Number of Schools

[Saluki]

Okay,
How many schools should you apply to? I know which school I want to go to, and it's not super competitive but it's still tough, I'm thinking three or four back up plans?

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[14931]

there was a thread on this about a week ago, if u don tget responses do a search for it. good luck!

 

[DarkChild]

since the OP is getting no love, I'll bite:
I applied to 13 schools.
most people apply to something on the order of about 15.
california applicants tend to apply to much ore... I've heard on average about 25.

 

[tBw]

it depends on you. Would you prefer to get in even if it meant going somewhere not one of your ideal school+3 backups or do you have some very strong reason for only applying to 4 or 5 (eg you *have* to stay in a certain geographic area due to a spouse or something) in which case clearly trying to ensure getting in by applying to more far flung schools would not be a good idea. However, by limiting your schools to 3 or 4 you do significantly reduce your statistical chances of getting in. I think as Darkchild said the average is somewhere about 15, with CA people doing around 20. Some people on these boards apply to 40 or 50 schools. I don't know how they find that many to apply to! I screened schools based on acceptance rates of out of state and on that alone I couldn't have come up with that many schools, let alone the other criteria I had. So I applied to 20 schools - but then that included several schools that were 'throw away' schools (ie so unlikely I would get into they almost didn't count eg CA state schools as an out-of-stater), plus the traditional big name 'reach' schools, plus some that were more likely. I would suggest making a list of schools that you feel you would be happy going to based on your own criteria, then consider how much it would cost to apply to that many and your competitiveness at each.

 

[Trix]

A great deal of the decision really does depend on you ie. your stats, do you want to move etc.

I'm a CA resident, applied to 20 schools, and wish I had kept the list to about 12-15. Definitely consider the cost and amount of time it takes to send back those secondaries.

 

[cabruen]

Just remember, that if you end up not getting an acceptance to any school, you will wish you had applied to more. I think the numbers people are mentioning are about right if you are an "average" applicant, but as Dr. Foxy kept drilling into our head...apply to a large RANGE of schools. 15 applications is not enough if they are all top schools.

 

[jot]

i ended up fully applying to about 20 - which was waaay overkill. but as people have said, that is situation dependent (i didn't know how i'd fare at all). if you know you are a strong candidate, then i would only apply to about 12 carefully chosen places - but if you don't know where you stand, widen your net. bestofluck
-jot

 

[tBw]

hmm, I agree that applying to a range of schools is a good idea if you are willing to attend a range of schools, however, there were a couple of schools I applied to (both upper tier and lower tier) which I applied to for such strategic reasons - but then I never sent the secondary because once I had stopped 'panicing' about not getting in, I realised I really *didn't* want to go to those schools, and would rather re-apply next year than go live somewhere for the next 4 years I didn't want to be. So apply to a range, but only apply to schools you would actually want to attend for the next 4 years.

 

[traveller4ever]

wow, nice link (Cabruen)--I'm impressed that u even mapped it all out!
Yeah, I've applied to 6 in the US (i didn't finish 2 secondaries), 5 in Canada, 1 Overseas. so that makes 12 total (completed).

 

[tBw]

Originally posted by traveller4ever
wow, nice link (Cabruen)--I'm impressed that u even mapped it all out!

Yeah, I thought that was pretty cool too. I should probably do something similar to help the folks back home and avoid the confusion that erupted last time - eg for 6 months before I moved to St Louis my mom thought I was moving to the Caribbean....you know, all those famous Caribbean Islands: St Christophers, St Croix, Sta Lucia, St Louis....boy was she disappointed when I pointed out where St Louis was on the map

 

[DW]

word to want jot said.....definitely get feedback from as many sources as possible (pre med advisors, SDNers, adcoms, doctors you know, etc) before deciding on a number.......there is almost an inverse relationship between the strength of your application and the number of schools you might need to apply to. if you've got "borderline" numbers or live in california, you might want to apply to about 20 schools. If you've got great numbers and other non cognitive qualifications, then you can afford a much more limited selection. I applied to 22 schools which has proven to be a little too much (i guess hindsight is always 20/20), its nice to have been accepted to a couple places, but i could have saved some time and money

definitely, go with a wide range of schools, but make sure they're schools you'd actually want to go to, and ~15 sounds like a good average number. you can do more whittling down at the secondary stage too

 

[souljah1]

Last year...i sent 12 primaries, completed 10 secondaries, had 6 interview requests, and went on 5 of them. if i had to do it over, i would have applied to a couple more schools. i made my decisions largely on location = CA or NY/NJ (my old stomping grounds). It was a little stressful at times, but everything worked out in the end.

 

[Dr. Wall$treet]

i did 22.. ran outa money andpatience

 

[Gleevec]

Im prolly gonna apply to 14:
4 in state
2 out of state california publics (furthest reach)
4 more reach schools
4 decent chance schools

 

[AlternateSome1]

I am thinking 6.

3 in state.
2 out of state with reasonable odds.
1 out of state with horrible odds.

~AS1~

 

[wolferman]

I applied to 23. At the beginning of the admissions process I had no way to tell how schools would view my app. On the one hand I had a pretty low undergrad GPA. On the other hand, my post bac GPA is steller, as are my EC's, LORs and research experiences. I too am beginning to think it was overkill because depsite a handful of rejections so far, I've also been getting interviews across the board--low tier and high tier. And while I'm excited at the prospect of getting in somewhere, the process is very expensive and until I get a single acceptance I have to keep on scheduling interviews for EVERY school just to be safe. I'd hate to reject an interview only to find out that I didn't get in anywhere else.

So my answer to you, mashce, is unless it is difficult to judge where you stand competitively, I would apply to around 10-15, choosing ~3-5 low, middle, and high tier schools. I think that would cover you pretty well.

Good luck!