How many med schools should I apply to?Can I apply to all low tier schools to have best chance? Long

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
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<p>I will be applying to med schools the summer after next, and I need to know how many schools I should I apply to. The raeson I am asking so early is because I need to work part-time in order to save up for secondaries and interview travelling. I live in Oregon, so travelling to all the low tier schools on the east coast is gonna cost a bunch. Thats why I am asking now is because I need to start saving up now.</p>

<p>My outcome EC's by the time I apply should be something like this:
-100 hours of shadowing (hopefully. This is my goal)
-1 year of hospital volunteering, maybe 150-200 hours
-3 summers of travelling abroad and volunteering a little bit there, tutoring kids in english (not full time, since the abroad travelling is mostly to visit family back at that country. I am a US citizen though) I'd round the tutoring thing up to 150-200 hours total. Maybe 50 hours per summer. AND THIS IS ABROAD, NOT IN THE US.
-bilingual (not spanish, NOT URM)
-2 years computer tutor part time job 10 hours a week
-1 year computer lab assistant part time job 10-20 hours a week (just like a library job, you just sit there and help people with computers if they need it)
-2.5 months of chemistry research, 4 hours a week. so probably about 50 hours total. I kind of have an idea of what kind of research they do there in the lab, but I quit because I need to focus on grades and clinical experience.
-I am hoping to start doing paid research next year since I will have more time. So maybe I will have 9 months of paid research experience.
-pre-health club member at college. 1 year. didn't really have any leader roles in it, but I am serioiusly considering having a leadership role next school year.
-HOBBY: 9 months of beginner sport classes (NOT team or anything, just beginner classes for a certain sport I was interested ever since I was little, but parents couldn't afford to pay. at a recreational center) 4 hours a week. </p>

<p>Hopefully will get my gpa up to a 3.60-3.69. Mayyyybe 3.70 if I get 4.0 from now on. Most likely somewhere in the 3.6ses.
No MCAT yet, will take in summer or fall. I really wanna take the old mcat instead of the new.
Health Science Major</p>

<p>I feel like I don't have a high enough GPA. As I read through the MSAR online that I just subscribed to, all but 10 of the private schools have mediam gpa ABOVE 3.7! Like, 3.75-3.8 is the mediam for most LOW TIER private schools. Like, what!! The only ones that have a lower median GPA more in my range (3.65's or something) are drexel, hofstra, NYMC, Tulane (i was surprised), Virginia carillion tech (private, doesn't prefer in staters), and wake forest. The low 3.7's are loyola, jefferson and temple.The others are all mid 3.75 and above for their median gpa. I will also be applying to OHSU as in state, NYU (dream school b/c of their 3 year MD program), and Utah (they guarantee interview for everyone who completes their "EC" requirements, so I can pretty much be guaranteed an interview there, even as an OOS). I also am not including schools on probation, such as rosalind franklin and george wash. I don't wanna go to probation schools. I also am not including medical schools that don't have a dermatology department. </p>

<p>But that's only like 12 schools! With my horribly low GPA, and with their acceptance rates of like 1-2% based on MSAR matriculant data, how am I ever getting into medical school! If only I had that 3.7-3.8 gpa....
And with my little research experience, and very little clinical volunteering! Only the average one freaking year... And I don't have any non-clinical volunteering that happened in the US! I might rack up maybe 3 months in the spring of some random non-clinicalness. </p>

<p>My projected AMCAS app will only have 9 ecs. (Bilingualism doesn't count as EC). Plus research can be combined into one ec, even if it's from different labs, so that's only 8 ECs. I feel like that is definitely not enough, but I also have to work part time during college to save up for AMCAS! I can afford to apply to 12 schools, but can I really afford to apply to 20-30, like everyone suggests? Do I really need to apply to 20-30 to get into any school? I don't care what school. And OHSU likes 26 year olds non trads! And I will be a young fresh college grad! I don't want to waste 3-4 years of my life as gap years, I want to get started with my med career right away. </p>

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<p>streampaw–what exactly are you asking? How many schools you should apply to? I wouldn’t recommend fewer than 15. Maybe more depending on stats and quality of ECs. For someone who is lacking in one or more areas, I’d definitely recommend more. As many as you can possibly afford.</p>

<p>(For example, D2’s BFF [non-URM, upper middle class female] had strong GPA/sGPA, LORs, 3+ years research that matched her other ECS, had a great track record of working with underserved in the US and abroad as clinician/health educator, was trilingual (English/Spanish/Italian–she was interviewed at 2 schools entirely in Spanish) but had a subpar MCAT (28). She applied to 38 schools–it would have 40 but she got tired of doing secondaries-- got 4 interviews which yielded 3 waitlists, 1 acceptance at a OOS southwestern public.)</p>

<p>I have watched close up about a 9-10 students go thru the process in the past 3 years. On the macro-level, outcomes are predictable; on the micro level–not so much.</p>

<p>~~~</p>

<p>OHSU has definite mission groups it’s interested in recruiting for admission. The more mission groups you can fit into the more likely it is that you’ll get an interview. OHSU is very clear about which mission groups it wants on its website.</p>

<p>And I can personally testify that OHSU is not just interested in students who are 26 year old non-trads. :wink: </p>

<p>~~~</p>

<p>Re: lower tier med schools: Be sure to read the mission statement of the school before you apply. Some have very specific missions (i.e. providing PCPs for a specific region or medically underserved population). If your ECs don’t match the mission, your chances of getting an interview are poor regardless of your stats/ECs. </p>

<p>And do your research!!</p>

<p>FYI, Tulane gets over 10,000 applications/year and openly favors applicants with ties to New Orleans area. Georgetown also gets over 10,000 applications/year. So does Wake Forest (and favors students who are from the SE). So does GW. </p>

<p>Utah specifically states you must be a state resident or meet one of their admission criteria for OOS applicants–graduated from a Utah high school, graduated from a Utah college, live with a immediate family member who is a Utah resident or be a member of a URM group–for admission consideration. <a href=“http://medicine.utah.edu/admissions/begin/residency.php”>http://medicine.utah.edu/admissions/begin/residency.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Jefferson reserves 1/3 of its seats for residents of Delaware. </p>

<p>~~~~</p>

<p>My opinion–one cycle of medical school application is emotionally and financially draining. It’s better to delay a year (or two or three) and apply with strong application than to rush your app and have to do repeated rounds of applications. </p>

<p>There’s substantial documentation on AMCAS that re-applicants are far less likely to gain admission than are first time applicants.</p>

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<p>adding to the above post from wowm–if you are so interested in dermatology, it’s unlikely you will fit the “missions” of most of the schools that you mentioned.</p>

<p>What is it that drives you to want to be a doctor other than it is “prestigious” and (relatively) lucrative? What are you looking to do as a doctor? My sense of the applications I have seen be successful this year seem to tell a story to the admissions committees once the boxes have been checked to get through the initial screens.</p>

<p>I don’t get the sense that you are passionate about what you’re doing, but rather passionate about checking off each item for your application with as little commitment and true involvement as possible.</p>

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<p>Then what schools should I apply to? What out of state schools… I’m obviously not telling med schools that I am interested in derm. My interview answer for what specialty I wanna go to is “rural primary care”. Duh. Almost all med schools want to make primary care docs because of the shortage. I’m definitely not mentioning anything about dermatology to interviewers. </p>

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<p>Ah, yes, but while you can talk the talk, you can’t walk the walk……</p>

<p>Adcomms will want some sort of evidence that you are sincerely interested in rural medicine/primary care. There’s absolutely nothing on your background, CV or ECs to suggest you are.</p>

<p>Adcomms have very good BS detectors.</p>

<p>~~~~~</p>

<p>What schools? Without a final GPA and a MCAT score, it’s impossible to make any suggestions.</p>

<p>Your ECs are minimal and there’s nothing there that speaks of a deep interest in medicine. That makes it even harder to suggest schools since you really don’t fit any of the school profiles. You have minimal to nonexistent research experience so the research heavy schools aren’t going to be interested in you. You have ZERO domestic community service. (BTW, adcomms are going to totally ignore your alleged “overseas volunteer experience” no matter how grossly you exaggerate your hours because you don’t have a track record of domestic volunteerism.) That’s not going to endear you to primary care/service oriented schools.</p>

<p>Unless you can find a way to make yourself attractive to OHSU, I don’t know what to suggest except maybe a shotgun approach and getting lucky.</p>

<p>~~~~</p>

<p>Adcomms are willing to overlook a single weakness in an application if the rest of your application is strong AND you fulfill the mission of the school.</p>

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<p>^doesn’t the “one year of hospital volunteering” count as domestic community service?
Just wondering, what’s wrong with overseas volunteer experience? Is it just that OP’s volunteering abroad seems more like a vacation with some tutoring or is there something negative about volunteering in other countries and not your own? </p>

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<p>1 year of hospital volunteering can be counted either as clinical experience or community service, but not both. AMCAS forces you to choose categories for you ECs and it can only be listed under one.</p>

<p>International service is fine so long as its not the only community service activity on your resume. </p>

<p>(Full disclosure : both my kiddos have done international community service. D1 was a trained EMT and spent 6-7 weeks working in a hospital ER in Africa doing treatment and triage. She will be going back to Africa next year at the end of MS4 to conduct primary care clinics in underserved rural areas which haven’t had a doctor in years.)</p>

<p>For the most part, medical mission trips abroad are considered “medical tourism” by adcomms and get very little respect from them. (Mostly it’s a sign that you come a from an affluent family.) </p>

<p>IMO and IME, If you really want to help an impoverished overseas community, they don’t need any more well meaning and untrained helping hands. They have plenty of those already. What they really need is funding for local charities and self-help organizations. Fundraising for those organizations will do tons more good than an untrained medical tourist spending 2 weeks in an exotic, but impoverished locale.</p>

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<p>How do you suggest I stand out in order to get into medical school? Pre-med advisers usually suggest just to get clinical experience. So I am getting it. I am shadowing doctors, and volunteering at a hospital. I am also working 10 hours a week as a tutor. I don’t have time to dedicate an extra 10 hours a week to research, unless it is paid. I can dedicate maybe 1 or 2 hours to some random community service if it means getting into medical school. What should i do? </p>

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<p>I don’t think shadowing is good clinical experience, it’s very passive and I’m of the opinion that it doesn’t need to be done as a “continuous” activity (just my opinion). Get into a clinical research, you’ll get clinical experience and you’ll actually be doing something. Many clinical researches are also paid.</p>

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<p>Streampaw–</p>

<p>I don’t think there’s much short of extraordinary achievements (writing a NYT best seller, winning an Olympic medal, curing Alzheimer’s, being elected governor at age 22, singing the lead in Aida at the Met) that will make you “stand out”.</p>

<p>What you need to concentrate on is making your ECs less perfunctory/check boxes.</p>

<p>That’s within your grasp.</p>

<p>Think about what you enjoy and would like to share with other people, or conversely a social problem or injustice that bothers you, then proceed from there.</p>

<p>~~~~~</p>

<p>Also consider your reasons for going into medicine. You don’t need to share them publicly but you have to be able to honestly say it’s more than both: a) “I want to help people” (necessary but not sufficient) and b) I want the prestige and income being a a doctor provides (a consideration to be sure, but shouldn’t be your primary motivation)</p>

<p>Would you still want to be doctor if you were told upfront right now that the only specialty you could go into was a primary care field? (And you’d sign a binding contract to that effect so there’s no backsies.)</p>

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<p>When you do activities out of genuine interest in the activity vs. “to get into med school” it becomes much clearer what you should be doing.</p>

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<p>OP, do you plan on applying to medical school and law school simultaneously? Or are you considering joint JD?MD programs?
What are your career goals (other than making money)? Assuming that you would make the same money in any variety of professions, how do you envision yourself spending a day in your career? What do you want to do, or enjoy doing?
getting into med school, or a T14 law school, is not a check-the-boxes exercise.
Your lack of passion will hurt your applications.
Right now, I am gearing up to help my nephew apply to med schools, and I am helping my son’s girlfriend get her ducks in a row to apply to law school.They are doing much more than mechanically checking off each of the boxes. Each of their applications will tell a story that makes them a memorable character and will demonstrate why they should be accepted–what they will bring to the school, and what they will do with their education when they leave the school.</p>

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<p>

<a href=“Theoretically, can a specialist pay back their 200k loan in 2-3 years? | Page 4 | Student Doctor Network”>Theoretically, can a specialist pay back their 200k loan in 2-3 years? | Page 4 | Student Doctor Network;

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<p>^ I remember that thread. If you have time to kill, you should read her blog. ;)) </p>

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<p>Alrighty then. [-( </p>

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<p>OP is also posting on the Top Law Schools forum, inquiring about whether she should go in to law or investment banking to make more money…or maybe just do Personal Injury…</p>

<p>I’m not sure OP realizes that most of the top law schools and business schools look for at least a couple of years of post-college real world work experience in their applicants. And that most grads from top law schools are unlikely to go into IB–more likely Big Law–and that even that is not what it used to be, with so many firms cutting back drastically or outright cratering. And her fantasy of being able to work 35 hours a week in either law or investment banking? or even 45 hours?</p>

<p>And she wants to do dermatology, but dislikes hands on work? Like she will never have to touch a patient with a yucky, pustulating rash?</p>

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<p>Search the OP’s name on “the other site”. Wow.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the tip on the blog plum, I needed a good chuckle.</p>

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<p>Ok, so OP is a ■■■■■, that’s good because I don’t wanna believe anyone can be that blatant about only wanting medicine for money. </p>

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<p>Heck, I didn’t even think SDN was a moderated site.</p>