In the 2014 application cycle, medical schools on the US mainland with the fewest applicants were:

1. University of Mississippi = 334 applicants. In-state applicants comprised 99.7% of the total group and 100% of matriculants were state residents. Bottom line: it’s not wise to apply to the University of Mississippi if you’re not a state resident.

2. University of South Dakota = 508 applicants. Only 25.8% were in-state applicants but 82.8% of matriculants were state residents. The state clearly favors state residents and their odds of admission are favorable.

3. East Carolina Brody School of Medicine = 926 applicants. 100% of applicants and matriculants are state residents; Brody accepts no applications from non-residents. Applying to Brody is not an option unless you reside in North Carolina.

4. Mercer = 1146 applicants. Like East Carolina, Mercer accepts no applications from non-Georgia residents. As such, 100% of the applicants and matriculants are state residents.

5. LSU-Shreveport = 1181 applicants. In-state applicants made up 52.3% of the group but 97.6% of the matriculants were state residents in 2014. These numbers clearly show that LSU-Shreveport heavily favors Louisiana residents.

6. University of Massachusetts = 1190 applicants.  86.8% of applicants were in-state and 96% of matriculants were state residents. It’s nearly impossible to get into UMass unless you’re a resident.

7. University of New Mexico = 1198 applicants. The stats are similar to those of the University of South Dakota: Only 24.5% of the applicant pool was from New Mexico but 90.3% of the matriculants were state residents.

8. University of Missouri–Kansas City = 1266 applicants. In contrast to some other public institutions, 85% of the applicants were from out of state and 56.2% of matriculants were from within Missouri. However, these numbers also include the six-year combined undergraduate + MD program so UMKC can’t quite be compared to the other schools in terms of raw data.

9. Southern Illinois = 1269 applicants. Almost all of the applicants (96.5%) were from Illinois and 100% of the matriculants were state residents. The odds are clearly not in your favor if you apply to SIU from out of state.

10. University of Nevada = 1271 applicants. The numbers for Nevada are a little unbalanced:  only 18.2% of applicants were from the state, whereas 84.3% of matriculants were state residents. These numbers imply that it’s not that difficult to gain admission to Nevada if you’re a resident.

What’s the lesson from these numbers?  It’s obviously easier to get into public institutions if you’re a state resident. For more information/data on individual schools, the AAMC lists the numbers in a table on medical school applicants and matriculants. Look for a future blog post on the lowest number of applicants to private medical schools.

–Liza Thompson, Expert Medical School Admissions Consulting