states.) For minors, the legal residence is that
of his or her parents, surviving parent, or
legal guardian. As a result of Supreme Court
rulings, the right of state schools to charge
higher fees for out-of-state students has been
upheld, but it may now be easier for such
nonresident students who are 18 or older to
establish legal residence and thus take
advantage of the lower rate.
Two groups of states generally offer prospective
applicants a statistically better
chance of admission: those with many freshman
places and relatively few in-state appli-
cants (such as Illinois and Texas) and those
with no in-state medical school but with
special admission arrangements with other state
schools (such as Maine and Wyoming).
Age
Medical schools prefer applicants who are in
the 20–25 age group. Exceptions are made
for select individuals, but the upper
acceptance limit is usually about 35. The most
favored applicants of the older group are those
whose postcollege careers have been
associated with medicine: research assistants,
physician assistants, graduate students in
one of the biomedical sciences, or holders of
advanced degrees in one of these areas.
Less attractive are applicants who would like
to give up established careers as dentists,
podiatrists, engineers, lawyers, accountants,
or physicists, and who now seek to become
physicians because of personal disillusionment
with present activities. The latter group,
seeking a career change instead of personal
advancement, represent a higher risk than
the former, because of concern that the pattern
of giving up one's existing career might be
repeated at a later time when this same
individual is in medical school, training, or
practice.
In the light of the aforementioned, an
applicant whose age is above 25 (and prefer-
ably under 35) should present solid credentials
in science course requirements, accept-
able MCAT scores, good evidence of familiarity
with the demands and responsibilities
of a medical career, and above all, very
convincing reasons for giving up a current
career and seeking one as a physician (see
Appendix A, page 618).
That there exists a significant pool of
postbaccalaureate students who become pre-
meds is evident from the fact that there are
many schools (see list in Chapter 3) that
offer special programs designed so these
students can meet the premedical science
course requirements. In addition, the
University of Miami may offer advanced place-
ment for those having a science PhD. Thus, it
is possible that highly motivated and well-
qualified career changers can succeed in spite
of inherent difficulties, if they can estab-
lish a strong case for themselves and present
it effectively.
Sex
The applicant's sex can influence the admission
process. All medical schools accept both
males and females as applicants and most
encourage strongly motivated and well-quali-
fied women to seek admission. Women currently
make up at least 40% of the national
freshman class admitted. Some schools are more
liberal in admitting women than others
(see Table 8.1). A detailed discussion of women
in medicine is found in Chapter 8.
Minority Status
If you can claim minority status--namely, if
you are African-American, Native American/
Alaskan native, Mexican American, Puerto Rican,
Asian or Pacific Islander, or other
Hispanic--you will be given special
consideration, because most schools actively seek
to enroll minority group members in their
freshman classes. As a result, minority stu-
dents currently make up about 10% of the
national freshman class. A more detailed dis-
cussion of minority opportunities can be found
in Chapter 9.
Disability
Reliable surveys indicate that there are over
100 medical students with disabilities and
upwards of 1,000 physicians-in-training with
physical or learning disabilities. In 1970
Temple University Medical School in
Philadelphia accepted a blind student who is cur-
rently a practicing child psychiatrist. The
goal of disabled students is to gain admission on
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