<p>Penn’s a little lower than most, but not by that much.</p>
<p>OP:</p>
<p>I know the feeling about “selling yourself short”–quite familiar with that boat, as I was in it a mere three years ago. Swing over to the parents forum and find the thread about “Students who must attend their safeties.” I wrote some pretty lengthy posts (pages…8ish-10ish I think) there about how I dealt with the feeling of selling yourself short–perhaps it will give you some new ideas.</p>
<p>Kristin’s thread is here, starting with her post #129:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/968792-students-who-must-attend-their-safeties-4.html#post1065379728[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/968792-students-who-must-attend-their-safeties-4.html#post1065379728</a></p>
<p>She also has posts #153 and #164.</p>
<p>PS: Kristin, your school is 120 mi from home and that’s an hour and a half? That’s some pretty quick driving. =)</p>
<p>(gotta love I-70, Mike) </p>
<p>I’ve wondered that myself, too, though. I think the 120mi I quoted was the generic distance from St Louis to Columbia posted on my school’s website. No idea what the actual odometer distance is from door-to-door. I only “count” the time that passes from when I get on the highway in COMO then get off in STL–so once I recognize it as home, I count it as home, even if I probably have another 20 min in the car! I wonder if I’m the only one to do this?</p>
<p>I have just read the post #129, etc. It is an interesting post. Thanks!</p>
<p>Wish you will get into one of the two schools that you had an opportunity to attend 3 years ago. If you get in this time, it is worth going there as medical schools everywhere (at least most of OOS ones) are expensive and you will have the earning potential to pay it back after you become a doctor.</p>
<p>With your great credentials accumulated over the past few years, I think you have a good shot at at least one of these.</p>
<p>It appears you had some volunteer experiences at Costa Rico as a language interpreter. I guess you must be good at Spanish then. It may be a very good selling point during the interview. One person DS knows (who speaks Spanish and volunteered there for two summers) got into NYU Law last year. (But he decided against going after he deferred one year, and became a full-time voluneering worker at some charity orgonization somewhere. There is really somebody even today who is not after where the money is. He likely becomes a missionary in the future as he is very religious.)</p>
<p>Thanks mcat2, it’s been a great ride and I’m thrilled I chose the path I took. I would have laughed in your face had you told me, three years ago, that I’d feel this way now. Not trying to hijack your thread, OP, just want you to know that the feeling of selling yourself short/getting screwed over/etc WILL go away in time, if you’re not so stubborn as to keep it there. You’ll be great no matter where you go. And being a premed rocks!!!</p>
<p>Agree with kristin. Got into some top ranked schools, went to Arizona State (which I liken to the phrase “you’re the worst pirate that I’ve ever heard of!” “Ah, but you have heard of me”). Now at a great medical school. It’s about personal quality and drive far more than where you go. There are some advantages for being a big fish in a smaller pond for some people. I really don’t think I would have thrived in an environment like Harvard or what not. I needed a little extra time to grow up frankly.</p>
<p>Haha – who am I to talk, I suppose. I once managed the trip from Duke to UNC-Greensboro in 34 minutes.</p>
<p>Should “top 10 privates” be expanded to top 20, or even 30? I don’t know if there would be huge quantifiable difference in terms of quality among the top 20 schools, there are more subjective qualities in play like location and curriculum as well.</p>
<p>Obviously 10’s a fairly arbitrary number, but the benefits definitely don’t extend out too far. (For example, Berkeley, which is what, #25?, does terribly in medical school admissions.)</p>
<p>True, but Berkeley is also a public institution and, on the higher end of the spectrum in top 30, MIT (which is a fantastic institution) has disappointing pre-med statistics considering how strong the school’s reputation is. Top 10 also isn’t inclusive of some schools like Vanderbilt (med and undergrad on same campus), Wash U, Hopkins, Rice, Cornell, or Northwestern.</p>
<p>MIT does poorly considering its reputation. Berkeley does terribly. That’s a huge difference (30% or so).</p>
<p>Truthfully, I’ve never really looked at the other schools in depth. I wouldn’t necessarily stand by a hard and fast top-ten-or-bust rule. But I wouldn’t definitively go the other way, either.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies everyone and Kristin, your post is great and I have also come to appreciate the big state universities as you have also by realizing just how superficial people can be just because of the label of a private university. I still might just apply to some of the schools I was going to apply to just to see what happens but I definitely will be considering the SUNYs… </p>
<p>One question though, since I am pretty much sure that I am getting into the SUNYs that I am applying to, is there really a need to apply to anymore schools? Would it be safe to just apply to maybe 3 or 4 SUNYs that I am sure that I am getting into + a couple schools I just want to apply to for fun?</p>
<p>i decided to go to an unknown public school for a full ride over a top 10 ivy league school. i def dont have any regrets about it. how things will play out next summer when i apply, i dont know.</p>
<p>If you’re a shoo-in at the SUNYs and have multiple SUNYs to apply to, and would be happy to go to a SUNY so would only be applying to others to see what happens (which I selfishly advocate!), it seems like your plan should be fine. Much more than that would likely end up as a waste of your time and money, and I have a feeling you have better things to do with SENIOR YEAR than apply to colleges you won’t end up attending. Live it up!</p>