So I was wondering how many schools to apply to and someone said 25. I really don't have that much money, so what would be the disadvantage of only applying to 10 - 15 lower tier schools? any ideas? thanks!
By the way, the University of Miami is NOT a lower tier school. Lower tier schools are those that are not ranked among the top 50. Just a bit of info.
I think she is more interested in how competitive a school is. For example, Wayne State (#47) is probably comparatively easy for state residents to get into.
Apply to those schools at which you would like to attend and which you feel that you may have a chance on attendance. As far as choosing which schools, look at factors such as average GPA/MCAT, in-state/out-of-state acceptances, research emphasis, location, cost, reputation, match lists, etc. There is no disadvantage to applying to any school. Obviously, the fewer schools to which you apply, the fewer chances you have to be accepted. There is never a guaranteed acceptance at any school. Even 'low-tier' (whatever that means) schools can be difficult to get into. If the school accepts students from many states, is in a good location, has lower than average MCAT/GPA, is inexpensive, etc., it will sound ideal, and therefore they will get many more applicants. Schools like George Washington University can get almost 10,000 applications each year for the 150 students they take while University of South Dakotah might get less than 500 applications. There is never an ideal number. The average number of applications per applicant for the 2001 entering class (2002 not yet available) was 11.6. About half the applicants were not accepted anywhere.
yea....why not ONLY apply to lower tier schools? save money and easy to get in right? think about it...if every applicant thinks that way...everyone will apply to lower tier schools. in fact, most lower tier schools receive more than 7000 applicants a year!!! so no....applying to lower tier schools is not a sure thing...apply to a good range of schools.
I would say just because you never know what might happen in the crazy admissions process. I was waitlisted (and ultimately rejected) at my state school (Maryland) where I knew plenty of professors, worked for 2 summer and 2 additional academic years, and had 3 great letters of rec from med school faculty (including 2 dept. chairs). My interview also went great and I have been a resident of MD since I was 2! I ended up getting into 2 schools that I did not even expect to interview me and where I had absolutely no connections. One of them is a Top 50 school and that is the school I currently attend. I think you would be selling yourself short if you only applied to NYMC, SLU, etc. (both great schools, BTW) b/c you just never know what other schools will interview you. A few people on here who are not URM's have been interviewed and accepted at UCSF with an MCAT score of 29 or less, and if you submit your application you may end up being one of those people!
Sometimes I wonder if upper-tier schools that receive fewer applications will be more interested in an "average" applicant than lower-tier schools that receive like 10,000 applications.
