Pennsylvania sucks!

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PianoGirl04

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OK...I have a huge bone to pick with my crappy state, and I have to let out all this bottled up emotion!

Pennsylvania really sucks for in-state applicants. There are NO public schools, and even though 2 or 3 private schools give you a tuition break, it's not very much compared to the tuition cost. It would be cheaper to go to school in California (in the UC system) than in my home state!

But the real clincher was when my friend from Louisiana told me that she was applying to every single school in Pennsylvania. Why? Because PA schools show the least preference for state residents of almost any state! She said she has a better chance getting into PA schools as an out-of-state resident than she would for any other state.

If anybody has any other complaints about PA or similar complaints about their home state, bring them on! Let's have some fun bashing our states. 😀
 
I'm from Alaska--

We don't even have a medical school. We used to get tuition breaks and preferential acceptance policies from several schools (like UC's and the University of Arizona). Then because of state budget problems our legislature cut all of the funding that went into the med school program...no more preferential treatment.

Alaska residents get in-state status at the University of Washington. Great school, but there are only ten total seats for AK residents. Five seats always go to women and the other five go to men, which means each applicant is competing for a total of five seats. Then of course four to six of those ten seats almost always go to Native Alaskans, so the average Alaskan applicant is competing for only two or three seats...and of course they are competing with every single other Alaskan applicant, because, who wouldn't apply to UW if they were an in-state applicant?

I moved to Maryland to participate in a research program during the application process. Now that I've been here a year I've decided to give up my claim to Alaska residency and become a Maryland resident. Why? Because my odds of getting accepted as an in-state applicant to the University of Maryland are way better than they would be as an Alaskan applicant to the University of Washington, even though Alaska has less than 10% of Maryland's total population!!!🙁
 
Originally posted by PianoGirl04
OK...I have a huge bone to pick with my crappy state, and I have to let out all this bottled up emotion!

Pennsylvania really sucks for in-state applicants. There are NO public schools, and even though 2 or 3 private schools give you a tuition break, it's not very much compared to the tuition cost. It would be cheaper to go to school in California (in the UC system) than in my home state!

But the real clincher was when my friend from Louisiana told me that she was applying to every single school in Pennsylvania. Why? Because PA schools show the least preference for state residents of almost any state! She said she has a better chance getting into PA schools as an out-of-state resident than she would for any other state.

If anybody has any other complaints about PA or similar complaints about their home state, bring them on! Let's have some fun bashing our states. 😀
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PA isnt THAT bad 😉

while pa schools do not show the same rigid preference to pa residents as other state schools, you have three HUGE med schools in philly alone (temple, jeff, and drexel usually have class sizes well over 200 students). while cali schools are cheaper than PSU, you dont have remotely the level of competition of in PA than there is on the west coast.
 
It isn't cheap, but we do get some advantages. Pitt, penn state, and temple are state schools by the way, they're just expensive ones. Almost all pennsylvania schools give some favor to in-state applicants as well.
 
Temple is NOT a state school in the same way PSU and Pitt are..it is a State-AFFILIATED institution. Which means what? Yes they give preferential treatment to PA residents and tuition is less for residents..but how much less...we are talking about on the scale of like 4000 dollars! Not that big of a deal..when I can go across the bridge to one of three UMDNJs, qualify for residency a month before matriculation and pay less there than as a pa resident to go to Temple. Most state schools have significantly lower tuition for their residents....which is an advantage. I am not quite seeing the advantage for applying to Temple except I may have a better chance of getting in. PSU and Pitt, for someone in the philly area...is like going to a different state altogther...in my opinion. lol Not to mention they are still relatively expensive compared to other state schools.

I agree that its nice to have Drexel, temple, jefferson and penn all in one area and have "options" unlike some states with no med school at all...but it would be nice to have the REAL option of getting preference at AND attending a state school (for financial reasons). A PA resident just doesn't have that option...which is where I can understand Pianogirl's bitterness.
 
Originally posted by Giving My .02
Let me just say, Texas is the best place to live if you want to go into medicine.
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I think California is the best place to live if you want to go into medicine, and Im a Texas resident who wants to stay in the South or on the West Coast for the rest of my life. Baylor and UTSW are fantastic and are my top choices, but UCSF, UCLA, UCSD, Stanford are incredible opportunities for Cali residents. Im really envious of all you Cali residents, take full advantage of your amazing universities.
 
You should write your secondary essays, and perhaps even your AMCAS Personal Statement, on the theme of "Pennsylvania sucks." I see great things for you.

Seriously though, maybe it's best that Pennsylvania is not subsidizing the education of doctors. Physicians are leaving that state in droves. No one wants to practice there, because of the ridiculously liberal malpractice laws.

It's hunting season on doctors in PA! Everyone gets a slice.
 
Hi guys,

I think I'm inclined to disagree with the statement that California is the best place to be if you want to get into medical school. While it is true that we have many top schools (UCSF, UCLA, Stanford, etc.) - it is very difficult to get into thse schools, or any school for that matter! The standards for all California schools are fairly high, and we have a huge base of in-state competition to fight against. There are some states that have a handful of medical schools that are easier to get into, but e definately aren't it. This is evidenced by the fact that California applicants on average submit more applications to med school than the average of any other state.
 
Uhh, as someone pointed out, Penn State, Drexel, and Pitt are all public schools. They all favor in-state applicants. I do agree that the tuition sucks, as you only get a small break.

My home state, Delaware, does not have a state school. There is a small partnership program with Jeff where only a few students a year get into Jeff from Delaware. This translates into if you can get into this program, you are good enough to get in elsewhere as well. We also get no tuition breaks anywhere. Not at Jeff and not at anywhere else.

My point? Stop complaining. There is worse.
 
Originally posted by ankitovich
I want some of what HE'S smoking.
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The stuff you want is only legal in California 😀

But seriously, med schools are hard to get into in the first place, so thats a moot point. The fact that Cali has so many high quality med schools school be celebrated, not bemoaned. The only qualm you should have, and its a valid one, is that they should open more schools. Instead, the Regents have focused on investing a ton in a few public schools to make them as good as private schools

So basically, Im saying youre lucky because you have 3 public schools that are as good as private schools (top 20) and cost a lot less, AND you got Stanford to boot. Nice deal IMHO. Enjoy it.
 
Neuronix...i agree it isn't nearly as bad as not having a med school period. But Drexel is NOT a state school. Only pitt and pstate. Temple is state affiliated.
 
Seriously, it doesn't matter. Regardless of where you go, in-state, out, state-affiliated, whatever, you have guaranteed job security in a job that will likely make six figures. It does not matter! What's an extra 30k over a lifetime. Just forget about it.
 
I think job security is nice...but if i can save my family the stress of budgetting my ridiculous monthly loan installments by attending a cheaper institution..l will do so and i am guessing other folks agree. I feel for folks like neuronix who don't at least have that option.
 
Penn state 's tuition is 10K cheaper for residents than non-residents. The med school shows no preference to instaters. Temple has a 60/40 instate out of state split and is about 6K cheaper for residents. We have a class of 177. Drexel is private and the tuition is the same all the way around - 35 K, has a class of 250. When I interviewed there last year the class had about 60 cali res. and about 50 pa res, those two being the highest populations represented. I can't talk about penn, jeff and pitt. PA has two osteopathic schools - one in Erie and one in Philly.
 
i vote for texas. yes, cali would be awesome...but texas is a nice second choice--imho the tmdsas system is a fair, reliable way to get a shot at med school if you're a decent and competent candidate...not so much of a crapshoot as i've heard it is in cali schools (even for instaters, apparently!) baylor/utsw are excellent schools to boot.

sorry i don't know much about med schools in pa. but how much is instate tuition? surely it must be cheaper than upenn's posted $30k tuition? 😱
 
well drexel, jefferson and penn have tuitions along the same order...as they are all private.

temple from 2000-01 instate was 25k while out of staters paid 29k.

penn state instate is 26k while out of staters pay 36k

pitt instate is 30k while out of staters pay ~36k

clearly the 'state schools' in pa aren't that far off.
 
Originally posted by Ms. Dawson, DO
I think job security is nice...but if i can save my family the stress of budgetting my ridiculous monthly loan installments by attending a cheaper institution..l will do so and i am guessing other folks agree. I feel for folks like neuronix who don't at least have that option.
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Dude - neuro is MSTP. (gets paid to go to class)
 
True... Though I won't lie, I did choose MSTP partially because of the money. If I had a full scholarship to go to medical school or a cheap state school, I think I would probably do MD only at this point.
 
I really have to agree that Texas is the best place for med school. We've got a number of good schools, and you can't hardly beat ~$10,000 tuition compared to $30k in some other state. I'm not sure I even want to apply somewhere else, who wants to go $200k in debt to live somewhere other than the best state in the whole US? 😛 Just kidding, I love PA too!
 
Originally posted by Ms. Dawson, DO
well drexel, jefferson and penn have tuitions along the same order...as they are all private.

temple from 2000-01 instate was 25k while out of staters paid 29k.

penn state instate is 26k while out of staters pay 36k

pitt instate is 30k while out of staters pay ~36k

clearly the 'state schools' in pa aren't that far off.
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It's brutal. As a native son of PA (Allentown represent!), I'd pay the same tuition at Penn St as at SUNY Upstate (26k). Plus, if I'm not mistaken, after one year, you can establish NY state residence, and thus you tuition drops down to 14k. (Well, I think it's set to rise to 16k.) Even so, that's a total of 104k at Penn St. vs 74k at Upstate. A savings of 30k.

I'm MD/PhD, so it wasn't relevant to me, but I can see how it might affect others. It seems kind of bizarre that the cheapest way to an MD for PA residents is probably to leave the state.

Naphtali
 
Originally posted by Neuronix
Uhh, as someone pointed out, Penn State, Drexel, and Pitt are all public schools. They all favor in-state applicants. I do agree that the tuition sucks, as you only get a small break.

My home state, Delaware, does not have a state school. There is a small partnership program with Jeff where only a few students a year get into Jeff from Delaware. This translates into if you can get into this program, you are good enough to get in elsewhere as well. We also get no tuition breaks anywhere. Not at Jeff and not at anywhere else.

My point? Stop complaining. There is worse.
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Pitt undergrad is a state school, the med school is private... Check the MSAR...
Auster
 
Originally posted by tonem
I'm pretty sure Pitt is state affiliated but its not a public school.
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Yup -
Pitt actually gets the same amount of money per student from the state whether they are state residents or not (same as Penn). Therefore, they end up getting LESS money for each instate student (because they get X dollars from the state whether the student is from PA or not, while Pennsylvanians pay 6000 less)...
 
Ironically

LECOM (lake erie osteopathic) probably has the cheapest in-state tuition ($23,400) and out-of-state tuition ($24,400), even though it is a private school

http://www.lecom.edu/admissions/financialaid/financial.htm#cost

But since this is a pre-MD forum, you guys would probably prefer a $39k/year MD school than a $23k/year DO school 😉

hehe - j/k

PCOM (philly osteopathic) is around $32k if you want to compare all the schools in PA
 
Yeah, I was just talking about allopathic schools.

To clear the public/private thing up...I'm pretty sure that none of the PA schools are public, at least according to my sources. Although Penn State is a public school for its other colleges, the medical school is almost completely separate from the rest of the university. It's in a completely different area of the state too. There is a small tuition break (like Ms. Dawson, DO said) for PSU, Pitt, and Temple, but we won't get any help for Drexel, UPenn, or Jefferson.

What Naphtali said is completely true...the cheapest way is definitely to leave the state and preferably to establish residency somewhere else. And that's why I'm complaining. I wouldn't want to practice there either...with the heinous malpractice rates, doctors in PA are literally running for their money. Not that I'm in it for the money, but I don't want to get slammed with huge malpractice insurance costs.

I won't stop complaining about PA because this board is a great place to vent. But hearing stuff about Alaska, Delaware, and the like puts some things into perspective for me.
 
we have what, like 8000 applicants from the state of california? the state with the closest number is new york i think, with 2000.....and schools here are desirable for both in-state and out-of-staters.....most people that live in cali want to go to med school here too....i mean, c'mon, the uc's...cheap, good, great location, what more could you ask for? so, it sucks to be a med school applicant from cali, because while we have some great schools, we also have some ridiculous competition.....those two facts together mean a horrible chance of getting into any schools here...because the only UC that i know of that gives most acceptances to in-state people is ucirvine.....the others don't...they have proportionally more applicants from cali, and thus a higher proportion of cali applicants in their classes....
i agree that texas is the place to be if you want to go into medicine.....i wish i lived in texas!
 
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