University of Oklahoma for Out-of-State Applicant

[KD1655]

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It's just about time to start looking at which medical schools that I might want to apply to and the University of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City peaks my interest for a couple reasons. First, after going to NJ schools for both my BS and PhD, I want a change of scenes. Second, I have always been a fan of OU, both in terms of academics and football. The only concern that I have about getting in to OU is that I am an out-of-state applicant and I get the idea that OU is one of those schools that doesnt like accepting folks like me. While I have not taken the MCAT yet (focusing on my PhD currently instead), I have a cum UG GPA of ~3.63 (poor frosh year; 3.85ish after) and a BCMP GPA of ~3.45. I am currently working towards completing my PhD in Materials Science and Engineering with a thesis in biophysical characterization of neural tissue/biomaterials immediately subsequent a mild TBI. I currently have a 4.0 in all graduate coursework and seeing how I have only like 1 or 2 classroom courses to complete, I don't see that changing all too much. For a number of personal reasons, I will probably try to do a postdoc for 1-2 years following the completion of the PhD within hopefully 2 years. I currently have appoximately seven years of clinical experience in EMS so I will have about 10 years under my belt when I apply. I have worked both volunteer and paid postions; I have experience volunteering in a very suburban town (my hometown). About ten miles from my hometown is a very urban and very dangerous area with very patients on the lower end of the socieoeconomic spectrum. I worked as a paid EMT responding to 911 calls in this area while I was in college. The dichotomy in medicine and patient care that I witnessed in approximately 10 miles really got me interested in medicine and working in an urban medical center. I am also a volunteer firefighter. I have other credentials such as honor societies and research experience that I didn't list but based on an assumption of a 30-32 MCAT score, do you think I will have a problem getting an interview at OU Med as an out-of-state applicant?

 

[theWUbear]

So, your reasons for Oklahoma University College of Medicine are:

1) Different from NJ
2) Go Sooners!
3) Go Sooner...academics?

If I were on an adcom I would not consider that substantial enough to merit special (or perhaps just legitimate) consideration as an OOS applicant. Heck, I could probably BS better reasons for specifically wanting to go to OU Med after spending 30 seconds on their website, and I don't even want to go there.

Boomer

Edit: Your fourth reasons is urban setting, I suppose. And if you happen to be an uber-fan, that certainly draws you to the university. But you need some Oklahoma Med-specific reasons as well. As for the numbers, I don't have my MSAR out but I have my list of "not top 20, not extremely in-state-specific" list of ~50 schools and OU isn't on it.

 

[KD1655]

I did not go in depth into every reason that I wanted to go to OU; I do have some more substantial reasoning behind my decision to apply there. Besides, I didn't as for a critique of my reasoning but rather a critique of my academic and extracirricular activities with regards to OU and being an out of state applicant. Thank you kindly for your time and input though.

 

[metallica81788]

You could always try emailing the admissions office and explaining yourself a little. They could only tell you "we don't know."

 

[theWUbear]

I did not go in depth into every reason that I wanted to go to OU;
I didn't as for a critique of my reasoning but rather a critique of my being an out of state applicant.

One should go into depth of their reasons for going to an out of state public school if he/she wants to be critiqued based on the legitimacy of his/her application being an out of state candidate. That's a generality though, and you are looking more for you compared to OU admissions statistics, so we had a misunderstanding. Again, I don't know OU's numbers, but keep in mind that their average for OOS accepted candidates will be higher than their aggregate numbers. Good luck to you.

 

[LRAccord624]

Since you are OOS and you didn't go to undergrad there, your numbers need to be significantly higher than their averages. You also need to show really good reasons for wanted to go to Oklahoma. I applied there with similar numbers to yours (GPA and 'projected' MCAT). I received an interview for their very last date (with this system, you are pretty much interviewing for the waitlist if you interview late); however, I declined the interview. Feel free to ask me any other questions about applying to OU as an out of stater, since I just finished doing the same.