"The process of applying to medical school can be unclear, often leaving students unsure about their application and ways to maximize their success. In addition, many students receive wrong advice from school advisors or can read misleading guidance online.
Here, we address some inaccurate advice medical school applicants have received.
You will never be accepted to medical school. For some reason, I have encountered many applicants who have been told by their premed advisor that they will never receive an acceptance and become a doctor." …
https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/medical-school-admissions-doctor/articles/2018-10-16/the-worst-advice-ever-given-to-premed-students
While the “you will never be accepted” and the “only take the MCAT twice” ones might not be true if followed to the extreme “letter of the law,” the spirit of the law for these statements is definitely not what I would put in the category of “worst advice ever,” and I certainly would never put them on par with “apply to a few schools,” “no need to prep for interviews” and “doing a gap year is bad for you.” The latter is truly bad advice.
Here is some useless advice at the high school level: “If you want to become a doctor, you should attend an elite college for your undergrad”.
Uh no. What matters a great deal is your undergraduate GPA, coupled with a strong MCAT. If you can best achieve a high GPA by going to a less elite undergrad program, that is what you should do.
“…applicants should really apply to a large number of schools, usually within the range of 30-40 depending on the applicant.”
30-40 applications is excessive not to mention costly. That seems way overboard unless the applicant has some some big red flags to overcome.
My daughter applied to 32, several years ago. Definitely no red flags, actually had a hook. She wanted to have options. Got 23 interviews, went on 13 and accepted at 9. We were going for money as well so the many options were worth the high number of apps. YMMV
Yes, people apply to 30+ but to say that most apply to 30-40 schools is clearly an overstatement. Most applicants apply to 15 or 16 schools.
^^Actually neither of you are correct–
According to most recent Matriculating Student Questionnaire
Number of Applications Completed/
Percentage of Students
1 to 4 program
15.1%
5 to 8 programs
12.1%
9 to 12 programs
13.5%
13 to 16 programs
15.3%
17-20 programs
15.6%
21- 24 programs
9.2%
25 or more programs
17.5%
And there has been application creep over the last 4 years, with a higher percentage of students applying to a larger number of programs last year than in previous years.