And it can be done while attending undergrad in Texas. Yes it’s a gamble, but given how cheap Texas med schools are and the number of them, it’s a good gamble. Families with means do it for undergrad and grad here.
I guess my question is why the student wants to become a TX resident? It’s a myth that it’s easy for TX residents to get a med school acceptance. Easier than CA or MD maybe, but not a good gamble overall.
TX is not a particularly pre-med friendly state. Only 31.3% of TX residents who apply to TX med schools get accepted. And OOS med schools really aren’t interested in interviewing TX applicants because they know it’s unlikely they will matriculate OOS. Only 6.5% of TX med school applicants end up attending OOS schools. TX residents overall med school acceptance rate is 37.8%, below the national average and well below some other states’ matrication rates.
see table A-5: https://www.aamc.org/media/6016/download?attachment
As for the price of med school, TX is not the only state with less expensive med school options. Next door NM is several thousand dollars less for tuition and for overall COA than any of the TX schools. Med schools in NC and WV are also less than almost all of the TX publics. (Plus both NM and WV have higher instate AND higher overall matriculation rates than TX.)
Another thing to know–any OOS student accepted to a TX med school and who gets at least a $1000 scholarship (which are commonly offered to strong applicants) gets instate tuition rates.
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Easiest way is to buy a condo or small house and rent it out it if you can some money under the mattress. One thing to remember is other state medical schools may do yield protection for TX residents given the tuition difference.
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It seems like it would be possible to start the residency paperwork during your final year of undergrad. This would allow you to apply to Texas schools as an OOS student, but if accepted, complete the residency paperwork and pay in state tuition the first semester of med school. It ‘might’ be a bit of a hedge with possible detriment to admission chances in Texas, but no impact to other schools. Additionally, it allows you to be considered in state for the current state of residence.
I dont consider Texas as having a low acceptance rate as much as a lot of people who are not competitive feel compelled to apply, sometimes repeatedly. Many of them actually eventually succeed after multiple attempts. Several of the schools provide input as to why they didn’t succeed and give them pointers for improving their app in successive years. texas A&M takes pride in listing what percentage of their incoming class are repeat applicants.
I talk to a lot of applicants on SDN. One would be surprised to hear how many are in their 3rd, 4th or 5th time applying.
An interactive chart which provides a good picture of people applying vs people matriculating in terms of pure GPA/MCAT stats.
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Two residents matched to a Texas school in the middle of March. Whats interesting about them is that both claimed to have gotten in on their 4th try.