How common is it for an applicant from a state school to get into a Top 20 school?

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lolpremed22

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I go to the University of Florida, which has the second greatest amount of applicants to med school by sheer number in the country. However, I haven't met or heard of a single person here get in to any med school outside of Florida, much less a top school. Some applicants I've met have had stellar stats and ECs and still only get in IS. My friend's sister who went here had a 3.9, 520, several leadership positions, hundreds of hours of volunteering, 3 years of research (numerous posters), and is just a great person in general. She applied to over 30 schools and only got in to ones in Florida. Do people at state schools even have a chance at top schools with great stats? Does anyone have any success stories/examples?
 
Certainly a UF grad with the right stats/resume could get into a top med school. You don't know where every top applicant has landed, and you don't know what their app lists were. Just because someone had the best stats, doesn't mean that they applied to a top school. Or they may have gotten into a top school, but their stats meant that a FL med offered them a large merit award.

You may not know the whole story behind your friend's sister. When she applied, which med schools she applied to outside of FL, etc. Is she an ORM?

That said, who really cares about attending a top 20 med school unless maybe you're goal is academic medicine. One doesn't have to go to a top 20 med to get a top residency.

That said, I know a Rhodes College student (not a public, but not a top undergrad, either) who is a recent grad of Yale med.

Certainly some UCLA and Berkeley grads have gotten into top meds
 
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It is definitely possible, I've met dozens of Florida grads who are attending Yale/NYU and the like.


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I'm from a large, mid-level state school with a lot of pre-meds, and I've watched a decent number of our top applicants every year get into top schools. Many more leave to OOS schools, while others choose to apply mostly in-state because they want to stay near family. I wouldn't worry about it, since where you go for undergrad matters less than what you did there.
 
I personally know 6 people off the top of my head from a large state school (similar to yours in ranking) that got into top 10 schools. So it's very much possible - it happens every year.

Definitely play it safe as well, but there is no screening that throws away state school applicants.
 
Some of my peers from my state school in Missouri have gone to WashU, Pritzker, and Harvard. They also had stellar stats, but it's definitely not impossible if my fairly unimpressive school can pump out those type of applicants.
 
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n = 3 here, but...
I went to a no-name satellite public university. I'm now at Michigan Med, a friend from a class above me is at Harvard, and another from a class below me is at UCLA. It's possible.
 
There are 7 medical schools in Florida, 6 of them public, at least 3 of them that highly prioritize in-state applicants, which is the vast majority of students are. There are a lot of schools that may look at you favorably, but with tuition for the in-state programs averaging $20K less/year, most Florida grads end up matriculating in state.
 
i graduated from a large state school, there were loads of people getting into top 20s. Getting into the top 10 was significantly rarer, but I also knew several people who did it.

Of course, as a proportion of the overall successful pre-med (got an admit somewhere) population at my school they were probably still a small fraction. Still, it's not uncommon.
 
lolpremed22 said:
I go to the University of Florida, which has the second greatest amount of applicants to med school by sheer number in the country. However, I haven't met or heard of a single person here get in to any med school outside of Florida, much less a top school. Some applicants I've met have had stellar stats and ECs and still only get in IS. My friend's sister who went here had a 3.9, 520, several leadership positions, hundreds of hours of volunteering, 3 years of research (numerous posters), and is just a great person in general. She applied to over 30 schools and only got in to ones in Florida. Do people at state schools even have a chance at top schools with great stats? Does anyone have any success stories/examples?
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You haven't indicated whether her 520 was her only MCAT, nor when she applied.

We don't know how many top 20 private meds she applied to. She may have only applied to a couple.

The devil is often in the details, but either way, there just aren't enough MS1 spots at top med schools to seat every qualified applicant.
 
PreMedMissteps said:
She had a MCAT 30, not a 29, and she had a near-perfect GPA. She also had ECs involving the underserved/low-income populations.
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If I (white male) had a 30 mcat and 3.9+ gpa and asked WAMC if I should apply to harvard, you can imagine the responses. Not gonna start a URM thread though so end that here.
 
ChymeofPassion said:
If I (white male) had a 30 mcat and 3.9+ gpa and asked WAMC if I should apply to harvard, you can imagine the responses. Not gonna start a URM thread though so end that here.
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I agree that as a white or Asian male with a MCAT 30 would be told that he has little chance of getting into Harvard med.

While I'm not a huge fan of affirmative action if it means unqualified people get in, but there is a real need to have diversity in medicine, so that may mean accepting some students WHO ARE QUALIFED, but have stats that are lower than their cohort.

No one would argue that a student with a MCAT 30 can't make it thru med school.
 
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ChymeofPassion said:
29 MCAT, got into harvard from UCF. Oh there it is, URM female. You have to adjust your competitiveness based on your situation.
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I felt the exact same way. Not gonna get into this because I'm blue.

PreMedMissteps said:
I agree that as a white or Asian male with a MCAT 30 would be told that he has little chance of getting into Harvard med.
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Little chance? Try no chance buddy. We'll be lucky to stay in state with that MCAT.

At least she worked 40 hours a week, if what she posts on there is true
 
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For everyone wondering she is an ORM and it was her first MCAT. She applied to a significant amount of T20s. She also applied as a traditional applicant (no gap year) if that makes a difference. I've talked to her a few times and she seemed like a very informed applicant that made a very calculated school list using the MSAR and advice here. She was actually the one who told me about SDN.
 
Many state school students are at top schools. If you stand out in the applicant pool, you will get in regardless of what school you went to. That doesn't mean that it's equally easy for all applicants to stand out though. You're competing against students who may have had more opportunities than you from going to those top schools and still managed to do just as well as you or better. You don't get a handicap just because you're applying from a state school - you're still competing against everyone else in the applicant pool and that pool gets more competitive the higher you go in ranking.
 
lolpremed22 said:
For everyone wondering she is an ORM and it was her first MCAT. She applied to a significant amount of T20s. She also applied as a traditional applicant (no gap year) if that makes a difference. I've talked to her a few times and she seemed like a very informed applicant that made a very calculated school list using the MSAR and advice here. She was actually the one who told me about SDN.
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Being an ORM has its disadvantages. A high MCAT isn't enough since so many ORMs have very high MCATS. It seems like those who get into top 20 have other significant factors that set themselves apart.
 
lolpremed22 said:
Fml
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Then apply to your FL state schools. They're often less likely to consider race because they're public institutions.

If I remember correctly, a state med or two was sued or there was some legal issue for considering race. Was it UMich? It was awhile ago, memory is hazy.

You're obviously an ORM, but what's the rest of your situation? Are you applying this cycle? What are your stats?

Are you against attending one of your state FL schools? If so, why? Do you think doing so will keep you out of the best residencies? Not so, if you are a top performer in med school.
 
PreMedMissteps said:
Then apply to your FL state schools. They're often less likely to consider race because they're public institutions.

If I remember correctly, a state med or two was sued or there was some legal issue for considering race. Was it UMich? It was awhile ago, memory is hazy.

You're obviously an ORM, but what's the rest of your situation? Are you applying this cycle? What are your stats?

Are you against attending one of your state FL schools? If so, why? Do you think doing so will keep you out of the best residencies? Not so, if you are a top performer in med school.
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I'm a sophomore with a 3.9+ GPA. I've always been a good test taker and I think I have the discipline to get a relatively competitive MCAT. I don't want to go to a Florida school mainly because I've lived here my whole life and I'm sick of it. I need a change and I really want to go to med school up north or on the west coast. Ideally I want to be in a big and vibrant city such as D.C., Boston, NYC, Chicago, SF, etc. I know these locations have schools that are very competitive to get into. I'm very involved with research and want to go into academic medicine and want to have the option to do research as an MD. However I don't want to do MD/PhD.
 
lolpremed22 said:
I'm a sophomore with a 3.9+ GPA. I've always been a good test taker and I think I have the discipline to get a relatively competitive MCAT. I don't want to go to a Florida school mainly because I've lived here my whole life and I'm sick of it. I need a change and I really want to go to med school up north or on the west coast. Ideally I want to be in a big and vibrant city such as D.C., Boston, NYC, Chicago, SF, etc. I know these locations have schools that are very competitive to get into. I'm very involved with research and want to go into academic medicine and want to have the option to do research as an MD. However I don't want to do MD/PhD.
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What part of Florida have you lived?

Re: vibrant city. I'm not sure how much of a vibrant city you'll be enjoying as a med student. I wouldn't necessarily make that a criteria. You want the option to do research. That will take a lot of your time.
 
Don't have tons of data to back it up or anything, but my .02 is that a lot more is riding on your MCAT. If you score way up in the top percent or two you'll still land multiple t20 interviews (assuming you apply to a good number).
 
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