<p>Hi. I am a current applicant for this cycle and am working on getting my list of med schools finalized. I have looked at the MSAR and individual school websites, but at this point it seems like they are all more or less the same and I'm just spinning my wheels trying to narrow down the list. I have a rough list of 15 but would like to get it down to 12, I just don't know which schools to "vote off the island." I am an IL resident, but wouldn't mind going OOS if the opportunity was there. </p>
<p>Neuroscience and Spanish double major, Honors program, merit-based full-tuition scholarship
My stats: GPA 3.979; Science GPA 3.8; MCAT BS 12 PS 13 VR 11 Writing S
My extracurriculars: neuroscience research (won 2 grants for funding an honors thesis), volunteering at local hospitals and community health clinics, Pre-med society (E board), medical mission trip to Belize, worked during summers and breaks at movie theater</p>
<p>What I'm looking for: a good school that isn't insanely cut-throat, with opportunities for international service/rotations. The opportunity for merit scholarships is great, but I'm not willing to live in the middle of nowhere to get it. Urban with public transport a plus and bonus points for winters that don't make you want to hibernate (I've been spoiled by the south during undergrad).</p>
<p>The List:
Baylor
Emory
Vanderbilt
Pitt
Duke
Tulane
UIC
Wash U
Northwestern
Stanford
Boston U
U Chicago
Loyola
Case Western
Rush</p>
<p>I suppose my question is which schools should I lose from the list, if any? I feel like 15 is a bit much, but if someone has a logical argument for why 15 is a necessity, I'm willing to hear it. Also, do the private IL schools still favor IL residents, or is there no difference between applying to a private here and one in another state? I've always heard the advice to apply to all the schools in my home state, but it's hard to tell if the percentage of OOS vs. IS is only because everyone is following that advice so schools have more applicants from the state. While I know that the game of applying to medical school is a crapshoot, I'm hoping not to waste money on schools that are glaringly out of my reach, so if anyone sees something that would be throwing good money after bad, let me know and I'll cut it. </p>
<p>It’s not the percentage OOS vs IS that matters, it’s the acceptance rates. At most public schools there is a clear bias towards admitting IS students.</p>
<p>Do some searching, both Kristin5972 and I have posted the methods we used.</p>
<p>In general, I like that your list has no OOS publics. I’m concerned Baylor is a little in-state heavy. I’m concerned that BU famously has a very low admissions percentage. I suspect your stats are too high for Rush and Loyola, but I would apply anyway. You could be more ambitious if you wanted.</p>
<p>I think 15 is a reasonable number. Swap some in, some out.</p>
<p>Illinois, so I’m applying to almost all the Chicago schools. If anyone has any suggestions for OOS private to swap in, I love the input. It feels like after so long looking at different places, it gets impossible to keep them straight.</p>
<p>Methods would vary a lot from person to person. Do you have the list of your own criteria with weights / points attached to it. if so, then like any decision making, make a table with the columns of your preference and rows with the school names. Calculate the total point for each school and then you will know. However, for some there are very obvious criteria preferences that they are not willing to give up and they woudl scratch any school that does not have this. Location for some is crucial as one example, and it might not be at all your criteria. My D. refused to apply to any further than 5.5 hrs driving from home, she did not care if somebody strongly recommend her to apply to further schools, she simply exclude them. Another important factor was student body and a program. But these you can only determine after viiting for interview.<br>
For your specific situation, if you are applying to Northwestern, it would be advisable to KEEP Case, as they accept the same students very often. Do not know much about others. D. withdrew from Pitt after she was put on waitlist, said that it was not her kind of place at all. You see how personal it can get. I do not know why you should listen to others, might get burned doing so, what is good for one, might not work as well for another.</p>
<p>DO NOT APPLY TO UTSW!!! (as a non TX resident)</p>
<p>UTSW is not a private school. It is mandated by the state of texas to have 95% of it’s incoming class as texas residents. I do not know whether MD/PhDs are included in the denominator, and if they are, then the MD only class is essentially 100% TX residents as the MD/PhD program is forbidden from biasing towards TX residents because it receives federal and not state funding. I interviewed there and it is clear as day that non TX residents are not welcome unless, i imagine, you are ridiculously exceptional. While you are a competitive applicant capable of getting into any school, you are by no means “ridiculously exceptional.”</p>
<p>I would imagine UCSF is also off the table for you.</p>
<p>I would probably not bother with Michigan or UCLA. USC on the other hand could be on there if you want LA since it is private.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t bother with Calif SOMs or Texas SOMs. It would seem (to me) that your time and limited number of apps would be better served with most of your current list, your instate publics, and maybe a couple of mid tier midwest privates (Loyola, Creighton, MCW, SLU, etc)</p>
<p>USC and Michigan are polar opposites of each other. Michigan, a public school, admits a sizeable number of OOS students where as USC, a private school, admits a large contingent of IS students.</p>
<p>Here is the Matriculant information information from MSAR:</p>
<p>Michigan: IS 97, OOS 80
USC: IS 135, OOS 48
Texas Southwestern: IS 195, OOS 33</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, my kid (3.82/38) is applying to Michigan but not to USC (even though his cousin is a prof. there).</p>
<p>since those #s are over 100, i’m going to assume those are #s of students, not acceptance rates. What are the acceptance rates for IS vs. OOS at those schools?</p>
<p>Let me give you an exaggerated example to show why those #s are not the ones to look at:</p>
<p>USC has 48 OOS students but that was from 50 applications while the 135 IS students are from 5000 applicants. Where do you think the bias lies?</p>
<p><a href=“IS%20admissions/IS%20applicants”>quote</a> - (OOS admissions/OOS applicants). Big numbers suggest you should not apply OOS.</p>
<hr>
<p>When I’ve done this math, I rarely find OOS publics to which I recommend applying.
[/quote]
It looks like things have changed since then … Michigan is a great public option for folks with competitive stats. Here is the data (source USNWR) for Michigan and Duke both ranked #8:</p>
<p>you need to compare those to the IS rates. If a school had an admissions rate of 33% for OOS (much higher than any of the ones you’re listing) but had a 100% for IS, you would still say it had a strong IS bias. I don’t have access to this info since I don’t have an MSAR or USNWR subscription so if you want to provide the data we can all compare and see if these schools really don’t have strong IS biases.</p>