what were some of your safeties? and which schools did you love?

[brownie2003]

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hey guys!
well...getting into med school is an incredibly hard task and an honor, so i don't know if there is such a thing as a "safety" medical school. but i'll try asking anyways 🙂 with average stats (say 30 MCAT, good GPA), what were some of YOUR "safeties"? which schools did you absolutely love (environment-wise)?
thanks,
brownie

(applying this year and need some advice!)

 

[stapler187]

Jefferson was a safety, but actually really impressed me. Great emphasis on clinical training, maybe one of the best I saw out there....

 

[UCLAMAN]

I don't think it is wise to think of schools as safeties with a 30 and good gpa. If you had a 35+ and a good gpa(assuming you have some pretty good ECs) then I think it would be fair to think about some schools as safeties. You are right and perhaps answered your own question. There aren't really any safety schools for 30's and good gpas. You should treat every school as an important one. My advice, don't think in terms of "safeties" with those numbers. Don't think of it as "well if i don't get into my top choice schools, i'll get in somewhere for sure with these stats." The application process can be a crapshoot.

As far as schools that I loved....I liked USC, Dartmouth, Northwestern, and hopefully I'll like Stanford(I'm pretty sure I will when I get there for mass tomorrow). USC seemed like a great atmosphere, in so cal, students loved it, facilities are nice, can't beat clinical training at county-usc. Dartmouth was cold as heck. But, I liked the smaller class size and the presence of winter sports, as well as a nice hospital and very friendly faculty. Northwestern was probably the most "chill" med school I have visited. The program looks good too! Their new hospital is awesome. Stanfords campus is beautiful and if you would like to pursue other endeavors their 5 yr track is great.

Sorry if I started off with a negative tone. Its just as a reapplicant I don't think you should think in terms of safeties in this process. Just apply to a broad range of schools. You may get an interview at your dream school but get tossed by your safety. You really don't know what will happen.

 

[Emergen-C]

I think many people end up having NYMC as what I prefer to call "a school they're more likely to get into."

 

[What the pho]

Try DO school, any of them.

 

[brownie2003]

how about with a 4.0 from an ivy, 31 MCAT, good ECs... any more suggestions of "schools more likely to get into"? thanks for the replies so far! just trying to make out a list...

 

[dmbpremed]

I agree with earlier posters about there being no true "saftey" schools; you can never predict what will hapen.

 

[poloace]

questions like these can't be answered. you have to look into what you want from a school and what it will offer you. i think a 'safety' school is a school that isn't your first choice for any reason.... columbia could be someone's safety school just because of the emphasis in research, while nymc could be someone's dream school because of the emphasis on primary care. it also matters what state your from, your ec's, etc., etc. no one is going to give you an aswer tailored to yourself except you.

p

 

[Wrigleyville]

Med school admissions is a crap-shoot... much more than any of us wants to admit. You might rejected from a "safety" school because they didn't think you'd go there, and get accepted at some school you thought you had no shot at because they liked one of your essays. As long as you've got the money, apply to as many places as strike your fancy. You don't have to go in for interviews down the road or even submit secondaries if you change your mind.

As far as great environments, Northwestern is in a great part of Chicago, and Emory is in a beautiful part of Atlanta.

Hope this helps.


Wrigley

 

[paean]

Drexel has relatively low GPA/scores and accepts about 3 times it's entering class.

I didn't like it, but another applicant I talked to at our Hopkins interview said that she was really impressed by their use of technology and it was her top choice.

 

[X]

It is somewhat of a crapshoot. I haven't heard back from NYMC ever, completed aug 15. And got into some better schools. Go figure.

Schools that impressed me were Medical college of Ohio, USC, and Drexel. Drexel has a very good and friendly enviornment.

Finch, NYMC, Vermont are considered safety schools by some. But it is a crapshoot. Nevertheless, they are all very good schools.

X

 

[TeinVI]

Originally posted by dmbpremed
Nevertheless, some of my "safer" schools were NYU, Tufts, U. Pitt, U. Maryland - these are all wonderful schools but I knew I would/will get in. I have a 39R and a 3.9 from JHU. Hope this helps future applicants.

prick

 

[CRAZYTERP]

Tein VI,
My sentiments exactly. Who the hell needs to post crap like that.

Anyways, I would definitely look into the University of Miami. I meabn it's not exactly that easy to get into out of state but since they are trying to move up in the ranks they are actually letting in more peeps from out of florida. Great school, awesome clinical experience, and there is a pretty incredible relationship between students and faculty.

 

[Ramoray]

All i can say is there is NO safetys, the schools i thought i had NO chance and wasted my time, some of them gave me interivews, some i thought i had a really good shot rejected my first, so really belive me unless ur a SUPER stellar applicant there is NO safety.. this process is crazzzzy

 

[Emergen-C]

Originally posted by X
Finch, NYMC, Vermont are considered safety schools by some.
X

Ha! 🙄
With an out of state acceptance rate of 4.7%, I would really hesitate to call UVM a safety...they have 4,996 applicants, interview 510, and accept 257 for a class of 95.

People need to realize that it is HARD to get into state schools as an out-of-state applicant!!!!

In case anyone's curious, NYMC has an out-of-state acceptance rate of 9.4%. They have 6,088 apps for 1554 interviews, 655 acceptances, for a class size of 188.

 

[HouseHead]

Originally posted by MD2007Hopeful
Ha! People need to realize that it is HARD to get into state schools as an out-of-state applicant!!!!

In case anyone's curious, NYMC has an out-of-state acceptance rate of 9.4%. They have 6,088 apps for 1554 interviews, 655 acceptances, for a class size of 188.

The SUNY system is no longer showing in-state preference. Which is probably why I haven't heard anything from Stony Brook, despite being waitlisted there last year...

As for NYMC's out-of-state acceptance rate: Are you sure 9.4% is their ACCEPTANCE rate? I thought that was their ENROLLMENT rate. People who live in and around NYC are more likely to be willing to shell out the big $$$ to be near NYC than people who aren't from this area. They are also more likely to know about NYMC and think of it as a "safety" than people from outside the area.

As for the thread in general: 39Q and 3.65 from a highly regarded (not Ivy) school didn't get me in anywhere last year, even my "safety" schools.

 

[Cory]

Originally posted by HouseHead
The SUNY system is no longer showing in-state preference. Which is probably why I haven't heard anything from Stony Brook, despite being waitlisted there last year...

um, where did you hear that about the SUNY's not showing in-state preference? I interviewed at 2 of them, and they both told me that they most certainly show in-state preference, and I know someone accepted to Stony Brook this year who was told the same thing.

 

[Cory]

Originally posted by HouseHead

As for NYMC's out-of-state acceptance rate: Are you sure 9.4% is their ACCEPTANCE rate? I thought that was their ENROLLMENT rate. People who live in and around NYC are more likely to be willing to shell out the big $$$ to be near NYC than people who aren't from this area. They are also more likely to know about NYMC and think of it as a "safety" than people from outside the area.

From U.S. News and World Reports:

37.2% In State Enrollment

Total: 6,088 Applied, 1,554 Interviewed, 655 Accepted, 188 Enrolled

In State: 1,326 Applied, 402 Interviewed, 204 Accepted, 61 Enrolled

Out of State: 4,762 Applied, 1,152 Interviewed, 451 Accepted, 127 Enrolled

 

[Emergen-C]

Originally posted by HouseHead
As for NYMC's out-of-state acceptance rate: Are you sure 9.4% is their ACCEPTANCE rate? I thought that was their ENROLLMENT rate. People who live in and around NYC are more likely to be willing to shell out the big $$$ to be near NYC than people who aren't from this area. They are also more likely to know about NYMC and think of it as a "safety" than people from outside the area.

Yes, according to the 2003 USNews ranking statistics:
NYMC
Overall Acceptance Rate=10.7%
In-state Acceptance Rate=15.3%
Out-of-State Acceptance Rate=9.4%

 

[JlazyMD]

how about with a 4.0 from an ivy, 31 MCAT, good ECs... any more suggestions of "schools more likely to get into"? thanks for the replies so far! just trying to make out a list...

Brownie, with a 4.0 and 31 MCAT from an ivy (from Brown, if I may make a wild guess), your numbers do not count you out anywhere. The other parts of your app make a big difference here. LORs, ECs, personal statement-- all should indicate that you are motivated, compassionate, and would make an excellent physician. If it all is strong, then you should get lots of interviews. Only apply to schools you would attend, apply to all the ones you really like, all your state schools, and apply to a full range of schools, in your case focus on the ones in the 10-20 range on the US news list, as they will likely consider you a good fit. Much lower and schools may not interview because they think you consider them a safety.

In your position I would do:

top 10 - 4-6 schools
10-30 - ~10 schools
state schools - all
30-50 - 3-5 schools
+ any other schools you love

Of course the US News list doesn't tell the whole story, but it does fairly accurately judge the difficulty of acceptance to schools.

With your numbers, I wouldn't bother applying to NYMC, Albany type schools.

Best of luck!

 

[HouseHead]

Originally posted by Cory
um, where did you hear that about the SUNY's not showing in-state preference? I interviewed at 2 of them, and they both told me that they most certainly show in-state preference, and I know someone accepted to Stony Brook this year who was told the same thing.

Buffalo and Upstate. I dunno, maybe they weren't clear about it being SUNY-wide. Could be Downstate and Stony Brook are still counting residency.

As for the NYMC thing- I thought you guys were talking about % of the entering class, not % of applicants. The % of applicants accepted is low because NYMC IS considered a back-up school in general. So, many low-stat applicants apply there, inflating the pool beyond what a higher ranked school. You'll note that many higher ranked schools have way fewer applicants, because the the pools tend to self-select.

 

[alphabeta53]

safeties that i applied to and result:

Georgetown: interviewed, waitlisted, withdrew (I was too disinterested during my interview, extremely disappointed with the facilities/jesuit stance

BU: invited for interview, withdrew

Univ of Maryland, interviewed, accepted: excellent school, great facilities, I don't like Baltimore

Mt. Sinai: interviewed, accepted: I liked the plan of study, the students seemed happy, location is excellent, facilities were a bit old, positive impression but not entirely convinced.

GL,

AB

 

[X]

First of all, I was saying those are considered safety school by some. Didn't say me.

Second, the statistics you guys are posting are misleading. Sure they have a huge number of applicants and the spots are really few. So when you divide a small number by a big number you get a small number or a small acceptance rate. Does that mean it's harder to get into then a school that has a higher acceptance rate? Don't think too hard, the answer is NO.

Those schools aren't easy to get into but are easier. Their avg GPA and MCAT's are lower and thus for that reason people consider it their safety school. Not everyone (including myself). You cannot look solely at the acceptance rate and make an argument. It's a relative thing...all med schools are hard to get into, so the easier schools (relative - remember einstein) get considered saftey schools.

X

 

[geromine]

Universidad Central del Caribe School of Medicine 😎 😀
1)its gotta be easy to get into
2)it is located in the carribean(...I assume)
3)what more do I need to say?

 

[aquaboy]

The funny thing is that I received interviews at almost all of my non-safety schools such as UVA, Utah, Ohio State, AECOM, etc. The safety schools that I applied to like Creighton, Drexel, NYMC haven't offered me interviews and I don't expect they will. It's true that no school is a safety and the admissions process is a crapshoot.😱 😱 😱

 

[Lara]

Universidad Central del Caribe is in Puerto Rico and you won't get in without being sufficiently fluent in Spanish, preferably with connections to the island. 🙄

Same goes for Ponce, and don't even bother with the University of PR unless you were raised on the island. My mother was an undergrad alumni and I still didn't meet their criteria!

 

[texasgal1112]

Hi Brownie,
A safety school also depends on what state you are a resident of. In texas, residents have basically a 50% of getting matched with a school. That is pretty good odds if you ask me. Good luck with apps next year! Make sure you save lots of money for them! URG! 🙂

 

[relatively prime]

OSU was my "safety" .... if there is such a thing. I got accepted. I don't think I'll go... but I really did like the people there. They were exceptionally friendly and easy to like. I think I'd have been pretty happy there if it was the only school I got into.

 

[xaelia]

My "safeties" (and I'm definitely not so overqualified that I couldn't apply to any one of them and be assured of admission, these are the just the ones I was pretty sure shotgun statistics would be on my side):

Albert Einstein: Interviewed, withdrew
Boston University: Interviewed, withdrew
Creighton: Haven't heard
George Washington: Haven't heard
Jefferson Medical College: Interviewed, waitlisted, withdrew
Ohio State: Accepted
Oregon Health & Science University (in-state): Interviewed, waiting
St. Louis University: Declined interview
Tufts: Haven't heard
University of Cincinnatti: Accepted, declined
University of Minnesota: Interviewed, withdrew
University of Southern California: Interview upcoming
Vermont: Rejected
Wake Forest: Interview upcoming

So far my favorite schools have been Vanderbilt and OHSU....

 

[irlandesa]

with a 3.62 (respected state school) and 29 MCAT, I could not consider anywhere I applied to be a safety.

Interviewed and loved (felt v. comfortable): Maryland (waitlisted, in-state), Tufts (waitlisted, later accepted)

Interviewed and liked a lot, would have been happy to go: SLU (waitlisted, accepted later), Penn State (WL)

Mediocre/OK impressions (but still would have gone): MCP/Drexel (WL), NYMC (WL), GWU (rejected post-interview)

"traditional safety schools" that rejected me without an interview: Finch, Albany, UVM, MCV/VCU (after being on hold), Temple, Loyola

 

[Nirvana]

Temple and Loyola aren't as much of the "traditional safety schools" as one might think.

Temple's average MCAT is 31 and I think Loyola's is 30. While these scores aren't as competitive as Harvard's 33/34, they're not as low as some of the more "traditional safety schools" like Vermont, ...

Originally posted by irlandesa
with a 3.62 (respected state school) and 29 MCAT, I could not consider anywhere I applied to be a safety.

Interviewed and loved (felt v. comfortable): Maryland (waitlisted, in-state), Tufts (waitlisted, later accepted)

Interviewed and liked a lot, would have been happy to go: SLU (waitlisted, accepted later), Penn State (WL)

Mediocre/OK impressions (but still would have gone): MCP/Drexel (WL), NYMC (WL), GWU (rejected post-interview)

"traditional safety schools" that rejected me without an interview: Finch, Albany, UVM, MCV/VCU (after being on hold), Temple, Loyola