deciding which medical schools to apply to
1. So how do I make a list of programs to apply to?
Great question. This is worth thinking about a bit even if you are not applying this cycle. I’ve mentioned before that you should probably apply to 30-40 programs. Think a bit about what parts of the country you’d love to be at, and what parts of the country you’d also be “okay” with living with. In my case I obviously wanted to stay in California for the cheaper tuition, and the fact that my friends and network are all here. That being said it can be tough to get into a California program. I was okay with Eastern Seaboard and a lot of Midwest programs in bigger cities because even though it’s “Midwest”, bigger cities can still be fun and living costs are very reasonable compared to the Bay Area. I ended up having a lot of safety schools in Ohio.
With regards to generating a list of reach schools, probably got it schools, and safety schools, I used what is famously known as the LizzyM spreadsheet – which basically weighs your GPA and MCAT and determines if you’ll receive an interview invitation or not.
The modern version is posted here:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmKVGWwobG5GdEx2MjlBTDE0bXFXNGFZczZqYTZKb2c&hl=en_US#gid=0
I will warn you that this *can* be very anxiety-inducing, nor is it 100% accurate. You do not need to use it. But if you have the courage to do so, it is an excellent resource for coming up with a list of programs to apply to. If you *do* decide to use it, please give me some feedback on it so that I know how to advise other people to use it.
Great question. This is worth thinking about a bit even if you are not applying this cycle. I’ve mentioned before that you should probably apply to 30-40 programs. Think a bit about what parts of the country you’d love to be at, and what parts of the country you’d also be “okay” with living with. In my case I obviously wanted to stay in California for the cheaper tuition, and the fact that my friends and network are all here. That being said it can be tough to get into a California program. I was okay with Eastern Seaboard and a lot of Midwest programs in bigger cities because even though it’s “Midwest”, bigger cities can still be fun and living costs are very reasonable compared to the Bay Area. I ended up having a lot of safety schools in Ohio.
With regards to generating a list of reach schools, probably got it schools, and safety schools, I used what is famously known as the LizzyM spreadsheet – which basically weighs your GPA and MCAT and determines if you’ll receive an interview invitation or not.
The modern version is posted here:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmKVGWwobG5GdEx2MjlBTDE0bXFXNGFZczZqYTZKb2c&hl=en_US#gid=0
I will warn you that this *can* be very anxiety-inducing, nor is it 100% accurate. You do not need to use it. But if you have the courage to do so, it is an excellent resource for coming up with a list of programs to apply to. If you *do* decide to use it, please give me some feedback on it so that I know how to advise other people to use it.