California Premeds... What's the deal?

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Mariko

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I'm a Pre-med from San Francisco. :D
It seems like lately I've been hearing more and more about how slim our chances (premeds from California) are of staying in Ca for med school. :( This makes sense to me because I know that the UC system is highly repected but it's also very discouraging. Don't get me wrong, I'll travel accross the world if I have to, :p but I have always dreamed of staying in Calif, atleast a couple hours away from family, boyfriend, my life etc if possible during med school. (btw this isn't the only reason I would want to stay in Calif...UCSF, Stanford or UC Davis :love: need I say more?)

Anyways, does anyone actually know of any numbers to back up this claim??
What ARE the statistics for Ca residents getting into/not getting into Ca med schools? It can't be that bad, right :confused:

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Mariko said:
I'm a Pre-med from San Francisco. :D
It seems like lately I've been hearing more and more about how slim our chances (premeds from California) are of staying in Ca for med school. :( This makes sense to me because I know that the UC system is highly repected but it's also very discouraging. Don't get me wrong, I'll travel accross the world if I have to, :p but I have always dreamed of staying in Calif, atleast a couple hours away from family, boyfriend, my life etc if possible during med school. (btw this isn't the only reason I would want to stay in Calif...UCSF, Stanford or UC Davis :love: need I say more?)

Anyways, does anyone actually know of any numbers to back up this claim??
What ARE the statistics for Ca residents getting into/not getting into Ca med schools? It can't be that bad, right :confused:

well do the math... there are 8 medical schools in california with about 1000 total seats. let's give cali the benefit of the doubt and say 80% of the matriculants are state residents. That means about 800 seats for about 4000 california applicants. sounds like about 20% to me. (of course this is assuming that all of them are applying to all of the schools... probably not the case, but still... the chances are not terribly good.)
 
ok. i did some reseach and found the following (source AAMC):

In 2003, there were 3,978 applicants from CA
In 2003, there were 816 seat available to CA applicants @ CA school.

Therefore, 816/3978 = 20.5%. Only 20.5 out of 100 CA applicants get to stay in CA (this figure is 36% for NY, 37.3% for IL, 39.5% for Texas).

More facts,
In 2003, 1,100 CA applicants matriculated into an out of state school. Also, 2,062 CA applicants did not get into any schools.
 
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sdnstud said:
ok. i did some reseach and found the following (source AAMC):

In 2003, there were 3,978 applicants from CA
In 2003, there were 816 seat available to CA applicants @ CA school.

Therefore, 816/3978 = 20.5%. Only 20.5 out of 100 CA applicants get to stay in CA (this figure is 36% for NY, 37.3% for IL, 39.5% for Texas).

More facts,
In 2003, 1,100 CA applicants matriculated into an out of state school. Also, 2,062 CA applicants did not get into any schools.

Thanks stud!

That was most helpful!
The stats ARE pretty bad compared to other states, but not as horrible as I was beggining to think from all the comiserating I read around here. :p

I guess the worst part about having a low in-state school acceptance rate is that it means that your overall chances are lowered because you are less likely to get into an out of state school, correct?

Is this true for most med schools (that they prioritize residents of their states for a slot) or is it only true for state schools (vs. private)?? Which schools are more open to accepting out of state applicants?
thanks again!
 
Mariko said:
I guess the worst part about having a low in-state school acceptance rate is that it means that your overall chances are lowered because you are less likely to get into an out of state school, correct?

Is this true for most med schools (that they prioritize residents of their states for a slot) or is it only true for state schools (vs. private)?? Which schools are more open to accepting out of state applicants?
thanks again!

Most public institutions show preference to in-state applicants. Most private schools could care less about what state you're from . . . they just want "the best." So yes, I guess your assessment is correct. CA residents will have a lower chance, overall, of getting into med school because their in state school isn't a likely option, and most out of state schools will show preference to their own students. I guess one thing that might make you feel better is that though there were alot of CA applicants for so few slots, you do have to remember that many of them aren't qualified at all. A bigger number doesn't necessarily mean more competition. Although I still think you're worse off as a CA resident. Anyway, I wish you the best. I'm applying to CA schools too. I lived there for the first 6 years of my adult life, and I've been trying to get back ever since I moved. So I'm applying for one of the very few out of state slots. Oh well! Good luck! :) :luck:
 
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