CA state residency

[aec563]

How difficult is it to get into a CA state school as a post-bacc student, let's say with a competitive GPA and MCAT if you are from out of state and have never lived in CA before? I would love to attend many of the state schools there, but I'm from MD, spent the last six years in NYC and am doing my post-bacc here as well. A generalization or a break-down by school would be very helpful!

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[LoneCoyote]

It is VERY VERY tough to get in anywhere in California as a non-resident. It is even VERY tough to get into school here as a California resident. The majority of California applicants end up leaving the state for med school... I had heard that it was like 1 in 8 California applicants gets to stay here. Most of the schools accept less than 5% of applicants and they get thousands of applications for class sizes of <100 at some of the UCs.

That said, there is a small chance as an out-of-stater. Stanford accepts about 1/2 of its class from other states and does not give preference to Californians. I believe their acceptance rate is one of the lowest and that it is around 3%. UCSF and UCLA accept about 20 out-of-state applicants a year. These people tend to have very high GPAs and MCATs. UCSF likes non-traditional students so that could be an advantage as a post-bac, esp. if you have done interesting/amazing things. UCSD accepts a few out-of-staters. This was the first year UC Davis interviewed any significant # of out-of-state applicants and the admissions director told us at the interview that they would be accepting some out-of-staters this year. He did not give a number but I am assuming it will be very small. UC Irvine does not accept out-of-state applicants. If you are a WICHE resident of a western state w/o a med school, I believe some of the UCs will look at your app. more favorably. USC does not give preference to residents and I think their classes end up being about 15% non-Californians. Loma Linda is a Christian school, the SDA denomination. I was not interested in them so I know little about the school, but I believe they do not consider state residency. There are two DO schools here, COMP and Trouro (sp?) in Vallejo (I think?).

If you buy the MSAR book you can get the exact percentages and breakdowns for the residency statistics. In fact, if you go on the pre-allo forum and do a search for "all applied admitted" stats, I believe someone pasted it all in. And you can search and find TONS of threads on how hard it is to get into Cali schools. So I hate to be the bearer of bads news but it's tough. I wouldn't get my heart set on it, but if you don't mind spending the $ apply to UCSF and UCLA (maybe UCSD and Davis) and see what happens. Definitely apply to USC, Stanford (if you have the #'s), and Loma Linda if its your cup of tea.

 

[LoneCoyote]

I found the numbers. Here they are. I think this is from 2002.

*****FORMAT: Applied Interviewed Accepted Enrolled*****

Stanford University

Total: 5,813 560 186 86 In state: 2,026 240 78 40
Out of state: 3,787 320 108 46 Women: 2,620 305 104 47
Minorities: 2,382 292 96 57 International: 220 15 6 1
Acceptance rate: 3.2%

University of California--Davis

Total: 3,731 425 203 93 In state: 3,169 420 198 92
Out of state: 562 5 5 1 Women: 1,749 228 119 49
Minorities: 1,596 162 85 39 International: 5 0 0 0
Acceptance rate: 5.4%

University of California--Irvine Admissions

Total: 3,507 411 220 94 In state: 3,117 406 220 94
Out of state: 390 5 0 0 Women: 1,614 187 111 41
Minorities: 1,918 223 103 41 International: N/A N/A N/A N/A
Acceptance rate: 6.3%

University of California--Los Angeles

Total: 5,308 613 240 121 In state: 3,131 466 182 102
Out of state: 2,177 147 58 19 Women: 2,497 314 118 65
Minorities: 839 224 100 53 International: 82 1 0 0
Acceptance rate: 4.5%

University of California--San Diego

Total: 4,255 522 312 121 In state: 3,119 470 290 114
Out of state: 1,136 52 22 7 Women: 1,965 253 157 55
Minorities: 2,024 242 120 53 International: 0 0 0 0
Acceptance rate: 7.3%

University of California--San Francisco Admissions

Total: 4,832 496 262 141 In state: 2,538 N/A 176 116
Out of state: 2,294 N/A 86 25 Women: 2,303 N/A 149 54
Minorities: 2,070 N/A 121 58 International: N/A N/A N/A N/A
Acceptance rate: 5.4%

University of Southern California

Total: 4,967 482 314 160 In state: 3,049 386 261 139
Out of state: 1,918 96 53 21 Women: 2,293 220 158 70
Minorities: 2,556 244 160 84 International: 142 10 6 6
Acceptance rate: 6.3%

Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine Admissions

Total: 1,521 436 214 125 In state: 437 215 122 80
Out of state: 1,084 221 92 45 Women: 618 212 112 61
Minorities: 562 148 82 58 International: 0 0 0 0
Acceptance rate: 14.1%

 

[aec563]

Hi LoneCoyote,

Thank you so much for your helpful posts. I really appreciate the fact that you took the time to write back and give me such detailed info. I'm sad to know that the numbers look so discouraging. Now, I really wish that I had moved to CA for college (although you mentioned that a lot of Californians leave the state to go to med school). Six years later, I'm still regretting having stayed on the east coast.

Alice

 

[jxu66]

I think that it is true for all state schools. Unless you are resident of a state, it is almost impossible to get in as an out-of-state resident. California is probably the worst. I know Texas state Medical school mandates at least 90% of applicants came from state resident. Most of Medical school has over 95% in-state students.

 

[jhk43]

actually its not 1/8 staying in cali.

its 800/4000 total applicants or 20% matriculated at a cali school.


this means, out of all cali applicants who were matriculated to any school (in or out of state n=2000), 800/2000 or 40% stayed in-state.


keep in mind many cali applicants also CHOOSE to attend private schools.


oh, if you're not a cali resident, fuggetaboutit.

 

[Mr Reddly]

Originally posted by LoneCoyote
This was the first year UC Davis interviewed any significant # of out-of-state applicants and the admissions director told us at the interview that they would be accepting some out-of-staters this year.

Hmmm.... Could this be due to budget cuts as well? Out of stater brings in more money to the school... If you have budget problems, just accept more of them to balance the cost.... maybe? food for thought.

 

[LoneCoyote]

bumping up...

 

[LoneCoyote]

here's the state by state breakdown that i think jhk was referring to:

http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2003/2003slrmat.htm