Help Making a School List

[inTheoryyy]

Don't need this posted anymore. Thank you to the community for the response and helping me determine my list of applications!

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[TheDataKing]

Get rid of LSU, NEOMed, Kentucky, SIU (doesn't take out of state applicants), Wright State, Nevada-Reno, Arkansas, Michigan State - these all favor in state applicants heavily and won't take OOS unless you have strong ties to the area or have phenomenal stats.

That leaves you with:
EVMS
VCU
Tulane
Rosalind Franklin
Wayne State

Honestly, you're going to struggle to be competitive for MD programs with a 503 (ORM, VA resident). I would broadly apply to DO schools and shoot your shot at a handful of MD programs but 15 is overkill.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Of importance, if you are claiming Virginia residency, where did you grow up or get your pre-college education? Have you gone to any of the open houses offered by the medical schools? I will admit your low MCAT really doesn't help you with MD applications outside of the statel, so DO schools will likely be your better chance. Take advantage of the guaranteed interview and practice.

 

[Faha]

Your only realistic chances for MD schools are EVMS and VCU. Concentrate on DO schools and I suggest these:
CUSOM
WVSOM
VCOM (all 4 schools)
ACOM
ARCOM
MU-COM
KCU-COM
ATSU-KCOM
DMU-COM
UP-KYCOM

 

[inTheoryyy]

Get rid of LSU, NEOMed, Kentucky, SIU (doesn't take out of state applicants), Wright State, Nevada-Reno, Arkansas, Michigan State - these all favor in state applicants heavily and won't take OOS unless you have strong ties to the area or have phenomenal stats.

That leaves you with:
EVMS
VCU
Tulane
Rosalind Franklin
Wayne State

Honestly, you're going to struggle to be competitive for MD programs with a 503 (ORM, VA resident). I would broadly apply to DO schools and shoot your shot at a handful of MD programs but 15 is overkill.

Am I missing something here? According to MSAR, the average MCAT for OOS accepted students at Michigan State and Wright State is 504 for both, while the average GPA is 3.4 and 3.5 respectively. If my GPA and MCAT are at or above average for both schools, and I have excellent extracurriculars (excluding research), why would it not be worth applying? Unless they emphasize only accepting from certain states, not all states?

BTW my MCAT is a 505, not a significant difference but I didn't realize that it was higher than I initially stated until now, sorry about that.

 

[TheDataKing]

Am I missing something here? According to MSAR, the average MCAT for OOS accepted students at Michigan State and Wright State is 504 for both, while the average GPA is 3.4 and 3.5 respectively. If my GPA and MCAT are at or above average for both schools, and I have excellent extracurriculars (excluding research), why would it not be worth applying? Unless they emphasize only accepting from certain states, not all states?

BTW my MCAT is a 505, not a significant difference but I didn't realize that it was higher than I initially stated until now, sorry about that.

these all favor in state applicants heavily and won't take OOS unless you have strong ties to the area or have phenomenal stats.

^

low MCAT really doesn't help you with MD applications outside of the state

^^

Your only realistic chances for MD schools are EVMS and VCU. Concentrate on DO schools and I suggest these

^^^

 

[inTheoryyy]

^

^^

^^^

Okay, simply emphasizing the previous comments is redundant and adds nothing to the conversation. I'm asking this question because I don't understand and would appreciate someone enlightening me, not because I'm trying to argue my chances with MD. All I want to know is how are these schools considered ones that do not accept OOS applicants yet their average MCAT and GPA for OOS applicants is within my range? Are you saying that every single student that they accept from OOS has significant ties to the area? That just doesn't make sense to me because if that were the case, why would they not just accept more in-state students?

 

[wysdoc]

Am I missing something here? According to MSAR, the average MCAT for OOS accepted students at Michigan State and Wright State is 504 for both, while the average GPA is 3.4 and 3.5 respectively. If my GPA and MCAT are at or above average for both schools, and I have excellent extracurriculars (excluding research), why would it not be worth applying? Unless they emphasize only accepting from certain states, not all states?

BTW my MCAT is a 505, not a significant difference but I didn't realize that it was higher than I initially stated until now, sorry about that.

It looks like Wayne State accepted about 39% OOS last year and Michigan State about 23%.
Your scores are near the median, but I think when making lists to apply to OOS schools some recommend choosing ones where you are closer to the 75-90 percentile.

 

[inTheoryyy]

It looks like Wayne State accepted about 39% OOS last year and Michigan State about 23%.
Your scores are near the median, but I think when making lists to apply to OOS schools some recommend choosing ones where you are closer to the 75-90 percentile.

Hey, thanks a lot for the reply! The scores I provided in the previous comment (504 MCAT, 3.4-3.5 GPA) are strictly in relation to OOS stats, are these numbers misleading in some way? I could be completely misunderstanding the data on MSAR, I'm just confused why I would need to be in the 75-90th percentile for OOS stats, if they're accepting students with an average of those scores?

 

[TheDataKing]

Okay, simply emphasizing the previous comments is redundant and adds nothing to the conversation. I'm asking this question because I don't understand and would appreciate someone enlightening me, not because I'm trying to argue my chances with MD. All I want to know is how are these schools considered ones that do not accept OOS applicants yet their average MCAT and GPA for OOS applicants is within my range? Are you saying that every single student that they accept from OOS has significant ties to the area? That just doesn't make sense to me because if that were the case, why would they not just accept more in-state students?

OOS students pay more in tuition & ultimately med schools are businesses. For example, Michigan State interviewed 1.98% of OOS applicants (116 interviewed/5866 applicants). Their class was 23.6% OOS students and the OOS tuition is double that of the in-state tuition. Additionally, of all accepted students, a 503 falls in their 25th percentile which is low. You can look at just OOS accepted stats but they're very different from the instate ones and overall accepted which makes me think that the n=# is much lower. My baseline for out of state schools consisted of ones that interviewed about 10% of the out of state applicants. Or, Wayne State - a 508 is 25th percentile for OOS accepted and a 504 is 10th percentile. They interview 6.55% of out of state applicants which is a bit better but overall interviewed 542 out of 8273. They have a strong regional bias for people in the midwest.

I'm just staying these schools are a random assortment that were pulled from MSAR but you have to look at the bigger picture. At Wright State, 145/4814 = 3% of OOS students interviewed with again almost all of them residing in states in the midwest or neighboring states. On their website they write, "The committee is looking for evidence of intellectual ability, dedication to human concerns, communication skills, maturity, motivation, and potential for medical service in an underserved area of Ohio" I hope this makes more sense.

 

[wysdoc]

Hey, thanks a lot for the reply! The scores I provided in the previous comment (504 MCAT, 3.4-3.5 GPA) are strictly in relation to OOS stats, are these numbers misleading in some way? I could be completely misunderstanding the data on MSAR, I'm just confused why I would need to be in the 75-90th percentile for OOS stats, if they're accepting students with an average of those scores?

Not sure what more to say, but this is why I usually leave the school list making to the pros, @Goro and @Faha !
For Texans it's easier: one price, apply to them all!

 

[inTheoryyy]

OOS students pay more in tuition & ultimately med schools are businesses. For example, Michigan State interviewed 1.98% of OOS applicants (116 interviewed/5866 applicants). Their class was 23.6% OOS students and the OOS tuition is double that of the in-state tuition. Additionally, of all accepted students, a 503 falls in their 25th percentile which is low. You can look at just OOS accepted stats but they're very different from the instate ones and overall accepted which makes me think that the n=# is much lower. My baseline for out of state schools consisted of ones that interviewed about 10% of the out of state applicants. Or, Wayne State - a 508 is 25th percentile for OOS accepted and a 504 is 10th percentile. They interview 6.55% of out of state applicants which is a bit better but overall interviewed 542 out of 8273. They have a strong regional bias for people in the midwest.

I'm just staying these schools are a random assortment that were pulled from MSAR but you have to look at the bigger picture. At Wright State, 145/4814 = 3% of OOS students interviewed with again almost all of them residing in states in the midwest or neighboring states. On their website they write, "The committee is looking for evidence of intellectual ability, dedication to human concerns, communication skills, maturity, motivation, and potential for medical service in an underserved area of Ohio" I hope this makes more sense.

This makes much more sense to me now, thank you so much for explaining it in-depth!