Need Help With School Selection

[ITreat]

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39/4.0
A lot of great EC president of clubs and also founder of clubs
3 years of research. However the experience is pretty weak sauce compare to alot of top applicants
Good amount of volunteering/Shadowing
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Now I am trying to put a list of school that I am going to apply to. I will prefer over all others on the list. Prestige is not a huge factor, but I take it when I can get it if you know what I mean? I do foresee myself perusing some pretty competitive residency though. Same with cost cheaper the better. Location, does not matter that much either as long as it is not super extreme in term of crime, temperature (I tolerate all rang of temp...I live in south African and Canada lol), and cost of living. The type of learning system doesnt really matter because I dont know which one will work better for me x.x. Here is what I have so far. I only rank the top 2 because those 2 schools. I know 4 school isnt enough especially when I am trying to apply with my gf (To simplify I will just say she is just as good of a candidate if not slightly better). So I would greatly appreciated if you guys can suggest some school that I can at least take a further look. Just by looking at random school website/MSAR doesn't seem to distinguish them at all!

1. Baylor
Dream School
Perfect School for me!
Cheap
Ethics Track
MD/MBA (Possibly)
Still in the South 🙂
Want to practice in Texas or Oklahoma eventually

2. University of Oklahoma
Home State
Cheap
Know ton of people (I know a few just from my high school alone!). However I really want to go some place where I dont know anyone 🙂
Want to practice in Texas or Oklahoma eventually

Mayo
Overall Awesome Well Known School
Small Class Size which I LOVE
However Small Class Size means it is going to be crazy hard for them to accept both my gf and I.

UTSW
Cheap (In State tuition after first year?)

UTHuston
Cheap Application (since I will be doing the UTSW)
Fall back (I really hate to call any school call fallback..). If I dont get in Baylor I can look at it? lol.

 

[bannie22]

You will get in anywhere.

 

[ITreat]

You will get in anywhere.

lol doubt it. I know I have a decent shot anywhere though. However remember that I am applying with my GF...so Decent*Decent=So-So lol

 

[ksmi117]

It really depends on what you are looking for in a school. Generally, when people post their stats, people can give ideas on schools based on those. However, you will be a good candidate for any school. If you want to stay in the South, look at those schools. If you want a school with a certain style curriculum, look up curriculums on their websites. Other than that, SDN can only offer so much help.

You are right about needing more schools. And like you said be careful about treating any school as a safety. There's no such thing really. You're not guaranteed a spot anywhere. I think you shouldn't have trouble if you can interview well, but still you can't think that you're a shoo in anywhere.

 

[ITreat]

It really depends on what you are looking for in a school. Generally, when people post their stats, people can give ideas on schools based on those. However, you will be a good candidate for any school. If you want to stay in the South, look at those schools. If you want a school with a certain style curriculum, look up curriculums on their websites. Other than that, SDN can only offer so much help.

You are right about needing more schools. And like you said be careful about treating any school as a safety. There's no such thing really. You're not guaranteed a spot anywhere. I think you shouldn't have trouble if you can interview well, but still you can't think that you're a shoo in anywhere.

When I say south I actually just mean TX or OK Lol. Other areas I not been exposed to and therefore no preference.

 

[Catalystik]

Since you want to get two people into the same school or ones that are close together, consider applying to your state schools and then big cities with multiple schools: Chicago (7), Philly (5), St Louis (2), NYC-Manhattan, Boston, DC/Baltimore being some.

 

[bannie22]

so who is the rate limiting factor? do both of you ahve 39/4.0 and maybe one of u haas 42/4.0?

then i guess 39/4.0 is the rate limiting factor? lol

 

[ITreat]

so who is the rate limiting factor? do both of you ahve 39/4.0 and maybe one of u haas 42/4.0?

then i guess 39/4.0 is the rate limiting factor? lol

She hasnt taken the MCAT yet but she has 3.9 GPA. Better EC. Very Underrepresented African American/Native American. And possibly slightly better at interview. I am spending next few months helping her with MCAT and I am confident that she can score about a 37. (Btw I am teaching for Kaplan as well lol). So basically she is slightly worse in academic but better in everything else.

We should really prefer same school rather than school in same area. Because it would be sooooo much easier if we have the same class etc...

 

[bannie22]

She hasnt taken the MCAT yet but she has 3.9 GPA. Better EC. Very Underrepresented African American/Native American. And possibly slightly better at interview. I am spending next few months helping her with MCAT and I am confident that she can score about a 37. (Btw I am teaching for Kaplan as well lol). So basically she is slightly worse in academic but better in everything else.

We should really prefer same school rather than school in same area. Because it would be sooooo much easier if we have the same class etc...

you made me laugh 😀 =P i like you! u will get in!

 

[TheMightySmiter]

You both sound like great applicants! She will probably have an easier time getting in than you since she is double URM, unless you are also URM (but you didn't say that so I'm assuming no). I think Chicago schools would be a great option for you both if you can handle the cold, haha. There are a lot of them with varying degrees of prestige. Also consider some of the New York schools, like NYU, Cornell, NYMC, etc. I'd recommend applying to Tulane, since it is in your geographical area.

 

[rockaction]

Everyone ever that is this competitive should apply to Vanderbilt, Case Western, U of Pittsburgh, and Ohio State. Those are all fantastic schools!

 

[ITreat]

I am overrepresented. So we go as package deal 1 overrepresented for 1 double underrepresented 🙂 Anyone got any comments on all the high rank Ivy League schools? They all sound pretty similar to me? Should I just apply to them all?

 

[TheMightySmiter]

Well, if cost is going to be a limiting factor in the number of schools you apply to, I wouldn't apply to all the top-tiers. If I were you, I'd just pick a few of the top ones (same ones your gf is applying to). You have the numbers for WashU, you could also do Cornell, maybe Penn and Columbia, Harvard/Yale if you feel like it. I've heard that Brown heavily favors its own undergrads so I wouldn't recommend applying there.

 

[ITreat]

Well, if cost is going to be a limiting factor in the number of schools you apply to, I wouldn't apply to all the top-tiers. If I were you, I'd just pick a few of the top ones (same ones your gf is applying to). You have the numbers for WashU, you could also do Cornell, maybe Penn and Columbia, Harvard/Yale if you feel like it. I've heard that Brown heavily favors its own undergrads so I wouldn't recommend applying there.

Cost isnt too big of a issue for me (though obviously I dont want to just toss money away). My gf doesnt have any preference except to go to the same school I do 🙂 also she got the financial aid from AMCAS so her application/ possibly secondary cost is very cheap. I took note on what you said about Brown though (probably take it off the potential list entirely).

We will hope for an early acceptance from baylor then we can cancel the rest of our interview and save the airfare 🙂

Next thing I am going to check is #Matriculate/#Interview Ratio. If it is high that means they accepted higher % from their interviewed (make the airfare more justifiable) OR alot of people who got accepted want to go there, so people like it more.

What do you think about that approach?

 

[longhorn09]

With your stats, you should apply to UMich and WashU too. They pretty much grant interview invites solely based on numbers.

 

[ITreat]

Here is a updated list. I basically used 3 main factors...How many people got accepted out of interviewed (less travel cost), total cost, and average debit. Let me know what you think, right now it is probably a little top heavy but...the lower ranked school usually have much higher indebtedness and I dont even know who they are so I dont know what to pick.

Baylor
U of Oklahoma
UT Southwestern
UT Houston
Mayo
Case Western
Johns Hopkins
Duke
Cornell
Stanford
U of Alabama
U of Pennsylvania
UCSF
U of N. Carolina
LSU New Orleans
UT San Antonio
UTMB
Vanderbilt
U of Miami
Columbia
UCSD
UCLA

 

[ksmi117]

Here is a updated list. I basically used 3 main factors...How many people got accepted out of interviewed (less travel cost), total cost, and average debit. Let me know what you think, right now it is probably a little top heavy but...the lower ranked school usually have much higher indebtedness and I dont even know who they are so I dont know what to pick.

Baylor
U of Oklahoma
UT Southwestern
UT Houston
Mayo
Case Western
Johns Hopkins
Duke
Cornell
Stanford
U of Alabama
U of Pennsylvania
UCSF
U of N. Carolina
LSU New Orleans
UT San Antonio
UTMB
Vanderbilt
U of Miami
Columbia
UCSD
UCLA

The list looks top-heavy as you said, but you have time to figure it out. More importantly, you will not get into LSU-NO unless you are a LA resident (unless you are MD/PhD), so don't waste your money. UNC is also very hard to get into as an OOS student. I'm not sure about the other state schools though.

 

[alibai3ah]

Here is a updated list. I basically used 3 main factors...How many people got accepted out of interviewed (less travel cost), total cost, and average debit. Let me know what you think, right now it is probably a little top heavy but...the lower ranked school usually have much higher indebtedness and I dont even know who they are so I dont know what to pick.

Baylor
U of Oklahoma
UT Southwestern
UT Houston
Mayo
Case Western
Johns Hopkins
Duke
Cornell
Stanford
U of Alabama
U of Pennsylvania
UCSF
U of N. Carolina
LSU New Orleans
UT San Antonio
UTMB
Vanderbilt
U of Miami
Columbia
UCSD
UCLA

Numbers-wise you will get in anywhere, but it would really help if you told us a general direction in where you are headed in medicine. Academic or clinical medicine? Are you interested in public health? Global health? Health policy? Working in Underserved Communities in OK?

You could add Tulane, Emory, Michigan, Boston University, Tufts, UofChicago, Northwestern, Georgetown.

Also if you have "meh" ECs, you shots at a UC are slim to none (including UCSD/UC Davis/UC Irvine). Those schools are heavily focused on community service and/or research, thus it would be good to soup up your EC's to get an invite for those schools.

 

[Spiker]

Why is California so hard? It has quiet a few OOS

 

[ITreat]

Numbers-wise you will get in anywhere, but it would really help if you told us a general direction in where you are headed in medicine. Academic or clinical medicine? Are you interested in public health? Global health? Health policy? Working in Underserved Communities in OK?

You could add Tulane, Emory, Michigan, Boston University, Tufts, UofChicago, Northwestern, Georgetown.

Also if you have "meh" ECs, you shots at a UC are slim to none (including UCSD/UC Davis/UC Irvine). Those schools are heavily focused on community service and/or research, thus it would be good to soup up your EC's to get an invite for those schools.

My EC is great. My research is meh but I have 3 years of it...I am interested in ethics and may get a MBA (Best Med School seem to have best business school as well lol). I am open to all specialty at the moment, but I suspect that I will eventually drift toward the ROAD specialties so while prestige is not everything I get it when I can 🙂