What's your top-choice school?

[onb2014]

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If you got into every school you applied to, which school would you go to?

 

[Exalya]

UTMB (UT Galveston). I like the area and the PBL curriculum, I REALLY hope I get in there.

 

[shindotp]

I'd love to go to UCLA!

 

[red10]

It would depend where my boyfriend ends up for his PhD. Probably one of the chicago schools

 

[BlueElmo]

If you got into every school you applied to, which school would you go to?

I would make biological clones of myself and send each one to every school I got accepted into.

 

[MaryLennox]

Probably Vanderbilt . . . but that is a LONG shot. I'm really excited about the idea of applying to Columbia, but if I got into both (HA HA HA) I'd probably have to go with Vandy based on location.

Honestly though I try not to conciously decide which ones are my top choices . . . less disappointment if i get rejected from them, since i probably will

 

[YouNeverKnow22]

my top 3 are Harvard, Columbia and Duke

 

[UnfeatyOblation]

UCLA for me.

 

[xmsr3]

Uniformed Service University of Health Sciences, because I am determined to become a career Army doctor.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

Uniformed Service University of Health Sciences, because I am determined to become a career Army doctor.

omg i never would have guessed...

 

[BlueElmo]

omg i never would have guessed...

Yup. The surprise of the century.

 

[Slowpoke]

UCI for me.

I skimboard, and the best beaches to do so are 10-15 minute drive from Irvine.

http://www.unitedskimtour.org/video/2009/2009aliso.html

 

[buffywannabe]

Cleveland Clinic or University of Wisconsin... can't decide. probably won't get accepted to both so this decision will never come up.

 

[Wheee]

top 3 are MCW, Loyola, and Dartmouth.

but I'll take what I can get.

 

[pseudoMCAT45]

i would make biological clones of myself and send each one to every school i got accepted into.

what a douche!

 

[BlueElmo]

what a douche!

thanks. why?

 

[Kong Bu]

thanks. why?

Cause you'd be taking away seats from the every one of those schools?

I don't know, I liked your joke lol.

 

[adavis23]

University of Minnesota for me

 

[BlueElmo]

Cause you'd be taking away seats from the every one of those schools?

I don't know, I liked your joke lol.

It was a joke, yeah.

My 소원 is, incidentally, to get accepted to medical school.

 

[Kong Bu]

it was a joke, yeah.

My 소원 is, incidentally, to get accepted to medical school.

ㅎㅎ! 안녕 선배!!

Good luck! I hope you do!

 

[echidna]

Tied for UCLA and Cornell Weill. Super long shots though...

 

[BlueElmo]

ㅎㅎ! 안녕 선배!!

Good luck! I hope you do!

Thanks! You too.

 

[redlight]

i have a feeling opinions will change once interview season starts...fall in love with some... begin to hate others

 

[DrYoda]

i have a feeling opinions will change once interview season starts...fall in love with some... begin to hate others

That happened to me, my list of favorites got all jumbled around after I started interviewing.

 

[ilovebiology]

UCI for me.

I skimboard, and the best beaches to do so are 10-15 minute drive from Irvine.

http://www.unitedskimtour.org/video/2009/2009aliso.html

I live right around there...would love to stay semi close to home. Also, UCSD is amazing. (2 good beach places with amazing weather)

 

[DrBeks]

Well, honestly if I could go ANYWHERE, I'd pick Harvard, Hopkins, other big schools like that. but realistically, UW

 

[jal06c]

University of Miami for me

 

[Pills Of Soap]

Stanford

 

[phonyreal98]

I'll take what I can get. I'm not applying for another 2 years, so right now I just have a "group" of first choices because I don't know terribly much about the schools. I just know I'm leaning toward academic medicine, and that this list is very subject to change (Hell, I might not even be applying to med school in two years). Anyway, here goes (in no particular order, and probably based on some pretty superficial things):
Duke, UNC, UChicago/Pritzker, Columbia, NYU, Yale, Cornell/Weill, Northwestern, Mt. Sinai

 

[BerlinDude]

Probably whichever offered me the most money.

 

[dbrokut]

Northwestern

 

[Van Chowder]

Hmm Realistically, anywhere that accepted me. Buttt....

UCSF would be chill too ( instate baby!!)

 

[PreMedHopeful]

Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, but I'm not smart enough:/ I can dream though right...SDN is a place to dream afterall

My out of state dream schools would be: UCSF, UM, NYU, UCLA, and Harvard:/

I love how this thread is so unrealistic...for me at least!

 

[PreMedHopeful]

Oh I forgot to add to my dreamlist: Johns Hopkins, Baylor, UCSD, and UChicago

 

[Hyperstudyosis]

Mayo

 

[Phosphorus Ylide]

UC Davis.

I fell in love with their campus after visiting with my premed club 2 years ago. The people there seemed down to earth and shared values very similar to my own. It's close to home and I like the feel of Sacramento in general. I also LOVE LOVE LOVE this sushi restaurant in Sac.. drooooool

 

[Schemp]

I haven't taken my MCAT yet, and that's going to heavily determine where I apply. As a result, I haven't done much research on the stated values and such of various med schools. However, based purely on geography I would probably say Columbia. Or NYU/Cornell, since they're in the same area, but I'm under the impression that Columbia is more prestigious. I'll actually worry about things other than geography/prestige once I know what schools to even bother looking at.

 

[Hoody]

Tied for UCLA and Cornell Weill. Super long shots though...

Weill for the win!! How AWESOME would living in Qatar be? A 2nd year resident who I work with is from the States but attended Weill. Raves about it.

My other choice would be Columbia, JHU (basically my dream school for epidemiology during my entire prepubescent years), and Duke. In that order.

Oh, and Texas. Longhorns baby!!

 

[Beta Cell]

Harvard, UCSF, Columbia, and Hopkins

 

[flip26]

Yale, but I am not holding my breath on any of these schools.

This is a very humbling and stressful experience. Right now we are all in "wait mode" for secondaries to magically turn into invites, and I am not sanguine about my chances anymore...just want to get in somewhere and get on with my life.

 

[Charles English]

mayo or anything on the west coast that will accept me. but i'm not sure i should be in this thread. i'm not applying till next cycle. whatever though, the schools are still dreams.

 

[rockaction]

Vanderbilt or Pitt. If I somehow landed both that would be a hard decision.

 

[mic2377]

University of Cincinnati. I like the city and the faculty, the campus is really cool, and the school does great research.

 

[movax]

Any place that accepts me, really.

 

[dw2158]

am i the only one spending every ounce of my energy not allowing myself to develop an answer to this question? having a top choice (even if you recognize it's unrealistic) is setting yourself up for disappointment. i'm trying to stay as neutral as possible. JMO.

 

[ButImLETired]

am i the only one spending every ounce of my energy not allowing myself to develop an answer to this question? having a top choice (even if you recognize it's unrealistic) is setting yourself up for disappointment. i'm trying to stay as neutral as possible. JMO.

That's definitely the best attitude to go in with, because:

1) everyone hates that whiny kid who's gotten into a bunch of schools and is complaining that his dream school hasn't accepted him. When it's March, and everyone is stressed is hell about getting in at all, and someone is complaining about how he got UCSD but not UCSF, or he got into a school OOS but nothing close to mommy and daddy, you'll see. Everyone hates that kid. Rightfully so.

2) There are few things as uncertain as this process. If you think you're the perfect fit for a school, you may very well be wrong, or the adcoms might disagree, or the school might be looking for a different kind of people, or you may have overestimated yourself. Either way, if you hang all your hopes on the school that's the "best fit" for you, you'll probably be disappointed (commence annoying whining).

3) Pretty much all schools are the same, except for some minor differences. Waxing poetic about one just makes you look like an idiot to the students who are in med school already and know for a fact how ridiculous you sound.

4) Perhaps most upsettingly, having a first choice school before you even interview makes you blind to the virtues of other schools. If you get an interview there, you're biased to think everything is perfect and lovely even when it really isn't, and you don't have an objective mindset when checking out other med schools that may very well be a better fit for you. Every year you'll see people who end up having to go to a school that wasn't their first choice, who come back and say they had been totally biased at the interview and that they actually ended up somewhere they love. And you'll see people who'll painfully regret their choice in med school when they realize they hadn't really grasped the school at all when they had declared it the perfect place. This is really depressing.

So yeah, don't have a first choice school, especially before you interview. After the interview, you'll probably have a basic ranking in your mind, but try to stay as open-minded as possible until you get your acceptances. Then you can be as picky as you want. But for now, do yourself and everyone around you a favor, and don't fall in love with some school's website or ranking.

 

[delicatefew24]

USC or UCI. If I got into one of these I would drop all my applications immediately to attend... and it would feel sooo good.

 

[hoot504]

.

 

[ParthVader]

Harvard [because I love Boston.. and its harvard...], Columbia, or Stanford... here's to hoping right?

 

[tjluke25]

UPenn