Whether you call me a pessimist or a realist, I am an advocate of having a large number of safety schools on your list when applying to medical school.

I have some clients with good GPAs and mediocre MCATs and vice versa. Ensure that your safety schools include those whose averages are the same and lower than your weakest numbers. In other words, if you have a strong MCAT but a weaker GPA, pick safety schools that reflect the GPA.

Remember: You can always decline a medical school’s offer of admission; you do not want to be without options.

In my last blog, I wrote about the utility of the MSAR for choosing where to apply to medical school. (Remember, though, that the MSAR only includes schools in the U.S. and Canada.) I wanted to suggest a good web page I found that highlights medical schools’ average GPAs and MCAT scores, data that comes directly from the 2008-9 MSAR. Although this data is technically a year old, this site is useful if you don’t have a MSAR at home: http://www.washington.edu/uaa/gateway/advising/downloads/gpamcat.pdf .

Alternately, you can order the brand new 2009-10 MSAR from the AAMC web site and Amazon (currently cheaper).

For one-on-one help applying to medical school – assistance with your AMCAS, personal statement, secondary essays, your interviews – please see http://www.insidermedicaladmissions.com/applicants/medapplicant.shtml .