how do you know if you're in a good state for med school?

[Admires]

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Answered thanks

 

[KN.MD]

Usually when applicants are in an inebriated state or Glasgow Coma Scale < 10 at interview day, that is a bad prognostic indicator for admission to medical school.

Ermmm.. What I mean is to say is that some people think that certain states have a very competitive applicant pool relative to the number of available public university medical school spots. California happens to have a large pre-medical student population that is vying for a limited number of medical school spots. (As far as I know, there are only about 5 public medical schools in California).

 

[acquiescing]

Bad = high applicant/med school ratio; Good = low applicant/med school ratio. If you want to know more about your state, the MSAR is a good purchase. Michigan has quite a few med schools and isn't particularly over-populated, so I would hazard a guess that it's a decent state for med schools. Not somewhere that I looked at very closely, so I can't tell you with much certainty.

 

[Cawolf]

Take a look at this table.

https://www.aamc.org/download/321466/data/factstable5.pdf

It shows the number of applicants by state and the percent that matriculated in-state or out of state. If the state has a high out of state matriculation %, then it is statistically less likely for a legal resident to matriculate within their state.

CA has 14.7% matriculate in-state and 24.3% out of state.

MI has 32.9% in-state and only 10.3% out of state.

So based on historical data, there is an advantage to being a MI resident versus a CA resident for in-state matriculation.

 

[acquiescing]

Take a look at this table.

https://www.aamc.org/download/321466/data/factstable5.pdf

It shows the number of applicants by state and the percent that matriculated in-state or out of state. If the state has a high out of state matriculation %, then it is statistically less likely for a legal resident to matriculate within their state.

CA has 14.7% matriculate in-state and 24.3% out of state.

MI has 32.9% in-state and only 10.3% out of state.

So based on historical data, there is an advantage to being a MI resident versus a CA resident for in-state matriculation.

Awesome graphic, don't know how I forgot about that one.

 

[Admires]

Thanks for the responses, guys. So generally Michigan is a good state for medicals (that's what I got out of the table at least)?

 

[jb94mg]

Kind of sobering seeing that 60% of all people applying nationwide didn't matriculate anywhere on that chart.

 

[Psai]

Kind of sobering seeing that 60% of all people applying nationwide didn't matriculate anywhere on that chart.

Yeah it's not easy to be a doctor but try telling other people that

 

[Catalystik]

Thanks for the responses, guys. So generally Michigan is a good state for medicals (that's what I got out of the table at least)?

Michigan has a nice mix of lenient and selective schools, so besides other factors noted above, this adds to it definitely being a good state.

 

[Hospitalized]

Kind of sobering seeing that 60% of all people applying nationwide didn't matriculate anywhere on that chart.

Remember that includes all:
-Applicants who applied to just one or two schools
-Applicants who used a Texas OOS (for example) as a backup (yes I actually heard a premed say this)
-Applicants who submitted applications very late
-Applicants who had significantly lower than average stats but applied anyway
-Applicants who did not submit secondaries in a timely manner
-Applicants that are cookie cutter, check box driven

And more. 40% Matriculation doesn't really seem THAT bad in all honesty.

 

[acquiescing]

Remember that includes all:
-Applicants who applied to just one or two schools
-Applicants who used a Texas OOS (for example) as a backup (yes I actually heard a premed say this)
-Applicants who submitted applications very late
-Applicants who had significantly lower than average stats but applied anyway
-Applicants who did not submit secondaries in a timely manner
-Applicants that are cookie cutter, check box driven

And more. 40% Matriculation doesn't really seem THAT bad in all honesty.

Yes the 40% number isn't as scary as it looks, but it is a good reminder that unless you approach this process intelligently and fastidiously, there is a very good chance you'll be left out in the cold. Good to bring people back to reality. Nonetheless, you're right. If you're serious about the process and address every aspect of it, your chances skyrocket above 40%

 

[Shams al Deen]

Also once you factor in DO, it increases to around 50%.

 

[Lucca]

Michigan has a nice mix of lenient and selective schools, so besides other factors noted above, this adds to it definitely being a good state.

I think the bolded is pretty important. At least to me I think a 'good state' can mean different things. If you are an uber-applicant then I think the best state for you is the one with any or no bias but also the best in-state schools. California has tons of amazing schools in great locations but in spite of having little or no bias the uber applicant might be happy to say he understands the community or has family ties to LA or SF. If you are an average applicant a state like Michigan could be the best there is considering the bolded above. If you are a lower tier applicant you might be better off in the state with the highest in-state / OOS matriculant ratio regardless of the school mix since you are at a disadvantage to begin with.

Usually state of residence is not something in your control, however.

 

[jb94mg]

Yes the 40% number isn't as scary as it looks, but it is a good reminder that unless you approach this process intelligently and fastidiously, there is a very good chance you'll be left out in the cold. Good to bring people back to reality. Nonetheless, you're right. If you're serious about the process and address every aspect of it, your chances skyrocket above 40%

And that's the percentage of people who make it after getting past all of the pre-reqs and taking the MCAT, which isn't an easy point to get to in the first place.

 

[Kaelis]

Yeah it's not easy to be a doctor but try telling other people that

I'll have you know that the lady who cleans my teeth was able to get her degree in less than a year. Medical school can't be that hard!