School selection for non+traditional applicants?

[drross90210]

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I have heard that students should target schools where their MCAT/GPA are within the 10-90th percentile.

Is that advice true?

If true, does it hold for applicants who have had significant post-college experiences, like Americorps, TFA, Peace Corps?

I have also heard to target within 4 points of median MCAT score. If true, can applicants with significant post-college experience target a wider range?

Thanks for any insight!

 

[Bonne Nuit]

I have heard that students should target schools where their MCAT/GPA are within the 10-90th percentile.

Is that advice true?

If true, does it hold for applicants who have had significant post-college experiences, like Americorps, TFA, Peace Corps?

I have also heard to target within 4 points of median MCAT score. If true, can applicants with significant post-college experience target a wider range?

Thanks for any insight!

I am a second year nontraditional, and I applied with significant and varied life experiences: long work history in an unrelated industry, lots of leadership, great research, and extensive community service akin to the kind of role someone would have in Americorps (in fact, I supervised Americorps participants for a few years).

Based on my experience and what I know being adjacent to admissions as a medical student, I can tell you that your MCAT and GPA stats are still king.

I developed my school list based on feedback I received in the WAMC forum here, and that list was basically my state schools and every OOS private MD program with an MCAT median +/- 3 points of my own score. I applied to a few "reaches" (4+ points over my MCAT) that have a reputation for valuing nontraditionals and/or extensive service, but had no luck.

However, I received 7 IIs and 5 As off that list of target schools I was provided by SDN advisors. It was an extremely successful cycle by any measure, but I just didn't punch above my weight class.

I got the strong sense that my life experience helped set me apart from every other 51X/3.8X applicant applying to the same set of schools, because my resume was a major topic of interest in interviews. I suspect it will be this way for you, too, so long as your MCAT and GPA are in line with typical matriculants.

URM and military applicants are really the only applicants who can reasonably target schools with medians well above their MCAT score. Now, I'd never discourage you from shooting your shot and applying to a few dream/reach schools (you could always get lucky!), but the majority of your applications should be to schools that match your stats. It's just the way you need to play the game.

 

[KnightDoc]

Yes, the advice is true, because it will apply to precisely 80% of the successful applicants at each school. No way to tell if you are an exception that falls within the remaining 20% without taking the shot. Also, it is far easier to sell yourself if you are in the 90%-ile+ than if you are in the 10%-ile-.

PLENTY of applicants have had significant post-college experiences, and they don't always trump the more traditional elements of a successful application, like GPA, MCAT, research, volunteering, etc.

All you can do is absorb the advice and then take your shot. But yeah, the advice is the advice for a reason. It holds for 4 out of 5 of all applicants, including those like you (i.e., there are applicants with Americorps and Peace Corps experience who are not in the bottom 10%-ile).