Secondaries

[gren]

I am wondering if anyone out there can help me gauge as to the number of schools that I should respond to from the schools that have sent me a secondary. On my AMCAS application, I checked off close to thirty schools and recently, I have received secondaries from many of the schools. I have received secondaries from some pre-screening schools as well(but not all, especially the top schools). I have not been rejected from anywhere, yet. I realize that people on this forum do not make admissions decisions, but I am overwhelmed because of the number of forms that I have to fill out.
My credentials are:
3.3 GPA in biochem from Berkeley
9 VR, 12 BS, 14 PS, R WS
I have done some community and medicine related exrtracurriculars and am familiar with two foreign languages. Though, the strength of my application lies in my extensive research experience, with a first author paper from a top lab.

Should I focus on the top level schools or is that a waste of time and I would be better suited at a mid or low level school? As I have already stated, I have too many secondaries and I am trying to figure out a good game-plan for the next phase. If anyone can give me some helpful pointers, I would appreciate that very much.

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[tristate]

With an application like that, you would be crazy not to apply to top schools. You'll never know unless you try. But don't just limit yourself to applying for schools based on some magazine's rank.

As far as secondaries, if you have enough money to complete every secondary and attend the interviews then by all means complete every single one of them. But this task can be a waste of time and money if you apply for programs that you are not interested in. Even though the level of education is the same at every accredited medical school in the Northwestern Hemisphere, the approach at every school is somewhat different. Examine each schools' programs carefully and see which one fits you. Look for:

* the amount of time spent in class and labs.
* learning approaches (traditional lecture vs. problem-based learning)
* grading scales
* amount of technology used in the classroom and clinicals
* atmospheres condusive for learning
* and other credentials not listed

There's no point in continuing to apply to a school that you might be miserable in.

tristate

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And the blessings just keep coming!

 

[gren]

tristate,

Thanks for the advice. I suppose that I was judging med schools based on just the arbitrary rating system and some other factors that I had decided that were important. In a way, I think that it is equivalent to med schools judging candidates based on statistics alone. It's wrong for both parties to be so reductive. Anyway, I have found some programs that interest really me. I will apply to most of the schools that I initially checked off and not the handful that I am not interested in.

-gren

 

[Methuselah]

Gren,
I agree, don't waste your money. With credentials like that, mix it up; apply to 8 bigs, 5 middles and 2 safety schools (or some likeable permuation.) Get the MSAR & hit the school websites to refine your choices.