Number of Schools to Apply To?

[Yogurt the Kid]

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What's up guys! I'm feeling like sexual chocolate today, nice and sunny--gonna go to a lake soon. But I wanted to ask my equally sexy SDN'ers their opinions on the number of schools to apply to. Right now, I have a list of about 20 schools. This list represents 11 schools that line up with my stats, 4 that are slight-reaches, 3 that are big time reaches, and 2 that whose stats are lower than mine. I'm having difficulty deciding how to narrow these schools. This is the somewhat conflicting advice I have received from other posts:

1) Apply to as many schools as you possibly can (reasonably), and once you're in a good situation later down the road (with interviews/acceptances in hand) you can choose to stop filling out secondaries or stop going to interviews.
2) DO NOT apply to as many schools as possible; rather choose a wide range of schools. This wills save time, money, etc.

 

[scootad.]

I think around 20-22 is a reasonable number, so you seem to be on the right track, but I would apply to more than 2 safeties if I were you. Dont take any chances.

 

[scootad.]

hmmm, sexual chocolate yogurt. sounds yummy. 😀

 

[Femtochemistry]

Around 20 is a good even number. I am applying to a total of 27 schools. You should at least apply to 5-6 safty schools, and maybe some schools that you know you will not have a good chance of getting in because hey, you never know (2-3 is a nice number for such schools).

good luck!

 

[relatively prime]

A combination of 1 and 2 if you ask me. If you have the money, apply to as many schools as you WANT to... and apply accross the board!

So do this...
get a list of all the medical schools in the USA
1) Cross off the ones that are out-of-state that don't accept out-of -staters (i.e. ones you couldn't get into no matter what)
2) Cross off any school that you wouldn't want to go to even if it was the only school you got into
3) Cross off schools that are in areas you really don't want to live in.
4) cross off schools where your x-'s go... just kidding 🙂

the next steps are if you are on a budget...
5) Cross off one of two schools that are very similar... i.e. don't apply to BOTH Mt. Siani and Albert Einstein. (sp?) Unless you really really want to go to that type of school.
6) Cross off a few of the schools that you feel you have very little chance of getting into... but not all of them, because you never know...

This is just for the AMCAS list... once you get secondaries you can spend more time ellimating schools

That's how I'm doing it. Hope that helps 🙂

Note of advice... apply to ALL the medical schools in your state... no matter what your GPA or MCAT scores... unless you're from Ohio... which I'm guessing has more medical schools per square mile than any other state.

 

[saimabean5]

what if your gpa is below average? I narrowed down my list and I have about 15. I mean dont you have to be somewhat picky about these things? I mean it is for the next four years. I definately applied to all the schools near and in my state along w/ a few out of state. Somehow I feel 20 is too much and I'll end up either applying to schools I'll never get into or dont want to go.

 

[driven]

I know this came up earlier, but Med Schools never know how many or where you have applied other than that school. Now that may be a fair question at your interview, but they have no way of knowing unless you tell them. So go click happy in AMCAS. Also, I think 20-30 is a fair #. Just my 10 cents, since 2 cents are free 🙄

 

[saimabean5]

what is that website where they have the list of all the medschools and their rank??

 

[Tweetie_bird]

I believe it's USNEWS.com
there's a 9.99 dollar subscription to it, according to somebody on this board. I got good reviews about it.
Tweetie

 

[SMW]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by saimabean5:
•what is that website where they have the list of all the medschools and their rank??•••••It's <a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/med/brief/mdrrank_brief.php" target="_blank">U.S. News and World Report's site.</a>. Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I just looked at it again, because my bookmark was outdated, and they now make you pay to see all the data the rankings are based on!! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" />
It was definitely all free last year, and you could resort by different parameters. I used it a lot in deciding where to apply. And, btw, it doesn't include all medschools, but only the top 50. There are two separate rankings, one for research and one for primary care. For a listing of all U.S. medical schools, consult the MSAR (Medical School Admissions Requirements, available through AAMC).

 

[Tweetie_bird]

I have some "2003 rankings" excel worksheet that I copied from somebody's post on SDN. I would put it up, but it's saved to my desktop and i have no idea on how to put it back online.

Anybody wanna help?

 

[abefroman]

Some advice:

1) There's no such thing as a "safety school."
2) This process is so long that your interests in medical schools may very well change during it. Therefore, if you think you might have any interest in a school, apply to it. Don't eliminate too many.
3) Definitely look at the thread on schools with no secondary essays as that will save some time.

This is based on my experience. I applied to 18 schools and at times wished I had more lower ranked schools because I didn't get an acceptance until May. Then I also regretted not applying to some top schools where I thought I wouldn't want to live. I changed my mind along the way.

 

[Premed2003]

Is anyone else having trouble starting a new topic?

 

[Premed2003]

To clarify....when I try to start a New Topic, it gives me an error message...

 

[The Philosopher]

Premed 2003,

same for me. I can't start new topics and i can't even Im the moderators.

the hell??

 

[SMW]

It's hard to say how many schools is optimum. It depends on the strength of your overall application, but even a really strong appliation shouldn't make you complacent. I would say, unless you're a really stellar applicant, 20-25 well-chosen schools is not overdoing it. I applied to 23 with unremarkable stats, and got decent results. If I had gone hog-wild eliminating schools from my list, I might be very unhappy today.