What's your top-choice school?

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UTsksk

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I'd love to stay in-state and go to either UT Southwestern, Baylor, or UT health science center in SA

Anywhere is good to me, but I feel doubtful about out of state
 

GTV

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Baylor and UCLA.
 

RapplixGmed

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I personally don't get why so many people are fascinated by Gtown and Yale here. Sure they have great names but their medical centers are nowhere near as great or large as those of even most state schools. I've gone on a lot of interviews and seen a ton of awesome schools and Yale and Gtown were the only two places where I walked on campus and openly wondered "is this it?" There is some strange and awful mismatch between what their popular reputation is and what is actually there.

Yale makes up for it by the power of its curriculum and its faculty. I don't see much going for Gtown other than it's proximity to the NIH.

Schools that I think are underappreciated in this thread:
WashU
Pitt
Vandy
Baylor
UCSD
 
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Josey

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deleted202457

Hopkins or Mayo!!! But Hopkins is too expensive and Mayo is harder to get into than a pair of pants that are two sizes too small lol
 

metallica81788

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Baylor. But I'll pretty much take anything. That's why I believe in only applying to schools you'll actually go to (and of course that you can get into).
 

globalmobile

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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.

Well said!!
 

WilsonFan

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Isn't this the whole point of second look?

Top choice = Columbia. Then U Penn, then Georgetown. Then Brown?
 

MaryLennox

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I personally don't get why so many people are fascinated by Gtown and Yale here. Sure they have great names but their medical centers are nowhere near as great or large as those of even most state schools. I've gone on a lot of interviews and seen a ton of awesome schools and Yale and Gtown were the only two places where I walked on campus and openly wondered "is this it?" There is some strange and awful mismatch between what their popular reputation is and what is actually there.

Yale makes up for it by the power of its curriculum and its faculty. I don't see much going for Gtown other than it's proximity to the NIH.

Schools that I think are underappreciated in this thread:

WashU
Pitt
Vandy
Baylor

UCSD

Shhhhhh! The more people that apply to Harvard, Yale and Georgetown, the better my chances are at Baylor and Vandy. Right? :laugh:

Oh and I do agree with LET that in general its best not to conciously pick favorites. But in the spirit of this thread . . . I mean come on, it IS fun. As long as you aren't the type who will die of devastation upon being rejected from said "dream" school. Hell, I'll die of shock if i even get an interview at either of these schools!!
 

VTBuc

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UVA or Maryland. Though I'm starting to like the idea of going to school in West Virginia.
 
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RapplixGmed

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Shhhhhh! The more people that apply to Harvard, Yale and Georgetown, the better my chances are at Baylor and Vandy. Right? :laugh:

Oh and I do agree with LET that in general its best not to conciously pick favorites. But in the spirit of this thread . . . I mean come on, it IS fun. As long as you aren't the type who will die of devastation upon being rejected from said "dream" school. Hell, I'll die of shock if i even get an interview at either of these schools!!

You're right! The fewer people know about these gems, the more likely you'll snatch one! And it never hurts to dream. Good luck guys. :luck:
 

Generic Student

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Pre-MCAT it was Warren Alpert Brown Medical School.

Post-MCAT is any that will accept my battered back-side.
 

zpiff

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Hopkins or Mayo!!! But Hopkins is too expensive and Mayo is harder to get into than a pair of pants that are two sizes too small lol

Those are two very drastically different schools....
 

Poliscidoc

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Just because its in State- UNC

But dream big- Vandy or Alabama
 

Californian

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UCLA fight fight fight! i would go UCLA medical school cuz UCLA undergrad rocks!! Also, the tuition is cheaper!!
 
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