<p>So, why do very few applicants, from what I've seen on mdapplicants.com, go OOS when they go to school in Texas to other great med schools around the country? (particularly A and M)</p>
<p>I know that tuition is ridiculously cheap in Texas (ex. Baylor ~6k for IS) but why do these applicants apply to so few OOS schools even when they have solid stats (3.8+ and 32+)? Is it because the TDMSAS is earlier on in the cycle (before AMCAS), so they get their acceptances to their IS schools and call it a day? Is there some reason behind this?</p>
<p>From what I've gathered from my time on this forum, the school name, and especially not ones like UT and TAMU (which is the school I want this discussion to primarily focus on), should not hold one back from great med schools around the country. It should come down to ECs (which must be very unique and stand out) and other factors.</p>
<p>So, what's this phenomenon that I'm seeing? I can't seem to draw any conclusions other than perhaps the fact that these students are happy in-state with the low tuition. And what's up with the rejects OOS even for the super applicants?</p>
<p>(BTW, how true is the statement that I've read that says that it's harder for tex. residents to get interviews OOS because the med schools sort of say, 'you already have 9-10 med schools, what makes you deserve an interview over X applicant?")</p>
There may be some truth in this statement. My intuition is that, by and large, only the super-achievers from Texas may apply OOS. Heck, one 4.0/40 kid from UT applies to Texas medical schools only this cycle, according to hubbard’s (sp?) father.</p>
<p>It is likely that medical schools tend to take more students from their nearby regions. An exception may be that many private medical schools in many states have no problems in taking in California kids. It is about “show-your-love-for-a-medical-school” thing. When you are from a state which is almost like a country by itself (well, I may have exaggerated it), it is not easy to convince the medical school that you really love them no matter how you spin it. Another exception is the super-achiever. (e.g., curm’s D last year )</p>
<p>I wanted to add that it is not that difficult to get an invite from OOS schools. (An anecdotal example: DS did not receive an invite from two OOS schools only. Maybe silent rejection?) What is difficult is the acceptance from OOS medical schools after the interview.</p>
<p>Viggy, Texas has UTSW, Baylor, UT-H, UTMB, and UTHSCSA all (usually) ranked in the top 55 or so (although UTMB fell out after the hurricane to “unranked”. I haven’t checked this year.). The two Tech schools and A+M aren’t bad either. You can do anything you want from any of those schools. </p>
<p>So… why is my Texas resident kid at Yale? Well, it’s a good question with quite a bit of (well-documented on cc) history behind the answer. Ignoring the history part of the answer </p>
<p>1) she believes she wants a career in academic medicine and supposedly pedigree is important. It appears to be one of the few legitimate reasons for spending what she is spending. (And I’m still not completely sure it’s that legimate of a reason. UTSW or Baylor would have been just fine. The slight/tiny/maybe imaginary differences in career outcomes were not enough to sway me to her side.)</p>
<p>2) YSM is a uniquely atrtractive place for her to spend 4 or 5 years. Montessori Med School. IOW, she fell head over heels for the pretty boy. That, combined with the afore-mentioned history, was enough to sway me to her side. </p>
<p>You can match into anything (including all surgical residencies) from a Texas med school. Look at the match lists for the schools. You’ll see. </p>
LOL. This is a pretty good way to describe it. I heard that, for a kid who is very much into research (but not quite at MD/PhD level), or has some passion in a particular area, their “Montessori” way gives the student a lot of freedom to explore it. This system kind of reminds me of that of “Brown University” at the undergraduate level, except that I guess it is much more research oriented.</p>
<p>So, is it a major drawback to be instate in Texas? If would like to apply out of state to other med schools and really want to get OOS then I don’t want to have opportunities shot down. What do you think?</p>
<p>Of course, I’d be super happy if I got into Baylor, UTSW, UTMB, etc. but just in case I want a change of scenario, want to come back up North, or something else, then I don’t want to have those desires shot down because of the in-state TX status. </p>
<p>Also, is it a realistic or healthy goal to aim for UTSW and Baylor if I attend a state undergrad university or are those schools still super competitive even for in-state students?</p>
<p>Southwestern and Baylor are very competitive but are full of UT and TAMU kids. </p>
<p>As to the bias of some OOS schools against Texas kids, yep. I think it’s there. You’ll have to sell your desire to leave Texas in your Why Blank Med School? essay or you run the risk of not being taken seriously. But I still say “Being a Texas resident is the single biggest plus you can have in US allopathic med school admissions if med school attendance somewhere is your goal”. I also don’t think the Top 6 or 8 schools care that you are from Texas (or Mars). Once you get to schools competitive with the Texas schools but loads more expensive? Yeah. I believe it hurts you to be from Texas. Yield management is important.</p>
<p>So is it really hard to get into med schools outside of texas? I mean, if someone had solid stats like 3.85 and 34 or the like, would it still be very tough? I don’t think I’m comprehending how difficult it is to get into OOS Private med schools outside of texas. I understand that a tex. resident applicant would have ‘antihooks’ and things against him or her but I don’t understand how significant this is.</p>
<p>And so, for those who are informed, if you were in my situation what would you do any why? (Stay in state in texas and attend a tex state undergrad school…either UT or TAMU v. Trade tx resident for in-state in michigan, attend u of m or msu then apply to the 3 instate med schools there and apply out to a bunch of privates w. the possibility of getting accepted in wsu’s med start program…which in that case i’d pay in-state tuiton at wsu’s med school if i choose to stay in the program and not apply out). </p>
<p>Thanks, I know this is very tedious but this is probably the single biggest decision that my family and I are going to have to make.</p>
<p>I think you are severely overestimating any sort of bias against Texas residents. If that’s true, then any bias against CA residents must be much greater considering how much more attractive of a place CA is to live in (in my opinion) and how most CA residents want to stay in-state. But, when I applied to OOS med schools, I didn’t find that to be the case. I don’t recall being asked a single time why I would want to go to X school over staying in bright, sunny CA.</p>
<p>I do think you overthink your college choices in an attempt to game the system. Choose the best academic school where you would be happy at and where the finances work out. All of this grade inflation vs. grade deflation garbage or bias against TX residents is just in your head and shouldn’t factor into your college decision making.</p>
<p>Michigan has far fewer people than TX so having 3 in-state med schools may be proportionally equal to TX having 8 in-state med schools. Secondly, I don’t think you can get Michigan residency solely by attending school there. When I interviewed at University of Michigan School of Medicine, they were very clear in telling us that we would NEVER be able to pay in-state tuition for UMich SOM solely by attending med school there.</p>
<p>^Yea, you are right. At this point, I really want to attend TAMU or UT but I would like scholarship money. </p>
<p>At these schools, how much could I get after year 1? I have a 4.0 and 2300 SAT I but I foolishly missed the deadlines for scholarships. So, what are my options? Is there any way to pick up say, 5k+ after year 1? 10k? Could anyone provide me with situations I’m looking at? Parents would move to where I go to college if it helps costs but it wouldn’t be a completely willing choice. Thanks.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine a worse state to be applying from than CA. It’s too competitive in-state so you apply out …not to up your chances of a higher profile school, but to get into a med school. Anywhere. Reasonably stat-ed TX students don’t have to do that. I can’t think of any California school other than Loma Linda would have hard stats below at least 4 of the Texas schools. </p>
<p>And as to California being attractive, I agree. IMO, it would be a lovely place if about 2/3rds of the population disappeared overnight. As is? Given a choice between Cali and Hell, I’d have to take a Second-Look Weekend in Hell before I decided. ;)</p>
<p>You need to chill a bit, you aren’t even in college yet and are fretting about med school admissions…</p>
<p>My S went OOS to school and had a heavily OOS list of med schools as well…in fact in state was really not high in his initial thinking. That said, after his interview at UTSW it jumped to the top of his list…top 20 school with a very low cost of attendance…he decided on his own that carrying a lot of debt didn’t make sense for him…</p>
<p>He’s now in his third year and VERY happy with his decision; having Parkland and Children’s Hospitals as two of the main teaching facilities has been a huge bonus…</p>
<p>In short, don’t sweat things yet and quit fretting about in state schools…we have two very good, highly regarded schools here and they are a real bargain as well.</p>
<p>Re: picking up merit/non-need based scholarship after year 1 of undergrad. </p>
<p>There are very few available–and those that are are largely available thru your major department (usually awarded to the top student or two in the dept) or occasionally thru a service or social organization (like a fraternity or sorority, or a booster group). </p>
<p>Many of the non-departmental scholarships have additional requirements and are competitive (not academically competitive, but competitive in that the award goes the “most deserving” nominee or the one who best typifies the purpose of the award.) Most non-departmental scholarships require things like participation in athletics or a particular sport or student government, a specific ethnicity, membership in the sponsoring organization, essays, civic leadership, community service or more usually some combination of the above to be considered. </p>
<p>Both departmental and non-departmental scholarships are usually for small amounts–typical a few thousand dollars. </p>
<p>(D2 has been nominated for a couple non-departmental scholarships and the awards range from $500- $1000. Her school also offers 5 additional merit awards total to high performing upperclassmen–sophs thru seniors-- each worth $2000.)</p>
<p>Dude I don’t know why you are stressing out, there ARE PLENTY of lab positions/ paid lab/research for credit positions at A&M and UT…I also don’t know why you are stressing out about doing well at A&M and UT if you had a 2300 and 4.0 in high school. My friends who went to UT had like a 1900 and 3.7’s in high school and have 3.8’s as pre-meds at UT. My other friends who had like 1800 and 3.7’s in high school have roughly 3.85’s as pre-meds at A&M. You will be fine. Enjoy your senior year. Go get smashed. </p>
<p>BTW if you do have a 2300, and a 4.0 why not apply to ivy league schools/Rice/Duke/Stanford/MIT/Vanderbilt? If your parents live in Texas, you will still have texas residency for medical school even though you went to a top ivy league school for undergrad.</p>
<p>^My parents don’t live in Texas, that’s the thing. They were thinking about moving to Michigan so that I could go to Michigan as an in-stater (long story, but it would happen). Now, after researching about the great Texas state med schools, I’m really interested in attending UT or TAMU. </p>
<p>The only concern I have is getting scholarship money because I don’t want to have to force my parents to move to where I go to school (I think they’d rather move to Houston). I will apply to a couple of Ivys but I’m not that kind of guy. I’d rather go to an awesome school with the ‘sports environment’ + school spirit than a school that is mainly academic. UT, TAMU, and UMichigan are great fits.</p>
<p>And that’s good to know about the GPA lol. I stress out easily, so that is comforting to know. (And I’m having fun in HS too lol, it’s just that this scholarship concern is really stressing me out)</p>
<p>So, how much do these lab positions pay and is it hard to become a Resident Assistant at UT and TAMU?</p>
<p>^^^ Why would your parents have to move to where you go to school? Do you want to live at home with your parents when you go to college?</p>
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<p>^^^ Duke and Stanford have amazing academics, and are amazing at sports. You can’t compare the atmosphere at a Duke basketball game to anywhere else. Stanford’s football team is ranked top 10 this year. </p>
<p>If money is a concern, you could apply for FA, but as an international student, it will be harder to get into a top school, because most top schools are not need-blind for international students.</p>
<p>If I stay on campus at UT or TAMU without scholarships it will be around 21K. Over the course of four years that will be pretty expensive. So, since my parents need to move to Texas to keep our resident status if they move to the US, then it would make sense for them to just move to where I go to college to save the room and board.</p>
<p>Of course, if I get scholarships then it’s all fine. I’ll stay on campus right from the get go. That’s what I mean. That’s my problem…getting scholarships right now.</p>
<p>EDIT: Duke and Stanford are need aware, so it’s too competitive for internationals for aid. (I’m ONLY in state in Texas due to the sorta lax residency laws). I really like UT, TAMU and UMich so I’d be very content in attending those schools, especially if you think that I’d do very well at those schools and that I’d have more time for other things like ECs, etc.</p>
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