When I grow up, I'm going to bovine university!

[blackbird03]

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In case I don't make it, do you guys known which schools accept a lot of California applicants? What are good safety schools for a 3.7 UCLA person?

 

[Amy]

THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A "SAFETY" MED SCHOOL!!! 🙄

 

[Assassin]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Amy:
•THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A "SAFETY" MED SCHOOL!!! 🙄 •••••I think no matter how many times people are told this, it just doesn't sink in...well, not until they get rejected by a "safety school" pre-interview <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />

 

[none]

It's all in your definitions. I think by safety school, most people mean schools with relatively low MCAT and GPA stats, i.e. Finch, Albany, NYMC. These schools definitely do exist and they take a lot of Californians.

 

[Assassin]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by none:
•It's all in your definitions. I think by safety school, most people mean schools with relatively low MCAT and GPA stats, i.e. Finch, Albany, NYMC. These schools definitely do exist and they take a lot of Californians.•••••problem is...having near perfect gpa/mcat scores by no means ensures an acceptance (or even an interview) at schools where the averages are substantially lower.

 

[none]

Of course there are no guarantees, but the fact is...there ARE less competitive schools out there! Furthermore, people should include those schools when applying.

 

[oldman]

Schools with low averages have too many applicants

Schools with few applicants have high averages

It balances out to one thing: getting in is hard no matter what.

 

[none]

Less competitive schools do have more applicants, but those applicants are much less competitive to begin with AND the less competitive schools must accept a lot more people from their applicant pool to fill their classes. Things don't really balance out. Some schools are easier to get in to.

 

[Amy]

I just have a problem with the term "safety school." Of course it's true that some schools are a bit easier to get into, but no one has a crystal ball to tell this guy where he'll get in.

 

[souljah1]

'Less competitive' schools will many times reject a very high quality applicant b/c they expect them to get in somewhere 'better'. I know way too many people with killer stats that were rejected from schools with averages that were far below what they had. Not only are there more people appling to these 'safety schools', but these schools know this and some try to separate those who really want to attend the school from those who are applying for 'back up' reasons.

 

[souljah1]

I'd also like to add that a 3.7 from UCLA is nothing special. It is a great gpa, but not something that will make admissions say, 'wow'. No offense, but there will be thousands of other applicants from good universities applying with a gpa very similar to yours. I just want to encourage you to learn from those who went before you. Many of us were very suprised when schools we thought would die to have us rejected us. Conversely, schools that were a long-shot showed interest. The whole process is a great learning experience. The sooner you realize that there are no gaurantees, the better.

 

[Street Philosopher]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by souljah1:
•I'd also like to add that a 3.7 from UCLA is nothing special. It is a great gpa, but not something that will make admissions say, 'wow'. No offense, but there will be thousands of other applicants from good universities applying with a gpa very similar to yours. I just want to encourage you to learn from those who went before you. Many of us were very suprised when schools we thought would die to have us rejected us. Conversely, schools that were a long-shot showed interest. The whole process is a great learning experience. The sooner you realize that there are no gaurantees, the better.•••••thanks souljah1, i will try to keep that in mind this coming year. i hope this process will be as painless as possible... but i know even that is a longshot <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

 

[none]

Not applying to a school because you think your stats are too high is just simply a bad idea. If it does come down to the school rejecting you because they didn't think you'd accept their offer of admission, you appeal their decision, thereby showing an immense amount of interest in the school.

 

[Doc AdamK in 2006]

I thought one of my state schools was going to take me.

I'm waitlisted at three of them.

Even with a stellar GPA 3.80
there is no thing as a safety school

Good Luck

Ak

 

[Cdc28p]

For certain people, there are definitely schools where they have a very high chance (99%?) of getting accepted. I would call these schools "safety schools." These people might have a 3.9 GPA from Harvard, 40+ MCAT, stellar ECs, co-authorship of a paper in Nature, great interpersonal skills, great character, etc... I know friends who understandably considered UCLA or U Mich their safety schools. (I considered myself damn lucky to get admitted to those schools!)

Yes, nothing is absolutely guaranteed. But there are certain schools where certain people almost have a 100% chance of getting in. The term "safety school" is not so inappropriate then.

 

[Assassin]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Cdc28p:
•For certain people, there are definitely schools where they have a very high chance (99%?) of getting accepted. I would call these schools "safety schools." These people might have a 3.9 GPA from Harvard, 40+ MCAT, stellar ECs, co-authorship of a paper in Nature, great interpersonal skills, great character, etc... I know friends who understandably considered UCLA or U Mich their safety schools. (I considered myself damn lucky to get admitted to those schools!)

Yes, nothing is absolutely guaranteed. But there are certain schools where certain people almost have a 100% chance of getting in. The term "safety school" is not so inappropriate then.•••••...can't argue with an argument like this
🙂 though i still firmly believe that numbers alone will not make any school a safety school for you...even 4.0 gpa and 40 MCAT.
but yes, of course there are some people for whom a safety school is an appropriate term...I once knew someone who told me, he was going to apply to Columbia as his backup; when i responded <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> there is no such thing as a backup school...he said, there is when your dad is on the admissions committee - i couldn't argue with that either <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />

 

[pocwana]

•••quote:••••Originally posted by Assassin:
when i responded <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> there is no such thing as a backup school...he said, there is when your dad is on the admissions committee - i couldn't argue with that either <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> •••••<img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />
Ah, the lucky few
well, likely less than few