Out Of State Schools Which Value The Whole Candidate

[Flymm]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Through looking at some schools, I have realized that schools approach the selection process differently. Most are pretty much number hungry schools that are focused exclusively on MCAT and GPA when it comes to providing interviews.

However, I am looking at schools which put value in MCAT and GPA, but also in the EC's of the individual, his/her personal statement, and the LOR's of the person in question. Basically, schools which stress the person as a whole when providing interviews.

Some gunners and pre-meds might be saying this is a myth, but within my own state I have found two public schools which exemplify this differing of approaches to the application process. Thus, the difference described above does exist. I am just trying to see if there are some outside of my state, Texas, which I might be able to apply to. I hope this might assist people like myself who are more balanced candidates rather than the number heavy applicant commonly found on SDN (there are some truly brilliant people on this board and I am not one unfortunately).

 

[Phoenix.]

Through looking at some schools, I have realized that schools approach the selection process differently. Most are pretty much number hungry schools that are focused exclusively on MCAT and GPA when it comes to providing interviews.

However, I am looking at schools which put value in MCAT and GPA, but also in the EC's of the individual, his/her personal statement, and the LOR's of the person in question. Basically, schools which stress the person as a whole when providing interviews.

Some gunners and pre-meds might be saying this is a myth, but within my own state I have found two public schools which exemplify this differing of approaches to the application process. Thus, the difference described above does exist. I am just trying to see if there are some outside of my state, Texas, which I might be able to apply to. I hope this might assist people like myself who are more balanced candidates rather than the number heavy applicant commonly found on SDN (there are some truly brilliant people on this board and I am not one unfortunately).

If you think this thread might assist people like you, why not offer the names of the two Texas schools that you found so far?

Personally, I think that there are many schools out there that look at the whole applicant, provided that their numbers are around the school's average. They're not all expecting to get solely matriculating students with 35+ MCATs and 4.0 gpas. I've seen people with average numbers get into stellar schools like UCSF, Mayo, etc., because they had amazing ECs and an overall excellent application. While there are number focused schools out there, I think that two things hold true: 1) all schools are number focused to some extent - you need to hit near their average for them to take a look at the whole picture; 2) numbers obsessed schools are not the norm. While there may be an exception or so, most schools will not grant an acceptance to someone with a 4.0 and a 38 if they have no clinical experience and horrendous reasons for applying (i.e., bad personal statement). Anyway, that's my two cents. But what do I know? I'm just your usual OCD SDN reader applying this cycle. Good luck.

 

[TheRealMD]

Through looking at some schools, I have realized that schools approach the selection process differently. Most are pretty much number hungry schools that are focused exclusively on MCAT and GPA when it comes to providing interviews.

However, I am looking at schools which put value in MCAT and GPA, but also in the EC's of the individual, his/her personal statement, and the LOR's of the person in question. Basically, schools which stress the person as a whole when providing interviews.

Some gunners and pre-meds might be saying this is a myth, but within my own state I have found two public schools which exemplify this differing of approaches to the application process. Thus, the difference described above does exist. I am just trying to see if there are some outside of my state, Texas, which I might be able to apply to. I hope this might assist people like myself who are more balanced candidates rather than the number heavy applicant commonly found on SDN (there are some truly brilliant people on this board and I am not one unfortunately).

Lol, no need to hide that UTSW is more numbers-based, but really, numbers are simply a quick way to weed through applicants in the short amount of time they are given. I'm not trying to say that numbers aren't important, but they are the only semi-consistent way to evaluate an applicant.

 

[Flymm]

As many have pointed out before, there are always two numbers in an average (EX. MCAT 27 and 33 averages to 30). But, when you look at schools, some schools most definitely put less weight on some criteria and more weight in other criteria.

I didn't put the schools because of Texas's 90% rule for in state students, thus I believed it would not apply to a thread about OOS schools. But, since you asked, I think the examples would be Southwestern as number heavy and UTHSCSA as rounded candidates. Hope that helps.

 

[Flymm]

Repeat post.

 

[waterbuffalo]

I think that EVMS really looks at the whole person

 

[shantster]

I believe that UNC is very focused on community services, human rights stuff, etc. moreso than the numbers. Go on mdapplicants.com and I think you'll notice that out of the people that applied and were given secondaries or interviews from out-of-state that they had a greater focus on these aspects whereas people who had high numbers and didn't focus on this weren't even given secondaries.

 

[mave]

Penn State has a really great humanistic medicine program, with the added benefit of taking a lot of OOS students.

 

[momtwo]

However, I am looking at schools which put value in MCAT and GPA, but also in the EC's of the individual, his/her personal statement, and the LOR's of the person in question. Basically, schools which stress the person as a whole when providing interviews.

I'd say Wake Forest. 😀

 

[Taliesinrk]

Hands down, the school that I've encoutered that seems to do this the most is the University of Utah. Look at their requirements. The ADCOM never sees your GPA and MCAT and gives you a score. Your GPA and MCAT are then calculated to be 20% of your overall score, while the ADCOMs score is the other 80%.

The problem is you have to have strong ties to the state to even be looked at.