School Selection

[GooseWing]

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Hey all,

I'll be applying this coming June. I've got a (very) preliminary list of 42 schools that I could see myself attending.
I want to narrow this list down to ~20 or so. I remember seeing a post from LizzyM a few months ago advising how many of those 20 should be safety/match/reach schools and am wondering if anyone has that quote of hers or their own input?

Thanks!

 

[chiapet874]

I recommend searching for the LizzyM Score on the forums.

Basically it is GPA(10) + MCAT score +/- 1. Compare that to the averages of the schools you are looking at, except don't add/subtract one. If the 2 numbers are close, it's considered a school you are considered decently competitive.

Previous years have had people compare the effectiveness of the score; I believe it turned out to be fairly effective, although of course it is by no means perfect since it leaves out extracurricular activities.

 

[GooseWing]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm familiar with the LizzyM score and that's what I'm using to determine whether schools are reaches, matches, or safeties. I'm wondering what proportions of these three categories I should apply to to maximize chance of acceptance at the best school possible (i.e., 5 safety, 10 match, 5 reach).

 

[NickNaylor]

There was a thread with this discussion literally no more than a few days ago.

In short, use the MSAR to identify schools that you're competitive at, eliminate schools that you absolutely wouldn't attend for whatever reason, and you're good to go. If you need to shorten your list further, check out school websites for more specific info.

As far as how many safeties, etc. to apply to, it should be based on the strength of your application. If you have a pretty strong application, apply to fewer safeties and/or more reaches. Change the ratio as needed. There is no magic number... it's all arbitrary.