How NOT to Select a Medical School as a Premed

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Session 142

I recently did a webinar with Blueprint MCAT (formerly Next Step Test Prep) about selecting a medical school and what to use to help you select medical schools.

The average number of schools applied to is 15. But that’s just half the story (or even a third of a story) depending on the application services you use between DO, MD, and Texas applications. Looking at AMCAS application service for MD schools, they state that the average number of schools selected per application is 15 and that’s just through the AMCAS application.

So if you’re applying to DO schools (AACOMAS), MD schools, and Texas schools, where does that actually put you?

An iTunes Milestone

But before that, the MSHQ podcast has yet achieved another milestone. To date, we have hit the 300 ratings in the U.S. iTunes Store. Thank you guys!

Here are the highlights of this episode:

How NOT to go about choosing a medical school:

Do not use the U.S. News and World Reports as a starting point for selecting medical schools.
Tweet: “Don’t go to a great medical school. Go to a medical school that will make you great!” – @medicalschoolhq #premed #medschool
The median MCAT Total Score has no bearing on whether a medical school is good or not. (same with median undergradate GPA)

The U.S. News and World Reports

It offers subjective information that doesn’t mean much. It doesn’t tell the quality of school but how much research is going on or money they’re bringing in
It only tells the ability of the students they’re accepting to take the MCAT and how well they did on the MCAT.
Do not let average GPA, average MCAT score determine what schools you’ll apply to or not.

What you need to do:

What school is going to make you great?
Where are you going to thrive?

Two books that should be your main driving factors in choosing your medical school:

MSAR
CIB

Look at other things that will make your medical school experience great for you.

Weather
Location
Proximity to family and friends
Ability to travel other places
Class size
Research available
Access to residencies or residency directors.

Links and Other Resources

U.S. News and World Report medical school rankings methodology

Free MCAT Gift: Free 30+ page guide with tips to help you maximize your MCAT score and which includes discount codes for MCAT prep as well.

Visit our partner magazine, www.premedlife.com to learn more about awesome premed information. Check out their May/June 2015 issue featuring Ryan.

http://www.premedlife.com/features.html

Blueprint MCAT (formerly Next Step Test Prep): Get one-on-one tutoring for the MCAT and maximize your score. Get discount off their tutoring program when you mention that you heard about this on the podcast or through the MSHQ website.

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Email me at ryan@medicalschoolhq.net or connect with me on Twitter @medicalschoolhq