Which states are the easiest to get into allopathic med school?

[shkmiami]

Have any of you contemplated moving to another state solely because their med schools are easier to get into? If so, which ones? I have friends in really competitive states like CA and FL who want to move somewhere they might have a better chance like South Carolina or Louisiana. There definitely is a huge difference in the MCAT and GPA admission numbers between those two sets of states. Have any of you heard what adcoms think of those who move into their states just because their med schools are easier to get in?
I read somewhere in one of those guidebooks that they view it positively, as a sign of high dedication to relocate somewhere entirely new for the purpose of pursuing medical education. Please chime in if you have heard otherwise.

Here are my rankings of the most difficult states to get into med school:

1) California- The entrance numbers for the UC system is just ridiculous
2) Florida- Only four schools serving the entire big state
3) Massachusetts- all 4 allopaths have high entrance numbers like CA


Easiest
1) South Carolina-I heard as a joke that getting state residency status is more difficult than getting into their schools
2) Louisiana- Hurricane Katrina's impact might make it easier or maybe harder to get in
3) Pennsylvania- has a glut of schools, out of 6 schools, 4 of them are relatively easy to get in
4) Kentucky/ Mississippi/Nebraska/West Virginia

Please feel free to come up with your own rankings if you desire.

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[silas2642]

California: nearly impossible unless able to walk on water or in-state applicant who can crawl on water. Curing cancer is a perfectly acceptable alternative to walking on water.
Texas: awesome schools, but must be Texas resident. Do not need to walk on water because there isn't any in Texas.
Massachusetts: state school is impossible to get into because it only accepts instate residents.

Everywhere else: difficult, but the process is a random crapshoot anyway.

 

[psychedoc2b]

Have any of you contemplated moving to another state solely because their med schools are easier to get into? If so, which ones? I have friends in really competitive states like CA and FL who want to move somewhere they might have a better chance like South Carolina or Louisiana. There definitely is a huge difference in the MCAT and GPA admission numbers between those two sets of states. Have any of you heard what adcoms think of those who move into their states just because their med schools are easier to get in?
I read somewhere in one of those guidebooks that they view it positively, as a sign of high dedication to relocate somewhere entirely new for the purpose of pursuing medical education. Please chime in if you have heard otherwise.

Here are my rankings of the most difficult states to get into med school:

1) California- The entrance numbers for the UC system is just ridiculous
2) Florida- Only four schools serving the entire big state
3) Massachusetts- all 4 allopaths have high entrance numbers like CA


Easiest
1) South Carolina-I heard as a joke that getting state residency status is more difficult than getting into their schools
2) Louisiana- Hurricane Katrina's impact might make it easier or maybe harder to get in
3) Pennsylvania- has a glut of schools, out of 6 schools, 4 of them are relatively easy to get in
4) Kentucky/ Mississippi/Nebraska/West Virginia

Please feel free to come up with your own rankings if you desire.

Hi,

Move to IL or Texas. Both have less in-state applicants and have large number of med schools. UICCOM only takes the highest MCAT score, I believe, and does not average the scores like other schools. UICCOM has four campuses and the largest medical student body, I believe, in the US. Thus, it might be a good idea to look into UICCOM. I also know Rush prefers in-state applicants.

Texas has many state schools the UT system, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M. and I have heard Baylor does prefer in-state applicants also.

I think it takes a year or two of work to be a resident in each state. Look into it.

And, I have heard of others in the same boat who worked for a year and applied to theses schools. You can also marry someone from IL and this would qualify also for being a in-state resident. However, that's a bit too schemeful and pushing it, in my opinion.

psychedoc2b

 

[QofQuimica]

I have to disagree with the OP about FL. All four of our allopathic schools have very reasonable average stats and give hefty preference to state residents. We don't get tons of OOS people applying to our state schools like the more famous and prestigious CA state schools do. (Except for U Miami, you don't have much chance of getting into any of the FL schools as an OOS applicant, and even Miami heavily prefers Floridians.) We also have two osteopathic schools here.

I agree w/ psyche that TX is a great place to go if you want to get into med school, especially b/c their schools are so cheap for state residents.

Both TX and FL have the added bonus of not having a state income tax. You won't care about that as a med student, but considering that many people stay in the same area for residency afterward, you WILL care later. Seven states have no state income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Two others, New Hampshire and Tennessee, tax only dividend and interest income. So if you're going to move somewhere and work for a year or two to establish residency, state taxes are something you should consider.

 

[PhDtoDO]

Be careful if you're moving to a state with an 'easy number' school because if you're from LA and move to Kentucky...and it comes off that you moved to Kentucky just to go to med school and not to fulfill your dream of working on a cattle ranch...that school is responsible for making doctors to service that state and they may have a policy of staying with their own to preserve this agenda.

It's not that they're been mean, you just have to consider that.

Schools like UofChicago even though they are private clearly state that they still have to accept so many students from IL per class for specific reasons. Do they still state that? Because that was the case when I was there.

Not all private schools want a kid from every state. Some private schools do...ie if you're from the state they are in, that will less than help you.

Being from IL could help...lots of schools and an established DO school too.

But it didn't help me because I was an undergrad there and couldn't claim residency.

-s

 

[businessguy]

Never mind OOS, I am OutOfCountry (Canadian eh!)

Which states/schools are most friendly towards international students and/or OOS students. I think that this will be my best shot.

- businessguy

 

[finch]

From what I understand, Ohio and Texas are both have a large number of seats in med school compared to the number of instate applicants. I think that residents of both states have it pretty good.

 

[finch]

From what I understand, Ohio and Texas are both have a large number of seats in med school compared to the number of instate applicants. I think that residents of both states have it pretty good. Michigan isn't bad, either.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

not oregon or washington and really any place in the west. states that i specifically know of that are easier are oklahoma and arkansas. the allopathic schools is both states accept about 50% of their instate applicants. it's not a guaranteed acceptance, but if you have a solid app, you're probably going to get in. you can't say the same thing for where i live currently. mississippi and alabama also look favorable, and the odds for vermont are pretty good. uvm accepts lots of oos people just because not very many people from vemont apply. people talk about how easy texas is, but texas is not as easy as the states i mentioned above. even their less competitive schools only accept around 20% of their instate applicants.

if you want an objective answer, buy online access to usnews.

 

[shminger]

I wouldn't say that it is easier in one vs. any other. It requires hard work and dedication no matter where you live. I have lived in and applied in two different states and it didn't seem easier in one vs. the other.

 

[scpod]

Easiest
1) South Carolina-I heard as a joke that getting state residency status is more difficult than getting into their schools

Just getting state residency probably won't do it...

The two schools in SC want people from the state who will be staying in the state to practice. They will go out of state if there are not enough qualified applicants for the current year. Still, the statistics can fool you because all but one of the 15% out-of-staters taken by the University of SC had very strong ties to the state. For example, they grew up there but their parents moved in their senior year of high school, or their residence is in another state but they spent four years of college in SC and have five cousins that have already attended the school, etc. BTW, the one OOS who got in with no state ties last year had a 4.0 and 39 MCAT.

 

[psychedoc2b]

not oregon or washington and really any place in the west. states that i specifically know of that are easier are oklahoma and arkansas. the allopathic schools is both states accept about 50% of their instate applicants. it's not a guaranteed acceptance, but if you have a solid app, you're probably going to get in. you can't say the same thing for where i live currently. mississippi and alabama also look favorable, and the odds for vermont are pretty good. uvm accepts lots of oos people just because not very many people from vemont apply. people talk about how easy texas is, but texas is not as easy as the states i mentioned above. even their less competitive schools only accept around 20% of their instate applicants.

if you want an objective answer, buy online access to usnews.

The thing with Texas is that there are so many in-state med schools that if you are an in-stater even though the in-state acceptance in not that high for example for the UT system, you have more options and more schools to which one can apply. I know Texas Tech in Lubbock and Amarillo and El Paso do prefer their in-state applicants. Texas A&M may be the same. But I do agree that the UT system is highly competitive and probably take more out-of-state residents. Texas is also a huge state. I would check out the places where Texas Tech has it schools and Texas A&M. You may not like it but at least it is a med school. Also there is a D.O. school in Fort Worth. I, thus, do not agree that it is more difficult for an in-stater to get into a Texas medical school unless one applies to the UT system. Again, Baylor prefers in-state applicants too.

psychedoc2b

 

[psychedoc2b]

I wouldn't say that it is easier in one vs. any other. It requires hard work and dedication no matter where you live. I have lived in and applied in two different states and it didn't seem easier in one vs. the other.

The question is what state did you apply in?
psychedoc2b

 

[scpod]

But I do agree that the UT system is highly competitive and probably take more out-of-state residents. Texas is also a huge state. I would check out the places where Texas Tech has it schools and Texas A&M. psychedoc2b

By state law, all Texas schools must take 90% in-state students. Many of the schools take less. UT San Antonio has a class of 200. Last year they took 3% from out-of-state. Not good odds. Plus, it's not easy to become a state resident. You must live and be "gainfully employed" in the state for a year before you can declare residency. You cannot be a student during this time. If you marry a Texas resident, you must still wait a year before being considered a resident yourself.

 

[glp]

By state law, all Texas schools must take 90% in-state students. Many of the schools take less. UT San Antonio has a class of 200. Last year they took 3% from out-of-state. Not good odds. Plus, it's not easy to become a state resident. You must live and be "gainfully employed" in the state for a year before you can declare residency. You cannot be a student during this time. If you marry a Texas resident, you must still wait a year before being considered a resident yourself.

the oos numbers look low bc you are looking at matriculation numbers and not actual accepted numbers. for the class entering 2004, the odds of getting accepted to a tx state school as an instater were about 46 percent . the odds of getting into a tx state school as an oos were about 21 percent. these number do not include baylor, which also has a tx quota (about 75% of the classs) but participates in amcas and not tmdsas. the actual numbers ca be found here
http://www.utsystem.edu/tmdsas/stats.htm

 

[psychedoc2b]

the oos numbers look low bc you are looking at matriculation numbers and not actual accepted numbers. for the class entering 2004, the odds of getting accepted to a tx state school as an instater were about 46 percent . the odds of getting into a tx state school as an oos were about 21 percent. these number do not include baylor, which also has a tx quota (about 75% of the classs) but participates in amcas and not tmdsas. the actual numbers ca be found here
http://www.utsystem.edu/tmdsas/stats.htm

Thus, texans choose to stay in texas. I think it is the same with UICCOM which does accept out-of-staters but the actual numbers matriculating numbers for out-of-staters is quite low.

psychedoc2b

 

[psychedoc2b]

duplicate post

 

[kutastha]

the odds for vermont are pretty good. uvm accepts lots of oos people just because not very many people from ve[r]mont apply.

There's only a few more Vermonters than Californians in my class (2006), but keep in mind the relatively small class size of 100. I think that they're also becoming a bit more selective - the #9 ranking in US News certainly is contributing to that.

 

[scpod]

the odds of getting into a tx state school as an oos were about 21 percent.

Yet that 21% figure doesn't really mean anything because it is based on the number of oos applicants. If there were more applicants, the number would drop. What is more meaningful on that same page is that a total of 1357 acceptances were given and 142 were oos. That's 10%.