Do state schools give a closer examination of in state applicants?

[TheAppleJuice]

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Do state school try and look for reasons to admit their IS applicants rather than reject them? Would they more closely examine your courses, PS, letters, etc.

 

[Goro]

They have a mandate to favor their own residents, so they may very well get cut more slack.

 

[gyngyn]

Some state schools have very high standards and the IS applicants to meet them.
Other states care less. In CA, only two schools have a stated preference for IS candidates

 

[dcmorgan96]

Buy MSAR and look at acceptance data. It will show IS vs OSS applicants, how many got interviews, and how many matriculated. Keep in mind matriculated #s don't represent acceptance #s. I have found that even many private schools give more interviews to IS applicants

 

[DameJulie]

In CA, only two schools have a stated preference for IS candidates

Indeed. Being IS in CA doesn't do you much favor.

 

[PreMedMissteps]

Indeed. Being IS in CA doesn't do you much favor.

There may not be a stated mandate at most of CA meds, but they still matriculate a high majority of instate.

If residents want a mandate for all of their public SOMs, then they need to pressure the CA gov't.

That said, the problem with CA is simply that they have a crazy number of med school applicants. A mandate for all publics would still mean that many applicants will still need to find OOS seats.

 

[DokterMom]

There's probably also an element of 'review fatigue' that is more pronounced at the lower- and mid-stat private schools than at state schools. Think of a school like Georgetown that gets more than 14,000 applications compared to state schools that might get 2,500 applications. Can you even imagine having to read so many personal statements?

When you've got to toss 90% of your applications before the interview stage, each one will not get a lot of time...

 

[mistafab]

OP - it is very school and state dependent.

Make sure to look at IS/OOS application ratios vs IS/OOS acceptance ratios before applying to schools. Those with low IS/OOS application ratios + High IS/OOS acceptance ratios are very likely to be favoring IS applications. Usually, it is because the school is sponsored and given money by the state to train physicians.

 

[PreMedMissteps]

For CA, in state matriculation rate is 15%.

You're misunderstanding my post. I'm talking about the instate preference that CA publics have. Their M1 classes aren't only 15% instate.

If Californians want their state SOMs to be nearly exclusively instate students (except for MD/PhD), then they'll need to get that legislated. It wouldn't open up a ton of seats, but it would be more seats for instate.

I think you're saying that only 15% of instate applicants find seats in CA. If that's what you meant,that's a different issue. That's not what I'm talking about.

That said, I imagine that at least 2-3 UC SOMS would fight to keep their right to matriculate 10-20% OOS just to help their reporting numbers.

 

[Goro]

There may not be a stated mandate at most of CA meds, but they still matriculate a high majority of instate.

This is for two reasons:

1) There are a lot of high quality pre-meds in CA, thanks in part to the UC system. As mentioned earlier, UCLA alone could fill every MD seat in CA. Hence, CA has to export people.
2) CA applicants want to stay in CA. This is partially because CA is CA, and partly cultural, where the the extended family contacts are important. This is one of the reasons why Touro-CA, Western and even my DO school (west of the Missouri River), can garner people who have MD-caliber stats. These kids simply would rather stay closer to home than go to, say, Drexel or Wake.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Your wording is sort of off but generally your idea isn't wrong. At least where I am (Florida) the applicants are split into separate pools for IS and OOS. They need to accept x number of people from the state, so effectively you're Competing against the smaller pool of IS applicants...which can convey a substantial advantage.

But they're not "trying" to accept you per-se. The competition is just less steep.

 

[PreMedMissteps]

There's probably also an element of 'review fatigue' that is more pronounced at the lower- and mid-stat private schools than at state schools. Think of a school like Georgetown that gets more than 14,000 applications compared to state schools that might get 2,500 applications. Can you even imagine having to read so many personal statements?

When you've got to toss 90% of your applications before the interview stage, each one will not get a lot of time...

Years ago, I heard that schools like Georgetown filtered (rejected) apps from traditional unhooked applicants who had a section lower than 10, likely to quickly reduce those 14000+ applications to more of a manageable number. Supposedly this was done prior to human eyes ever looking at the apps.

There are also a number of public SOMs that are getting 7000+ apps. They probably don't have the resources to give personal attention to that many apps, either. They might also use a quick and dirty way to eliminate a bunch of apps, particularly ones from unhooked trads.

 

[dcmorgan96]

Years ago, I heard that schools like Georgetown filtered (rejected) apps from traditional unhooked applicants who had a section lower than 10, likely to quickly reduce those 14000+ applications to more of a manageable number. Supposedly this was done prior to human eyes ever looking at the apps.

There are also a number of public SOMs that are getting 7000+ apps. They probably don't have the resources to give personal attention to that many apps, either. They might also use a quick and dirty way to eliminate a bunch of apps, particularly ones from unhooked trads.

What does unhooked mean?