Need help eliminating schools

[citrusguy2010]

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hi all,

so i'm planning on submitting on wednesday at 9:30am and i still have to narrow down my school list. i did everything based on the LizzyM document and paralleled it to the msar and still can't eliminate schools. right now i have about 48 on my list and obviously i need to narrow it down so i look to the wizards of sdn to help me out! i'm having a hard time eliminating b/c every time i take one out i feel like i'm losing an opportunity, especially given my crappy stats.

my stats are: 3.39/32S mcat, graduate student with a 3.85 grad gpa in epi (MPH). my extracurrics are pretty good and my letters of rec are good as well. applying as a NY resident but strong ties to CA.

if anyone could help me narrow my list down i'd be eternally grateful. thanks in advance!

University of Southern California
University of California--Davis
University of California--Irvine
University of California--San Diego
University of California--Los Angeles
George Washington University
Georgetown University
Rush University
Loyola University Chicago
University of Illinois
Rosalind Franklin University
Tulane University
Uniformed Services University
University of Maryland
Tufts University
Boston University
Michigan State University
Wayne State University
Mayo Medical School
Saint Louis University
Creighton University
Albany Medical College
New York Medical College
SUNY--Upstate
Stony Brook University
SUNY--Downstate
SUNY--Buffalo
Yeshiva University
University of Rochester
New York University
Columbia University
Wake Forest University
Wright State University
University of Toledo
University of Cincinnati
Case Western Reserve University
Temple University
Pennsylvania State University
Jefferson Medical College
Drexel University
Texas Tech El Paso
Texas Tech Lubbock
UT San Antonio
University of Utah
University of Vermont
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Virginia Commonwealth University
Medical College of Wisconsin

 

[waterpolo480586]

Remove Mayo, Columbia, probably the boston schools, some of the texas schools, and at least a few of the UCs. As your GPA is below average for MD you stand a fairly low chance of acceptance at these schools. I would also look at the MSAR to see if some of the state schools you are OOS friendly. I think you may discover that a few accept very few OOS students so you will want to remove those schools.

 

[TexasPhysician]

TX schools are 90%+ in-state.

 

[citrusguy2010]

TX schools are 90%+ in-state.

yea i know they're like 90% instate but i hear they're grad student friendly (which i am) and public health friendly. thanks for the reply!

 

[citrusguy2010]

Remove Mayo, Columbia, probably the boston schools, some of the texas schools, and at least a few of the UCs. As your GPA is below average for MD you stand a fairly low chance of acceptance at these schools. I would also look at the MSAR to see if some of the state schools you are OOS friendly. I think you may discover that a few accept very few OOS students so you will want to remove those schools.

thanks for the critique. i'm only applying to columbia and ucla because i'm here right now for a grad program (and at ucla for undergrad). most of the state schools i'm applying to are 25% or above. any specific cuts though?

 

[sector9]

First of all, you don't need to have your school list finalized by June 1. Just submit to one school that you know you want to apply to on June 1, then your app will be verified fast. Schools won't even be sent your app until June 17 no matter how fast it is verified, so worry more about perfecting the rest of your app before you finalize your school list.

For your schools, you need to look at the MSAR for the 10th percentile for undergrad GPA. Your MPH GPA is basically worthless unless you took some classes that weren't required in your program, in which case those grades would be treated as if they were postbacc courses and would help you.

I didn't look through all of the schools, only the California ones, but you need to take off Irvine and San Diego for sure, and probably UCLA (10th %ile is 3.35, although you said you went there for undergrad--who knows if that will help) and USC (10th %ile is 3.34) as well. I think you'll end up eliminating a lot of schools based on looking at this statistic.

Since you seem to be completely obsessed with being early, you do know that the TMDSAS has already opened for the Texas schools, right? People have been submitting that primary for almost a month. You aren't going to be late if you do it fast, but the verification process takes forever with TMDSAS.

You definitely need to remove Utah, since you need to show you have state ties before they'll even send you a secondary. If you have strong state ties, then look at their website because they are a very weird school to apply to.

You should consider removing Illinois, since OOS tuition is killer there-- like $450k for 4 years.

It looks like your list has a lot of huge reaches for someone with a low GPA and average MCAT.

 

[citrusguy2010]

First of all, you don't need to have your school list finalized by June 1. Just submit to one school that you know you want to apply to on June 1, then your app will be verified fast. Schools won't even be sent your app until June 17 no matter how fast it is verified, so worry more about perfecting the rest of your app before you finalize your school list.

For your schools, you need to look at the MSAR for the 10th percentile for undergrad GPA. Your MPH GPA is basically worthless unless you took some classes that weren't required in your program, in which case those grades would be treated as if they were postbacc courses and would help you.

I didn't look through all of the schools, only the California ones, but you need to take off Irvine and San Diego for sure, and probably UCLA (10th %ile is 3.35, although you said you went there for undergrad--who knows if that will help) and USC (10th %ile is 3.34) as well. I think you'll end up eliminating a lot of schools based on looking at this statistic.

Since you seem to be completely obsessed with being early, you do know that the TMDSAS has already opened for the Texas schools, right? People have been submitting that primary for almost a month. You aren't going to be late if you do it fast, but the verification process takes forever with TMDSAS.

You definitely need to remove Utah, since you need to show you have state ties before they'll even send you a secondary. If you have strong state ties, then look at their website because they are a very weird school to apply to.

You should consider removing Illinois, since OOS tuition is killer there-- like $450k for 4 years.

It looks like your list has a lot of huge reaches for someone with a low GPA and average MCAT.

thanks for the advice. yea i know texas has been open for a while but i couldn't do anything about it because my spring grades just got in and they required spring grades. i was leaning towards removing utah to begin with.

any suggestions for nonreach schools?