Hey guys, I'm a freshman at UMich right now and my dream med school that I want to attend is UT Southwestern. Now I know that that shouldn't be the only thing I focus on however I would still like to aim for it. I was wondering if there were any tips from people that got into UT Southwestern or those who got into their dream school?
Getting into Your Dream MedSchool
- Thread starter kta99
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For UT Southwestern, or any TX school the number one thing is being a resident of TX. If not, your chances are slim.
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Most importantly, become a Texas Resident
Get ~518+ on MCAT
Get ~3.8+ GPA
Have great research experience
Do all the other Pre-med stuff to make yourself well rounded
Be personable on interview
Hope for the best
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“Dream schools are like dream girls: better in the abstract than reality”. –The exceptionally wise gyngyn
NYCVillain
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Haha if only that was easy to do
Is there any reason in particular being a non-Texas resident would hurt your chances?
NYCVillain
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It’s a state school thus they prioritize Texas residents. If you look at MSAR, they interview less than 10% of OOS applicants and the median OOS MCAT accepted is a 519 compared to 516 instate
Jeez that's crazy, I wanted to go for a Texas med school since my family is moving there within the next couple of months, but I would stay in Michigan because of my scholarship to UMich. I'm not too sure now if I'll be able to join up with them in a couple years haha.
NYCVillain
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Haha don’t worry now. Michigan has great schools too! Maybe someone on the forums can help you out with trying to gain TX residency before you apply
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The state pours a lot of money into its higher education system, and therefore gives strong preference to Texas residents in the admissions process.
Wouldn't make much sense for the Lone Star State to subsidize the educations of a bunch of Yoopers, would it?
Michigan medical schools are primarily interested in OOS, last year 4 students from UMich got into their med school and there's only like 4-5 decent med schools other than that.
NYCVillain
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But honestly best advise to you OP is just enjoy UMich. It’s a great hndergra
Ehh IDK about that. According to the MSAR, the median accepted MCAT for instate students is significantly lower than for OOS students (514 vs 518).... also the interview rate is a little bit higher for in-state residents than OOS for UMich.
I'm not sure those are just the rumors I heard moving around on campus I figured it was far too low as well, but it was the general consensus but I didn't question it. They are notorious however for not wanting UMich students.
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If you're willing to take a gap year --
You can likely move to Texas, work there for 12+ months, and then apply as a resident of the state. I believe your reasons for wanting to attend (i.e. living with/near family) may be seen as valid and could indicate a long-term commitment to stay in Texas.
Honestly, though, if you are a dependent and your parents are employed in Texas, you may be able to attain residency prior to applying. Definitely look into it. Call financial aid offices and inquire; they are the ones responsible for determining residency status of matriculants.
You can likely move to Texas, work there for 12+ months, and then apply as a resident of the state. I believe your reasons for wanting to attend (i.e. living with/near family) may be seen as valid and could indicate a long-term commitment to stay in Texas.
Honestly, though, if you are a dependent and your parents are employed in Texas, you may be able to attain residency prior to applying. Definitely look into it. Call financial aid offices and inquire; they are the ones responsible for determining residency status of matriculants.
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If your family is moving to TX you will be considered a resident when you apply. You will be instate candidate who is doing undergrad out of state. There will be some priority for students who did UG instate.
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The State of Texas mandates that a at least 90 percent of the students be Texas residents. So there is that.
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If you qualify as in-state -- and it sounds like you will -- then your odds of going to a Texas medical school are pretty decent, assuming you're a strong candidate. If you'd like to go to a TX medical school - many good schools, all with some of the lowest cost of attendance figures in the country - then invest some time here and make sure your legal documents (driver's license, voter registration, etc.) reflect TX residency.
While AdComs might prefer 'native Texan' to 'technically Texan', it's the 90% legal hurdle that's most significant.
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University of Michigan School of Medicine (2018): https://medicine.umich.edu/medschool/sites/medicine.umich.edu.medschool/files/assets/Profile of Class 2018.pdf
Class size: 169
Michigan resident: 77
Non-Michigan resident: 91
University of Michigan undergrads: 47
From the MSAR (data from different cycle):
Michigan residents applied: 1,212
Michigan residents matriculated: 70 (5.8%)
Non-residents applied: 5,695
Non-residents matriculated: 104 (1.8%)
Statistically it's pretty clear: your best odds of matriculating into the University of Michigan School of Medicine come from being a Michigan resident and a University of Michigan undergraduate student.
Fel Cactus Fru
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You'd be crazy not to gun for the UMich medical school. It's an incredible school and you can always match to UTSW later on in your career. A close family member of mine went to UMich for undergrad and then Wayne state for medical school (according to him they were pissed off at him for graduating in 3 years and not paying more tuition-- is that the truth? ehhh) and matched his residency at UTSW/Parkland.
It's also virtually impossible to get into UMich for medical school the other way around (i.e. as a Texas resident). I have another relative in the first free NYU med class who didn't even get an interview at UMich as a double legacy for the medical school (not that legacy status matters, but this person had crazy high stats and extracurriculars and got multiple free tuition offers outside of NYU).
Choose your residency carefully and do well in school.
It's also virtually impossible to get into UMich for medical school the other way around (i.e. as a Texas resident). I have another relative in the first free NYU med class who didn't even get an interview at UMich as a double legacy for the medical school (not that legacy status matters, but this person had crazy high stats and extracurriculars and got multiple free tuition offers outside of NYU).
Choose your residency carefully and do well in school.
Yeah, I was reading about that last night, I'm dependent and will most likely stay dependent by the time I'm applying I'll have to look more into it, thank you though!
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lol this makes me feel so much better about not getting an II at UMich
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I’m a former Texas resident, when I was in undergrad I had an OOS roommate who had AMAZING stats and didn’t get in, did research with them for a year before they let him in. We have a huge in-state bias.
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Considering how low Texas meds’ tuitions are, is it really a wonder? The mission is obviously to educate future docs for the state.
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Yep. We do a lot of things wrong but we do a great job of keeping docs in-state.
Fel Cactus Fru
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To be fair this was thirty years ago. Times were different (His older sister got in two years prior to him, with lower stats [also a big surge for women in medicine at that time period]-- pre-med expectations in the 1980s were not nearly as stringent as they are today).
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To be fair this was thirty years ago. Times were different (His older sister got in two years prior to him, with lower stats [also a big surge for women in medicine at that time period]-- pre-med expectations in the 1980s were not nearly as stringent as they are today).
Still crazy.
What was UMich tuition 30 years ago? I bet it wasn’t much. And it’s not as if Umich was suffering from underenrollment 30 years ago. Certainly there were enough super seniors to take up the slack of this one student.
Honestly, this person just pulled this excuse out of his butt to explain why UMich rejected him. There’s no friggin’ way that UMich Med (30 years ago) cared one bit that one undergrad wasn’t going to pay his $2000 in tuition for a 4th year (just a wild guess, I have no idea what tuition was then for Umich).
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Still crazy.
What was UMich tuition 30 years ago? I bet it wasn’t much. And it’s not as if Umich was suffering from underenrollment 30 years ago. Certainly there were enough super seniors to take up the slack of this one student.
There’s no friggin’ way that UMich Med (30 years ago) cared one bit that one undergrad wasn’t going to pay his $2000 in tuition for a 4th year (just a wild guess, I have no idea what tuition was then for Umich).
Ha ha! I just looked up UMich tuition from 1988.... $878 per semester.....$1756 per year....wow, I was close!!! Again, no way would UMich Med care that this UMich student paid for only 3 years of tuition.
