Hi, so I am a rising junior attending a public university in Mississippi. MS only has one medical school, and I have already been granted early assurance there. I asked my advisor if pre-med students ever go out of state, and she said not usually, which kind of bummed me out. I like Mississippi, but I would also like to have more options. Anyway:
African-American female
4.0 GPA
230+ hours clinical work (ER technician)
around 10 hours of clinical volunteering and hoping to get more (at a free clinic)
20 hours of non-clinical volunteering, unless putting on events/fundraising for a children’s hospital counts
Tutoring job, health communications research, several leadership positions
64 hrs of shadowing (getting more in July)
Editorial work on a a yearly artistic journal
Mentoring students this upcoming year through two different programs
Obviously it’s probably difficult to say anything without the MCAT score (taking it in January) but I’m really curious because most states have more than one medical school so I’m wondering how schools view applicants from MS and if I have a shot anywhere else. Any advice at all would be amazing. Thanks!
Yes, IS and OOS plays a critical role in medical school admission. But it does not mean you should not apply out. Take time to prepare your school list (besides all your IS public and private) to have both OOS public and private.
You are in a good position with your GPA and few ECs. Two critical items you need to focus are MCAT and Non-Clinical Volunteer work. Nothing to worry just because you are from MS state. It is not going to hold you up anywhere. GL.
You’ll be judged on your stats and ECs just like everyone else. (BTW, your community service hours are very low for a traditional applicant.)
Being a grad of Ole Miss won’t help you or hurt you.
However, with an assured admission (which a cursory reading of the criteria seems to require only passing an interview) and pretty low in-state COA (Direct costs are only $35K/year), you would be foolish to give that up.
A round of med school application is expensive ( between $5000-$10,000) with no guarantees of an acceptance OOS. The process itself is filled with anxiety and stress.
OOS and private med school are going to cost substantially more than what your in-state public costs. Maybe as much as $50K-$70K/year more. That’s a lot of extra debt to take on.
Plus if you have family/friends in Mississippi–don’t under-estimate the value of having a support network nearby. Med school is time-intensive and stressful and having a at-hand support network can be crucial to success.
My state has only one allopathic med school and both of my daughters happily attended it despite having other acceptances to OOS schools–including higher ranked schools… (Why? Low in-state costs. Having less debt at graduation really takes a lot of pressure off. You can pursue your own specialty interests without worrying about how you’re going repay $350K+ in loans.)
Neither D stayed in-state for residency, though–and you don’t have to either.
tl’dr: apply out if you want, but there are NO GUARANTEES in this process. Don’t give up a sure thing just because you’re curious. And remember you will have the opportunity to leave MS when you apply for residency.
Forgot to mention. Check if your EAP program allows you to apply out but still guarantees your seat. If so, then you are good and apply out. If not, think twice when the time comes to apply.
@WayOutWestMom Thank you so much for the advice! BTW I’m an MSU girl (wanted to clarify bc we’re rivals haha) but I agree. My instate option is probably the move, but I’ve wanted to ditch MS since high school. I’ll probably still apply to other schools, but I can wait for residency if I must 
@GoldenRock Probably should have mentioned this, but the early assurance program not only allows applying to other schools, but is also going to help me with the application process by eventually providing shadowing and volunteer opportunities as well as providing free MCAT study materials.
If you early assurance program allows you to apply out, then go for it!
The only thing you have to lose is money.
The thing is that it will end up cost you a LOT more money going OOS if you have a secured seat IS.
Think about the following costs:
- Application costs, if you applied to 25 schools, likely $5000
- Interview costs, if you fly to 20 different locations, likely $20000
- OOS extra COA in 4 years, likely $20K/ year
What you gain is maybe better research-oriented schools such as Harvard, Yale vs MSU. Unless your goal is top medical research, an ordinary MD can be achieved anywhere including MSU. All US medical schools are good.
I would say it is more like 30-35k per year for any OOS costs unless you can get into a free school or Baylor (Baylor is very comparable to the instate tuition in Mississippi). Most Texas schools will give you instate tuition although they only have 10% OOS quota.
All U.S. medical schools both allopathic (MD) and osteopathic (DO) are good.
You have an excellent and affordable instate option. We know someone who is a first year resident at Mississippi and she is very happy. So…that’s not a bad thing either.