Another "help me choose some schools" thread :)

[jfdes]

Hi everyone,

I know its a bit late in the application cycle, but I need a bit of help choosing schools. I've gone through a bunch of old threads but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything obvious. I'd also like to aim for ~15 schools, since I want to try to finish all the secondaries over the next month or so (is that possible?). Aiming to submit primary this week.

Stats:

GPA: ~3.83 - 3.84
sGPA: ~3.80 I think
MCAT: 512 (fairly balanced with 129 CARS)
ECs: Hospital volunteering, crisis line, lots of student government, campus leadership, editor for a student journal, volunteering overseas, various other small things. Currently work full time for government. Got a 29 NAQ from UBC, Calgary and Alberta usually like them as well.

I've also completed a course-based masters degree, if that helps anywhere.

For choosing schools, I basically took the recommendations on this forum and selected those where my GPA and MCAT were equal to or higher then the median.

These are the schools I'm thinking of:

• Michigan State
• Central Michigan
• Rosalind Franklin
• Tulane
• Tufts (513 median MCAT)
• UC Davis
• Oakland
• Wayne State
• Sidney Kimmel (512 median MCAT)
• Loma Linda (I'm Catholic and volunteered a lot at my church, worth applying? - 3.86 median GPA)
• Arizona
• Eastern Virginia (512 median MCAT)
• SUNY Upstate (512 median MCAT)
• Maryland (512 median MCAT)
• Virginia Commonwealth
• Penn State

I was also looking at Kentucky (3.82 median GPA, 512 median MCAT so both are pretty close) and Dartmouth (515 median GPA but I hear they like mature / unique applicants? I'm 26 now). Hawaii as well but tuition is really steep and flights to visit family would be very expensive.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

[JohnGrisham]

Looks like a reasonable list. Get your primary in as soon as possible. Sooner the better. And yes its possible to do secondaries, once you submit primary, get working on them. Most will overlap alot, so you just copy/paste and modify per school.

Get all your LORS ready too.

[jfdes]

16 minutes ago, JohnGrisham said:

Looks like a reasonable list. Get your primary in as soon as possible. Sooner the better. And yes its possible to do secondaries, once you submit primary, get working on them. Most will overlap alot, so you just copy/paste and modify per school.

Get all your LORS ready too.

Thanks, will work hard over the next few days to get the primary in. Will ask for refs tonight/tomorrow as I go through the MSAR and see what is required, hoping all can submit online within 2 weeks (many would have written for me before for Canadian med schools so I think this is doable).

Would Mayo (3.85 / 513 medians) and Albert Einstein (3.83 / 516 medians) be too much of a reach? Don't want to really waste time/money if I can help it...

And will being Catholic help me at all with Loma Linda?

[JohnGrisham]

Now isn't the time to try and save money on applications, pay the extra 30$ or whatever it is to add schools that you think you'd be competitive. May as well try for Mayo and albert einstein. They are within reach, yes they are a reach - but why not?

[canucks_14]

Mayo and Einstein are both very holistic so I would definitely apply. Just spend some serious time on the application process.

And being catholic will definitely help you for Loma Linda. You might actually have a really good chance there. 

But what will help you the most is applying to more schools. Your mcat is low but your gpa is good. is there a good reason you want to finish your apps within a month? Applying to the US is an intensive process not sure why anyone would start skimping this late in the game. 

[jfdes]

On 6/26/2017 at 11:51 PM, JohnGrisham said:

Now isn't the time to try and save money on applications, pay the extra 30$ or whatever it is to add schools that you think you'd be competitive. May as well try for Mayo and albert einstein. They are within reach, yes they are a reach - but why not?

It's not the money moreso the time, as I was under the impression late applications are not worth it. I will do as advised though and submit as many applications as possible, perhaps prioritizing those I have a better shot at and working my way through them.

1 hour ago, canucks_14 said:

Mayo and Einstein are both very holistic so I would definitely apply. Just spend some serious time on the application process.

And being catholic will definitely help you for Loma Linda. You might actually have a really good chance there. 

But what will help you the most is applying to more schools. Your mcat is low but your gpa is good. is there a good reason you want to finish your apps within a month? Applying to the US is an intensive process not sure why anyone would start skimping this late in the game. 

That's good to hear, thanks.

For the timeline, I was under the impression that applying past August wasn't really worth it, so was hoping to finish before that point and do not think I would be able to do more than 15 in one month. It sounds like the better strategy would be to continue applying to reach schools at least till September though, so perhaps I will do that.

[canucks_14]

1 hour ago, jfdes said:

It's not the money moreso the time, as I was under the impression late applications are not worth it. I will do as advised though and submit as many applications as possible, perhaps prioritizing those I have a better shot at and working my way through them.

That's good to hear, thanks.

For the timeline, I was under the impression that applying past August wasn't really worth it, so was hoping to finish before that point and do not think I would be able to do more than 15 in one month. It sounds like the better strategy would be to continue applying to reach schools at least till September though, so perhaps I will do that.

Yes of course. It is very very late honestly. So applying in September might not even be worth your time. I don't know a ton about med school application timelines but this is something you can figure out (US news world report, Kaplan etc all publish premed articles that are good resources that make sense - but like anything, form your own opinion with the evidence instead of listening blindly. Also SDN forums are a great resource). So first thing is looks like you have to figure out, at what point in the summer is it foolish to even bother applying. And as far as I know there is a date(ish) that is far too late, even though apps are still accepted. However it is not absolute because it is holistic but you better have a damn good reason (went to war, were competing, meeting a research deadline to advance a parameter, some personal/family/extenuating reasons).

but the reason it is too late is because of the time it takes to even apply. Just like all the time you spent on preparing for the MCAT, you have to do that all over again with the American applications. It's a time sink that may or may not lead to a reward. Your app is good but your preparation for applying is not (once again unless there is a good reason - which is a totally different scenario because the schools will understand this) Good news is you'll get in next year if you work hard (if applying next year) and work smart too. 

[JohnGrisham]

Just apply. Put your head down and finish everything.