<p>DS is a college junior applying to allopathic schools this year. He has a 3.9+ GPA, 33P MCAT (10V, 10B, 13P) and good LORs lined up. He's done research, shadowing, and volunteer work, but mostly in the past year. He plans to apply to the 6 schools in our state (Ohio) ands plans to drive to any interviews he gets during his senior year. He is reluctant to apply to many more because he is concerned about taking time off to interview. I am not sure how many interviews he'd get from the schools to which he is planning to apply, and have asked him to consider adding a few more schools to his list. He would like them to be places where he would be a good candidate and could interview without a logistical nightmare in terms of travel and time. Ideally, he'd be able to drive there from Columbus and miss only a day of classes. Any thoughts or suggestions?</p>
<p>Have you already purchased access to the MSAR?</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/requirements/msar/[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/requirements/msar/</a></p>
<p>Welcome applying in OH. D. (MS1) applied primarily in OH and while she had great acceptances, choose one of OH Med. Schools. We are lucky to have many great choices in our state. In addition to OH, D. has applied to U of Chicago, NwU, U of Pitt. U of Mich. U of Chicago rejects most within hours of recieving application fees, NwU accepts most who are accepted to Case Western (hence “battle of Westerns”), U of Pitt. waitlists great number and as far as i know U of Mich. does not favor OH kids too much. This is from D’s experience one year ago. Her priamary criteria for compiling list of Med. Schools was 4-5 hrs driving from home. At the end she was accepted to 4 places and had very hard time deciding between 2 of them. Second Look events were very helpful.<br>
In regard to missing classes and other activites. D. was driving to all of her interviews. She had missed few exams (had to make up) and internship days at her Research lab and even her job. She was talking to all profs and supervisors. Some were more understanding than others. Be prepared to various reactions. You can only do your best. Also, you S. should have AAA card with him and be prepared to various med. student hosts, not all of them nice and accomodating. D. had various experiences mostly positive, some not so, but she wanted to stay with hosts for additional information about student body at particular Med. School. She said that students are different at different places, she wanted to choose the place that fits her the best. She seems to have done just that. Best wishes!</p>
<p>Thanks. We do have the MSAR so that’s a start. I am also glad we have a number of schools in Ohio. As for OOS schools, I hope he can come up with some ideas because his university has neither a pre-med committee nor strong pre-med advising within his college.</p>
<p>See if you can find a copy of JAMA 9/7/11(Vol 306, no.9); there’s a summary of all medical schools in the US and % of state residents in first year class; this can be a big help in deciding which accredited schools are out of state friendly.</p>
<p>Re: missing school. The thing is, a day or two of lectures is almost certainly not worth sacrificing an interview (and potentially an acceptance) over. Furthermore, professors are remarkably accommodating to students who have important reasons for missing school. </p>
<p>In the grand scheme of things, the last semester of undergrad is basically meaningless, whereas an acceptance to medical school is quite important. If medical school is his goal (and it sounds like he has a great shot!), applying to medical school will have to be his priority if it’s going to work out in his favor. Take it from recent (applied '10) experience, there’s really no other way to approach this process than full steam ahead.</p>
<hr>
<p>Re: schools. Apply to all state schools. Apply to a variety of schools that meet your stats. Aim for 10-12 total from these two categories. Beyond that, add a few dream schools and call it a day. </p>
<p>Applying to med school is considerably different from applying to undergrad. There’s no such thing as a sure thing in med school applications, and the pool of applicants is incredibly well-qualified. Most schools have acceptance rates <10% (which means, out of the kids very similar to your son who are applying, <1 out of every 10 applying will be accepted), except the state schools–which may get up to 25%+. Still, that’s nothing like the rates of acceptance to undergrad schools. </p>
<p>What to do about these dismal numbers? Apply intelligently and broadly. Apply to schools that prefer applicants like you (your state school), school that fit your academic profile (schools that meet your stats), and some schools that you’d give just about anything to attend (dream schools). The reason people apply to so many school is because the odds of getting into one are so pathetic that the only way to have a decent shot of gaining admission anywhere is to play the numbers game and apply broadly. </p>
<p>There’s no reason a 33/3.9 with a balanced profile shouldn’t get in somewhere. He’s definitely sitting pretty as far as statistics goes. But to realize the dream of going to medical school, he needs to take this application process seriously and apply broadly. Trust me, as far as this process goes, there’s nothing worse than the feeling of “I could’ve done (thus and such) better/differently.”</p>
<p>6 might be fine. 10 would be better. Is going to med school next year worth a few days of missing classes, a couple hundred bucks, and a few hours revising essays? If the answer’s yes, he should seriously consider bulking up his list.</p>
<p>In case, the JAMA article is hard to come by I’ve compiled a quick list of schools where few OOS applicants will be accepted (based on the Barzansky article) :</p>
<p>*NOTE: Barzansky’s numbers for first year students accepted in 2010/2011</p>
<p>More than 95% in-state</p>
<p>UC-Davis
UC-Irvine
U Florida
Florida State
U Georgia
Mercer
Southern Illinois
Louisiana State
U Massachusetts
U Mississippi
U Nevada
U Medicine and Dentistry NJ (both campuses)
U New Mexico
E Carolina
Northeast Ohio
E Tennessee
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
U Texas-Galveston
U Texas-San Anontio
U Texas-Houston
U Puerto Rico</p>
<p>90% or more in state</p>
<p>U Alabama
UC-San Diego
U South Florida
U Kansas
U Minnesota
U Nebraska
U Oklahoma
U South Dakota
U Tennessee
U Texas-Southwestern
U Washington</p>
<p>85% or more instate</p>
<p>U Arizona
U Arkansas
UCLA
Florida International
Indiana U
U Missouri
SUNY-Downstate
UNC
Universidad Central de Caribe (Puerto Rico)
South Carolina</p>
<p>Realistically, I’d probably cross all of these off the application list for an OOS student UNLESS the individual has a personal or familial tie to the state/school, or has some unique qualification/interest specific to the program offered at the school.</p>
<p>Canisius College is amazing for Pre-Med. It’s located in Buffalo, NY, and 9 out of 10 make it to Med school.</p>
<p>^The OP is asking about Med schools, not UG.</p>
<p>Ok- Here’s a potential list- first 6 are IS, last 6 are OOS
Any thoughts about schools to scratch off or add? He’s probably thinking primary care/ internal medicine for now.</p>
<p>Northeastern Ohio U COM
Wright State U Boonshoft SOM
U of Toledo COM
U of Cincinnati COM
Ohio State U COM
Case Western Reserve U SOM
MI St College of Human Med
U Louisville School of Medicine
West Virginia U SOM
U of Kentucky SOM
Wayne State U SOM
U Rochester SOM & D
Drexel U COM</p>
<p>Both Wayne State and Michigan State give moderately strong to strong preference to in-state applicants. (Approx 80% of both schools MS1 classes are in-state.) </p>
<p>Michigan State admissions guidelines specifically says:
</p>
<p>(And why am I so knowledgeable about Michigan med schools admission practices? D2 is moving to Ann Arbor this fall and we’re calculating where her best chances for med school admission are: in her birth state [and where her immediate family resides and her sister attends med school] or her new state of residency [where she has extended family (grandparent, uncle, cousins) and where she’ll be living/working for the next 1.5 years–though she would be applying with less 1 year in state next summer].)</p>
<p>U Rochester’s incoming MS1 class size is ~120; however, 20-30 of those slots are reserved for early assurance and BS/MD students. </p>
<p>D1’s experience with Drexel is that they hold a lot of applications in limbo for a long time–neither accepting or rejecting until very late spring/early summer. In her case–June.</p>
<p>WOWmom, you are ever so helpful! (LOL Wish I’d hear that phrase from DS more). It is definitely a challenge to find viable OOS schools to add to his list. I don’t think DS has much of a chance at MSU either but we have family there so he may want to apply just for lack of anything better to add to his list. Any thoughts on these schools?</p>
<p>Meharry MC SOM
Tulane SOM
NY Medical College
Morehouse SOM</p>
<p>I have honestly never heard of any of them except Tulane but DS’s stats are competitive for these schools.</p>
<p>Meharry and Morehouse are historically black medical schools. Other than that I know nothing about either.</p>
<p>Tulane–D1 applied there last year (rejected almost instantly) and has a friend currently attending Tulane SOM who likes it very much. Infectious disease program supposed to be excellent. (Hey look, leprosy!) </p>
<p>NYMC–don’t know anything about it.</p>
<p>(BTW, my day job–as people on this site can tell you–is medical librarian. I live to answer questions.)</p>
<p>RMGsmom, I’m curious as to why you have Wayne State but not U-M on the list. WSU may be just as difficult to get in as U-M based on average GPA and MCAT. See below:</p>
<p>Average MCAT Scores:</p>
<p>UM 34.2
Wayne State 33.0</p>
<p>Average GPA Scores:</p>
<p>Wayne State 3.75
UM 3.72</p>
<p>Suggest you look at:</p>
<p>Wake Forest
Temple- instead of Drexel, brand new hospital, very nice facilities
Dartmouth- have a new program combined with global health/initiative neat if interested in primary care/public health</p>
<p>Kat
maybe Miami, depends on how he feels about location</p>
<p>"Northeastern Ohio U COM
- isn’t Neoucom strictly accelerated bs/md. D. was accepted there right after HS.
"Case Western Reserve U SOM
-Add Cleveland Clinic, it is on the same application, he will have to tick (check some box). If he is invited to Case interview, most likely he will get Clevelenad Clinic interview. Then, it seems like they talk to each other choosing where person belongs. Cleveland Clinic is free. One of D’s pre-med friends is currently there. There are only 30 spots, but since you do not pay separate application fee, why not? </p>
<p>I am also suprized that there is no pre-med committee at OSU. Are you sure? Maybe your S. needs to check more. D. had an awesome one, it has helped a lot and her pre-med advisor was also great.</p>
<p>…also, I would not apply to U of M, but you have to decide yourslef, MSU might be a different story.</p>
<p>I have reservations about Wake.</p>
<p>It’s on US News Top 10 list of med schools with lowest admission rates</p>
<p>[10</a> Medical Schools With Lowest Acceptance Rates - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/articles/2011/04/05/10-medical-schools-with-lowest-acceptance-rates]10”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/articles/2011/04/05/10-medical-schools-with-lowest-acceptance-rates)</p>
<p>Also D1 and her [ex]BF both had bad experiences with Wake. Both received a screened secondary from Wake, but were rejected within SIX HOURS of submitting the secondary + application fee.</p>
<p>I’ve also heard that Wake has a moderately strong regional bias in favor of those from the SE.</p>
<p>Wake has lowest admission rates because everyone! applies. Seriously, but their matriculation numbers statwise aren’t like Duke’s or UNCs. Son was the only in-stater the day of his interview, he was really surprised. Their preference to those from the SE might look that way because so many from the SE apply. They might want some geographical diversity especially from a 3.9/33. Those in-staters with those stats might lean more to UNC, with the substantial difference in tuition between Wake and UNC for in-state.</p>
<p>Son’s tour of Wake vs Temple highlighted the extreme differences in the facilities. Again Temple is brand spanking new while Wake’s was looking a little tired. Although not as impressive’s as Cornell’s. A reach for everyone but NY Presbyterian could be worth the application fee! </p>
<p>Wake’s tuition is also a little pricy when compared to state schools, and Temple’s isn’t any better.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>You all are really helpful!</p>
<p>Kdog- Somewhere I read recent GPA/MCAT for UM is higher than Wayne State so more competitive for my kiddo. Not sure I want to suggest more than a few reach schools for him</p>
<p>Kat-I will take a look at Temple and Wake.</p>
<p>Miami- NEOMED does have a few spots for regular applications. From their site: “If you thought that NEOMED offers only an accelerated B.S./M.D. program, here is a new perspective: normally 20 percent of our first-year medical school students are admitted via the traditional four-year pre-medicine route.” I will advise him about the Cleveland Clinic and see what he says.</p>