So many schools??

[lastbastion]

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I have a question. I hear a lot of people talking about how many schools they apply to, and some of them are insane. I can see applying to 10-20 schools, but applying to 30? 40? 50?

Isn't that a red flag for admissions commitees? I mean really, applying to that many schools shows not only a lack of confidence in yourself, but also in the application process. Along with that, there is no way that you have visted every school, and know each one like the back of your hand like you should. And I know, some of you will say that you just want to be a doctor, and you'll do anything it takes.
But that kind of mentality is almost counter-intuitive to the idea of efficiency as a doctor. For example, if you become a doctor, you will not order EVERY test under the moon and put your patient through unneeded and unwanted physical and emotional pain to find what's wrong. A good an efficient doctor orders the relevant tests, rules out many, is confident in his/her original assesment, and shows it.
Shouldn't we as applicants show this same kind of efficiency and logic in thought when applying to schools, show pride and confidence in our abilities?????

 

[JonnieQuest]

Can someone give LastBastion a beating? Before you go and write about efficiency and applying to so many schools being counter-intuitive, you need to know about residency. The AVERAGE Cali resident applies to 28...so applying to 30 schools is around the average for us. In addition, it's not about lack of confidence, it's about randomness in the process. Sure if I had a 42 on the MCAT and a 4.0, I'd apply to five schools, but since I fall "just" short, I'm going to apply to fifty. And it IS about doing whatever it takes to be a doctor and if you don't get it, then maybe you don't want it badly enough.

 

[exmike]

You're insane if you have average stats and you DONT apply to 20-30 schools, esp from california. Furthermore, schools DONT know how many you applied to so your argument that it indicates insecurity with ones abilities is baseless. Besides, one thing SDN has proved is that getting in med school is a crap shoot. I would hardly equate picking school's youll get in with making a diagnosis. Maybe you're some superstar that can get in anywhere, but most of us arent. There is no pride or efficiency involved in this process. If anything its a practice in inefficiency and pride swallowing. I think most of us have come to grips with that, and so should you.

Originally posted by lastbastion
I have a question. I hear a lot of people talking about how many schools they apply to, and some of them are insane. I can see applying to 10-20 schools, but applying to 30? 40? 50?

Isn't that a red flag for admissions commitees? I mean really, applying to that many schools shows not only a lack of confidence in yourself, but also in the application process. Along with that, there is no way that you have visted every school, and know each one like the back of your hand like you should. And I know, some of you will say that you just want to be a doctor, and you'll do anything it takes.
But that kind of mentality is almost counter-intuitive to the idea of efficiency as a doctor. For example, if you become a doctor, you will not order EVERY test under the moon and put your patient through unneeded and unwanted physical and emotional pain to find what's wrong. A good an efficient doctor orders the relevant tests, rules out many, is confident in his/her original assesment, and shows it.
Shouldn't we as applicants show this same kind of efficiency and logic in thought when applying to schools, show pride and confidence in our abilities?????

 

[ATPase]

There is no way a med school can find out how many other schools you applied to unless you tell them yourself. That being said, I applied to 8 schools and wouldn't want to dish out the money to apply to any more than that. However, I feel reasonably certain of being accepted to at least one of those schools. If you want to maximize your options and if you have the money, why not apply to lots of schools?

 

[lastbastion]

I'm not talking about just cali residents. My point, which was not at all mean spirited however you took it, was that if you have pretty good stats then why is there anything to worry about. I would think that being confident and applying to a limited amount of schools for which you have a good amount of knowledge, 10-20 schools, that all of this would help you gain admission. If an interviewer (open interview) saw that you applied to 30-40 schools or more I would think he would immediately have some doubt in how prepared you think you are for medical school.

 

[lastbastion]

this is on the presumption that you don't lie to your interviewer when he asks how many and to which schools you applied to

 

[exmike]

and this is presuming they ask

Originally posted by lastbastion
this is on the presumption that you don't lie to your interviewer when he asks how many and to which schools you applied to

 

[lastbastion]

I really don't know what to say, but I'll try.

A. Some of you are idiots.

B. Medical schools are competing for you, you are competing for them. No matter what you think, you are the one applying to specific schools, they aren't sending you invitations to join automatically.

C. You guys need to chill out. Seriously.

 

[lastbastion]

correction* Medical schools are not competing for you.

 

[JonnieQuest]

Originally posted by lastbastion
I really don't know what to say, but I'll try.

A. Some of you are idiots.

B. Medical schools are competing for you, you are competing for them. No matter what you think, you are the one applying to specific schools, they aren't sending you invitations to join automatically.

C. You guys need to chill out. Seriously.

Like I said...someone needs to give you a beating...and with your perspective, i think i see dentistry in your future. gee, that wasn't meant to be meanspirited.

 

[lastbastion]

My initial statement was not meanspirited. However when people suddenly attack me (the first post after the original is model), I feel obligated to respond.

By the way, your last comments are baseless, and I still think you need to chill out.

 

[....]

Calm down...apply to how ever many schools you want. Your acceptance at a school can come down to what one random interviewer thinks of you.....one dude who has 30 minutes to figure out if he likes you.....a dude in another thread got waitlisted at a school with a 3.5 31 average mcat and and gpa with a 3.9 and a 33...should he have been certian? Did he make a mistake by applying to alot more schools?

 

[lastbastion]

I don't know why so many of you are angry with what I said. Maybe because you have poor stats and lash out at anyone who says you need spine. I can't put my finger on it, but it seems that you guys are too stressed this season, maybe not enough interviews yet? Whatever the case may be, I hope you understand where I'm coming from, and hope you do succeed and prove me wrong.

PS: Some of you still may be angry, why? I won't know. But you to those who are....grow up.

 

[lastbastion]

I really need spell check. haha

Yeah, so in conclusion: hope you do well.

thats all.

 

[superdevil]

i don't know if lastbastion is a troll or not, but he/she comes close to making a good point. when i apply (keep in mind i'm "merely" an ohio resident, not cali or anything), i'm making my list up very carefully. i only want to apply to schools that are especially desirable to me, with some less competitive schools thrown in there for variety. it sounds like some of the people i hear are applying to so many schools that they couldn't possibly have special, compelling reasons to attend other than the end result of becoming an MD/DO somewhere. to a point, i can still sympathize with this, though.

JonnieQuest, i saw on another thread that you said you were applying to 50 schools and that you had two friends applying to 65, so we all know where you would stand on this issue. still, since you brought up "perspective," you must have perspective enough to see how other people would view that without taking such offense to someone else's viewpoint. i mean, SIXTY-FIVE schools? that sounds like an awful lot to me (once again, i'm not cali), and i do see how some would view that as out-and-out ridiculous. even with your dissent in regards to lastbastion's "point," i don't think you gain any type of moral highground by prescibing beatings. i mean, come on...

this post is not mean-spirited, i'm not a troll or a troll-ally, (insert miscellaneous disclaimer to prevent more personal attacks...).

good luck to EVERYBODY, no matter how many schools!

 

[cad_15]

although i am applying to 14 schools, I know a guy who applied to 65 schools and now another girl is applying to 40 school .......insane people (both have a GPA above 3.85, the guy had an mcat of 31)

 

[Jsscales05]

65 is out of control

 

[chocolateshake]

SIXTY-FIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😱 😱

 

[cad_15]

yep.......Insane people. Both of them had to take loans for the process. Somebody asked in another how far we will go to become MD's?

 

[chocolateshake]

Big loans for application...what about the actual medical school??

 

[LUBDUBB]

Originally posted by lastbastion
I don't know why so many of you are angry with what I said. Maybe because you have poor stats and lash out at anyone who says you need spine. I can't put my finger on it, but it seems that you guys are too stressed this season, maybe not enough interviews yet?

1. Don't put people down - especially if you don't even know them

2. Don't tell people they are too stressed - it's very stressful (especially for those who are screwed over by AMCAS)

3. You are a freshman in college who think he's going to finish college with a 3.99, go to hopkins med, and land ortho at mass general.

4. Instead of trolling on sdn you should be busy kissing the pre-med advisor's a$$.

5. By the time you finish college you'll realize that getting into med school is such a crapshoot that one must maximize his/her chances of acceptance by applying to a decent number of schools.

6. Once you realize #5, you will probably switch to pre-law while trying to convince your classmates that law school was your dream ever since you were a kid.

7. If you're lucky, I'll be the treating Orthopedic at mass general when JonnieQuest breaks that spine that you claim to have. 😱

 

[JonnieQuest]

Originally posted by LUBDUBB
1. Don't put people down - especially if you don't even know them

2. Don't tell people they are too stressed - it's very stressful (especially for those who are screwed over by AMCAS)

3. You are a freshman in college who think he's going to finish college with a 3.99, go to hopkins med, and land ortho at mass general.

4. Instead of trolling on sdn you should be busy kissing the pre-med advisor's a$$.

5. By the time you finish college you'll realize that getting into med school is such a crapshoot that one must maximize his/her chances of acceptance by applying to a decent number of schools.

6. Once you realize #5, you will probably switch to pre-law while trying to convince your classmates that law school was your dream ever since you were a kid.

7. If you're lucky, I'll be the treating Orthopedic at mass general when JonnieQuest breaks that spine that you claim to have. 😱

ahh, well said! somebody who can write down exactly what i was feeling.

 

[Gleevec]

Originally posted by LUBDUBB
1. Don't put people down - especially if you don't even know them

2. Don't tell people they are too stressed - it's very stressful (especially for those who are screwed over by AMCAS)

3. You are a freshman in college who think he's going to finish college with a 3.99, go to hopkins med, and land ortho at mass general.

4. Instead of trolling on sdn you should be busy kissing the pre-med advisor's a$$.

5. By the time you finish college you'll realize that getting into med school is such a crapshoot that one must maximize his/her chances of acceptance by applying to a decent number of schools.

6. Once you realize #5, you will probably switch to pre-law while trying to convince your classmates that law school was your dream ever since you were a kid.

7. If you're lucky, I'll be the treating Orthopedic at mass general when JonnieQuest breaks that spine that you claim to have. 😱

Beautiful!

 

[lastbastion]

To whom it may concern:

As a matter of mact I am not a freshman, nor seek to go to Hopkins, nor plan on a law degree, nor do not put anyone down before they have me.

I am a junior, live in SC, I don't have a 3.99 but a 3.75 not the best and not the worst.

I made a pretty benign comment/question. Some of you took it the wrong way. As you'll see the first comment after the original says I deserve a beating. They should deserve to be put in an anger management program if they get bent out of shape over a coment like mine.

I ended my last comment by saying that I hope you prove me wrong and hope you all do well. Thats not brash, not sarcastic, its sincere.

I also think you all use the word troll too much. Its become the staple term for any person who has view points dissimilar to your own. I think that is a pretty narrow way to look at the world, and hope you increase the breadth of your perceptions sooner or later. If not, I know that you will most certainly live a disasterous life.

 

[jmarra03]

Hi,
I am one of the many who applied to a ton of schools, around 40. I did it because I wanted to keep my options open. I applied to osteopathic and allopathic and I chose areas of the country I knew I would like and looked at ther schools in that area and chose the ones that were most appealing to me. Noone has faulted me applying to too many schools, and I have been invited to interview at many schools so far. I already got into my first choice school, an Osetopathic school in Maine, but I am still recieveing interview requests from allopathic and osteopathic schools. I honestly don't see anythign wrong with applying to lots of schools. If anything I feel worst about spending too much money on expensive applications, but I certainly don't feel I was excessive or wrong to have done so. I knew I wanted medical school and I know the competition is tight, especially in the northeast, which is where I live and hope to practice. I certainly don't think it implies that I would be an excessive physician and order indecisive and wasteful tests on my patients, where would you come up with that idea?

 

[Tezzie]

Lastbastion i think you are failing to understand a few things.

Overall i applied to 26 schools. I started with 18. Then 20. Then 22, 25 and then 1 more instate 🙂 . The reason for that was not because of my scores, or lack of ECs or anything else but i felt somewhat insecure.I want to get into a school that i will really fit in, a program that i think suits me best and i will enjoy the location. Sometimes it's hard to combine all three.

This is not law school. Solid scores MAY get you to the interview process but from then on it's really a luck game. Take a look at this applicant. If you treat the med school admissions process with vanity then you are sure to lose. It's better to keep your options open and apply to a broad range of schools than to think that you are sure to get into a specific school.

I don't lack confidence but at the same time i know that rejection is part of the game.

Regards,

Tezzie

PS. So far i have had interview invites from my top 5 schools (JHU, Harvard, WashU, Chicago, Columbia), so obviously the adcoms didn't think i was weak enough to be rejected 😛 [not that they can see that i applied to many schools anyway]

 

[Gleevec]

Originally posted by lastbastion
I have a question. I hear a lot of people talking about how many schools they apply to, and some of them are insane. I can see applying to 10-20 schools, but applying to 30? 40? 50?

Isn't that a red flag for admissions commitees? I mean really, applying to that many schools shows not only a lack of confidence in yourself, but also in the application process. Along with that, there is no way that you have visted every school, and know each one like the back of your hand like you should. And I know, some of you will say that you just want to be a doctor, and you'll do anything it takes.
But that kind of mentality is almost counter-intuitive to the idea of efficiency as a doctor. For example, if you become a doctor, you will not order EVERY test under the moon and put your patient through unneeded and unwanted physical and emotional pain to find what's wrong. A good an efficient doctor orders the relevant tests, rules out many, is confident in his/her original assesment, and shows it.
Shouldn't we as applicants show this same kind of efficiency and logic in thought when applying to schools, show pride and confidence in our abilities?????

Medical school admissions is very much based on luck at a certain point, especially for the most highly ranked schools. You assume that adcoms are rational and pick based on objective criteria. This is not true. Thus, premeds must attempt to draw upon a large enough sample size (apply to a dozen schools) such that this randomness is minimalized. This is statistical thinking and is truly logical, as it shows that we are rational insofar as we understand that with a certain degree of randomness, it is to our advantage to apply to a good number of schools such as to mitigate the negative effects of said randomness.

If you don't think med school admissions are fairly random yet, just wait.

 

[Amy B]

I will have to add my two cents here. I seriously don't think the originial poster was being mean spirited. Many people figure if they apply to a truck load of schools they will have a better chance of getting in somewhere. That is the logic behind it.

There is always something in the back of their mind that says... school J, K and L... well I might as well apply to those too.... how about M, N, O, P, Q, etc.... I am sure to get in if I add those to my list...... Well heck, I might as well add every East coast school... ect, etc, etc....

It is that feeling of insecurity and I think unless you have a VERY perfect overall package, it is something we all feel when adding the schools to our AMCAS application. Basically our futures as doctors are riding on us getting in somewhere.

lastbastion, that is the logic behind it, in my opinion. I don't think you were trolling. I have been here many years and read many posts. This process makes us all a lot crazy and sometimes people read more into posts than what is actually meant.

🙂

 

[jtn]

To settle the issue on whether medical schools know how many schools you are applying to and where....

Admissions committee only know where and how many you are applying after May, before that they don't know jack (unless they directly ask you or you tell them). They use this info to decide to reject waitlisters (if you are already accepted at other schools) or to accept (if you have no acceptance). This makes sure that no applicant gets another acceptance when they already have 9 acceptances already.

Personally, I think this whole application process to med schools is mostly by chance. Think about it, if your application happens to be on top of a pile that happens to be on top of a desk of an admissions staff who just feels happy that morning and your essay happens to be good and it happens to give her a warm fuzzy feeling and excites her and she happens to say "what the hell" and marks "request interview"...you got your interview.

But if your application happens to get coffee spilled over and is accidently shoved to the bottom of the pile that happens to be sitting in a dark corner of the room...then your application will be read at the end of the day of the month when everyone is pissed and female admissions staffs are on their pms and they just want to choke somebody. Then your chances won't be that good and would be worst if your essay is just plain boring. It also doesn't help when your photo is all wrinkled and ugly and looks yellow because of the coffee spill. jtn

 

[periodic]

I agree with Tezzie and others. Insecurity (with good reason, due the randomness of the process) plays a big role in applying to many schools.

I applied to 19 schools so far, and I'm still fighting an urge to send my AMCAS, late though it will be, to another school or two. And that profile on mdapplicants scares the bejeesus out of me. Maybe the person had 0 interviewing skills? I hope so...