 So how many medical schools should you apply to? What's the right number? Is there a right number? We're going to go through all of that in this video. Let's get into it. All right, guys. Welcome to another episode in the TMJ show and the MD journey YouTube channel. My name is Lux. I'm an internal medicine resident helping people just like you succeed on the medical journey with lack stress. If you are new to the channel, welcome, or we're putting videos just like this one on a weekly basis, actually twice a week now. So if you enjoy the concepts, if you enjoy the video, make sure you go ahead and like and subscribe and hit that notification bell to be notified when the new videos come out. But today I am making a video for all of my soon to be physicians and doctors on how many medical schools you should be applying to. Maybe you're watching this when it's application season, or maybe you're watching this when you have some time to think of how much you're about to spend and drop when it comes to all those applications. And you may not know what a good number is on how many applications you actually need to send out, how many medical schools you need to be applying to exactly what we'll get to in this video. So now the first obvious thing that I want to mention is that there's no right answer. You know, you may need more than the number I'm about to give or you may need less because you may fall into different categories. Maybe your grades are amazing, your grades are not so much, or you have specific criteria, so we'll talk about it. But the average amount of medical schools that the typical pre-med student will apply to is about 15 to 20. Now that number may either scare you or may seem a little low depending on who you are, and we'll get to that in a second. But for the purpose of this video, we're going to keep that number at 15 and I'll explain to you kind of when you should go up or when you should go down, depending on your specific circumstances. Now to really understand what to do with that number of 15, whether you should go up or down, you really need to understand where you kind of stand from the averages. That includes your GPA and your MCAT. So the average GPA for a student who gets accepted into medical schools anywhere from a 3.7 to a 3.8. So you need to evaluate is your GPA both, you know, overall as well as science, is it above or is it below that average? If you're right in the middle, then you know, we'll say for now, stick to the 15th. If your GPA is even higher, maybe you worked your butt off and you got that coveted 4.0, then maybe you can lower that number from 15 to about 12 to 13. And on the other side, maybe you realize that medicine was for you a little bit later or you had a class. It's kind of totally tanked your GPA and you're closer to the three fives, three sixes or even lower than you need to start considering potentially adding more schools to your list. Now, the next thing that you got to talk about is the average MCAT score and at least the making of this video, the typical average for the accepted or matriculant medical school MCAT score is about a 508 to a 510. Now, again, this may change. So look at the institutions that you're considering applying to and then you want to value it. What is your MCAT score or your practice exams if you haven't taken your MCAT? Where does it kind of put you? Are you right in that range or are you a bit lower or are you a little bit higher? And again, that gives you a little bit more buffer room to either add or subtract about two to three medical schools to apply to depending on what side of the spectrum you're on. Now, I want to give you a quick breakdown. How I would recommend, you know, you applying to medical schools, how many schools you do and which schools you should consider applying to. And one of the biggest mistakes that you can actually make for yourself is applying too far on either end of the spectrum. You can either apply to too many competitive programs where you may be an average to an above average student or you can apply to too many safety programs, not give yourself opportunity to go to institutions that maybe you have the potential to do. So the ratio that I like to give is saying 25% reach programs. We'll talk about that second. 50% of the program should be in the range to have your average GPA and your average MCAT. And then 25% should be what we obviously consider safety schools, but they're just schools that have an average GPA or and or MCAT that is lower than whatever your score is. And I think this kind of format can help you evaluate where you stand for many different institutions instead of just saying, this is an Ivy League program that I would love to go to, but it wouldn't have a chance. This is a good program and this is a not so good program, you know, instead evaluate yourself and your numbers based off the averages that the schools disclose on their websites. I also dropped some links to some nice websites that broken down average GPAs as well as MCATs for each institution that's reported them. So again, that's 25% reach. So if you are applying to 15 programs that'd be about four to five can be your reach schools things that you would love to go to, but maybe your numbers are a little bit lower. 50% would be about seven to eight programs that are in line with your averages and your numbers. And then finally, you have the 25% of kind of safety schools to have a little lower GPA or MCAT than you do. And I would come out to about four to five programs. Now there's a few more things you should consider to understand where you should move that 15 average whether you should go up or down before we get to it. Just a quick reminder, if you're enjoying the video, make sure you hit that like button and that subscribe button as well as a notification bell. And we're putting out high value content just like this for people just like you on a weekly basis. So show your support, but let's get back into the video. And I really wanted to talk about a few more things that you should consider, right? So you have the average of 15. What kind of things will move the needle up towards maybe 20 programs and what kind of things may move you to a 10 or sub 10 in terms of how many programs you apply to a few things you should consider in addition to the MCAT and the GPA are things like where do you want to live? You know, are you trying to go to a highly coveted area like California? People love the West Coast or are you trying to go into a major city that may be a little bit more competitive things like New York or Boston? Or maybe you're trying to move to a different state in the United States that tends to prefer people who come from that state. I myself am from Texas, so I know from experience that the public schools here will take up to 90% of their entering class from the state of Texas. So if you want to come here or another state with similar policies, you know, you really do have to consider maybe applying to more programs as well as applying to the programs in the regions that are around you. In addition to geography, you also have to consider what other elements of your application make you competitive. You know, for me, my MCAT score was about average. My GPA was above average. But I think my experience in extracurriculars really helped me stand apart. A few things that I had which I think helped me stand out were things like a scientific paper that was actually published, which isn't always easy to do in college as well as, you know, experiences being the chairman or president of our organization that really just helped me speak for some of my leadership qualities as well as a year off and a gap experience for, say, where I worked with kids with autism. So those were all unique things that add to my application in addition to my good GPA and my good MCAT score. So if you feel like you have a complete package, the numbers are good as well as your extracurriculars, obviously look at it with a grain of salt, but you can obviously go down on the number. To share a little bit more of my experience, you know, I think I ended applying to about 10 medical schools in the state of Texas. You know, yes, we have 10 medical schools, but it actually broke up nicely where I had about 25% that had better numbers than probably what I had. 50% of the schools I was applying to here kind of were in coordinates to my grades in my GPA and MCAT and then 25% of them roughly had lower kind of numbers and a lower average. So it was easier for me to apply to. And that gave me a nice influx of interviews, you know, a little bit from the reach schools, a little bit from the medium schools and some obviously from the safety schools, which I could go ahead and then apply to an interview with some confidence. So hopefully guys, I hope you understand that yes, the average is 15, but there's some things you should consider on when you should go up and when you should go down. If you feel like you have a lot more barriers in your way, a lot more red flags and obviously move that number up within reason. And then if you feel like maybe your application is good or you're not trying to go to a very, you know, a lead program, which is completely fine. You're happy with where you are, but you can lower that number. That guys is basically how I'd recommend approaching the question of how many medical schools you should apply to. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this video. Now if you want more tips on succeeding as a pre-med applying to medical school, then we have a full playlist of all the videos I've made the two to three years that I've been on YouTube now. So I will link that down below as well as an end screen that you guys can check out right here. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this video. If you do go ahead and show your support, hit that like button if you haven't done so already, somehow made it to this video. Drop your comments with any questions you guys have down below. Hit that subscribe button as well as notification bell videos coming at you every Wednesday and every Sunday each week. So that's pretty much it. Thank you guys so much for joining me on my journey. Hopefully I've been a little help to you on yours. I'll see you guys in the next one. Peace.