What are the tiers of medical schools?

[whitestripes]

I know people often mention the tiers of medical schools, e.g. with a 3.5 GPA and 31 MCAT you can get into a tier 2 or 3 school. However, I haven't seen any lists of the tiers! Are people just using the US News and World report to determine them? If so, how do you know the rankings of the schools that are not free? Please post the commonly accepted tiers to help me finalize my list!

Thanks so much.

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[Scean]

does a "tier" really matter? NO. I know you want to go to a good school, so does everyone, but the fact of the matter is that all accredited schools are great.

You know the good schools, you see the rankings, but what is really important is how you like the location, curriculum, and philosophy behind the school. Don't worry about tiers, just apply broadly and prepare for the roller coaster.

good luck

 

[armybound]

I think it's most important just to know the top-tier schools and recognize them as a reach. Every other school should be fair game.

The top tiers are going to be the schools you recognize by name as top tier.. Harvard, Mayo, Wash U, Baylor, etc

 

[whitestripes]

I understand that in the end, there's the reach schools and there's the hopeful but reasonable schools. I just wanted some way to quantify it before making my list. Another burning question I have is--what are the privates that are really down with out of staters? I've been looking through AMCAS and I could easily fill up 30 of them. Which is why tiers help in this case.

 

[armybound]

Somebody just made this cool school selector Excel spreadsheet that might help you.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=527971&highlight=school+selector

Honestly though, I don't think school rank should matter much in the process, other than knowing where to save money because you don't really have much of a chance.

 

[paradocs we are]

Somebody just made this cool school selector Excel spreadsheet that might help you.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=527971&highlight=school+selector

Honestly though, I don't think school rank should matter much in the process, other than knowing where to save money because you don't really have much of a chance.

Great spreadsheet! Good advice.

OP, be sure to balance wasting money on too many "top-tier" schools and caring too much about adding only schools from a particular tier.