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Medical School – Which One Suits the Applicant?

Medical schools are either public or private. Public medical schools accept a high percentage of their students from their state and residency is very important. Most out-of-state students are required to have higher GPA and MCAT scores in order to be considered. Some public medical schools accept a higher number (still a small percentage) of out-of-state students than others. Iowa has increased the number of out-of-state acceptances (in 2006, 32% were out-of-state). Refer to the MSAR text for a review of the applicant profile for each school. Some states in the western United States do not have public medical schools and participate in special programs with schools in neighboring states (click here and here for more information). Private medical schools are usually not limited by geographical area and consider students from any state. As a result, private medical schools have a high number of applicants with some schools having over 10,000 applicants for 50-60 positions.

Some selection criteria are less obvious; for example, the central mission of the University of Minnesota-Duluth is producing small-town rural primary-care physicians. As a result, applicants from large cities such as Minneapolis/St. Paul and the suburbs are not likely to be accepted at UMD. Careful consideration of various medical schools should be conducted before the application is submitted.

International students have a difficult time becoming successful applicants in U.S. medical schools. In 2006, only 297 non-citizens were accepted in U.S. schools. Successful applicants have usually completed several years at a U.S. college and have excellent English language proficiency. Financial aid at U.S. medical schools is usually federal in origin and not available to international students. For international students, many medical schools may require prepayment of one year up to four years of tuition while others may require the applicant to present a detailed plan of their approach to financing medical school before considering the applicant.

Medical school is expensive, especially out-of-state tuition at a public medical school ( Colorado is the worst at $72,291 for 2005). Average indebtedness in 2006 was $129,943; average student debt at the University of Minnesota was $134,493. Representative tuition and fees are given below for 2009:

Source: U.S. News & World Report

In most medical schools students complete the MD program in four years. The University of Minnesota offers a flexible MD program where students can finish in 3.5-6 years. Tuition is set the first year and remains constant throughout the student's time at the University. The University of Iowa allows students to spend a year in a research laboratory or in an abroad medical clinic which will result in five total years to complete the MD. If an out-of-state student works a year in a laboratory they will be allowed to pay in-state tuition for the remainder of their MD program. Many medical schools allow students to do clinical rotations abroad as part of their MD program.

The age of the applicant is legally not a factor in considering an applicant. The age range varies considerably from school to school. The average age at Mayo is 23.6, Northwestern 22.7, and the U of Iowa is lower, while at the U. of Minnesota the average age in 1998 was 27 but was 24 for the 2006 class. The gender, minority ratio and number of enrolled students at the medical schools in this area for 2006 class is as follows:

Go here to find a calculator which, based on your MCAT and GPA, determines how competitive you are at selected medical schools.

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