GA resident, re-applicant, trying to apply to TX schools

[jlli]

Most of the threads that are about nonresidents applying to TX schools are pretty old, or the applicants aren't really similar to me. Here are my stats:

I'm a reapplicant; I applied for Fall 2012 (AMCAS schools only, no schools in TX) and got rejected everywhere.

Asian/female/22 (will be 24 entering fall 2014)
Undergrad: Emory, Neuroscience major, German Studies minor
GPA: 3.87 (3.79 sGPA)
MCAT: 32S (10V, 11PS, 11BS) ---> retook it this January: 37 (11V, 14 PS, 12 BS)
Georgia resident

EC's in college:
-Research, both clinical and molecular; had a poster presentation
-Volunteer- at the local children's hospital and as a camp counselor for an autism center in Atlanta
-Club volleyball
-Emory student newspaper staff
-Chemistry Lab and German TA
-Worked as a science/math tutor for a private company
-Shadowing- about 2 semesters worth
-Honor societies: Phi Eta Sigma (VP of Finance), Nu Rho Psi and Phi Beta Kappa

I'm taking 2 gap years. My activities in this time are:

-Employment: research specialist in Emory Immunology lab; I'll probably have my name on a paper while I'm applying
-Volunteer: Egleston Children's Hospital and Atlanta Humane Society
-Club volleyball with an adult league in Atlanta
-Shadowing a neurologist

I'm thinking about applying to these TX schools:
Baylor (AMCAS)
UTSW
UTH
UTSA
UTMB
Texas A&M (on the fence about this one)

AMCAS schools:
Emory (waitlisted last cycle)
Georgia Regents i.e. MCG (waitlisted last cycle)
Johns Hopkins
Tufts
UPenn
USC (Cali)
Miami
Tulane
Northwestern
Jefferson Medical College (waitlisted last cycle)
Oregon

The only other public school I'm applying to as a non resident is Oregon, because my dad got his PhD there and I was born there. I applied to all of these schools last cycle except for Northwestern and UPenn.

Does anyone have any good advice for me, about my chances, how to improve them, more schools to add/take off, etc.? Particularly for the schools in the TX. My boyfriend just moved to Houston, TX. We've been dating for 1.5 years, and I'd really like to move close to him. Does this count as a significant tie to the state?

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[Meihua]

Hate to say that the boyfriend connection is probably not a significant tie-in. (Unrelated, but I live in Houston and my boyfriend when I applied was at GA Tech, so I applied to Emory...didn't even get an interview, haha).

Baylor takes 30% OOS while the TMDSAS schools take 10%, so your chances actually might be better there.

You're definitely overqualified for UTMB but they'll probably offer you an interview anyway. Not sure if this is true for OOS applicants, but for in-state, UTH and UTSA often don't interview applicants that they think are overqualified (i.e. people who, if they stay in Texas, will probably attend either UTSW or Baylor).

 

[jlli]

Thanks for the reply! Do you think that I'm overqualified for UTH and UTSA too? The older threads suggested that only exceptional OOS applicants get accepted to TX schools.

And since you're from TX, would you mind giving me some info about these schools/locations? I've gotten mixed reviews about A&M and UTMB, and I've never been to Texas before.

 

[Silverflash]

Thanks for the reply! Do you think that I'm overqualified for UTH and UTSA too? The older threads suggested that only exceptional OOS applicants get accepted to TX schools.

And since you're from TX, would you mind giving me some info about these schools/locations? I've gotten mixed reviews about A&M and UTMB, and I've never been to Texas before.

I've never been to UTMB, but A&M was actually really nice. The S&W hospital next door was awesome, and the school seemed very modern and progressive. As far as cities go, though, Temple certainly wouldn't be my first choice; it's relatively small and not terribly interesting. I go to school in Waco and live in Austin, so I drive through it all the time. On the plus side, Austin is quite close to Temple (~45 min away) and it's one of the best cities in Texas. So since there's no med school in Austin (for another few years anyway) it's not as bad of a spot as it could be. And as I said, the school seemed nice and the students I talked to loved it.

Also, just a general comment: Texas is not OOS friendly. Baylor would be your best shot, but other Texas schools must have 90% of each class be IS, and even Baylor needs 70%. If that's the list of schools you applied to last cycle, then I'd say your problem is that your list was way too top-heavy. You need to add many more mid/low tier schools. Your stats seem fine, but your school list isn't. I'd focus on broadening your range of AMCAS schools rather than going for Texas.

 

[jlli]

I've never been to UTMB, but A&M was actually really nice. The S&W hospital next door was awesome, and the school seemed very modern and progressive. As far as cities go, though, Temple certainly wouldn't be my first choice; it's relatively small and not terribly interesting. I go to school in Waco and live in Austin, so I drive through it all the time. On the plus side, Austin is quite close to Temple (~45 min away) and it's one of the best cities in Texas. So since there's no med school in Austin (for another few years anyway) it's not as bad of a spot as it could be. And as I said, the school seemed nice and the students I talked to loved it.

Also, just a general comment: Texas is not OOS friendly. Baylor would be your best shot, but other Texas schools must have 90% of each class be IS, and even Baylor needs 70%. If that's the list of schools you applied to last cycle, then I'd say your problem is that your list was way too top-heavy. You need to add many more mid/low tier schools. Your stats seem fine, but your school list isn't. I'd focus on broadening your range of AMCAS schools rather than going for Texas.

I thought A&M was located in Bryan, TX? If I was going just by the info in the MSAR and the Wiki page on Bryan, TX, I'm the least interested in A&M. I'd only apply there because it's relatively close to Houston.

My list of schools last year was much broader and included many more mid-tier/lower-tier schools. I wanted to narrow that list to schools I'd actually be interested in going to this year, so it's not really finalized. What schools would you consider mid-tier? I'm also thinking about adding Wake Forest and GWU on there.

 

[Silverflash]

A&M has two main campuses, one in Bryan and one in Temple. I've never visited the one in Bryan, and I tend to forget it exists because everyone here hates Bryan and thinks of Temple as the main campus.

As far as other mid-tiers go, I'm not the one to ask; I'd recommend you look at the MSAR in conjunction with LizzyM scores to determine your own definition of mid-tier, and then look at school-specific threads.

 

[Meihua]

Thanks for the reply! Do you think that I'm overqualified for UTH and UTSA too? The older threads suggested that only exceptional OOS applicants get accepted to TX schools.

And since you're from TX, would you mind giving me some info about these schools/locations? I've gotten mixed reviews about A&M and UTMB, and I've never been to Texas before.

If you were in-state, you'd look like a dead lock for matching at UTSW, so UTH and UTSA probably wouldn't bother interviewing you. As OOS, you're competitive at UTH/UTSA, but I'm not familiar with the OOS interview selection process. I know UTH at least as been changing their admissions procedure in recent years (I did research there and my PI said they basically used to only interview people who listed UTH as their top choice on TMDSAS, not sure if that's still true).

I've never visited A&M but have a couple of friends there - sure, Temple's not too interesting, but you can do 3rd/4th years in Round Rock (north Austin). Not too familiar with this program.

Only thing I know about UTSA is that one of my friends had to repeat his first year because he missed too many hours for some attendance-required class...

I went to UTMB for interview practice and left immediately after lunch (didn't bother going on the tour) but my friend stayed for the tour and said the facilities were pretty sad. During lunch we asked some students why they chose UTMB and the answers were basically "it's the only place I got in." Living on the island can be nice - rent is fairly cheap and you get the small-town feel while being relatively close to Houston (and you can do rotations in Houston), but for someone who's used to being in a more ambitious/competitive environment, the attitude of the students there was kind of depressing.

UTH is definitely a school where lots of demonstrated interest can score you at least an interview if not an acceptance. Good school, nice facilities, and of course it's in the medical center, so lots of opportunities for research and interesting clinical exposure.

Baylor is a fantastic school with a lousy administration. They have the whole 18-preclinical-months thing, which is great if you want more time to explore your options. They love good MCAT scores, which works in your favor.

 

[jlli]

Thank you for all the advice; that was really helpful! Can you explain more about what you mean by Baylor's lousy administration? It's currently my top choice. And do you have any info on UTSW? I read some threads that gave me the impression the students there were kind of high-strung or weird, but I know the school has awesome research opportunities.

And does anyone know if the TX schools can see all the schools you apply to on the TDSAS (or the AMCAS)? Would it hurt my chances to apply to more schools, or should I only apply to the ones I'm truly interested in? (That would be Baylor, UTSW, UTH and UTSA).

 

[Meihua]

Thank you for all the advice; that was really helpful! Can you explain more about what you mean by Baylor's lousy administration? It's currently my top choice. And do you have any info on UTSW? I read some threads that gave me the impression the students there were kind of high-strung or weird, but I know the school has awesome research opportunities.

And does anyone know if the TX schools can see all the schools you apply to on the TDSAS (or the AMCAS)? Would it hurt my chances to apply to more schools, or should I only apply to the ones I'm truly interested in? (That would be Baylor, UTSW, UTH and UTSA).

Baylor's finances are pretty shaky. Not sure of what how much medical students are affected by that, though. It's hard to get good communication with the admissions office unless you've already been admitted. Their interview day was not well organized...

Honestly, I loved UTSW when I interviewed there. It's really cheap (students are all considered independents when it comes to financial aid, so no EFC, and out-of-state students are apparently given enough scholarships so they're effectively paying in-state rates as well). However, after interviewing at both schools, people tend to feel strongly one way or another about UTSW vs. BCM. I fell on the UTSW side, but honestly, both are great schools with great research opportunities.

Pretty sure all the TMDSAS schools can see all the places you're applying to via TMDSAS. I think UTSW may ask you to fill in your AMCAS schools as part of the secondary - in any case, my UTSW interviewer knew all the schools on my list. I'm not sure if it would affect your application in any way to apply to schools you're not interested in.