Trying to put together a preliminary list of Schools

[jgauger]

Just trying to put a list together. Here's my story:

Wisconsin resident
UW-Madison udergrad
~3.7 s&c GPA, Strong upward trend since one bad semester (3.9, 3.0, 3.6, 3.8, 3.9)
Avg. Practice MCAT so far PS 9 VR 11 BS 10 ~ 30, Just getting into serious studying, taking in May
Clinical and non-clinical volunteering, average amt., good experiences
Research, no pubs
Lots of shadowing
Work experiences, not clinically related
Well rounded overall, IMO
Really good life experiences => Really good PS
Interested in Rural practice (Family medicine w/ ob)
Soc.Econ. Disadvantaged

These are the schools I'm looking at:

Wisconsin
MCW
Louisville
George Washington
Toledo
Oregon
Boston
Wake Forrest
Rush
West Virginia
Drexel
Temple
NYMC
Illinois
Loyola
Tulane
Jefferson
Penn State

Any suggestions on schools to add or delete from this list and why?

Thanks

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[Catalystik]

Good list. You could consider adding Rosalind Franklin and UIowa. For Oregon, which seemingly accepts a decent number of OOSers, you might want to check on how many of those seats go to WICHE certified residents of Montana and Wyoming and be sure there's enough seats left to be worth applying. The school-specific thread in PreMed Allo might have that information. And if you have Loyola, you might as well consider Creighton and SLU. MCAT score is needed of course before final determination.

 

[jgauger]

Good call with Oregon, thanks a lot. I was thinking of taking Loyola off actually. I'll probable switch Iowa and RF for Oregon and Loyola on my list. lol

 

[DrSmooth]

I'm not familiar with all these schools, but which of these are you considering "reach" schools? You mentioned that you are disadvantaged, do you qualify for the MCAT Fee Waiver? If so, I would recommend applying to maybe ten more schools since secondaries will be free anyways. That would let you shoot for some higher tier schools (maybe Case Western, Pitt, Northwestern, Cornell, Dartmouth) and maybe some additional primary care oriented schools you haven't considered (Rochester, Vermont etc). With a solid MCAT score you never know what could happen.

 

[JJMrK]

These are the schools I'm looking at:

Wisconsin
MCW
Louisville
George Washington
Toledo
Oregon
Boston
Wake Forrest
Rush
West Virginia
Drexel
Temple
NYMC
Illinois
Loyola
Tulane
Jefferson
Penn State



Thanks

I'd probably remove these three in favor of some a little bit more OOS-friendly.

It's hard to say at the moment what types of schools you should be applying to. Bump this thread when you get your MCAT score for more solid advice.

 

[Morsetlis]

Speaking of which, where's the spreadsheet with OOS acceptances for schools?

 

[jgauger]

I'm not familiar with all these schools, but which of these are you considering "reach" schools? You mentioned that you are disadvantaged, do you qualify for the MCAT Fee Waiver? If so, I would recommend applying to maybe ten more schools since secondaries will be free anyways. That would let you shoot for some higher tier schools (maybe Case Western, Pitt, Northwestern, Cornell, Dartmouth) and maybe some additional primary care oriented schools you haven't considered (Rochester, Vermont etc). With a solid MCAT score you never know what could happen.

I do qualify for the Fee Waiver, so the 1st 13 primaries are free and then $30 a piece after that. I truly am disadvantaged, so $300 extra to add those ten schools + traveling to any interviews would be pretty tough to afford. I'm not particularly interested in attending a "high tier" school just for the prestige or name sake. I'll definitely look at Vermont and Rochester though. Again, this all depends on my MCAT score though. Thank you.

 

[Catalystik]

Speaking of which, where's the spreadsheet with OOS acceptances for schools?

It was taken down by the mods due to copyright violation.

 

[DrSmooth]

I do qualify for the Fee Waiver, so the 1st 13 primaries are free and then $30 a piece after that. I truly am disadvantaged, so $300 extra to add those ten schools + traveling to any interviews would be pretty tough to afford. I'm not particularly interested in attending a "high tier" school just for the prestige or name sake. I'll definitely look at Vermont and Rochester though. Again, this all depends on my MCAT score though. Thank you.

The subject of ranking has been beaten to death, but there are reasons to look at top-ranked schools beyond prestige: facilities, resources, quality of faculty, endowment/financial aid, residency placement. Yes, any US MD school is good and lots of lower or unranked programs have great "you fill in the blank", but don't count out top schools because they do have their advantages (and drawbacks of course). And I wouldn't worry about the cost of traveling for interviews until you get the interviews. If you can't swing it financially when the time comes, and the school can't help you out, you can cancel. And it doesn't have to be 10 more schools, just as many more as you can afford. Every additional school applied to = another opportunity for success (hopefully!). Good luck!

 

[jgauger]

Thank you. I'm certainly not counting out top research schools simply because they are, but I also don't have any interest in schools that hang their hat on research and offer little in the way of patient care, not that the ones suggested are that type of school. I'm not an expert on any schools other than whats in the MSAR.

My goals are based in family medicine, and rural medicine more specifically. Going to Big Research School of Medicine located in Metropolitan USA with tuition of 2 extremities and first born doesn't appeal to me, no matter how many ROAD specialists they churn out.

I do appreciate your input a lot and when I get my MCAT score back I'll be able to know what schools I have a shot at.

Also, where would I find rankings of schools for things other than research? I've seen ppl say their school is top rated in this or that, but where do those figures come from?

 

[rockymhs]

I would add some reach school.

If you are getting 30 MCAT without studying, you are very likely to get mid 30.

So if you do get aroudn 35 range, I would go ahead and apply to reach schools as well.

Your EC's look great, and being disadvantaged can only help.

Also, getting into high tier does not mean you won't be able to dedicate youself into family medicine. It will never hurt to have your options open as your thoughts may change over the course of 4 years in med school.

Also, I would add Minnesota since they have separate "rural track" if you choose to do so.

 

[Catalystik]

Also, where would I find rankings of schools for things other than research? I've seen ppl say their school is top rated in this or that, but where do those figures come from?

I think they are generally referring to US News and Business Report rankings. The same magazine also has a ranked list for Primary Care, not just for research.


Top 10 medical schools (primary care) http://www.studentdoc.com/top-10-medical-schools.html

• 1. University of Washington
  2. University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
  3. University of Colorad-Denver and Health Sciences Center
  4. Oregon Health and Science University
  5. Mich. State U. Coll. of Osteopathic Medicine
  6. East Carolina University (Brody, NC)
  7. University of Vermont
  8. University of California - San Francisco
  9. University of Wisconsin Madison
  10. University of Nebraska College of Medicine.
  

 

[DrSmooth]

I think they are generally referring to US News and Business Report rankings. The same magazine also has a ranked list for Primary Care, not just for research.


Top 10 medical schools (primary care) http://www.studentdoc.com/top-10-medical-schools.html

• 1. University of Washington
  2. University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
  3. University of Colorad-Denver and Health Sciences Center
  4. Oregon Health and Science University
  5. Mich. State U. Coll. of Osteopathic Medicine
  6. East Carolina University (Brody, NC)
  7. University of Vermont
  8. University of California - San Francisco
  9. University of Wisconsin Madison
  10. University of Nebraska College of Medicine.

And if you expand it to the top 20, you hit even more schools that are primary care and research focused. UCLA, Michigan, Pitt, many others. And if you are definitely going into rural health, you probably already know about all the scholarship and loan repayment programs out there for rural primary care physicians. That would make tuition differences less significant. Seems like you have a very strong application and with a strong MCAT why not apply to some dream schools? Again, maybe some schools on your list are your dream schools, but the list looked very "safe" to me at first glance.

 

[Tryinglateinlif]

I think they are generally referring to US News and Business Report rankings. The same magazine also has a ranked list for Primary Care, not just for research.



Top 10 medical schools (primary care) http://www.studentdoc.com/top-10-medical-schools.html

• 1. University of Washington
  2. University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
  3. University of Colorad-Denver and Health Sciences Center
  4. Oregon Health and Science University
  5. Mich. State U. Coll. of Osteopathic Medicine
  6. East Carolina University (Brody, NC)
  7. University of Vermont
  8. University of California - San Francisco
  9. University of Wisconsin Madison
  10. University of Nebraska College of Medicine.
  

I don't know which state you are in but UNC and ECU are very primary care oriented. But if you are OOS ECU is almost imposible to get into.