OSU: Hard to get into?

[axp107]

How good is OSU (Ohio State University) as a med school? I was just on MDApplicants and I noticed that the average MCAT score on there for acceptance was a 35!! In general, I thought state schools had lower MCAT averages...

UPENN's MCAT average is a 34.8!

How can this be!?

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[Karina 07]

How good is OSU (Ohio State University) as a med school? I was just on MDApplicants and I noticed that the average MCAT score on there for acceptance was a 35!! In general, I thought state schools had lower MCAT averages...

UPENN's MCAT average is a 34.8!

How can this be!?

OSU gives automatic invites to people whose stats pass a certain threshold.

And if it's just talking about their levels for acceptance, rather than the levels of those who end up there, I can see that. They just care a lot about that stat.

 

[GoodDoctor]

mdapps is a small sample size.

USNWR shows 32.4 ave MCAT for Ohio State acceptances. Ranked #32.
They show a 34.8 ave MCAT for UPenn. Ranked #3.

 

[TSK]

UPenn, despite it's name, is not a state school, but a private school that is a member of the ivy league.

OSU, a state school is rather competitive. It's overall median GPA is 3.81 and its median science GPA is a 3.8 with an MCAT median of 33P. I believe it's ranked 32 or so in the nation by USNEWS. It's false to assume that state schools have lower standards, another highly ranked public state school that comes to mind is UMIch...

How good is OSU (Ohio State University) as a med school? I was just on MDApplicants and I noticed that the average MCAT score on there for acceptance was a 35!! In general, I thought state schools had lower MCAT averages...

UPENN's MCAT average is a 34.8!

How can this be!?

 

[HumbleMD]

UPenn, despite it's name, is not a state school, but a private school that is a member of the ivy league.

OSU, a state school is rather competitive. It's overall median GPA is 3.81 and its median science GPA is a 3.8 with an MCAT median of 33P. I believe it's ranked 32 or so in the nation by USNEWS. It's false to assume that state schools have lower standards, another highly ranked public state school that comes to mind is UMIch...

😡
Please don't compare OSU to UMich...32 and 11 aren't both exactly equally "highly ranked."

MDApplicants is not meant to be used for predictive data or trends, and MCAT isn't everything.

 

[TPROrgoTutor2]

😡
Please don't compare OSU to UMich...32 and 11 aren't both exactly equally "highly ranked."

Now is that really something to get angry about? Pathetic what upsets some people.

 

[HumbleMD]

Now is that really something to get angry about? Pathetic what upsets some people.

I didn't want rolleyes, but angry wasn't quite right either. If you went to U of M, you'd understand though.

 

[TSK]

I was born and raised in Ann Arbor, MI so I'm quite familiar w/the UMich OSU rivalry. I realize that UMich is ranked far higher than OSU in research and many other areas. I simply offered it as an example of another competitive state school. While I did my undergrad at a diff ivy, I did my post-bac work and am currently a research coordinator at UPenn. A lot of UPenn students/associates are pretty sensitive about being confused as a state school.....

Nonetheless, my point was that many state schools are very competitive outranking (if you're into that sort of thing) Ivy League med schools.
🙂

 

[TPROrgoTutor2]

I didn't want rolleyes, but angry wasn't quite right either. If you went to U of M, you'd understand though.

Ah, I gotcha. I'm used to SDN so I'm used to seeing people being overly elitist and it has annoyed me so I apologize if I jumped the gun a bit. Damn smileys.

 

[pennybridge]

😡
Please don't compare OSU to UMich...32 and 11 aren't both exactly equally "highly ranked."

MDApplicants is not meant to be used for predictive data or trends, and MCAT isn't everything.

and usnews ratings aren't everything either. UMich and OSU's only competition stays in the athletics depts, both med schools and hospital systems serve similar purposes in their respective states.

and UMich doesn't have to live in the Cleveland Clinic's shadow.

Both are exceptional state faciliites with amazing hospital systems that serve a huge and diverse patient base.

but if you want to talk usnews OSU increased 12 spots in the USNEWS ratings in the past 5 years, the highest/fastest jump in the history of the ratings.

and that's just USNEWS, there's plenty of other bodies that rank institutions and hospitals.

comparing "lowly" #32 OSU to "powerhouse" #11 UMich is not insulting to UMich, their healthcare philosophies and priorities are very similar.

 

[jocg27]

OSU gives automatic invites to people whose stats pass a certain threshold.

And if it's just talking about their levels for acceptance, rather than the levels of those who end up there, I can see that. They just care a lot about that stat.

At my OSU interview, I was really stuck by how much and how openly they really did seem to be just about the numbers, seemingly to pad their rep...They openly and proudly made the point about how the plans of the administration were largely aimed at the overall goal of climbing the US News rankings (and, honestly I think I could really feel the unspoken addition, to surpass Michigan in the US News rankings, but I dunno maybe that was just me....disclaimer -- I went to another big10 school for college, neither UMich nor OSU)

I dunno, I liked a lot of what I saw there, but the way everything they told us seemed to revolve around their goal to climb that list really rubbed me the wrong way.

 

[jocg27]

but if you want to talk usnews OSU increased 12 spots in the USNEWS ratings in the past 5 years, the highest/fastest jump in the history of the ratings.

.

This is exactly what I'm talking about...this was repeatedly drilled into my head at interview day, as well as their plans increase x more number of spots in the next however many years...

This is why the ratings are meaningless....I highly doubt the overall quality of OSU education has drastically, earth-shatteringly changed one way or the other in 5 years...You can improve on that list largely by tinkering with some statistics...And if playing with numbers to look better in a magazine is the administration's main priority...I dunno, I guess thats what bugged me about my interview day there.

 

[jocg27]

duplicate post sorry

 

[pennybridge]

This is exactly what I'm talking about...this was repeatedly drilled into my head at interview day, as well as their plans increase x more number of spots in the next however many years...

This is why the ratings are meaningless....I highly doubt the overall quality of OSU education has drastically, earth-shatteringly changed one way or the other in 5 years...You can improve on that list largely by tinkering with some statistics...And if playing with numbers to look better in a magazine is the administration's main priority...I dunno, I guess thats what bugged me about my interview day there.

you clearly missed the point then. They have been dumping money into the program in the past few years to make it not only a premier institution for learning (remember they're the only state school to supply OH with doctors) but also as a premier medical center what with the heart hospital and the cancer center (i know it seems that nowadays everyone has one, but they really don't, there's only a handful)

they could care less about usnews (the feeling I got there) plus look at their match list. they matched 8 into ortho, sure they have a big class but damn. and their average step I was, what, 228? pretty damn good.

i think on sdn there's this realllly weird bias where the usnews top10 are like "the good schools" and everything else is mediocre and then 25+ is like learning medicine in a third world country.

no one is debating whether or not UMich is a world class institution, it is. In fact its almost as good as UCLA 😛

but to take personal offense when UMich is compared to an institution like OSU is juvenile at best, with the potential of being straight up ignorant.

the entire basis for your argument is the mathematical fact that 11<32

 

[calcox]

At my OSU interview, I was really stuck by how much and how openly they really did seem to be just about the numbers, seemingly to pad their rep...They openly and proudly made the point about how the plans of the administration were largely aimed at the overall goal of climbing the US News rankings (and, honestly I think I could really feel the unspoken addition, to surpass Michigan in the US News rankings, but I dunno maybe that was just me....disclaimer -- I went to another big10 school for college, neither UMich nor OSU)

I dunno, I liked a lot of what I saw there, but the way everything they told us seemed to revolve around their goal to climb that list really rubbed me the wrong way.

Boy, it is incredible how different my interview day at OSU was from yours. I felt that they stressed a commitment to providing the most supportive environment possible for their students to achieve. Likewise, they made known of their international medicine opportunities. They also stressed their ammenities when it came to preparing their students to be adept at interacting with their patients (the video camera enabled patient rooms and more). I got such a vibe of the importance of the patient in medicine in their curriculum. Either we each get what we take from the interview day or they completely changed their pitch between October and now...

 

[jocg27]

you clearly missed the point then. They have been dumping money into the program in the past few years to make it not only a premier institution for learning (remember they're the only state school to supply OH with doctors) but also as a premier medical center what with the heart hospital and the cancer center (i know it seems that nowadays everyone has one, but they really don't, there's only a handful)

they could care less about usnews (the feeling I got there) plus look at their match list. they matched 8 into ortho, sure they have a big class but damn. and their average step I was, what, 228? pretty damn good.

i think on sdn there's this realllly weird bias where the usnews top10 are like "the good schools" and everything else is mediocre and then 25+ is like learning medicine in a third world country.

no one is debating whether or not UMich is a world class institution, it is. In fact its almost as good as UCLA 😛

but to take personal offense when UMich is compared to an institution like OSU is juvenile at best, with the potential of being straight up ignorant.

the entire basis for your argument is the mathematical fact that 11<32

I wasn't talking about Michigan at all, I don't care about Michigan and have never had anything to do with the school...And personally I agree and hate the SDN bias where only a handful of US News top ranked schools are even worth applying to - I think it's elitist, annoying, and most importantly incorrect.

I was only sharing my interview day experience, during whichit seemed to me personally that OSU students and administrators talked more about US News rankings than students and administrators at any of the other 5 midwestern medical schools I visited.

 

[jocg27]

Boy, it is incredible how different my interview day at OSU was from yours. I felt that they stressed a commitment to providing the most supportive environment possible for their students to achieve. Likewise, they made known of their international medicine opportunities. They also stressed their ammenities when it came to preparing their students to be adept at interacting with their patients (the video camera enabled patient rooms and more). I got such a vibe of the importance of the patient in medicine in their curriculum. Either we each get what we take from the interview day or they completely changed their pitch between October and now...

I honestly did like a lot of what I asw and heard and the interview...that observation, actually, was really the only thing I wasn't crazy about...and this interview was a year ago...so I dunno, maybe it's changed or I guess it's possible my memory's off?

 

[Ladyfingers]

Boy, it is incredible how different my interview day at OSU was from yours. I felt that they stressed a commitment to providing the most supportive environment possible for their students to achieve. Likewise, they made known of their international medicine opportunities. They also stressed their ammenities when it came to preparing their students to be adept at interacting with their patients (the video camera enabled patient rooms and more). I got such a vibe of the importance of the patient in medicine in their curriculum. Either we each get what we take from the interview day or they completely changed their pitch between October and now...

I agree. I don't remember anyone once mentioning anything about rankings or numbers at my interview (at the very beginning of October).

 

[pennybridge]

I honestly did like a lot of what I asw and heard and the interview...that observation, actually, was really the only thing I wasn't crazy about...and this interview was a year ago...so I dunno, maybe it's changed or I guess it's possible my memory's off?

Maybe. When I was there a faculty speaker playfully badmouthed usnews a bit, it was great. overall I found the faculty very candid, not playing games at all. they made it clear that usnews has some shenanigans in its rankings, and that everyone knows it and that's what makes it work (in a somehow legitimate sort of way).

Maybe they did change their direction in a year, but their attitude towards usnews seemed more like an "annoying sibling" type deal at best, not one of their major concerns almost.

but yeah, I know you weren't the psycho wolverine, I was just reinforcing my earlier point, I wouldn't have even posted in this thread if it wasn't for the 11<32 comment.