What if your state school is no help?

[mev]

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Hey all!

I'm getting ready to give my first shot at applying to medical school and I'm green with envy for people living in Florida, New York, Ohio, etc. with all those in-state schools! My home state is Washington, and with only University of Washington there my chances of getting in at home seem laughable. They have to be the only state school that is so proud they don't give their own students any preference. Also I was a UW undergrad and some people would say they have a NEGATIVE acceptance rate for their own students. (Sad, but I wish our in-state school was a little more average and not the #1 rated in the nation!)

I have a 3.11 UG GPA, but 6 years of military experience and a masters--non-science though 🙁 I'm living overseas but may be transferred back to the states in a year. Should I try to shift my state of residency? Does it make much of a difference?

Also another question if anyone can help: I was planning to take the MCAT in April so I could get my application in nice and early next year, but the hazards of my profession strike again. I'm going to be deployed to the middle east until May and have to take the August MCAT. With my GPA should I even bother next year? Or should I wait until the 2008 entering class and can give it a full cycle?

 

[MsEvolution]

UW has a scoring system in which GPA is only PART of the overall score. The also consider your MCAT, and your experience, etc. By the time you get to interview, I believe the interview itself counts for 50%. Correct if I'm wrong you guys... but that's what I remember being told by the multicultural affairs office.

I think you should give it a whirl. I also think you should apply to other schools. Like you, I thought I had little to no chance to get into UW, so applied to several schools. I found that I was wrong and many schools found me attractive... including UW. I took my MCAT in August and I was contacted by UW for an interview within a week of the scores being released. I interviewed on Nov. 5th. I sat on the competitive pool up until their last grand review... I was told I had met the final score to be offered acceptance, but they had to pare down the list of those who qualified for the entering class... so I was chopped in the process.

My advice is... you'll never know unless you try. And if you apply to a well-rounded set of schools, odds are you'll get accepted. Don't fret too much about your GPA. Go on mdapplicants.com and do a search... you'll see that many people with approx your GPA have made it in.

Take the MCAT as soon as you can to leave your options open. Many people say it hurts you... I don't think so. I submitted my apps to MD and DO in early July. I took the Aug. MCAT and I complete all my secondaries in September. By the time the scores came out, that's all the schools were waiting for and the invitations started rolling in from the first day--no kidding!

In any case, good luck! Don't give up!

 

[Amy B]

I am sorry but I do not have any advice to give you about the state residency policy. But I wanted to say I higlhy repsect you for serving our country. Good luck with all you try!!!!!! Keep safe.

 

[MiesVanDerMom]

I don't have any advice, but wanted to lend some empathy. There are no PA state schools (all private, no preference and no cheap tuition) and I too feel envious when I see schools in other states taking like 90% in-staters. Best of luck to you! I'm sure you'll do well.

 

[IUgrad]

I want to echo MiesVanDerMom - I can identify with your situation. I live in Indiana, and we only have the one state med school. I've heard that the average GPA is around a 3.7, and mine is a meager 3.3, so I probably don't have much of a chance there.

I guess the only advice I have to give (which is my own strategy) would be to look at private schools, since they don't (for the most part) seem to value in-state applicants over out-of-state. In my opinion, it seems like with private schools everyone has an equal chance, geographically-speaking. Good luck!

Thank you, and God bless you for serving our country.
Take care.

 

[Beau Geste]

I don't have any advice, but wanted to lend some empathy. There are no PA state schools (all private, no preference and no cheap tuition) and I too feel envious when I see schools in other states taking like 90% in-staters. Best of luck to you! I'm sure you'll do well.

Penn State, UPenn and UPitt are all private??

 

[Doctor Bagel]

What state you live in makes a big, big difference, which is making me sort of regret moving to Oregon. Our state is so broke that they don't give much funding to OHSU, so OHSU consequently have very high instate tuition and gives minimal preference to Oregonians. I know lots of people who have gone to medical school in Oklahoma and Arkansas, and it is seriously much, much easier there. You have very high odds of admission even with average stats, and your instate tuition is about $10k cheaper than the instate tuition at OHSU. If you know you're not going to apply for a few years and that you're flexible about location, I'd strongly suggest finding a state that's friendly to its instate applicants.

 

[ShyRem]

I understand, too. Colorado is pretty competitive with only one med school, and only one person from my little bitty state in-state public college has been accepted to CU in the last 10 years. A girl last year with a 3.9/34 got rejected. Another with a 3.9/25 also got rejected. Both would make great physicians, IMHO. And only about 90% of first-time applicants from my little state school even got an interview at CU. In-state preference my butt. CU is well-known on my side of the state for rejecting all first-time applicants, and interviewing all second-time in-state applicants.

Not to say I'm not hoping against hope to get accepted - I am. Heck, I'm hoping for an interview. I'd absolutely LOVE to stay in-state. *sigh*. More dreams.....

 

[Sundarban1]

I understand, too. Colorado is pretty competitive with only one med school, and only one person from my little bitty state in-state public college has been accepted to CU in the last 10 years.

Try being a white male CT resident applying to UCONN. This year's ratio of M:F was 30:70% and the first class in the school's history to have not one person over the age of 30.

Who is the dean, Hitler?

 

[powerbooki]

Compared to a person who is serving in the armed forces, my case looks much easier. I found in MSAR, for all pulic schools, there is no data particular to non-resident applicants. This makes it hard to determine whether to proceed. Do any one has any knowledge on this? When state schools look at a non-resident, are they only looking for extremely competitive (grades/mcat/experience/tie to the state...) applicants?

 

[Kazema]

Penn State, UPenn and UPitt are all private??

Well technically Penn State is public, and UPitt is a semi-public. But UPitt's med school is basically private, and Penn State doesn't seem to have a very strong in-state preference. Plus the tuition's just about the same for in-state or out-of-state residents. Penn is an Ivy; Ivies are all private. And rich.

Of the 7 medical schools in PA that I applied to (Pitt, Penn, Penn St., PCOM, Drexel, Jefferson, Temple) I was only invited to interview at Pitt and PCOM, whereas I was admitted to a NY state school and a NJ state school. Take that anecdotal evidence however you want.

 

[glp]

I understand, too. Colorado is pretty competitive with only one med school, and only one person from my little bitty state in-state public college has been accepted to CU in the last 10 years. A girl last year with a 3.9/34 got rejected. Another with a 3.9/25 also got rejected. Both would make great physicians, IMHO. And only about 90% of first-time applicants from my little state school even got an interview at CU. In-state preference my butt. CU is well-known on my side of the state for rejecting all first-time applicants, and interviewing all second-time in-state applicants.

Not to say I'm not hoping against hope to get accepted - I am. Heck, I'm hoping for an interview. I'd absolutely LOVE to stay in-state. *sigh*. More dreams.....

ya CU blows. my in-state resident cousin pulled a 3.75 (phi beta kappa) at CU undergrad with a 32 MCAT and was denied admission last year. f them.