Adding a bunch of schools: need advice

[student1799]

I'm a 45-year old nontrad with a 3.6 BCPM, but a 3.02 uGPA due to 25-year-old baggage. Strong LORs and clinical experience. After wailing and gnashing my teeth about how screwed I am by my MCAT score (31S: 7 PS 13 VR 11 BS), I'm going to take the advice of my fellow nontrads and add a bunch of schools that make better sense with my stats. I wanted to get feedback on the names and logistical advice on how to do it.

Home state: NY
Current schools: NYMC, NJMS, RWJ, SUNY Downstate, Stony Brook, Drexel, Jefferson, Temple, Einstein, Albany, Penn, Cornell, Mount Sinai, NYU, Columbia and Yale. (Yeah, right ...)

Potential adds:

Schools that screen secondaries
Loyola, VCU, U Kentucky, U Louisville, EVMS, Kansas

Schools that don't screen
Rosalind Franklin, SUNY Buffalo, Arkansas, Rush, Med. U of SC, U of SC, Vermont, GW, Tulane, Michigan State

I wasn't sure about the 2 new FL schools, UCF and FIU, because I don't know their stats or how receptive they are to OOS.

Does anyone here know any of these places, and what do you think? Are there any others that I haven't thought of?

And how does this work for the schools that screen: do they get LORs up front, or only if they give me a secondary?

Thanks a lot for your input. I know I have to get going with this right away.

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[Lacheln]

Only commenting on the schools I know about:

Loyola - very non-trad friendly
Vermont - Very unlikely as OOS unless you have a rural background and/or stated interest in primary care
FIU - Seems to be fine for OOS
U of SC (I assume you mean south carolina, not CA) - very strong regional preference (which is true for so cal too).
Rosalind Franklin - Probably a good choice to include

So, I'd add Loyola, Rosalind Franklin, FIU, SUNY Buffalo

 

[DrMidlife]

Breeak, I don't know how we always end up on opposite sides of an issue - I suspect we'd get along great in real life.

BTW stu1799, we're not eligible for military support over 40, so USUHS is out, and you can toss all those recruiting letters you're about to start getting.

Also BTW, there's little rhyme/reason to screened/unscreened. I got secondaries from screening schools and straight rejections from non-screening schools. You can't game the system on screened/unscreened, but do carefully read the admissions web pages before you apply.

Yeah, I know, Buffalo?!?! But not applying to any NY public school is a bad idea.

My opinions are from (a) the '09-'10 MSAR in front of me and (b) having applied to 34 allo schools last year (hello, I'm your cautionary tale, nicetameetcha). And my official policy remains that as a non-URM with an overall GPA under 3.4, without an SMP or a LizzyM score of >65, you have better odds playing slots at a Nevada truck stop than you do applying to MD school. And I truly hope that you and breeak are contrary successful anecdotes and get to be incredibly smug for the rest of your SDN tenure.

...Vermont - Very unlikely as OOS unless you have a rural background and/or stated interest in primary care

For the record, Vermont takes 64% OOS. Imho this is the only public school worth applying to, as an OOS with low stats. Well, maybe VCU and Toledo.

FIU - Seems to be fine for OOS

Disagree: it's public, ergo has heavy in-state bias. Plus OOS tuition is over $50k, more than double in-state tuition, that's a >$70k COA, yikes.

U of SC (I assume you mean south carolina, not CA) - very strong regional preference (which is true for so cal too).

Totally agree on MUSC. Absolutely don't apply to any public, state-supported schools with low OOS numbers. So I say no Kansas, no Indiana, no Iowa, etc.

USC doesn't have in-state bias. There's no pressure from the state to accept Californians. What USC has is an overwhelming number of in-state applicants who are crowded out of the UC system. Regardless, USC has more than 25% OOS (and it's hard to get into).

Tulane was "easy" to get into the last couple years, but their post-Katrina lull may be over. I don't think what's left of UTMB is in the same category: no flood is going to make it easy for a low-stats non-Texan to get in.

If you're fluent in Spanish, try the Puerto Rico schools. Seriously: it's the other Hawaii. UPR isn't an option, but the other 3 are.

If you're demonstrably committed to rural/underserved, try the historically Black schools. Better be sincere or they'll laugh at you, though.

Who gets the most apps? GWU, Drexel, Boston, NYMC, Georgetown, RFU, Temple, Loyola, Jefferson, Albany. You have a great deal of company in the app pool at private and/or heavy-OOS schools.

Just to make sure I've completely blocked out the sun, it's mid-October. Your competition hired a consultant and hit submit on June 4.

C'mon, apply DO. Come to Nova and sit in back with me and Nanon - we'll lampoon all the freshly-washed kiddoes and the profs who are younger than us.

Caveat freaking emptor, best of luck to you, and may God Bless America.

 

[MSmentor018]

get the on line us news and world report on med schools. look at the stats, find your mcat/gpa. apply to a few of them above your score, and ALL the ones below. you'll be surprised where the schools are really ranked. don't be picky, who knows what interviews you'll get.

 

[Lacheln]

Breeak, I don't know how we always end up on opposite sides of an issue - I suspect we'd get along great in real life.

You are probably right, we both enjoy a debate.

And I truly hope that you and breeak are contrary successful anecdotes and get to be incredibly smug for the rest of your SDN tenure.

Hey now, I've never been smug. However, given the amount of negativity I've had to ignore on SDN, if I were, hopefully you'd forgive me.

For the record, Vermont takes 64% OOS. Imho this is the only public school worth applying to, as an OOS with low stats. Well, maybe VCU and Toledo.

The only reason they take 64% OOS is because they have very few qualified IS applicants. Hell, the interview rate for OOS is only 8% (vs 73% for IS), the acceptance rate for OOS is <3%. I also spoke with the school last year before I applied and they basically said they only consider OOS people with a demonstrated commitment to primary care/underserved/rural.

Disagree: it's public, ergo has heavy in-state bias. Plus OOS tuition is over $50k, more than double in-state tuition, that's a >$70k COA, yikes.

But you just implied UVM was OOS friendly, and it's a top ranked state school. Anyway, if you look at the people getting interviews this year you will see only slightly more IS than OOS, and the stats are definitely on the lower side. I don't think student is worried about the cost (mebbe I'm wrong).

C'mon, apply DO. Come to Nova and sit in back with me and Nanon - we'll lampoon all the freshly-washed kiddoes and the profs who are younger than us.

I'm with you on this, I think DOs are a great option at this point.

 

[Barfalamule]

DrMidlife is right on the money. Agree 100% here and urge you to go DO. Just give a couple of DO schools a shot, you can always withdraw or decline later. You're talking another year and another MCAT retake if you don't get in. I applied to UNECOM this year and after the interview, I'd put the school above several MD schools on my list. No joke.

Breeak, I don't know how we always end up on opposite sides of an issue - I suspect we'd get along great in real life.

BTW stu1799, we're not eligible for military support over 40, so USUHS is out, and you can toss all those recruiting letters you're about to start getting.

Also BTW, there's little rhyme/reason to screened/unscreened. I got secondaries from screening schools and straight rejections from non-screening schools. You can't game the system on screened/unscreened, but do carefully read the admissions web pages before you apply.

Yeah, I know, Buffalo?!?! But not applying to any NY public school is a bad idea.

My opinions are from (a) the '09-'10 MSAR in front of me and (b) having applied to 34 allo schools last year (hello, I'm your cautionary tale, nicetameetcha). And my official policy remains that as a non-URM with an overall GPA under 3.4, without an SMP or a LizzyM score of >65, you have better odds playing slots at a Nevada truck stop than you do applying to MD school. And I truly hope that you and breeak are contrary successful anecdotes and get to be incredibly smug for the rest of your SDN tenure.


For the record, Vermont takes 64% OOS. Imho this is the only public school worth applying to, as an OOS with low stats. Well, maybe VCU and Toledo.

Disagree: it's public, ergo has heavy in-state bias. Plus OOS tuition is over $50k, more than double in-state tuition, that's a >$70k COA, yikes.

Totally agree on MUSC. Absolutely don't apply to any public, state-supported schools with low OOS numbers. So I say no Kansas, no Indiana, no Iowa, etc.

USC doesn't have in-state bias. There's no pressure from the state to accept Californians. What USC has is an overwhelming number of in-state applicants who are crowded out of the UC system. Regardless, USC has more than 25% OOS (and it's hard to get into).

Tulane was "easy" to get into the last couple years, but their post-Katrina lull may be over. I don't think what's left of UTMB is in the same category: no flood is going to make it easy for a low-stats non-Texan to get in.

If you're fluent in Spanish, try the Puerto Rico schools. Seriously: it's the other Hawaii. UPR isn't an option, but the other 3 are.

If you're demonstrably committed to rural/underserved, try the historically Black schools. Better be sincere or they'll laugh at you, though.

Who gets the most apps? GWU, Drexel, Boston, NYMC, Georgetown, RFU, Temple, Loyola, Jefferson, Albany. You have a great deal of company in the app pool at private and/or heavy-OOS schools.

Just to make sure I've completely blocked out the sun, it's mid-October. Your competition hired a consultant and hit submit on June 4.

C'mon, apply DO. Come to Nova and sit in back with me and Nanon - we'll lampoon all the freshly-washed kiddoes and the profs who are younger than us.

Caveat freaking emptor, best of luck to you, and may God Bless America.

 

[NTF]

DO, DO, and DO.