Would you apply to a school you don't want to go to as a back up?

[flip26]

From your previous post:



it appeared that you were partially referencing any applicant, not the OP (or other applicants in his predicament) specifically. Although I agree with you in regards to marginal applicants.

So do I need to go back and modify or expand on what I meant?

I never suggested that you don't have to go through some process of elimination to come up with a list of schools. Clearly we all start with the MSAR or something similar, and then we boil down the 120+ allo schools to the realistic schools, eliminating the OOS publics where you have virtually zero chance. That first cut eliminates approximately half the schools in the MSAR, or at least it did for me...YMMV.

Then the next cut should be realistic with regards to one's competitiveness - for marginal applicants, this will be a substantial cut down to maybe 5 to 10 schools. For a marginal applicant to trim this list any further based on "but I don't wanna" before even applying is foolish. The marginal applicant should apply to every school he has a shot at, and then maybe he will be in the position to eliminate the school pre or post interview, and who knows, he may find that he actually matured since living in Omaha or wherever and he will surprise himself at his interest in Creighton...

Stronger applicants can make subjective cuts, be it about geography, or climate, or big city vs small city, or family location, but marginal applicants don't have that much leeway.

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[Ariadne]

So do I need to go back and modify or expand on what I meant?

No. But it seems like you did anyway.

I was just pointing out that in pointing out I missed your point, you sort of missed my point (bonus points [ugh, bad pun, sorry] if you made it through that sentance on the first go). I actually made twoish points, one in regards to your statement about "any applicant" and one to the OP about considering the school itself instead of just the city.

 

[flip26]

No. But it seems like you did anyway.

I was just pointing out that in pointing out I missed your point, you sort of missed my point (bonus points [ugh, bad pun, sorry] if you made it through that sentance on the first go). I actually made twoish points, one in regards to your statement about "any applicant" and one to the OP about considering the school itself instead of just the city.

**** you

 

[Ariadne]

**** you

Cranky much?

 

[RoadRunner17]

If you really don't want to go to this school, then don't apply.

If you don't really want to go to this school, then apply.

 

[pianola]

Sometimes you can and do know if you'll be miserable, like if you've lived somewhere before (as the OP has). Maybe the school itself can or will overide that, but if that's what you're going with, you better be sure the school is a good match for you before applying.

If just being in medical school is important enough to you to overcome everything else, that's different. But just being in medical school isn't going to be that for everyone...

Location, location, location. It matters.

 

[dw2158]

If you really don't want to go to this school, then don't apply.

If you don't really want to go to this school, then apply.

hard distinction to make, but an important one IMO.

 

[Dedikated2liftn]

As someone who's currently a medical student at Creighton, this thread is illustrative of the type of ignorance many pre-meds (i.e the OP) have when it comes to applying. Without being overly defensive, I'm going to make several points (these may have already been stated, I didn't read all the subsequent posts). First off, claiming that you're a resident of NE ain't gonna do much in regards to Creighton; we're a private school. Secondly, out of approx 5000 students who apply, only 300 are ultimately offered acceptances. As a result of this, I wouldn't assume that you're going to waltz into your "backup" school (or any US medical school). Thirdly, blatantly playing the URM card......well let's just say I've been around on these boards long enough to hold my tongue on that one. Fourthly, you're merely speculating at this point; you've yet to be through the application process and have any acceptances in hand. Or more concisely, it's a little too soon to be assuming anything about this process (from interviews to acceptances). And finally, if you can't see yourself attending a school, why in the **** would you apply there??????