Maximizing changes - relocate or no?

[Ricekrispie]

I'm a long-time lurker but made an account today because I'm trying to figure out my next step. I will graduate this year in December with a biology degree. My cGPA should be around 3.85 and sGPA around 3.78. I have decent EC's but they're not overwhelming. I plan on taking at least 1 gap year, maybe 2. I'll also have about 300-350 hours of basic science research experience when I graduate. I haven't taken my MCAT yet.

I'm from ND, and I will be graduating from UND in December. I know the medical school here has a strong in-state bias which will work in my favor. However, I don't love ND and I don't really want to go to medical school here. My mom lives in AZ, as do some of my extended family members. I'm thinking about moving there when I'm done with school, living and working there for a year, and then applying as an AZ resident. My pre-med advisor here told me that with such strong ties to ND, UND would also probably consider me as in-state. Would this significantly increase my changes of an acceptance, since AZ has 2 MD schools and 2 DO schools that I could apply to as an IS resident? Or am I better off staying in ND, continuing to get experience, and not have to worry about having to live in AZ for a full year before I apply (which potentially translates to a year of lost income), and just applying to OOS-friendly schools?

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[einsteinm]

ND has one of the lowest MCAT averages in the nation. I would personally stay a ND resident if I really wanted to go to medical school.

 

[Ricekrispie]

ND has one of the lowest MCAT averages in the nation. I would personally stay a ND resident if I really wanted to go to medical school.

So I'm better off being a resident of a state with 1 school with a remarkably low average MCAT, than I would be in a state with 2 MD schools and 2 DO with average MCATs that are similar to the national average? Of course I want to go to medical school. I just want to be in a place that is going to give me the best odds of doing so, and preferably in an area that I wouldn't mind spending 4 years of training. I know that UND doesn't have residencies in many of the specialties, which I think puts me as a prospective student at a disadvantage. Or is that not the case?

Thank you both for your replies, and I'd be interested to hear other thoughts on it too.

 

[Donald Juan]

Based on your grades I don't see why you would have issues getting into med school. Do you really want to live in Arizona? If you're just taking 2 gap years and moving to Arizona to simply increase your chances of getting in? Because, if you can do decent on the mcat you shouldn't have a real issue getting in, and you could go somewhere else in the country as well.

 

[Ricekrispie]

I do like AZ, and I would much rather live there and attend school there than in ND. But I don't know if it's worth moving there and spending an extra year establishing state residency, rather than applying as an OOS candidate. That being said, if I'm pretty much a shoe-in here in ND, I don't want to jeopardize that by moving out of state either. I guess maybe it's just a catch-22, and there's not a better choice between the two.

 

[einsteinm]

Stay in ND. It's not even close. If you work hard enough, you can match into anything anywhere as an MD. I know some people with 4.0s that ended up doing poorly on the MCAT.

 

[NonTradJp]

I had a different suggestion. Maybe you already checked. But could you talk to the Arizona schools to see what they think of you and your ties through your mom. Maybe that's enough to give you a leg up. You have great grades so maybe that and your mom would be enough to tie you into AZ. Also, are you expecting a bad MCAT score?

I think you should go to school where you can succeed. Also, their are so many schools in so many parts of the word. If you do decent on your MCAT, you would have plenty of options not just two states. Your GPA with a decent MCAT will take you far.

As for the question at hand, in general I would think if you enjoy Arizona more, you would enjoy your gap year more anyways. Seems good to me. You might not need to take 2 years to get everything settled. I think you have more research you need to do before reconsidering the question such as Arizona's views about you, what MCAT score you expect, and where you would like to live if you had more choices.

 

[tiedyeddog]

Do not undervalue the power of having a home program. If ND doesn't have a home program in a field you end up applying to then it will be harder to match. Also, it will be harder to get good research done if the field you apply to requires it.

If I were you I would move to Arizona and try to get resident status there.