"easiest/most realistic" med school to get accepted

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Yogi Bear

Yogi Bear

2K Member
7+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
20+ Year Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2001
Messages
2,416
Reaction score
5
Hi,

Would the current applicants/future applicants please list med schools that they think is the easiest/most realistic for an out-of-state student to get accepted?
Members don't see this ad.
 
Finch / Chicago Medical School
New York Medical College
MCP Hahnemann
George Washington University

possibly:
Albany
Boston University
University of Vermont
 
doh! i didn't apply to any of those schools... <img src="http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/images/smilies/johnwoo.gif" alt="" /> myself
 
Members don't see this ad :)
•••quote:•••Originally posted by La Doctora Foxy:
•Finch / Chicago Medical School
New York Medical College
MCP Hahnemann
George Washington University

possibly:
Albany
Boston University
University of Vermont•••••NOT Boston University... I hope I don't sound pompous, but I really thought that I'd get an interview there, but I didn't. Oh, well.

Don't know about GWU, NYMC, or Vermont, but I agree regarding Albany and MCPH.
 
look through the MSAR (med school admiss req) published by the AAMC. the ohio schools take a lot of out-of-state students. i was accepted in ohio before any other state. (i'm a CA resident)
 
I second NYMC and MCPHU. My friend got into MCPHU before he even got an interview?!!? I didn't think it was possible with med school.
 
Thanks everyone for the suggestion. since i'm a cali resident, i think i might end up applying 30-35 schools to guaranteed that i'd get somewhere and not have to repeat the process. I'm aiming for all the cali schools, two ivys, baylor, and the rest are pretty much schools that i can realistically get into.

KEITH: Which ohio schools did you apply and get into? ohio state? when you say early, when was your earliest interview and earliest notifcation? i really wanna just get somwhere so i won't have to worry.
 
I wouldn't count on GWU, I got into NU and didn't even get an interview from GWU, so just because a school is lower ranked doesn't mean it is easy to get into.
 
Finch
Albany
NYMC
Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS)
George Washington
Jefferson
USUHS
MCP Hahnemann
Wake Forest

I've got numbers like yours, I think, and these are some of the out of state schools I applied to. You might want to consider them.
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Bubba Swamp:
•Finch
Albany
NYMC
Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS)
George Washington
Jefferson
USUHS
MCP Hahnemann
Wake Forest

I've got numbers like yours, I think, and these are some of the out of state schools I applied to. You might want to consider them.•••••I would have to take Jefferson and Wake Forest off your list. I have a good friend that I went to school with at UCLA who got into Harvard, UCSF, UCLA, and some other schools that did not even get an interview at Wake. As far as Jefferson it has so many linkage programs that they don't have that many open seats for the general applicant pool. Have you ever noticed their secondary all it's about is who do you know that went to Jeff.
 
coenocyte,
i sent a PM.
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Bubba Swamp:
•Finch
Albany
NYMC
Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS)
George Washington
Jefferson
USUHS
MCP Hahnemann
Wake Forest

I've got numbers like yours, I think, and these are some of the out of state schools I applied to. You might want to consider them.•••••I would contend that Wake Forest and Jefferson be taken off the list. A good friend of from undergrad got accepted into Harvard, UCSF, UCLA, and some other medical schools did not even get an interview from Wake.

As far as Jefferson is concerned they have so many linkage programs that it leaves alot less seats left for the general applicant pool. Have no noticed how their secondary is all about who do you know that went to Jeff?
 
sorry about repeating myself it was an accident.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I get the point!!! <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> No need to repeat yourself! :D

I did notice that about their app. Jefferson's app, that is. It's a rather ghetto app. I didn't know if I had the right forms or not. They looked nothing like the other med school secondaries I filled out. Anyway...when I got my interview invite from MCPHU, Jefferson wouldn't entertain my interview request (same area...I'm in FL). So, I had to tell the commies to take a hike. I still think they are a good out-of-state school to apply to.

Wake Forest... Well, I had to tell them to take a hike also. If only they had offered me a secondary BEFORE I had an acceptance. Why the hell did they wait this year?!? ScAMCAS really cost them a bundle. Oh well, it's their own fault.
 
Hey Swampman, I'm sending you a PM about your above post. Thanks!
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by locitamd:
•Hey Swampman, I'm sending you a PM about your above post. Thanks!•••••I've responded. It's not for everyone, but if you are willing to take the military route to fulfill your dreams...
 
would any of you consider SLU to be an easy school to get into? I don't know b/c I got waitlisted.
 
I think I may. It's somewhat arbitrary, and somewhat, perhaps, what the committee looks for other than numbers. My most mundane interview was at SLU, but I got in. But then, I got the waitlist from GWU. No pattern. I got into Georgetown, which I always thought was better reputed in DC and a much tougher accpetance post-interview. Like someone previously stated, lower rankings doesn't always mean better chances. You're good if you keep it in mind, though generally, I would agree wtih the above list, adding SLU and Medical College of Wisconsin. I've heard that that was a backup school for many out of staters, ESP. those of the Californian variety. NYMC I've heard also called UC New York. I know someone who didn't get in anywhere of the very many schools she applied to, EXCEPT BU. I thought that made it an easy school, but I didn't even get an interview, though I sent them their hundred bucks very promptly.
 
You don't need 35 schools. 25 is perfectly fine and perhaps overdoing it a bit, even as a CA resident. Are you going to be in school while applying? Do you honestly think you'll have time to complete 35 secondaries, much less go on even 15 interviews? No, you won't and even if you have the time, you probably don't have the money. The vast majority of schools do not screen primaries and the less competitive schools sometimes interview over a thousand people. It doesn't cost them nearly as much to interview as it does you. Apply to a wide range of schools, but just be heavy with those that are at or below your MCAT/GPA combination with only 3 or 4 that are above. (Yes, these will probably be the UCs.)
 
•••quote:••••Originally posted by medicine2006:
As far as Jefferson it has so many linkage programs that they don't have that many open seats for the general applicant pool. Have you ever noticed their secondary all it's about is who do you know that went to Jeff.•••••I would take Jefferson off that list too. It does many connections with post-bacs from UPenn, Hopkins, Bryn Mayr and one other school. Also, it is very heavily alumni related. My friend was accepted there with a 3.3 and 27 MCAT, but rejected everywhere else. His dad and brother went to Jefferson though and both did their residencies there!
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by medicine2006:
•I would contend that Wake Forest and Jefferson be taken off the list. A good friend of from undergrad got accepted into Harvard, UCSF, UCLA, and some other medical schools did not even get an interview from Wake.•••••i might argue that sometimes a school will reject an applicant that they think probably applied to their school as a "back-up." if someone's stats are way too good for a school, it's likely they'll get in somewhere better and not come there anyway. i've heard strong applicants being rejected by some of these places and this could be the reason.
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by none:
•You don't need 35 schools. 25 is perfectly fine and perhaps overdoing it a bit, even as a CA resident. Are you going to be in school while applying? Do you honestly think you'll have time to complete 35 secondaries, much less go on even 15 interviews? No, you won't and even if you have the time, you probably don't have the money. The vast majority of schools do not screen primaries and the less competitive schools sometimes interview over a thousand people. It doesn't cost them nearly as much to interview as it does you. Apply to a wide range of schools, but just be heavy with those that are at or below your MCAT/GPA combination with only 3 or 4 that are above. (Yes, these will probably be the UCs.)•••••I agree. You do not need to apply to 30-35 schools. That is way too much. If you apply wisely, I think something around 15 is realistic. That'll give you 5UCs, Stanford, two Ivies, Baylor, and 6 other schools that you should research to determine whether or not they are what you are looking for. The quality of your application will be much more important than the quantity. I definitely think that 20 is pushing it for too many schools. Just apply to places you'd like to go to if given the opportunity. You don't want to be stuck somewhere for four years at a place you can't stand. Good luck
 
From what I saw, MCPHU take a bunch of CA residents (I think second most represented state after PA). Honestly, I think this whole process is arbitrary. I have a friend (from PA also with similar stats and ECs and both potential first generation doctors) who applied to the same schools I did (focus mainly in PA for us) and she got rejected flat from ones I got interviews at and I got rejected flat from her interview schools. It's such a strange process. Jefferson didn't even give me the time of day-- from what a lot of students at Pitt said (This is where I'm doing Undergra) Jeff doesn't contact you unless they invite you to interview (and no one I know has heard from them!) GWU is one school that heavily favors their undergrads (I have a friend there and he said that many of the seats are filled by students who did the early acceptance route.) Anyways, not sure if this helped.

Good luck!
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by vyc:
•i might argue that sometimes a school will reject an applicant that they think probably applied to their school as a "back-up." if someone's stats are way too good for a school, it's likely they'll get in somewhere better and not come there anyway. i've heard strong applicants being rejected by some of these places and this could be the reason.•••••not this argument again!

it also could have been because the school didn't like their application for some reason. what's 'strong' differs from school to school and having good numbers doesn't guarantee you an interview or anything else at every school. like others have mentioned, some of these so-called back-up schools may have low accepted stats, but are heavy on legacy recruitment, or may get a TON of applications (e.g. BU, finch...).
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by sandflea:
• •••quote:•••Originally posted by vyc:
•i might argue that sometimes a school will reject an applicant that they think probably applied to their school as a "back-up." if someone's stats are way too good for a school, it's likely they'll get in somewhere better and not come there anyway. i've heard strong applicants being rejected by some of these places and this could be the reason.•••••not this argument again!

it also could have been because the school didn't like their application for some reason. what's 'strong' differs from school to school and having good numbers doesn't guarantee you an interview or anything else at every school. like others have mentioned, some of these so-called back-up schools may have low accepted stats, but are heavy on legacy recruitment, or may get a TON of applications (e.g. BU, finch...).•••••It's a legit argument bro. Think about it for a second. Say every year there are 1,000 applicants with a combo of really high GPA's and MCAT's(3.8+, &gt;35+) and great LOR's and EC's. Let's also say that all of these applicants decide to apply to NYMC, which usually gets about 10,000 applications. Do you really think NYMC is gonna just interview those 1000 with the best applications? Hell no! And why? Because they know where they stand as an institution, and they know that they have a snowball's chance in hell of recruiting these top applicants away from the other acceptances that they're bound to get. If they interviewed only those who they felt were most qualified, they'd end up with a matriculating class of maybe 50 if they're lucky. They interview a portion of the most qualified applicants, and the rest that they interview are probably those whom they feel will seriously consider matriculating if accepted. Schools hate being used as backups. It's a tremendous drain on their resources to interview all these applicants, and they're not gonna waste their time with those applicants that probably wouldn't attend if accepted anyway.
 
i simply can't believe that a school would resolve themselves to second-class status and thus only go for the second-class applicants. how is this in any school's best interests? and why is it that many of the only people i know who have heard from these so-called safety schools have way better stats than mine? i haven't heard jack from any of these schools--and i applied to every single one of them. while i've done some cool things, i'm not the most stellar applicant out there stats-wise and so by this logic i should be the one who hears from all these schools, because i should be the one who is theoretically more likely to matriculate because i'm the one who is supposedly scraping the bottom of the barrel for acceptances and will take anything i can get, right? this argument assumes that all applicants will automatically attend the higher-ranked school, and we all know that is not unequivocally true.

okay, i'm not even going to go into this again. i've already beaten this topic to death in an earlier thread, with caveman if i remember correctly. do a search to get my point of view. :D
 
Before I'd believe you, but not anymore. I recently contacted a school that I applied to, admittedly as a safety, to find out why I got rejected. I was told that given my numbers (well above their averages), the only plausible explanation would be that whoever reviewed my file felt as though I wasn't really serious about the school, (i.e., they didn't think I was gonna consider matriculating if accepted.) WTH?!?! God, if they only knew! I'll go just about anywhere now! Haha. And so the drama continues... it happens bro. It really does happen.
 
but do you actually know if the reason they felt you weren't really interested was truly because your stats were too high, or because they didn't feel you were genuine in your essays or something like that? the people who answer the phone in admissions offices often don't know the subtleties of the process anyway so i'm not sure how they could explicitly tell you this kind of thing.
 
I'm pretty sure he spoke with a dean of admissions. :wink:

I'll use this opportunity to vent a little bit about an unrelated topic. I hate that we have to write letters of interest to get noticed right now. Applying should just be enough. If we weren't interested, we wouldn't have applied and sent in our check!

ok, now I feel a little better :D

I would also like to say that I didn't receive interviews from NYMC and MCP (yet), 2 of the "easy" schools. While I still agree that they accept a lot of out of state students, this process is such a crapshoot that no one should assume anything when applying. Just wanted to add that in. :)
 
as far as the process goes, those schools with high average GPA/MCAT scores tend to get less applicants than the schools with lower average GPA/MCAT scores. this means that it is tough no matter what.

coming out of cali makes it even tougher cause the easiest schools to get in are supposed to be the state schools that you are a resident of. for some states this is not true. part of the plan for getting into medical school might be to gain residency status in a state that accepts a high percentage of in-state applicants. some schools will accept close to 30% of applicants who are residents.
 
another point i should add to this discussion:

the national average for the number of schools applied to is 15.

the average for a CA state resident, however, is 25.

so it's not that unreasonable for a CA resident to apply to 20-30 schools. that's average!
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by vyc:
•another point i should add to this discussion:

the national average for the number of schools applied to is 15.

the average for a CA state resident, however, is 25.

so it's not that unreasonable for a CA resident to apply to 20-30 schools. that's average!•••••i remember seeing it as about 10 in the MSAR.

anyway, i went for 26. oh yeah!!
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by vyc:
•another point i should add to this discussion:

the national average for the number of schools applied to is 15.

the average for a CA state resident, however, is 25.

so it's not that unreasonable for a CA resident to apply to 20-30 schools. that's average!•••••Would you want to be avg?
:p

On a serious note, it makes sense the avg number of schools for cali applicants is high considering the fact that almost all of their schools are kick ass and the ratio of applicants to the number of seats available is something like 8:1. I still think 25-35 schools is a lot. I think keeping it safe and applying to 20 is about is much as I could handle. There is no one right method though. Whatever it takes to get your ass in the door at a place where you'll feel comfortable..
 
With a 3.6 and a 30 I would apply to a bunch of reach schools as well.

But as far as some good chances with your scores some schools I would suggest:
(By Average MCAT you meant a 30? right? Thats about average for accepted applicants):

New York Medical College
Virginia Commonweath University
Albany
MCP Hanemann
Temple
Finch
Medical College of Wisconsin
George Washington
Loma Linda (if your ok with the fact it's Seventh day adventist)

Also a little harder but still doable:
Pittsburgh
Einstien
Jefferson

If by average MCAT you meant around a 24 wchich is average for people that take the exam, I would apply to Osteopathic schools also as they are more likely to overlook MCAT scores if you are otherwise a good applicant.

Hope that helps.
 
The main reason I was able to apply to 26 schools was that I was unemployed and out of school. As a full-time medical school applicant, you have an ungodly amount of free time. Even then I turned in some secondaries late (namely Duke was 3 days late)
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by vyc:
•another point i should add to this discussion:

the national average for the number of schools applied to is 15.

the average for a CA state resident, however, is 25.

so it's not that unreasonable for a CA resident to apply to 20-30 schools. that's average!•••••I'm a CA resident with "average" stats and applied to 25 schools. I've gotten all of 6 interviews, 4 of which I've been on. I turned down 1 (Penn State) because I couldn't afford the trip and the other (MCW) because it was only going to be for a waitlist. Bottom line: 20-30 schools is completely reasonable for a CA applicant.

Also, I'll second the motions for MCPHU and CMS/Finch as realistic schools to get into as a CA resident. I won't say any place is "easy" to get into, because they're not. Oh, by the way, consistently, HALF of the entering class at Finch is from CA.

Also, to mention the Ohio schools again, I think these could become quite promising for CA applicants, especially Cincinnati and Ohio State. When I was interviewing at Cincinnati, they said that the Ohio schools have just recently been given permission to take more out of staters since applicants from Ohio have dropped like ~30% in the last 5 years.
 
This is a partial list. Keep in mind that you will not get into all of these schools if you apply, but these are schools that are generally competitive for your stats and non-resident status.

MCW
SLU
NYMC
Tulane
Tufts
CMS/Finch
Vermont
MCV
EVMS
 
I do find it weird, too, that schools screen you based on whether or not you are likely to attend. I'm an in-stater at Indiana with an average gpa and a good mcat score coming out of a very good academic institution and I haven't heard anything from them post-interview whereas I've had a couple big interviews.

Maybe if I write an "I love you" letter, I'll get in... I think that's the way to go. Does anyone think it's really bad to write one of those if you probably wouldn't attend? (though at this point I just want one big envelope! :( )
 
What's EVMS?
 
Eastern Virginia medical school
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Doctora Foxy:
•What about Temple?•••••Temple is partially funded by the state of PA. They accept about 28% of PA applicants and only 3-4% out-of state. So unless you are a resident of PA Temple is not one of those safety schools.
 
papasmurf, i agree with you completely!

why would some1 that will get accepted to say ucsf or upenn want to go to gw? it's such a waste of money for schools like that to interview people that won't come anyways. i bet a lot of those schools reject "overqualified" applicants unless they have some sort of connection to the school; i.e. maybe they were born nearby.

if you are "overqualified" and for some reason you really want to go to an unranked school, you should write a strong letter of interest to get them to consider you, imo

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Papa Smurf:
• •••quote:•••Originally posted by sandflea:
• •••quote:•••Originally posted by vyc:
•i might argue that sometimes a school will reject an applicant that they think probably applied to their school as a "back-up." if someone's stats are way too good for a school, it's likely they'll get in somewhere better and not come there anyway. i've heard strong applicants being rejected by some of these places and this could be the reason.•••••not this argument again!

it also could have been because the school didn't like their application for some reason. what's 'strong' differs from school to school and having good numbers doesn't guarantee you an interview or anything else at every school. like others have mentioned, some of these so-called back-up schools may have low accepted stats, but are heavy on legacy recruitment, or may get a TON of applications (e.g. BU, finch...).•••••It's a legit argument bro. Think about it for a second. Say every year there are 1,000 applicants with a combo of really high GPA's and MCAT's(3.8+, &gt;35+) and great LOR's and EC's. Let's also say that all of these applicants decide to apply to NYMC, which usually gets about 10,000 applications. Do you really think NYMC is gonna just interview those 1000 with the best applications? Hell no! And why? Because they know where they stand as an institution, and they know that they have a snowball's chance in hell of recruiting these top applicants away from the other acceptances that they're bound to get. If they interviewed only those who they felt were most qualified, they'd end up with a matriculating class of maybe 50 if they're lucky. They interview a portion of the most qualified applicants, and the rest that they interview are probably those whom they feel will seriously consider matriculating if accepted. Schools hate being used as backups. It's a tremendous drain on their resources to interview all these applicants, and they're not gonna waste their time with those applicants that probably wouldn't attend if accepted anyway.•••••
 
I think "safety" schools will consider highly qualified applicants, but they leave them hanging for a while. Basically, I think they want to give you the opportunity to pull your application. You're most likely to do that later in the cycle (when you have "better" acceptances), so they don't waste a sacred interview spot by giving you an invitation right off the bat. By doing so, only those without acceptances (ideally) will choose to visit the school for an interview...hence they can bag those who fall through the cracks.
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by coenocyte:
•What's EVMS?•••••Of all the schools I interviewed with this year, EVMS was most impressive (USF was up there with them). I don't know why more people don't apply. Guess it's too new of a school. :confused:
 
Bubba, I think you are right. Of the two crappiest schools that I applied to, one rejected me pre-interview (despite my numbers being much higher than their averages) and the other just offered me an interview today <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />
 
Back when I applied 4 years ago, Dean Weimer, who is the premed advisor at Northwestern, advised me not to apply to Finch because my numbers were better than average. Paraphrasing his words - If they (Finch) think that you will be accepted at another school, they won't bother interviewing you since you will most likely go to that other school due to better reputation or because it is more inexpensive.

It makes sense. Thousands of people apply. A school wants to make sure it allocates its resources on people who will actually consider going to their school.
 
but everyone i know who has ever interviewed at finch has numbers BETTER than the average! and my GPA is lower than their average accepted stats (those for students accepted the 'regular' way, not through their masters program, which pulls down the published accepted GPA) and yet i've been rejected pre-interview from finch TWICE.
 
Many of the people who interview at Finch have very impressive numbers, much better than mine. The thing to look at though is where they are coming from. Many of my friends who are at Finch have great scores but are coming from states that have no med schools or med schools that are almost impossible for the average applicant to get into (e.g. Delaware, California). I was coming from a state (illinois) with several schools most of which fill a good portion of their classes with in-state residents.

If I was from California, there is no way that I would have gotten into med school. Luckily for me, my parents live in Chicago and so I am officially a resident of a state where it is relatively easy to get into med school.

By the way, the whole thing is a crapshoot.
 
This is what worries me. I interviewed at MCPHU in December and was waitlisted. If I was waitlisted at a so-called "easy" school to get into even after interviewing fairly early in the cycle, should I expect outright rejections from schools like UCLA and Mount Sinai (where I interviewed in February)? :confused:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

T
Realistic expectations for IIs after Thanksgiving?
Replies
9
Views
3K
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
It’s Over!!!
T20 schools with most generous merit aid
Replies
2
Views
1K
MercifulCamper
MercifulCamper
A
Is it good possibility to get accepted to top-tier medical school with completing most prerequisite courses?
Replies
8
Views
2K
pgh5682
P
J
Pharmacy student, want to transfer to medical school (most likely DO)
Replies
4
Views
905
ewax
E
A
don’t know what to prioritize as my most meaningful experience out of several great activities
Replies
3
Views
260
cj_cregg
cj_cregg
Top