How difficult for OOS to go to Texas?

[Dane07MD]

Contemplating applying to Texas schools for this cycle. As an OOS from Washington, a 3.3 UG, 3.7 Georgetown SMP, MCAT retake will be around 32-33, if not better), is it worth the money? I have no reasons or ties to Texas, just looking to get into a school, and the Texas schools are quite good from what I understand.

Is it worth my time and money, or should I focus on other schools.

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[DoctorDreamer]

Contemplating applying to Texas schools for this cycle. As an OOS from Washington, a 3.3 UG, 3.7 Georgetown SMP, MCAT retake will be around 32-33, if not better), is it worth the money? I have no reasons or ties to Texas, just looking to get into a school, and the Texas schools are quite good from what I understand.

Is it worth my time and money, or should I focus on other schools.

If you're MD/PhD, they'll consider you instate, if you're just MD, you should probably consider them like a top 20 or so in terms of competitiveness. Baylor accepts more OOS than the others, but they also have more competitive stats.

 

[TheRealMD]

Save your money.

 

[Dendrite]

Texas is like a different country anyway. If you are OOS, treat this case like applying to a US allopathic school as a Canadian resident. They like to train Texan doctors, so you have to be a very competitive OOS applicant.

 

[Chemist0157]

Isn't Texas law/policy to only have 10% of a class be OOS? I know several schools (ex. Southwestern) have to follow these rules, and I'm pretty sure the actual percentage accepted is less than 10%. Baylor is more OOS friendly, but it's more competitive.

 

[cpa2md]

There is a whole (weird) thread devoted to oos for texas schools, and we'd be happy to entertain questions there.

By law, Texas requires that 90% of its classes be in-state applicants. Texas heavily subsidizes the tuition, and feels they should help Texans first.

The other thing they REALLY look at is ties to Texas. If they think you're going to leave the state the day after you graduate, forget it. RealMD is right, if you're applying just for the sake of it, save your money.

 

[dd128]

There is a whole (weird) thread devoted to oos for texas schools, and we'd be happy to entertain questions there.

By law, Texas requires that 90% of its classes be in-state applicants. Texas heavily subsidizes the tuition, and feels they should help Texans first.

The other thing they REALLY look at is ties to Texas. If they think you're going to leave the state the day after you graduate, forget it. RealMD is right, if you're applying just for the sake of it, save your money.

Weird is such a subjective term....

 

[cpa2md]

Weird is such a subjective term....

It is the nicest word I could use.

 

[armybound]

unique is nicer

 

[DrJD]

I'm going for it, OOS for a Texas school! However, I do have ties to the state (ie I grew up there and have family there...) But anyway, I'm goin for it...

 

[futuredrcrawfor]

I am also applying as an OOSer- but like DrJD I grew up there and have a ton of family there- my dad also works in Georgia but spends half his time doing consulting work in Texas and so he will be moving there (with mom and sibling) next spring/summer

 

[smq123]

Contemplating applying to Texas schools for this cycle. As an OOS from Washington, a 3.3 UG, 3.7 Georgetown SMP, MCAT retake will be around 32-33, if not better), is it worth the money? I have no reasons or ties to Texas, just looking to get into a school, and the Texas schools are quite good from what I understand.

Is it worth my time and money, or should I focus on other schools.

A few years ago, I applied to Texas schools.

I'm out of state - from Pennsylvania. Lived my entire life in Pennsylvania, actually. I have NO family members who live in Texas. I've never even BEEN to Texas.

I was offered an interview at UT San Antonio - didn't get anything else from the other Texas schools.

The only reason, I'm sure, that I was offered an interview at UTHSCSA, is because I speak Spanish pretty well - and it showed on my application. (I did an internship in Spain, was a language tutor, took graduate level classes conducted in Spanish, etc.) And I was really interested in helping Hispanic underserved patients (still am, in fact).

If you don't speak Spanish, or show some kind of dedication to a large patient population group in Texas, AND you have no ties to the area, don't bother. The TMDSAS application is VERY tedious to fill out (I thought it was even worse than AMCAS), and quite expensive.

 

[Nooblet]

.

 

[TheRealMD]

A few years ago, I applied to Texas schools.

I'm out of state - from Pennsylvania. Lived my entire life in Pennsylvania, actually. I have NO family members who live in Texas. I've never even BEEN to Texas.

I was offered an interview at UT San Antonio - didn't get anything else from the other Texas schools.

The only reason, I'm sure, that I was offered an interview at UTHSCSA, is because I speak Spanish pretty well - and it showed on my application. (I did an internship in Spain, was a language tutor, took graduate level classes conducted in Spanish, etc.) And I was really interested in helping Hispanic underserved patients (still am, in fact).

If you don't speak Spanish, or show some kind of dedication to a large patient population group in Texas, AND you have no ties to the area, don't bother. The TMDSAS application is VERY tedious to fill out (I thought it was even worse than AMCAS), and quite expensive.

It's $185 for 7 schools. Or is it just that all med students are poor?

 

[smq123]

It's $185 for 7 schools. Or is it just that all med students are poor?

I also applied to a LOT of AMCAS schools (as well as a few non-AMCAS schools - ex: NYU was non-AMCAS, at least at that time). By the time I decided to add some Texas schools to that, it was like scraping the bottom of the friggin' barrel. Add that to the secondary processing fees....

It's definitely cheapER than AMCAS. But if you apply to a lot of AMCAS schools in addition to that...it starts to add up.

 

[DrJD]

Same here, I went for it and mentioned it specifically in my application that I would like to return to the state (i think i put it in the other comments section or something) and I got into UTSW! people saying save your money should also tell you that if you go to a TX school the tuition is freaking cheap...around 11k...and yes you do pay in-state tuition (at least at UTSW)

Thanks for the encouragement!! UTSW is my absolute FIRST choice... Not only because it is my first choice medical school, but I grew up in Dallas so it would be amazing to be able to move back there... If you have any advice for the application process PLEASE let me know!! Thanks again!

 

[lacrossefiend73]

Weird is such a subjective term....

It is the nicest word I could use.

unique is nicer

Thank you, army

 

[Nooblet]

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[DrJD]

No, I don't have TX resident status... I grew up there, but then my parents moved us away to California... But I have wanted to move back there since we left... So now my wife and I really want to move back to Texas for good, hopefully near Dallas, but anywhere would be amazing... So yea, I will definitely talk about how much I want to get back to Texas in the other section Thanks for the advice!!

do you have TX resident status? even if you don't the fact that you are from there sets you apart from most other OOS applicants. I even mentioned that my parents still have a house there.

The person who presented my application to the committee emailed me after my acceptance (which I thought was super nice) and commented how they were glad to see someone come back to the state and how I could even live in that old house (I can't its like 1 hr away from the school). So my point is, use that "other" section to talk about this kinda stuff!

Your MCAT looks great, and UTSW seems to be sort of a stats school, so I hope it works out for you

 

[dd128]

No, I don't have TX resident status... I grew up there, but then my parents moved us away to California... But I have wanted to move back there since we left... So now my wife and I really want to move back to Texas for good, hopefully near Dallas, but anywhere would be amazing... So yea, I will definitely talk about how much I want to get back to Texas in the other section Thanks for the advice!!

I was sort of in the same situation, where I grew up in texas, went to highschool, moved away for college and lost my residency status. Definitely put it in your secondary how much you want to move back. There is also a section in tmdsas that asks for you home town, put the city in texas where you grew up if you can. They don't ask for any evidence, so it's just a personal thing. I ended up getting a few interviews and during those stressed over and over how much I wanted to move back, to the point where I'm sure my interviewers had it in their head that while I was oos, texas was my home. Good luck to you And as cpa mentioned there is an oos texas thread

 

[FastForward]

I have heard ppl say that UTSW likes to see 3.6+ and 32+ as safe numbers for in state to get an interview so for out of state...

 

[dbbmd]

I applied oos with a 33 MCAT and 3.73 GPA and interviewed at UTSW, UTSA, and UT-H (I didn't apply to Tech, or A&M). The schools were awesome and my interviews, I felt, went really well (I interviewed overall at 10 schools and the facilities in Texas were the best). I didn't end up getting any acceptances (waitlisted at UTSW) in Texas even though, at the time, I was living and working in Austin. They aren't two keen on strictly Pass/Fail, which, after my first year of medical school, is, for me, a must! It's tough to get in, fighting for that 10%. But, if there's anything I've learned from applying, it's that getting in to any oos medical school is a craps shoot. If you apply and interview at enough of 'em you are bound to get in somewhere. Good luck!

 

[DrJD]

So by, "other" section are we talking about the "special experiences" section where it asks about life circumstances and challenging experiences?

Or is there another place? Thanks!

 

[Jolie South]

No, I don't have TX resident status... I grew up there, but then my parents moved us away to California... But I have wanted to move back there since we left... So now my wife and I really want to move back to Texas for good, hopefully near Dallas, but anywhere would be amazing... So yea, I will definitely talk about how much I want to get back to Texas in the other section Thanks for the advice!!

yes, come back to the dark side. . . we all do.

i was really set on going OOS for med school, but i was blown away by the Texas schools I interviewed at. they quickly became my top choices.

stress your ties to Texas wherever you can on TMDSAS and in interviews.

 

[LilHouse]

 

[da8s0859q]

I had a 3.85 GPA & 35 MCAT, and that got me an interview before I even submitted the secondary application.

Did you really? Damn, I hope I have your luck. In the meantime, I get to count down days until my likely sub-35 MCAT. Meh.

 

[Nooblet]

So by, "other" section are we talking about the "special experiences" section where it asks about life circumstances and challenging experiences?

Or is there another place? Thanks!

no not there, my memory isnt great since it was a year ago, but I believe in the page used to determine resident status theres a little box you can write in.