Do we choose a medical school or do they choose us?
I guess my question is when we apply to a medical school what do we look for in a school. There are many DO schools and wanted to know what the best way to narrow my application process or do I apply to all of them?
I hope to be applying to DO schools next spring and wanted to know if there are certain indicators to look for, i.e. (Step scores, drop out stats, etc…)
Note: I am single (no kids) and do not mind moving to any location.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks
Hello,
Well, basically you choose the med. schools you want to apply to, and then of those med. schools you apply to, some may choose to interview you. It can be a very costly approach, but some choose to apply to MANY med. schools.
The AAMC has a book detailing most of the med. schools out there; I would check it out from a library or buy it to help narrow your choices. In my opinion, don’t look at ‘drop out stats’ – they don’t tell you much about the school. Try to make sure that what the schools you apply to meets your needs and interests. For example, if you want to do clinical work, don’t apply for a med. school that focuses on research, etc.
Things to look at:
- I would buy or borrow a copy of the following: “The 2011 Osteopathic Medical College Information Book includes descriptions of all of the osteopathic medical colleges, admissions criteria, minimum entrance requirements, supplementary application materials required, class size or enrollment, application deadlines, and tuition”. It is available on-line at http://www.aacom.org/Pages/default.aspx
- See if your local college library has a copy of the MSAR “Medical School Admissions Requirements”, published by the AAMC each year. I think they DO schools are included it, but I’m not sure, so I’d hate to tell you to buy it without making sure.
- School websites.
Things to look for:
- If they are a state school, check their admissions statistics if you are an out-of-state applicant. If school X only admits 2 out of state students per year, and you are out of state, you probably shouldn’t waste your time/money applying to school X.
- Cost of attendance. Are you willing/able to pay the cost of attendance? What kind of financial assistance is available (beyond loans)? The tuition alone at most private schools will exceed what you are able to borrow from the federal government. That means that you will need to borrow from private sources, which requires good credit. If you can’t obtain private loans, there’s little point in applying to schools that will require private loan funding. Also think about how much you will be repaying at the end of the day.
- Location. I know you said you are single and willing to move, but do you really want to be stuck for 4 years in a place that doesn’t interest you? Or, a school that isn’t near any major airports if you hope to be able to fly home easily to see family?
- Websites - read the websites. Of course, they all try and make their school sound awesome, but read between the lines. Does the school seem like a good fit for you?
- Stats/match lists: okay to look at, but take with a grain of salt. Stats can be spun in a number of ways to make you look good. Maybe school Y advertises a 100% board pass rate. Is that 100% 1st TRY pass rate or 100% EVENTUALLY pass?
I admit to looking at match lists when applying, but I’m not entirely sure how helpful that is. Number of students matching in a given specialty each year can fluctuate widely depending on student interest and really have nothing to do with how students are perceived by residency directors. For example, last year we had 9 people match in EM. This year, it was 20. It had nothing to do with ability to match and was totally about how many people were interested. You may want to look at WHERE people match, though. If you are thinking about an MD residency, and nobody at a certain school matches at one, that school might not be a good fit.
- How long has the school been around? In general, most of your application list should consist of well-established schools. Do you really want to be a guinea pig?
- How many schools can you afford to apply to?
- Apply to a range of schools. Don’t apply to only schools that have super reputations, high average MCAT scores, and GPAs. In general, you should apply to a few “reach” schools, a few “safety” schools, and the majority should be schools that are reasonable for your situation.
- What are you looking for in a school? Are you looking for a strong academic school with a university affiliation or a school that is more community oriented? A school that places a lot of commitment towards rural med or primary care or a school that works to produce researchers?
It can be tough to decide where to apply, especially if you aren’t tied down geographically. In all honesty, you may end up picking silly criteria to narrow your list down - i.e. I don’t like hot weather, so I’m not going to apply to any school south of X.
Good luck!
This is exactly the information I was looking for. I already have the AAMC book and it does not have the DO schools in it. I will get the other book you mention for the DO school. Great info. Thanks!
The reality is you usually don’t have much choice where you go. More students than not who have applied to 10 or 20 schools, have just a few acceptances and don’t really have much choice. They go where ever they can. Since acceptances are rolling, you might get interviewed and accepted at one school with a short deadline to take it or decline it while waiting on 5 others to decide. And no, you may not be able to find out about the 5 others before the deadline is up on the one with the letter of acceptance. So what do you do? You take it. I know of almost no one who had the luxury of multiple acceptances with time to choose thru them but I know of several OPM members who got an acceptance from 1 or 2 school with several others still pending, sent a non-refundable large matriculation deposit in, then got accepted to another school that they simply have to decline. SUNY/Stony Brook is famous for early interviews, almost immediate accept/reject (I have heard from people getting the letter the next day!) and two weeks to decide.
Someone correct me on this: is there a standard accept/decline date across the MD/AMCAS schools now?
the AACOM Information book is available free of charge via download,
Another point to the excellent list above is what kind of environment do you want to live in? Touro COM in New York is smack in the middle of busy manhattan while AT Still/Kirksville is in the middle of the country? Cost of living needs to be addressed as well.
To add to state schools comment, Judy Colwell advises to apply to every school in your home state.
Lastly, on residency and match, probably more useful to see the percentage of matches than the number itself. I haven’t examined the residency match data closely for a few years but I think they report how many students in both number and percentage who got into their top 3 choices per specialty. For example, I noticed a few years ago that SUNY/Downstate generally had a higher match rate then average. Anecdotal evidence suggests that since these med students do their clinicals in some of the most overworked and understaffed hospitals in Brooklyn, that they get to do alot more and are seen as very clinically experienced by the residency programs. BTW, there is no data to specifically back that up and this possibly faulty perception may exist in residency programs as much as anywhere else.
A med student at my first inteview, at EVMS, gave us some suggestions of what questions we should be asking. Find out how the courses are organized in the first 2 years. Is it block scheduling (which has you concentrate on only a few courses at once) or are you doing 8 courses simultaneously the whole year? Block scheduling can make your quality of life and learning much less laborious. The other question is how is the testing done? Do courses have frequent tests on a schedule or one or two BIG tests during a semester. Think about what would be easier for you - to review a smaller amount of material, or to get practice at taking BIG tests on lots of material like practice for the licensing exams. You can find out the answer to each of these by calling and talking to someone in the admissions office (although I had already picked the schools to apply to and found this out at the interviews I went to).
I tried to broaden my applications. Had a sense of how far I was ready to go geographically, and looked at all the D.O. schools in that region. Was advised to apply to “15-20” schools, and ended up applying to 12.
I looked at the physical setup of the school. What impression do you have of the financial resources that they have to develop the physical and faculty resources of the school? I was very impressed with 3 of the D.O. schools I interviewed at having adjustable-height tables for all the students in the OMM (osteopathic manipulative medicine) lab, because it spoke to an interest in the health and wellbeing of the students.
It helps if you have a good idea of what you are looking for. I was aiming for rural primary care, with a view to also doing short term medical outreach overseas. So every school I picked to apply to had strengths either in rural primary care or in international/global health. Was much less interested in research, and applied to schools that emphasized clinical medicine more than research.
I also took the opportunity to talk with students at each school. Find out what THEY think of their school.
Finally, looked at percent of students getting their first choice residencies.
Hope some of these ideas are helpful.
Kate
- In reply to:
The reality is you usually don't have much choice where you go. More students than not who have applied to 10 or 20 schools, have just a few acceptances and don't really have much choice. They go where ever they can. Since acceptances are rolling, you might get interviewed and accepted at one school with a short deadline to take it or decline it while waiting on 5 others to decide. And no, you may not be able to find out about the 5 others before the deadline is up on the one with the letter of acceptance. So what do you do? You take it. I know of almost no one who had the luxury of multiple acceptances with time to choose thru them but I know of several OPM members who got an acceptance from 1 or 2 school with several others still pending, sent a non-refundable large matriculation deposit in, then got accepted to another school that they simply have to decline. SUNY/Stony Brook is famous for early interviews, almost immediate accept/reject (I have heard from people getting the letter the next day!) and two weeks to decide.
Someone correct me on this: is there a standard accept/decline date across the MD/AMCAS schools now?
There is no standard accept/decline date that I am aware of across MD schools. Many students will hold on to multiple acceptances until financial aid packages are awarded and then start relinquishing spots. A school may give you 2 weeks to accept/decline, but there's nothing in the rules that says you can't accept at multiple places . . . more detail below.
In general the MD schools are different that the DO schools in regards to acceptances. Most of the MD schools do NOT require a large, non-refundable deposit. In MD world, you actually can hold on to your acceptances and wait and see if you get accepted somewhere else. The rules state that you are allowed to hold multiple acceptances up until May 15th. After May 15th, you are only supposed to be holding one acceptance and should have notified any other schools that you will not be attending. Even after May 15th, most schools don't charge a huge deposit and you are still free to accept a seat in any other school that you might get accepted at. In fact, this is fairly common.
Example, I had 4 acceptances and 1 waitlist by March. I turned down 2 of my acceptances because I had decided that I liked both of the other 2 better. By May 15th, I had to decide between the two of them, and I notified the other that I would not be attending. On May 17th, I was offered a spot off the waitlist at my last school. I accepted, and then notified the other school that I was withdrawing. None of the schools required more than a $25 deposit to hold you spot (if that), until after May 15th.
All AMCAS-participating schools (most MD schools) abide by the final “applicant must make a decision”" of May 15th. Until that time the applicant may hold multiple acceptances. Specific programs, e.g. MSTP, may require an earlier decision date by the applicant. Schools which require a deposit must refund it if an applicant makes a decision to go elsewhere by 5/15. These are in the “Traffic Rules” in the MSAR.
DO schools are different.
Cheers,
Judy