<p>3.7 GPA (good school) and 35 MCAT. Probably not looking to become a researcher or academic. The following list should be trimmed to under 20. From Chicago, so all Chicago area schools stay. Reasons for suggesting what to delete would be most appreciated.
University of Chicago
Northwestern
U of I
Rush
Loyola
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College of Wisconsin
SLU
Ohio State
University of Pittsburgh
University of Pennslyvania
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
George Washington
Georgetown
NYU
Mt. Sinai
Columbia
Cornell
Albert Einstein
Boston University
Tufts
Brown</p>
<p>I personally would tell you to forget Drexel, Temple, Jefferson, George Washington, and Georgetown. I had similar stats to yours, and I couldn't get an interview at George Washington. I assume it's because they thought I would get into a better ranked school and that they'd be wasting their time interviewing me.</p>
<p>I did get interviewed at NYU, Pitt, and Mt. Sinai, so you should keep schools like those three.</p>
<p>In my opinion Brown, BU, and Georgetown should go. Generally my philosophy was that if a school was going to have a very, very low admissions rate, I wasn't going to roll the dice on that particular lottery.</p>
<p>I know you want to keep the Chicago schools, but I think you need to get rid of one of them...I just don't remember which. When I was applying, I'm pretty sure Rosalind Franklin was on probationary status (but it might have been Pritzker). Look into both and make sure they aren't having any accreditation problems - you don't want to be stuck there if things take a turn to Negativetown.</p>
<p>Other than that, following BDM's reasoning - Tufts is another one with a ridiculously high number of applicants and is very similar to BU in that sense. I think it ends up being a lot of people's "safety" b/c they see the stats in the USNWR or MSAR and think "I've got those!" plus either want to stay in Boston or move there.</p>
<p>I'll eat my hat if it was Pritzker. And in 2004, Tufts had a very reasonable 7% admissions rate. They have a large number of applications, but I guess a pretty low yield or something.</p>
<p>Myth-- I suggest you take an on-line vocational test (Holland's SDS is pretty good and under $10) if you don't know what career your interested in... once you come up with 2-4 areas of vocational interest, research which colleges have good departments in those areas. No point getting into a school that doesn't offer what you may be very interested in...</p>
<p>Hope that helps.
PS. Also check their financial aid... I know BU is well-known for not giving much aid.</p>
<p>S has 3.7+ GPA at top 5 public and just found out today a 39 MCAT. Does not want research. Trying to help him develop a strategy and list. Any suggestions with reasons/logic behind them. Thanks.</p>
<p>1.) Apply to all the schools in your state, public or private, since even private schools often give in-state consideration unofficially. (Just check out Vanderbilt or Wake's IS vs. OOS percentages.)</p>
<p>2.) Look for what economists call arbitrage opportunities. Some schools can be much more selective than better-regarded counterparts for little apparent reason. Geography is commonly at its root; an excellent undergraduate program is often a reason. For example, Brown, BU, Wake, and Georgetown are much more selective (by percentages) than Washington University, Columbia, UPenn, Vanderbilt, or Case Western. These would be excellent inefficiencies to capitalize on.</p>
<p>3.) How badly does he dislike research? High-powered research schools don't all funnel their students into research careers, but they will talk about it endlessly and expect (and sometimes require) their students to participate in it at least a little bit. Can he put up with this?</p>
<p>4.) We've tried to emphasize on here that research-oriented medical schools are not something to strive for unless you are aiming for a research career. But so long as you can put up with a little bit of research for a few years, there's little reason to avoid them.</p>
<p>5.) If he's dramatically overqualified for his top choice (i.e. their median MCAT is less than 30, for a gap of 10 or more), he should think somewhat about applying Early Decision.</p>
<p>6.) Is he aiming to start medical school in fall 2008? If so, do try to hurry his application along. I would push hard to have it out by July 4.</p>
<p>2.) The idea is that some schools are popular with students for bad reasons, making them exceptionally difficult to get into. Those schools should be avoided. Some schools are unpopular with students for bad reasons, making them strangely easy to get into. These schools should be sought after.</p>
<p>3.) In-state status refers to home residency status, not the school at which you did your undergraduate work.</p>
<p>4.) If you are strongly attached to a certain part of the country, by all means apply to the schools within there. But make sure to apply as broadly as you can.</p>
<p>5.) Frankly June 10 is the date to aim for. But that's past now.</p>
<p>"For example, Brown, BU, Wake, and Georgetown are much more selective (by percentages) than Washington University, Columbia, UPenn, Vanderbilt, or Case Western."
what are you talking about? Penn was 15.9%, Columbia was 10.35% and Brown was 13.4%. And in any case the applicant pools at these schools are far more self-selected than they are at BU etc.</p>
<p>1.) USN 2005: Brown 7.7%, BU: 4.8%, Wake 4.9%, Georgetown, 5.6%. WUSTL 10.6%, Columbia 11.5%, Penn 5.7% (lower only than Brown), Vanderbilt 8%, and Case Western 9.7%.</p>
<p>2.) While self-selection is a valid point, medical school admissions includes some measure of randomness, too, and so admissions percentages remains ONE viable component of measuring selectivity. Other components -- MCAT score and GPA -- should of course be considered as well.</p>
<p>snooker was talking about undergrad. I have no idea why someone who's never posted in this forum before decided to jump into a thread and post something totally irrelevant.</p>