Thanks MizzBee. Did your son take the April test? We will take a look at the Wedgedawg strategy. With the percentile range that my son has now, his score could vary by 5 on the old MCAT score range. I am guessing he needs to develop a broad list and narrow it when he gets his scores on the 30th.
DS took the May test. He scored in the 90-100% range with all subscores in the top bracket. It is hard to know for sure what that means, but to him, it means that he will apply broadly since his scores are going to put him at the high end for his state school and probably better than average in both MCAT and GPA. I am anxious to see what that range meant for the April test takers.
How many applications are planned as of now? DS wants 15 but I am pushing for 25. It is such a crazy system I think it is better to be safe than sorry. Right now he is trying to avoid the region with the most medical schools (Est Coast) so that may limit his numbers anyway.
My D took the last old MCAT in January and was satisfied with the score, so she didn’t and won’t take the new one. She is applying this round and is applying to 15 MD schools and 6 DO schools.
Son is applying to 26 MD schools. Advisor told him to do 15 to 18 but I wanted to be on the safe side. And he’s mostly applying to east coast schools which are really hard to get into.
We could use some CC wisdom on choosing schools according to stats. For a “match” type school, is it one point away from median or two for the MCAT score? If a student has above a 3.9, GPA, does this change anything?
The conventional wisdom is to start with your own state schools where you may have residency preferences. Sometimes the published averages can also be misleading for state schools where the in state bias may have a different score compared to an OOS applicant. For private schools, this may not be the case.
@seekingknowledge, DS is in a similar circumstance. In this case, he is relying mainly on the MCAT scores to pick schools to explore, then using MSAR and USNews to check out OOS applicants, interview and acceptances. He then picked a good mix. It is all subject to change again if his percentages on the new MCAT are not correct.
High GPAs will make it easier. It is the mix of low GPA/high MCAT that makes it difficult to find matches.
Thank you for the information. He is starting with his state schools and is paying close attention to the OOS applicant information for oos public schools. He is just not sure on how close his MCAT needs to be to the median to consider a school a good fit based on MCAT score. He has heard + or - one point and also + or - two points.
Does his school keep records of where students have gotten in with similar profiles in the past? Usually their profiles are an indicator of where your son has a good shot of being considered with similar numbers.
My guess would be that for a standard candidate applying straight out of college with no hooks, the MCAT score needs to be above the median rather than under.
Question: Does anyone know if there is any mechanism in place whereby a couple (let’s say engaged, but not yet married) can communicate an interest/need for both individuals to be accepted to a given medical school? Do they just apply as separate applicants, then see what shakes out?
I know that post med school couples (even non married) participate in a program (aka Match) in order to stay together and continue their training in a same geographic area but not necessarily same field of medicine. As far as something similar for med school, I’m pretty sure applicants are going to be judged on their own merits.
^^I don’t see anything being asked in the medical apps remotely resembling significant other’s information.
There’s no program whereby 2 individuals can apply as a couple for med school admission. Each has to apply as an individual and see what happens.
Some medical schools will give some special admission consideration to an applicant who is a spouse of a student currently attending the school.
Good Luck to all applying this cycle.
Ok so I went through all the posts since Feb. from when I first posted on this thread. S finished his SMP and did really well. He was invited for an interview for the SOM his SMP program was at. Hes been waitlisted. They have been known to show movement even into the summer so I remain hopeful. The SOM from his SMP suggested that if he wanted to re-apply that he take the new MCAT. He has a 31 as of now. He did a practice test yesterday and will take a new MCAT Aug 8. He wants time to study. I think with the 31 he should still get some secondaries. He will be submitting to 5 MD schools and wait for verification then submit approx 20 more. Hes doing that incase he gets pulled from the waitlist. He wont apply to DO which is upsetting but its his choice. Hes now looking for a job either in a hospital or for a assistant doing research. He will also try to do more volunteer work…then save children overseas and build houses. The save children and building houses is a joke but really EC’s are so important. This year has been super stressful I can only imagine how this year will be. Good luck to everyone…browse SDN I find it really helpful.
So DS finally was able to submit today. He waited almost three weeks for a transcript from his sophomore year of high school. He only submitted to his state school in order to get verified and then will apply to more school when his actual scores come on 6/30.
D finally turned in both AMCAS and TMDSAS apps. I was surprised to see people are receiving interviews from UT Galveston already.
Do most invites to fill out the secondary app come through email or snail mail?
We are out of town for a couple weeks in July and I am wondering if I need to have the mail checked daily instead of held while we are away.
I highly doubt anyone sends you a mailed letter asking you to fill out a secondary.
On a side note, someone mentioned in one of the college commentaries that some people did not even get an email about their admission and people had to logon to the portal to check status. 
Portal? Meaning their AMCAS app site?