So I just listened to the recent old pre meds podcast episode that bashed on the LizzyM score, and it got me thinking. I remember from previous episodes that Dr. Gray says to pick medical schools based on location and fit with the mission of the school. The problem I run into, which I know is not unique, is that I only have 1 state school. That’s any easy one for mission and fit, but how do I pick other schools? Location outside of that school doesn’t really matter (I’m willing to live in cities/towns, cold/hot). The other problem is that all private schools seem to have almost the same mission that includes some or all of these aspects:
*serving the underserved
*producing physician innovators
*producing primary care docs
I’ve seen very little variation in this regard between schools. I think this is why most students resort to stats (MCAT and GPA) to select a school list. It is challenging because I don’t know which schools are looking for my specific story, and it’s not really possible to know until I send in a secondary and receive a response. I ended up applying to 30+ schools because my GPA is low, and I really didn’t know if I would get any interviews if I didn’t apply broadly. I don’t want others to apply to that many schools if there is a better way!
Am I missing something? Is there a better way?