wrong) 2 optional ones, but they're long if you choose to do them. Mayo has none. Penn's is only a short (1000 character) "why Penn?". Pitt and Cornell have the exact same essays with similar word limits, so you can more or less copy/paste (neither are specific to the schools).

Wedge, you are the hero this site needs, but not the one it deserves.

 

[Goro]

I suggest deleting U FL, since you're not a resident. delete Tufts because their tuition is so gawdawful expensive. if money is not an issue, try MSU or U MI

Try: OH State
Jefferson

SUNY SB
SUNY DS
U WI
Emory
IU
Gtown
GWU
Einstein
U Toledo
U Cincy
U So FL

So a friend told me he thought my school was too top heavy so now I'm kind of worried, here are schools i have applied to (IL resident):

Tufts
Boston U
Jefferson
Loyola
Hofstra
Duke
Rochester
St. Louis
University of florida
Baylor
Rosy
Rush
U of Illinois
U of Iowa
U of miami
Northwestern
USC Keck
Tulane
Pitt
Vanderbilt

Thanks in advance

 

[Mr. Beefy Lion]

I suggest deleting U FL, since you're not a resident. delete Tufts because their tuition is so gawdawful expensive. if money is not an issue, try MSU or U MI

Try: OH State
Jefferson

SUNY SB
SUNY DS
U WI
Emory
IU
Gtown
GWU
Einstein
U Toledo
U Cincy
U So FL

Thanks goro, i really appreciate the reply and plan on making the changes you suggested