Out-of Province Disadvantage?

[Canadian MED]

Hi y'all, as an Ontario resident (undergraduate student), I'm curious to know how much lower my chances are at getting into out-of-province medical schools (UBC, U of A, U of C, etc.) I have always wanted to move out closer to the west-coast considering it would be a better financial and personal choice as I have a lot of friends and family there. I realize there is an inherent disadvantage as some schools outline a higher entrance score (GPA and MCAT) for residents residing out of province but just wanted to know the extent of how this might affect my application. Aside from the increased academic standards, are there a limited amount of seats for outsiders as well or am I at somewhat of an even playing field with the in-province applicants? 

 

Cheers

[zxcccxz]

It only affects your application to the extent that you're competitive. If you have a 4.0GPA, 130CARS, and great ECs, even as an OOP applicant, you still have a great shot. There are a limited amount of seats. For UofC and UofA, they can offer a maximum of 15% of seats to OOP applicants while UofM and USask offer only 5% of seats to OOP. Other schools that favour IP applicants may not necessarily list a specific amount of seats that will go to OOP vs. IP, but for example, UBC's class is around ~10% OOP. Again, the seat percentage doesn't matter if you're a highly competitive applicant. It's only more relevant if you're barely making the OOP application cutoffs.

[MedicineLCS]

zxcccxz nailed it. 

There are less seats, plain and simple. You'll be competing in a pool that has more applicants, who have to meet higher standards. It's more competitive as a result. You're not on an even playing field with them on a stats/experiences level, but your odds are not drastically different (School dependent) because there are fewer OOP applications. 

The raw %s are not actually that bad because the high cutoffs winnow the OOP applicant pool. To use the UofC as an example (because they publish stats) they received, last cycle, 1241 Alberta applications for 85+% of their class (OOP capped at 15% MAX) and 312 OOP for a class of 150. Max 15% OOP seats means that a max of 23 seats are for OOP. 

23/312=7.3%

127/1241=10%

Close, but not great, noting that's the entire applicant pool (before they throw out noncompetitive applications). The problem with these stats is you need a 90th percentile CARS score and a 3.8 to enter the already competitive OOP pool. The only consolation I suppose is OOP waitlists move more. 

[Canadian MED]

1 hour ago, zxcccxz said:

It only affects your application to the extent that you're competitive. If you have a 4.0GPA, 130CARS, and great ECs, even as an OOP applicant, you still have a great shot. There are a limited amount of seats. For UofC and UofA, they can offer a maximum of 15% of seats to OOP applicants while UofM and USask offer only 5% of seats to OOP. Other schools that favour IP applicants may not necessarily list a specific amount of seats that will go to OOP vs. IP, but for example, UBC's class is around ~10% OOP. Again, the seat percentage doesn't matter if you're a highly competitive applicant. It's only more relevant if you're barely making the OOP application cutoffs.

 

56 minutes ago, MedicineLCS said:

zxcccxz nailed it. 

There are less seats, plain and simple. You'll be competing in a pool that has more applicants, who have to meet higher standards. It's more competitive as a result. You're not on an even playing field with them on a stats/experiences level, but your odds are not drastically different (School dependent) because there are fewer OOP applications. 

The raw %s are not actually that bad because the high cutoffs winnow the OOP applicant pool. To use the UofC as an example (because they publish stats) they received, last cycle, 1241 Alberta applications for 85+% of their class (OOP capped at 15% MAX) and 312 OOP for a class of 150. Max 15% OOP seats means that a max of 23 seats are for OOP. 

23/312=7.3%

127/1241=10%

Close, but not great, noting that's the entire applicant pool (before they throw out noncompetitive applications). The problem with these stats is you need a 90th percentile CARS score and a 3.8 to enter the already competitive OOP pool. The only consolation I suppose is OOP waitlists move more. 

Appreciate the breakdown! Seems that being competitive helps get you in anywhere haha. Given that OOP seats fluctuate, that that mean OOP applicants also compete against IP applicants? Let's say an OOP individual outscores most of the other OOP applicants but many IP applicants (outside the 85+%) outscore the OOP individual; will the school then favour the IP students and reduce the number of OOP seats? (more of a specific question)

 

Cheers