Californian-Friendly Schools + Good "Safeties"

[MonkfishSushi]

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Hi everyone,

To all my fellow Californians, what schools outside of California interview/accept a decent number of California applicants?

Also for California applicants with >3.75 and >35, what schools can serve a decent "safeties" (as in sub-40 research rank that still accept applicants with the above scores).

Please feel free to post links to old threads on these topics; my searches have not been successful...

Thanks! 🙂

 

[ReptarBar]

in before comments about how there is no such thing as a safety school

 

[BigEast55]

in before comments about how there is no such thing as a safety school

There really isn't. The whole process can feel so random at times.

 

[CougarMD]

If you look decent on paper (good MCAT, good GPA, good ECs, not a horrible essay writer) then you have a chance anywhere.

I think that you should combine two tactics. First, go through the MSAR (seriously...buy one...it is worth it) and see where your stats are average or above average.

Second....go through the school specific threads from this year/last year and look at the essay questions. I wish someone had told me this before I applied. You can tell a LOT about what a school values by looking at their essay questions. If you see an essay where you think "Oh WOW...I have a TON to say about this" then that might be a really good place for you to apply. Stellar secondaries can get you an interview. Schools want you to "fit" there as much as you do.

 

[dbeast]

If you have over 35 and 3.75 you shouldn't worry... Still I know SLU has a reputation as being a school for CA applicants who didn't get in to any in state schools (heard people refer to it as "UC SLU") and I have a friend at MCoW who was also in that situation. Einstein has a ton of students from Cal undergrad, but that might just be coincidence.

 

[Narmerguy]

Are the UC schools themselves really so bad that a 3.75 and a 35 wouldn't be considered competitive?

 

[WeAreNotRobots]

Are the UC schools themselves really so bad that a 3.75 and a 35 wouldn't be considered competitive?

yep. i cleared those bars and got in's across the states, including some privates in NYC, but only 1 UC interview. it's crazy out here.

 

[Geekchick921]

Temple has a lot of students from California. It's the second most common home state for their students, after PA.

 

[MonkfishSushi]

Thanks for the advice and the "safeties" clarification. Temple, MCW, SLU (and other once the new edition of MSAR is out) it is!

By the way, gujuDOC mentioned applying to a mix of high, mid and low tier schools. I figure ~40 schools is the most schools an average applicant can apply to without going insane and/or broke.

For a California applicant, what would you all suggest in terms of proportions? I figured 20ish from the top 25 research rank, 12ish schools from 25 to 50 (lots of schools eliminated due to in-state advantages), and 8ish for schools below 50. Thoughts?

 

[courtnes]

Drexel, like Temple, also takes a large number of CA students.

 

[2050vlsb]

Hmm I agree with this. MCW, SLU, UWisc to some degree, Ohio state, Utoledo, east coast schools in NY including the SUNYs, Virginia schools including the new school VTech. lately Fl.'s new schools have also been interviewing californians as well as some of their established schools like USF. I'm sure almost everywhere along the east coast that takes out of staters has at least 1 californian.

Creighton in Nebraska has an unusually high population of californians.

Whatever you do though don't apply to only high tiers and mid tiers. Apply to a mix of all schools: high, low, mid tiers. Apply broadly because you may not get in if you don't.

+1 for MCW ... in their 2010 incoming class profile, 43 out of 200 students came from California, with UC Berkeley, UCLA and UCSD as the highest represented ugrads after Madison

http://www.mcw.edu/FileLibrary/User/pconfer/Admissions/2010ClassProfile.pdf

 

[rHinO1]

Thanks for the advice and the "safeties" clarification. Temple, MCW, SLU (and other once the new edition of MSAR is out) it is!

By the way, gujuDOC mentioned applying to a mix of high, mid and low tier schools. I figure ~40 schools is the most schools an average applicant can apply to without going insane and/or broke.

For a California applicant, what would you all suggest in terms of proportions? I figured 20ish from the top 25 research rank, 12ish schools from 25 to 50 (lots of schools eliminated due to in-state advantages), and 8ish for schools below 50. Thoughts?

Hell no, don't do this. I would do 25 max, but really 20 would be just fine. Also, don't apply too far below your stats, that is just as bad as applying too far above.

 

[bagelbird]

Thanks for the advice and the "safeties" clarification. Temple, MCW, SLU (and other once the new edition of MSAR is out) it is!

By the way, gujuDOC mentioned applying to a mix of high, mid and low tier schools. I figure ~40 schools is the most schools an average applicant can apply to without going insane and/or broke.

For a California applicant, what would you all suggest in terms of proportions? I figured 20ish from the top 25 research rank, 12ish schools from 25 to 50 (lots of schools eliminated due to in-state advantages), and 8ish for schools below 50. Thoughts?

Before applying, I heard from my friend (who lived in CA all his life, went to a UC, 35 MCAT, 3.9 GPA who ended up getting waitlisted at 4 UCs and then going OOS for medical school) that Temple, Drexel, MCW, SLU, NYMC, George Washington, University of Illinois are popular with CA kids... lo and behold I had luck with those schools this year.

As for how many to apply to... I applied to about 35, which is a normal number in my circle of CA premed buddies. It's expensive, but it's cheaper than not getting in and having to do it again. Definitely apply to a good mix of schools.

Good luck!

 

[skyhyp2009]

Hi everyone,

To all my fellow Californians, what schools outside of California interview/accept a decent number of California applicants?

Also for California applicants with >3.75 and >35, what schools can serve a decent "safeties" (as in sub-40 research rank that still accept applicants with the above scores).

Please feel free to post links to old threads on these topics; my searches have not been successful...

Thanks! 🙂

Your stats seem to be very similar to mine and I'm a Californian as well.

The New York schools were my "safeties" (if you can really call them that...they were just "less of an impossibility" rather than "safeties"). You can check which specific ones I applied to on my MDapps. They were the first ones to give me interviews, first ones to accept me, and first ones to offer me money.

I applied to 30+ schools...and am really glad that I did although doing the secondaries was brutal. If you choose to apply to a lot of schools, make sure to prioritize the order...

 

[drizzt3117]

I second this suggestion above. I would like to echo all the schools listed and add Temple, UWisconsin (I've seen californians get in here a few times), SUNY Downstate and other SUNYs too.
If you apply to say 30 schools which is just under what I applied to (32 in my case), I'd apply to maybe like 10 top 20s and the rest mid tier and low tier. but by low tier I don't mean HBCU's or really really low tier schools for the reasons Rhino1 said. You don't want to go too low anymore then you want to go too high. I mean schools like Loyola, Wayne State, etc.

I'd apply to Ohio state as well if I were you.

Look in the MSAR really carefully. Apply across east coast and midwest schools.

I agree that there are a decent amount of CA folks at UW, but we don't have nearly the amount of OOS people in our classes at MCW. Also, our average stats for OOS are approximately what the OP has (~3.82/33, slightly higher GPA, slightly lower MCAT) which would make him a good fit but it'd hardly be a safety school. For state schools you have to assume that the people getting in from OOS have either ties to the state, other reasons for admission, or above average stats for a matriculant.

 

[drizzt3117]

Good point. Wow you are at Uwisc? Never knew. My cousin is a M2 there now.

yep yep... it's not too bad now that it's starting to get warm here.