School reputations

[rosaceae]

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Like almost everyone else on this thread, I am having a pretty tough time creating a school list. I am striving for 20-25 schools and so far my list is ~30. CA resident btw.

I've looked through the MSAR and created a list based off of locations that I would like to be in and/or GPA/MCAT. I am still having such a hard time bringing the list down. Many people here have suggested looking into mission statements but when I do I feel that some are pretty vague. Would anyone be willing to tell me the red flags (e.g. not OOS friendly, too many applicants, etc.) and the specific criteria (e.g. rural, urban, specific race, specific state, primary care focus, global health focus, research focus) of each school on my list? Or even other interesting tidbits about them. I feel like there is a lot to each school that is not listed in the MSAR and was wondering if you all had miscellaneous info about these schools to share with me that might help me narrow my list down based off of my interests 🙂 I know many of the red flags for each school, but I just can't bring myself to cut a lot of them out because I just really love some of them! At the same time, I want to be realistic which is why I still have a lot more schools on here. Thanks!!

Northwestern (family in Chicago)
Stanford
UCSF
UCLA - Geffen
UCLA - Drew
UCSD
UCI
UCD
UCR
USC Keck
Mayo
St. Louis
NYU
Boston University
University of South Florida (family in Tampa)
Georgetown
Rush
University of Washington (brother went here)
Colorado (Love it)
Albany
Temple
George Washington
Wake Forest
Oregon (Would love to stay on the West Coast)
Creighton
NYMC
Drexel
Penn State
U of A - Tucson
Virginia Commonwealth

 

[milski]

University of Washington is very OOS unfriendly. The numbers for OOS that you see for UW are actually for students from ID/AK/MT which are considered to be in-state, or more precisely from the WAMI region which UW targets to serve.

 

[gyngyn]

Stats?

 

[rosaceae]

I am a CA resident with a 3.89c 3.84s and a balanced 32 MCAT. Science major and art history minor.
Generally I have ~1000 hrs tutoring, ~1300 hrs clinical with one organization that took me abroad a few times (Treasurer, President), set up another organization on campus for marrow drives, ~120 hrs in a clinic servicing the underserved population in my community, ~550 hrs in a different hospital in various departments with direct patient care, ~300 hrs clinical research, ~100 hrs independent field research (tropical biology) abroad, ~200 hrs chemistry outreach volunteering, ~150 hrs tour guide, various academic and extracurricular awards. very strong LORs. 2 science, 1 art history, 2 supervisors, 1 physician that I went abroad with. I am really unsure whether or not I would like to go into primary care or a specialty. I do value social interactions, teaching, and leading (which is my primary emphasis in my app/PS) and would love to get involved with global health one day and am really considering pursuing an MD/MPH if the school offers it.

 

[gyngyn]

I am a CA resident with a 3.89c 3.84s and a balanced 32 MCAT. Science major and art history minor.
Generally I have ~1000 hrs tutoring, ~1300 hrs clinical with one organization that took me abroad a few times (Treasurer, President), set up another organization on campus for marrow drives, ~120 hrs in a clinic servicing the underserved population in my community, ~550 hrs in a different hospital in various departments with direct patient care, ~300 hrs clinical research, ~100 hrs independent field research (tropical biology) abroad, ~200 hrs chemistry outreach volunteering, ~150 hrs tour guide, various academic and extracurricular awards. very strong LORs. 2 science, 1 art history, 2 supervisors, 1 physician that I went abroad with. I am really unsure whether or not I would like to go into primary care or a specialty. I do value social interactions, teaching, and leading (which is my primary emphasis in my app/PS) and would love to get involved with global health one day and am really considering pursuing an MD/MPH if the school offers it.

All of your CA schools are reaches except UCR, UCI, UCD, and Drew. However, unless you fit the mission statement for UCR, UCD and Drew, those also become reaches. Mayo, Northwestern, NYU, U of Washington are reaches for a variety of reasons. If you are ok with that many low yield applications your list is fine.

 

[rosaceae]

I am more interested in learning more about each school rather than where I stand with them (thank you though for taking the time to respond!) since I have posted in this thread with that question in the past. My problem here is that I have way too many on the list (and as I continue to look into medical schools, I have a ton more than I wish I could add!) and I really need to cut it down. I would like to know if each school has a specific factor they look for in an applicant (e.g. if you come from a rural place, if you have worked with the underserved, global health experience, etc.). Thanks for the replies!

 

[October88]

I am more interested in learning more about each school rather than where I stand with them (thank you though for taking the time to respond!) since I have posted in this thread with that question in the past. My problem here is that I have way too many on the list (and as I continue to look into medical schools, I have a ton more than I wish I could add!) and I really need to cut it down. I would like to know if each school has a specific factor they look for in an applicant (e.g. if you come from a rural place, if you have worked with the underserved, global health experience, etc.). Thanks for the replies!

If you want to learn what each school looks for read the paragraph about selection factors in the msar🙂

 

[gyngyn]

If you want to learn what each school looks for read the paragraph about selection factors in the msar🙂

Exactly. It's what makes you a reach at the schools I mentioned.

 

[rosaceae]

I have looked through the MSAR multiple times and went through all the selection factors. I am not trying to appear lazy or appear like I want someone else to do the work for me (which is why I said that I know the red flags/specific selection factors that are stated on the MSAR) but am just wondering if there is anything you guys would be able to add that is NOT in the MSAR but that you just heard from others. For instance, I have heard before that there is kind of an unspoken requirement in Colorado to have >500 community service hrs. This is not something on the MSAR but that I just heard from others who have more experience with that school. I was just wondering if there are other little facts about each school that I put on that list that is something I can find out from others and not from the MSAR.