{"id":18359,"date":"2019-08-16T11:13:40","date_gmt":"2019-08-16T16:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/?p=18359"},"modified":"2020-09-11T20:41:23","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11T20:41:23","slug":"how-many-medical-schools-should-i-apply-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/mcat\/how-many-medical-schools-should-i-apply-to\/","title":{"rendered":"How Many Medical Schools Should I Apply To?"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019re applying to medical school. You\u2019ve taken the\u00a0MCAT<\/a>, started your\u00a0AMCAS application<\/a>, and planned enough time to complete\u00a0secondary applications<\/a>\u00a0and travel to\u00a0interviews<\/a>. The medical school application process<\/a> continues to become increasingly competitive; according to the\u00a0AAMC<\/a>, there were 830,016 applications and 21,030 matriculants in the\u00a02016\u20132017 admissions cycle<\/a>. With odds like that, it should be obvious that most applicants applied to more than one school, with the AAMC reporting an average of 16 different applications per applicant.
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\nAs an aspiring doctor, you have one question remaining: \u201cHow many medical schools should I apply to and what factors affect that number?\u201d
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Comparing your GPA and MCAT score<\/h3>
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\nYour\u00a0GPA and MCAT score<\/a>\u00a0are both significant factors in deciding how many applications to send out. To see how your GPA and MCAT measure up, compare your profile to the numbers published on the\u00a0Medical School Admissions Requirement (MSAR)<\/a>\u00a0website. When your GPA and MCAT score are\u00a0on the lower end<\/a>, it\u2019s wise to apply to a greater number of schools.
\nIf the average applicant applies to 16 schools and your scores are lower than average, you should consider applying to a greater number. If you\u2019re an above-average candidate whose scores are higher than the 75th percentile, you can consider applying to fewer schools. While most medical schools employ a\u00a0holistic review process, many will use an MCAT score and GPA cutoff for sending secondary applications.
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Weigh your in-state and out-of-state options<\/h3>
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\nSchools have varying acceptance rates and levels of preference for in-state vs. out-of-state applicants. The number of your target schools that are in your state will also affect the total number of applications.
\nFor instance, if you live in California, where there are a lot of medical schools, you\u2019ll want to apply to as many programs as possible that give you in-state preference. Unfortunately, some schools have one medical school and others have none. If your state doesn\u2019t have a medical school, find out if there are schools in neighboring states that will give you in-state preference. Limited in-state options mean you should increase your total number of applications.
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Strike a balance between \u201c<\/span>safety\u201d<\/span> and \u201c<\/span>reach\u201d<\/span> schools<\/h3>
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\nAgain, make sure to check your application against the\u00a0AAMC\u2019s published numbers<\/a>. If you\u2019re applying to higher-tier or more exclusive schools, you should increase the number of schools to which you\u2019re applying.
\nIn general, at least 50% of your schools should fall in an attainable range. That means your GPA and MCAT numbers should be around the 50th percentile or better for these schools. That said, in the medical school application process, there is no such thing as a true \u201csafety school\u201d\u2014only schools to which you\u2019re more likely to be accepted.
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Assess your financial situation<\/h3>
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\nA realistic limitation for many applicants in deciding how many medical schools they should apply to is their financial situation. Each primary application costs money\u2014not to mention secondary applications, which can range in cost from $30\u2013$150. If you land interviews, each of those will cost money to attend as well.
\nDon\u2019t submit a primary application to a school if you\u2019re not willing to follow through and pay for the secondary application. If you are interested in receiving financial aid for the application process, check out the\u00a0AMCAS fee assistance program<\/a>\u00a0to find out if you\u2019re eligible.
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You\u2019re applying to medical school. You\u2019ve taken the\u00a0MCAT, started your\u00a0AMCAS application, and planned enough time to complete\u00a0secondary applications\u00a0and travel to\u00a0interviews. The medical school application process continues to become increasingly competitive; according to the\u00a0AAMC, there were 830,016 applications and 21,030 matriculants in the\u00a02016\u20132017 admissions cycle. With odds like that, it should be obvious that most applicants […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[3,70,51],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18359"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18359"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34879,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18359\/revisions\/34879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}