Hello all,
I am new here. Wondering if anyone has a feedback (preferably facts, but anything goes…) about OUM?
I have found very little via Google. Is it legit? Is it truly a nightmare to find residency in US after passing USMLEs? EVEN if residency let’s say in in FAMILY or INTERNAL medicine (specialties I conveniently love anyway) in a relatively rural area (I also love to work with rural population) US/North East?
Why OUM vs. US MD/DO track? Short answer: speed. Long answer: I would need to complete 2 years of premed courses and take MCAT, that’s providing I do it full-time, plus 8 years of school and residency. That’s 10 years, again full-time. This would not possible because of work and family… I am in my VERY late 40-s.
I have thoroughly considered my options and only something like OUM would be feasible for me. I have MS in nursing. I have always-always loved medicine, but had to become an nurse due to life circumstances. I hoped a NP degree would be a compromise, but it did not work out this way. First of all, FNP program was not what I was hoping it would be; it would be too long to go into details of NP program and its pitfalls. Second of all, after I became practicing NP in primary care, I have cried every SINGLE day out of frustration and inability to provide competent care as a mid-level provider even though I have years of solid nursing experience. I felt like an impostor every single day I was at work. This feeling did not change even after 3 years of working as an NP.
Studies at med school do not terrify me, I am looking forward to them actually. I have always liked studying even while being an NP student, my GPA has always been close to 4.0. So, time basically is the challenge.
I appreciate any info you could provide re: OUM and your opinion upon re: whether I should gamble $$$ and family peace.
Sincerely,
Orange
Lots of info out there on the increasing # of US graduates with stagnant numbers of residency spots. End result: most likely harder for foreign grads to get any US residencies.
Financially, there’s risk of dumping money into a degree that won’t land you a US residency. I don’t think standard student loans from the US Gov can be used on foreign schools either, so could you assume all of the debt and all of the risk. The school says the program takes at LEAST 4 years, and some take longer. That means more family hardship and more cost. You should see what their graduation rate is, average USMLE scores, etc are. They don’t seem to advertise it on their page.
Academics: Online academics causes you to miss out on a lot of the collegiality of the classroom (know from experience). Med school is hard, and part of what helps you get through it is being around others who are suffering as much as you are… It’s probably possible, but in the US, you’ll gain a lot more clinical experience and motivation during the first two years with longitudinal classes that focus on medicine vs just pure basic science.
Family: There’s a good chance you’ll have to travel, a lot, for rotations. And those rotations may be limited in locations (ie not where you live now) based on where the school has affiliations. Plus, on their website, you’d have to do at least 1 rotation in Samoa.
There are things you’ll ultimately have to balance out based on you and your family. The general consensus is do whatever it takes to get into a US program before contemplating a foreign school (if you want to gain a US residency and practice in the states).
Dear Kennymac,
thank you very much for your insightful comment. It is what I’ve suspected.
OK, plan B: I have looked into post-bacs locally (I do need to take ALL pre-med courses EXCEPT GEN. CHEM I, it’s like 32 credits of pre-meds). I have researched local post-bac programs and closest one is 2 hours away (one way!!!). I am thinking about doing them online from a reputable on-line program and then taking MCATs. I might take me 3-4 years to do so, considering I cannot quit my 35 hours/week job 
The good news is that my job will allow me to study most likely stress free (on most days). My plan is to start med-school when kids are off to college, I will be close to 55… =O =O =O.
In that regard, can you give, or anyone else in this forum, a strong recommendation for ONLINE pre-med courses??? Luckily I took chem. 1 in a super-tough CUNY school and got a “B” while working full-time nights as a nurse in critical care in late 90-s…
May there is hope for me? 
Sincerely,
Orange
PS>
I have found your post re: UNE program on OPM site… Did it help you to get into med/DO school? Did it prepare you well for MCAT?
Thanks so much!!!
They were good for what they were meant to be…check the box courses while I was working (was contractually obligated for 10 years prior to med school, so I had time to kill…). The courses have changed since I took them from what I understand. The orgo series taught me enough to be familiar with terms and concepts when it came to MCAT study time (4 years after I took the courses), though I never really felt I knew the material all that well. A lot of that was my fault in not trying too terribly hard to really learn the stuff. I thought the biochem was actually pretty good, and was a good precursor to med school biochem. I’d like to think that the UNE courses are adequate since they’re run through the UNE COM.
Downside to online courses is that not all schools accept them. There are enough schools that take them now, and there will probably be more in the future. See some of my other posts about it for more info so I don’t become repetitive. Let me know if you have other questions.
UNE was pretty expensive, and I’m not sure how the loan situation works, especially for part-time. I was fortunate enough to get some of the cost offset through my job.
When all was said and done, I took a Kaplan self-paced MCAT prep course that I crammed into about 3 months. It was good enough to relearn all of the material and retain it for just long enough to take the test and do well enough to get in somewhere. That was the “old” MCAT, so there was less material for me to cram into my noggin…
Super,
thanks Kennymac! I will contact the schools that I plan to apply to and ask them. I can leverage pre-med courses’ cost without a loan, but that would be the least of problems. I unfortunately, cannot quit my job to do a formal post-bac. I might take DIY courses at a local college that, unfortunately, is heavily invested in preparing arts and humanities majors. Benefit would be: it is within walking distance from home and cost will be $0 because it is also my employer. They DO have science courses, however, and they do have pre-med majors. I guess, it might be better than online…??? Prospects of doing labs alongside kids who could be my children however is a little daunting to say the least :o , ha-ha! Plus, since this college is also my employer, I see a potential conflict of interest (word getting out etc.) I would not want to publicize my intent just yet. Is it ever easy?
Would you mind me asking, are you currently in med.school? What I am trying to get at, is whether the your online courses allowed you to get into school of your choice? Did adcom have any issues with that, but still took you, providing if you’re in?
Would med school turn you away if you have all A-s for premeds from a reputable accredited ONLINE school, good MCAT scores, plus BS and MS degree both with GPA 3.8 and several years work experience as an NP?
Thank you very much again!!!
Orange
I’m a 2nd year student in an MD program. It was my top choice school pre-interview and 2nd choice school post-interview, so I’m super excited about it. And yes, I would’ve wanted to go here even if I had all of my courses in a formal setting.
Not all schools accept online prereqs, and many of them are very straight forward about it either in the MSAR or on their websites. Some schools that do accept them say they “prefer” brick and mortar schools, and other schools say it doesn’t matter where you get the credits as long as you get the credits. As you get deeper into med school application stuff, you’ll find that every school wants something a little bit differently, so it’s really hard to be the perfect applicant everywhere.
I chose my schools based on who would take my credits. There was only one school that I was really considering that said absolutely no. If there is any doubt for a specific school, shoot their admissions office an email.
Your background, plus good (recent) grades, and a good MCAT score will make you competitive, just like a solid background, good grades, and good MCAT score would make the next person competitive. How you sell yourself can make a difference, too.
Thank you, Kennymac. You are very kind in answering my multiple posts. I did browse MSAR today and was disappointed to find that very few (can count on fingers of ONE hand) schools take online courses. I will write to all of them individually to confirm.
Really? I applied to something like 15 MD schools and got 5 interviews with online courses… My list is on a different computer, but I’ll try to find it and message it to you sometime.
There’s a difference in schools openly advertising they take online courses (I thought I found a good amount that did though) and schools that outright do not accept online courses (which was also blatantly advertised by some).
Oh, thank you for the hint! I appreciate in advance the PM. We can compare notes, I will share what I got formally from MSAR. I will write to ALL that I would like to apply to for that matter, openly online or not. Just to confirm. As I have learned from being in a medical field as a way to avoid med. errors, do not assume anything, double check even at the risk of appearing stupid, ha-ha! CC-wise, nothing locally pans out: spent hours searching schedules etc. : all would overlap with my work, there are no evening classes in its pure form; if there is an evening lab, there would be a day lecture etc. In a way, I learn a lot better outside classroom independently. I remember, years ago taking chemistry at the college that was highly rated by one adcom in the class with other 200 students, I was at the back, could not see or hear the professor. During labs, when I was busy doing experiments, someone pulled out brand new chem. textbook that I just got from my bag… I managed to get a B, but it was not a picnic. I would not have to go through the same again, if I can help it.
Many thanks in advance, you gave me hope 