<p>Buy the MSAR (Medical School Admissions Requirements) book and pick schools with GPA/MCAT averages on the low end. You can also look at things like acceptance rate, etc. That’ll help you determine safer schools to apply to.</p>
<p>The application cycle runs from June to May of the next year. “Early” means submitting your primary in June or early July. Average would be submitting July-August. “Late” would mean submitting your primary in September or October.</p>
<p>Applications open June 1st. Should be sent in one week after because AMCAS computers are notoriously fickle. Anytime during June is “early”, but earlier is better to build momentum for secondary applications.</p>
<p>Remember – you have to submit your primary, get it processed, have it sent, have schools read it, have them give you secondary, do the secondary (which often entails several essays), send that back, have them process those along with LORs, have them decide they want to interview you, schedule your interview, fly out there to do your interview, and give the committee time to evaluate you.</p>
<p>And you want all this done at several schools by October 15, because some schools are reputed to give away a third to a half of their sports on that day. Standards are MUCH lower early in the cycle.</p>
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<p>State residency is a tough nut to crack. It depends a lot on your daughter’s credentials. If she’s UC material, then it might be nice to have Los Angeles and San Francisco there. If she’s not quite at that level, then it might be a good idea to have her change states to, say, Texas.</p>
<p>CA’s a bad state if your goal is to get into medical school, but if you’re looking for a reseach powerhouse (and have the numbers for it) then it’s not all that terrible.</p>
<p>The dilemma is that I think you’re describing UW, which is not exactly a walk in the park, either.</p>
<p>somemom, the MSAR is your friend. Not everything is there (especially the ever fickle required courses and will AP do?) but buy it. And then get the new edition when it comes out, too. ;)</p>
<p>I believe requirements are listed there, actually – but not in handy table-form.</p>
<p>bdm, I have found them to not be “complete” in all cases. Of course, I can’t think of one off the top of my head , so don’t ask me to prove it. :)</p>
<p>bdm, what would u say is your idea of UC material? like the top-tier UCs or what?</p>
<p>Here are UCSF (MSTP) stats: [UCSF</a> School of Medicine - Medical Scientist Training Program](<a href=“http://www.medschool.ucsf.edu/mstp/admissions/stats.aspx]UCSF”>http://www.medschool.ucsf.edu/mstp/admissions/stats.aspx)</p>
<p>I think those scores and the residency claim is MSTP-only. I believe the MD program has some stats here:
[UCSF</a> School of Medicine - Admissions](<a href=“http://medschool.ucsf.edu/admissions/profile.aspx]UCSF”>http://medschool.ucsf.edu/admissions/profile.aspx)</p>
<p>You’re right.</p>
<p>Here is data for UCLA: [University</a> of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) | Medical School](<a href=“http://www.medicalschooladmission.com/ucla/#admissions]University”>http://www.medicalschooladmission.com/ucla/#admissions)</p>
<p>for the UCLA one, it says student body 682…is that for one class or all classes for the 4 yrs?</p>
<p>Here’s a better link for UCLA data from the assistant Dean of Student Affairs: <a href=“http://career.ucla.edu/GraduateSchool&PreProfessionalServices/TheodoreHall.asp[/url]”>http://career.ucla.edu/GraduateSchool&PreProfessionalServices/TheodoreHall.asp</a></p>
<p>121 students matriculated for 2008 class, so 682 is for all 4+ years.</p>
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<p>Is this truly absolute? I realize the summer is great time for a premed to work on EC’s, but what if one were to stay on campus during the summer where it would be easy to take 1-2 courses AND work on EC’s?</p>
<p>Also, an unrelated question: 3.6/31 was mentioned as the new target stats. Obviously one should aim for as high as possible (getting at least 3.6/31 to stay safe), but when calculating GPA, should one just include the premed courses or all?</p>
<p>In general, should a premed think of his/her GPA strictly as that of his/her average performance in the premed courses with the non-premed courses just there to fluff up the “science GPA”; or should one include ALL courses when calculating and thinking of GPA for med school?</p>
<p>Both. If you look at the stats, the science GPA of medical school matriculants is not that much different from their overall GPA (science + nonscience). You might be thinking that science courses are a lot harder and would expect people’s science GPA’s to be lower. But, the idea is that medical schools only take the people who can consistently get A’s and maybe a few B’s in science courses. Don’t be surprised if the average science GPA of matriculants was around 3.5-3.6 as well. You need to demonstrate proficiency in both science and nonscience courses.</p>
<p>1.) No, it’s not an absolute rule. In particular, if you become a premed late in your college career, summer courses may be necessary. However, the scenario you’ve proposed is not one that I would be inclined to recommend. You should devote your full attention to your EC’s.</p>
<p>2.) In no case does your “premed” GPA matter. Two GPA’s matter: your overall and your BCPM (“science”). For example, a third semester of physics would not be a premed class but would be BCPM; English is a premed class but is not BCPM.</p>
<p>The two are generally held to be roughly equal in importance, although USN uses overall GPA in its listings. The MSAR can also be helpful.</p>
<p>A few C’s here and there in Ochem is fine though, right?</p>
<p>No, a few is not okay. A couple is perfectly fine if the rest of your application is strong.</p>