Which schools should I be looking at?

[sarmatrac]

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Hi there,

I'm looking to apply to medical school in 2 years (matriculating in 2018) and I'm starting to wonder which medical schools I should be looking at so I can address any particular requirements of certain schools before I graduate. Here's some information that might be relevant:

I'm a senior at a prestigious public university, but I'm an IL resident.
My undergrad GPA is about 3.8, sGPA is 3.78, but I'm still taking some tough science courses, so it could change in the next few months. I haven't taken the MCAT yet but plan to put about 20 hours a week over the next 4 months towards it, and I'm taking a PR class.
I'm a double major: bio and social science-y major (don't want to put it here because it's very specific to my university).
I'm interested in social justice as it relates to medicine and would be interested in a medical school that has an emphasis on treating the underserved. I'm looking to maybe specialize in IM/ID and perhaps do work abroad with MSF or something of the sort at some point in my career. I'm also interested in public health/environmental health and have considered MD/MPH programs.
I've done about two years of research in a lab and was in charge of my own project but never published anything. I also did social science-y research abroad and received significant funding from my university for it.
I will be joining the Peace Corps after graduation, serving in the health sector in West Africa, but I don't know how adcoms will look upon that.
I don't think there are any immediate red flags on my application, but I'm worried that my LORs (especially from science faculty) will be rather generic.
Cost is a major issue for me, and I am worried about going too much into debt because the kind of work that I want to do (NGO/MSF?) doesn't always pay too well.

If anyone has any thoughts about schools I should look into, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you for your advice.

 

[takeurmeds02]

I think it would do you more justice to start looking into what region you want to live or what med schools you're interested in, researching the mission of those schools, and deciding thereafter. Someone here will undoubtedly give you a more detailed response but you won't know what's out there for you until you poke around yourself...

 

[ConfusedChemist]

This question simply can't be answered without an MCAT score. It really depends on that

 

[sarmatrac]

Thanks for the responses. It's just a diagnostic, but I've gotten scores ranging from 33-35 on old MCAT practice tests (I haven't started preparing for the new one). Hopefully those scores translate over into the new format.

 

[Lannister]

There's really no point in taking old MCAT practice exams, the new exam is completely different and has completely different areas of emphasis.

 

[sarmatrac]

Hypothetically, if my range of scores on the old MCAT were to translate to the new one, do you have any ideas for schools I should be looking at?

 

[Lannister]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/wedgedawgs-applicant-rating-system.1131149/

 

[sarmatrac]

Thank you!

 

[WedgeDawg]

Moving to WAMC

 

[dreamadream]

For an out-of-state applicant, try University of Maryland, Tufts U, Mayo Clinic, Albany Med, Albert Einstein, Stony Brook Med, Hofstra Med, Duke, U of North Carolina(Surprisingly one of the cheapest med schools). From the stats I have looked almost med students are from in state but there is also a large amount from out-of-state. Side note:The reason why Texas med schools are so competitive and most of the population are in state is because of the low tuition. Texas as a whole is a cocky state. So they are out of the question, California med schools are extremely competitive also.

 

[WedgeDawg]

For an out-of-state applicant, try University of Maryland, Tufts U, Mayo Clinic, Albany Med, Albert Einstein, Stony Brook Med, Hofstra Med, Duke, U of North Carolina(Surprisingly one of the cheapest med schools). From the stats I have looked almost med students are from in state but there is also a large amount from out-of-state. Side note:The reason why Texas med schools are so competitive and most of the population are in state is because of the low tuition. Texas as a whole is a cocky state. So they are out of the question, California med schools are extremely competitive also.

Maryland and UNC are not OOS friendly schools.

 

[Goro]

Impossible to say without an MCAT score. But I'd start with U ILL.

Hi there,

I'm looking to apply to medical school in 2 years (matriculating in 2018) and I'm starting to wonder which medical schools I should be looking at so I can address any particular requirements of certain schools before I graduate. Here's some information that might be relevant:

I'm a senior at a prestigious public university, but I'm an IL resident.
My undergrad GPA is about 3.8, sGPA is 3.78, but I'm still taking some tough science courses, so it could change in the next few months. I haven't taken the MCAT yet but plan to put about 20 hours a week over the next 4 months towards it, and I'm taking a PR class.
I'm a double major: bio and social science-y major (don't want to put it here because it's very specific to my university).
I'm interested in social justice as it relates to medicine and would be interested in a medical school that has an emphasis on treating the underserved. I'm looking to maybe specialize in IM/ID and perhaps do work abroad with MSF or something of the sort at some point in my career. I'm also interested in public health/environmental health and have considered MD/MPH programs.
I've done about two years of research in a lab and was in charge of my own project but never published anything. I also did social science-y research abroad and received significant funding from my university for it.
I will be joining the Peace Corps after graduation, serving in the health sector in West Africa, but I don't know how adcoms will look upon that.
I don't think there are any immediate red flags on my application, but I'm worried that my LORs (especially from science faculty) will be rather generic.
Cost is a major issue for me, and I am worried about going too much into debt because the kind of work that I want to do (NGO/MSF?) doesn't always pay too well.

If anyone has any thoughts about schools I should look into, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you for your advice.

 

[dreamadream]

Maryland and UNC are not OOS friendly schools.

I look up states for Maryland, yes most students are in state, but they do accept out of state...most definitely. For instance, if your undegrad was UofMaryland(as an out-of state student) and you apply to U of Maryland med then....advantage number 1.

 

[WedgeDawg]

I look up states for Maryland, yes most students are in state, but they do accept out of state...most definitely. For instance, if your undegrad was UofMaryland(as an out-of state student) and you apply to U of Maryland med then....advantage number 1.

That's a totally different situation than if you're not a Maryland resident and you didn't go to UMD.

http://medschool.umaryland.edu/admissions/our_students.asp

Class stats for the past couple of years for UMD med. They accepted a bit over 3% of their OOS applicants. That's the around same as the overall acceptance rate for Harvard med. Not what I would call a good use of resources for people trying to find schools that are OOS friendly. There are many more efficient ways to use your time, effort, and money than applying OOS to Maryland.

 

[dreamadream]

That's a totally different situation than if you're not a Maryland resident and you didn't go to UMD.

http://medschool.umaryland.edu/admissions/our_students.asp

Class stats for the past couple of years for UMD med. They accepted a bit over 3% of their OOS applicants. That's the around same as the overall acceptance rate for Harvard med. Not what I would call a good use of resources for people trying to find schools that are OOS friendly. There are many more efficient ways to use your time, effort, and money than applying OOS to Maryland.

Read the stats... Yes out of 4000 non-resident applicants only 140 were accepted. Out of 1000 resident, 190 were accepted, so I see what is happening there.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Read the stats... Yes out of 4000 non-resident applicants only 140 were accepted. Out of 1000 resident, 190 were accepted, so I see what is happening there.

Still does not make it friendly to OOS applicants. Apply if you want to, but it's not a good idea to encourage people to make decisions that aren't conducive to applying efficiently.

 

[GrapesofRath]

There's really no point in taking old MCAT practice exams, the new exam is completely different and has completely different areas of emphasis.

The type of reasoning and logic hasn't changed on the MCAT. Sure instead of asking about particle accelerators or a car sliding down a hill, they might ask about a more biochem related topic or try to incorporate physics into the human body as an application, but what the MCAT is truly about hasn't really changed that much. You could argue there is more data analysis, research themed analysis etc, but honestly this was the case with the latter sections of the old MCAT particularly for the old Bio section. Psych/Soc is a bit of a wildcard I will grant that but in many ways again the skills it tests are relatively similar.

Bottom line: a) I would still do old AAMC Material(particularly verbal) b) If you can do well on old AAMC material it indicates you have the skills that this new MCAT tests. You might need to spend more time on content review for this new version(particularly on biochem) but the bigger obstacle for the MCAT is having those key MCAT analysis skills, not learning biochem or psych/soc.

As for the OP, there's no point having a WAMC thread without an MCAT score. Also, your goals/aspirations and outlook can change pretty significantly in two years, particularly after you do Peace Corps. While I'm not saying you won't want to do medicine after peace corps(hardly that actually) your resume, focus, ambitions etc will be different. Also the Peace Corps does not have an insignificant attrition rate(particularly in the training process) which is something to consider when asking someone for input before you've done Peace Corps.

And also btw to the other person in the thread the Dawg is right Maryland is not near the top of anybodys list of friendly OOS public schools. a) a fair number of those OOS matriculants did UG at Maryland b) Many of those OOS matriculants came from bordering areas(I know in particular Philly and DC have a bunch of people who go to Maryland med school).

 

[Doug Underhill]

CARS is basically the same thing as old MCAT verbal, so that's good practice.

Let us know when you have a score and we'll help you build a list.