What kind of students does Howard look for? I just know that they are OOS friendly..
Well it’s an HBCU - so dedicated to producing Black doctors that will practice in our underserved communities. They want applicants who have demonstrated work in underserved communities and are interested in tackling health disparities.
Was accepted to Howard last cycle (but decided to go to a school closer to home), so maybe I can shed a little more light on this.
@14_karat is spot on about what Howard looks for. As an HBCU, most of the class is black/AA, but they definitely accept applicants of other races. You really need to show a strong commitment to the underserved-working with them, advocating with them, living in an underserved community, etc. To clarify, underserved doesn't necessarily equate to predominantly black/AA areas (my app was geared towards working with the Native and homeless/at-risk populations in my city).
They are very OOS friendly, primarily because Howard is private and DC is a small area and doesn't have a whole lot of applicants in general. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but Howard doesn't have a geographic bias-they accept people from all over the country (heck, there were two of us from AK who were accepted).
The best advice I have to y'all applying is to allow your humanity to shine through in your apps. If you have a life story, don't be afraid to share it. Be a real human being who shows emotions, can empathize with others, and meet others where they're at. Mistakes are okay. Emphasize what you learned from those mistakes and how you'll integrate those lessons into serving the underserved. Whatever you say, bring it back to your underserved patients and communities and outline your commitment to these areas. From what I could tell, Howard (and I think the HBCUs in general) is very mission-driven.
The other piece of advice I have is to get your app in as early as possible. Howard was one of the last secondaries I received (I received mine in early September) and I filled out the app the very day I received it. And I kid you not, I received an interview invite 1-2 days later. So get in at the very beginning. If you get into the interview stage, be proud; according to the MSAR data, Howard receives ~9000 applications but interviews ~300. That's an astonishingly small percentage. Make it to the interviews, and barring any major mishaps, you'll have a good chance of getting in. And even if you get WLed here, you have a good chance of getting off.
Keep your heads up, and good luck to y'all applying this cycle!
