After reading this forum I wanted to share a few things I thought would be useful.
How did I narrow down which schools to apply?
I went through the entire directory and crossed off schools for various reasons: Some of my prereqs were taken in undergraduate that had passed the 10 year mark for particular schools, what was the instate percentage of instate applicants accepted (98% is not worth the money to apply as an out of state in my opinion), what were the schools prereqs that I dont have or plan on getting. These were the major decision factors, smaller decision factors were how my stats compared to average, who I needed to get a letter of recommendation from.
What did I use to compare my stats to school averages?
I created a word document to compare my stats with specific schools and compare schools to other schools. As each have different prereqs and observation hour requirements, this allowed a check off process to ensure nothing is missed.
Write essays early:
You already know what the school essay will be by looking through the PTCAS directory and if there are any changes, surely, you have a good start. The PTCAS essay is announced usually a month before PTCAS opens July 1st. So start thinking about what makes you a diverse/unique person to add to the student pool or add to the mission of the school. This part by far took the longest for each school.
Apply early:
Although there are deadlines, the earlier you get your application in, sometimes the sooner the application committee will get to your application to review. If you apply early, your stats may be enough for an interview, compared to if your application is near the bottom of the pile and interview slots are mostly taken.
GRE tips:
Magoosh will really improve your math score, and with enough time (atleast for me) verbal too. The writing section is a little more tricky but atleast you get to practice in the way it is set up on the exam.
🙂
How did I narrow down which schools to apply?
I went through the entire directory and crossed off schools for various reasons: Some of my prereqs were taken in undergraduate that had passed the 10 year mark for particular schools, what was the instate percentage of instate applicants accepted (98% is not worth the money to apply as an out of state in my opinion), what were the schools prereqs that I dont have or plan on getting. These were the major decision factors, smaller decision factors were how my stats compared to average, who I needed to get a letter of recommendation from.
What did I use to compare my stats to school averages?
I created a word document to compare my stats with specific schools and compare schools to other schools. As each have different prereqs and observation hour requirements, this allowed a check off process to ensure nothing is missed.
Write essays early:
You already know what the school essay will be by looking through the PTCAS directory and if there are any changes, surely, you have a good start. The PTCAS essay is announced usually a month before PTCAS opens July 1st. So start thinking about what makes you a diverse/unique person to add to the student pool or add to the mission of the school. This part by far took the longest for each school.
Apply early:
Although there are deadlines, the earlier you get your application in, sometimes the sooner the application committee will get to your application to review. If you apply early, your stats may be enough for an interview, compared to if your application is near the bottom of the pile and interview slots are mostly taken.
GRE tips:
Magoosh will really improve your math score, and with enough time (atleast for me) verbal too. The writing section is a little more tricky but atleast you get to practice in the way it is set up on the exam.
🙂
