Although these are safeties, you still need to work hard. So get a nice space and start your app!

Safety schools are crucial when you are applying to medical school. What do I mean by a “safety school?” A safety is a program that you know that you can very likely get into. It’s your fallback, but you want them to be good. In other words, you safeties need to be good enough so that you will not be disappointed if you go there. This is difficult and you need to be able to pick your schools wisely. Let’s see what I can do to help you.

Finding Your Safeties

To help with gauging your chances at certain schools, I have created a self-assessment tool that tells you everything you need to know about particular schools to ensure you meet all the criteria. It works equally well for safeties as it does for top-tier schools and would prove useful to anybody that wants to make a list of medical schools to apply to.

Now, the question is, do you want to go to an “easy” medical school? There are plenty reasons to go this route and not focus on the “top” medical programs. One reason might be location or another, more common, reason is cost. If cost is your concern, I have news for you — there are free medical school programs available! Seems far-fetched, I know, but if you’re going to a “safety” for cost, you might as well apply to these free medical school programs. If you sign up here I can tell you all you need to know for these offers because I know it is something pre-meds worry about a lot. Don’t worry, you have options.

Dealing with a Low GPA

Some students apply to “easy” medical schools because they made mistakes while they were pre-meds. Either they fluked a course, made a late change, or were just not prepared during their undergraduate years. Don’t panic though! There are options and you can still get into medical school.

• “How Do You Get Into Medical School with a Low GPA?” discusses a few options you have despite your lackluster grades. With this advice, you have a chance of getting into at least one medical school that you like so that you can plan your future from there.
• “Bad GPA — What Are My Chances for Medical School?” talks about a forum post I saw on StudentDoctor.net. I try my best to give you the advice you need and to console you. Bad grades are not the end of the world and there is certainly plenty you can still do.

Although safeties are supposed to be “easy” medical schools to get into, they still take quite a bit of work. Don’t expect this to be a walk in the park. Getting into medical school is difficult in and of itself, not to mention how hard it is getting into the top-tier medical programs. You still need to dedicate a lot of time into this process and I’m here to help.

If You Have Any Other Questions on Safeties, Or Anything Really, Contact Me!

I’d love to talk to you. Feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email. Hearing from students allows me to write better articles for the future and improve my teaching.