CA Resident really need help me with my out of State List of Schools!!

[OneMCATAway]

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So i am going to submit soon and really need all the advise i can get =)

i am from CA, URM, GPA: 3.8; MCAT: 28; Great PS (if they read it), Strong LOR's ; had a part time job all through college, teaching/tutoring, lab and clinical research, volunteer, shadow, honors, etc etc..

my only concern is the mcat so i know i have to apply broadly and i really need help for schools outside of california, as far as how friednly they are toward CA residents and how forgiving about verbal cut-off score, here is the list i have so far which is alot so please help me narrow it down or if you can think of other schools also let me know! Thank you in advance 🙂

Einstein
Boston U
Oregon HS
U of Washington
U of Nevada
U of Arizona
NYMC
Univ of Illinois
Rosalind Franklin
Univ of Missouri
Albany
Drexel
Tulane
Loyola
George WU
Penn State
Gerogetown U
U of Vermont
MC Wisconsin
W. Virginia
Temple
VCU
EVMS
Marshall Univ
Morehouse
Howard
Mehary

 

[student1799]

OP, you should see my comments on your last thread. The bottom line is that I think your CA residency will have a much smaller impact on your chances than your mitigating factors of URM/ESL status.

 

[jzyu]

You might wanna put VCU and EVMS on that list- they're very friendly towards us Californians. Also, how come I don't see California schools on there?

 

[OneMCATAway]

Thanks student1799 i just saw your last post thanks for the advice =)
do you have any comments on my out of state list?!

jzyu, i am applying to all california schools, these are the schools i want to apply to out of state and i am not sure which ones to keep! i will add VCU and EVMS, thanks =) is it ok that they are public schools?!!!

 

[jzyu]

Thanks student1799 i just saw your last post thanks for the advice =)
do you have any comments on my out of state list?!

jzyu, i am applying to all california schools, these are the schools i want to apply to out of state and i am not sure which ones to keep! i will add VCU and EVMS, thanks =) is it ok that they are public schools?!!!

well you're going to have to pay OOS tuition if you do end up going but (im told) that they have lots of Californians in their class.

my friend from UCLA is probably going to start at VCU in the fall.

 

[dragonfly99]

I think you should really really check and see if Missouri U. takes ANY substantial number of out of state applicants (like even 1 or 2 per year) because they used to not take any. They also used to have only 86 students/class, so not very good odds. You also might be culture shocked living in that part of Missouri if you are from California. They also I think have a high tuition for a state school.

The last time I looked St. Louis University and Rosalind Franklin had quite a few Californians.

Your stats look pretty strong except for the MCAT score, and I think you can overcome that. I think you should find a way to work it into your application that English is a 2nd language for you, but do so without seeming like you are making excuses.

 

[OneMCATAway]

most of the out of state schools are private anyway so i know the tuition is going to be high but im leaving the cost as my last priority (counting on lots of loans for that)

for the public ones is there still a good chance of getting in? like VCU is public but has a 43% oos acceptance!! i just looked at the lizzy M spread sheet and ended up adding more to my list..

I have updated the list on my original post, please let me know what you think? its a lot of schools, any idea which ones to remove? thanks everyone =)

 

[student1799]

Thanks student1799 i just saw your last post thanks for the advice =)
do you have any comments on my out of state list?!

I would forget about WVU, Marshall, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and U Washington: all are virtually closed to OOS students. And OHSU has super-high numerical requirements for OOS students, including * 10 cutoff for each MCAT section.

However, as a previous poster said, definitely add VCU and EVMS, as they are fairly OOS-friendly. As for UI, even if you do get in there, they have ridiculous OOS tuition ($60K). But you might want to add Michigan State; although they also have $60K OOS tuition, they let you get state residency after the first year. Along the same lines, you should add the 2 OOS-friendly SUNYs, Upstate and Buffalo. NY's OOS tuition is reasonable, and the residency rules are super-liberal, so you'll be IS from year 2 on.

As far as the private schools are concerned, I'd add Temple and Jefferson to your Philly list (I think you only had Drexel on there). There's also Creighton (a Jesuit school in Omaha), which has quite a few Californians. On the other hand, I don't think your chances at Einstein are great without a higher MCAT (their average is 33).

 

[OneMCATAway]

I would forget about WVU, Marshall, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and U Washington: all are virtually closed to OOS students. And OHSU has super-high numerical requirements for OOS students, including * 10 cutoff for each MCAT section.

However, as a previous poster said, definitely add VCU and EVMS, as they are fairly OOS-friendly. As for UI, even if you do get in there, they have ridiculous OOS tuition ($60K). But you might want to add Michigan State; although they also have $60K OOS tuition, they let you get state residency after the first year. Along the same lines, you should add the 2 OOS-friendly SUNYs, Upstate and Buffalo. NY's OOS tuition is reasonable, and the residency rules are super-liberal, so you'll be IS from year 2 on.

As far as the private schools are concerned, I'd add Temple and Jefferson to your Philly list (I think you only had Drexel on there). There's also Creighton (a Jesuit school in Omaha), which has quite a few Californians. On the other hand, I don't think your chances at Einstein are great without a higher MCAT (their average is 33).

Thanks! I def. have doubts about arizona, nevada, and washington but i read on their website that arizona is starting to take up to 25% oos this year so I am not sure! as for marshall and wvu their percentage is not that low, should I still get rid of them?! and U of washington encourages URM's to apply even if they are out of state, although its probably going to be a low chance!!!

I am also gonna remove UI for the high tuition!!

Jefferson and Creighton's lowest verbal is a 9 so I think they would really be a long shot for me! even though einstein is along the same lines but at least the lowest verbal there is an 8!!

as for SUNY upstate and U of Buffalo I didnt see a high oos percent on the LizzyM school lists but I could also add them to the list!

I dont have the MSAR book so I am going based on the LizzyM spreadsheet, so here is the list again after the changes:

Einstein, Boston U, Penn State, Oregon HS, Gerogetown U, U of Vermont, MC Wisconsin, NYMC, Michigan State, Rosalind Franklin, Albany, Drexel, Tulane, Loyola, George WU, Temple, EVMS, VCU, Univ of Missouri, Morehouse, Howard Univ, Mehary!

how is it now? thanks for all the help =)

 

[student1799]

WVU and Marshal only admit OOS students with strong West Virginia ties, or people who live in neighboring counties of nearby states. They won't even send you a secondary if they don't think your ties are good enough.
But your point about UWa encouraging URM applications is a good one, and probably applies to most of the other state schools as well. They will probably be more lenient with the IS/OOS restrictions because you're URM. On the other hand, don't apply to ANY school where you can't see yourself actually going; on that basis, WVa and Marshall could be quite a culture shock for you. (They certainly would be for me.)

I wouldn't rule out applying to any school you're really interested in because of MCAT section cutoffs, as URM applicants are usually given more leeway with these.

As far as the admissions stats, I think it's worth paying $14.95 for access to the USNews online med school rankings, because their stats are much more useful. They give the number of students actually accepted at the school, as opposed to the number that matriculated. If you look at these stats, you'll see that 54% of the students accepted at SUNY Upstate in '07 (for example) were OOS, although most of them didn't matriculate.

 

[OneMCATAway]

ok so Nevada is out, they dont take any OOS from Cali, and I got rid of U of Vermont and Penn state cuz I have too many schools! I did add Michigan state instead of Illinoise since their verbal avg is nice!

hopefully I can submit today, any last minute advices?

 

[student1799]

I got rid of U of Vermont and Penn state cuz I have too many schools!

Don't remove Vermont--it's a great school! (That's where I'll be going, so I am a bit biased, but still ...)

If you submitted without them, you can just go back and add the school and resubmit. It won't delay the processing of your application at all.

Good luck!

 

[OneMCATAway]

Don't remove Vermont--it's a great school! (That's where I'll be going, so I am a bit biased, but still ...)

If you submitted without them, you can just go back and add the school and resubmit. It won't delay the processing of your application at all.

Good luck!

Thank you for all your help! & Congrats on your acceptance 🙂