Its been several years since I have been on this forum, and I realized today I really needed to come back and share progress!
I’m 53 years old, and a first year MD student. YAY!!!
It has been quite a journey getting to this point. Here’s the abbreviated version: I returned to college in my 40s and graduated with a BS in Biology in 2007. Applied very broadly to both MD and DO schools for several years without success, then completely a Biology MS in 2013. Finally I was accepted to a top DO school in 2013 but had to leave when one of my adult children had a psychiatric crisis. This last August, I went to SGU and began their MD program, but again had to leave for the same reason. I was ready to give up on my dream, knowing that my child would likely not ever be able to handle me being gone.
A friend contacted me about IUHS, and in a flurry of work, I was able to immediately transfer into the class. I think I died and went to heaven! Why this school is not talked about I have no idea, except that it completely breaks the mold by having the first two years’ coursework available online. Coming from an extended family of old-school docs, I knew how to do my research, and was pleasantly surprised when I spoke with my state’s licensing board who were 100% on board with this new model. I also spoke with grads who had no problem passing USMLEs, getting their chosen residencies, or becoming licensed.
The two best things about IUHS for me:
Unbelievable quality of education. Its difficult to describe how strongly I feel this, especially having attended two other medical schools.
NO DEBT… enough said.
If you’re an older student and have been beating your head against the doors of adcoms without success, message me… finally one school has brought medical education into the 21st century - I am overwhelmingly thrilled!
With IUHS, are ALL of the first 2 years distance learning? Or are there other sites you go to for classes, clinicals, etc.?
I have a good friend who I thought was attending IUHS, and he was traveling to Tampa once a month to attend some of the course work, but that might be a different school?
Do you have any idea of where your clinical rotations will take place?
All lectures are online, which you can attend live or watch as a recording. So if someone is traveling for classes, they must be a different school.
That said, there is a clinical component required, which obviously cannot be done online. The clinical component is completed with licensed physicians local to each student (20 hours per month) and is an absolutely amazing way to have personal mentoring and hands-on patient contact from day one.
As far as clinical rotations (years 3 and 4), that is all handled by the school and in many cases can be arranged close to home.
Wow, that’s incredible. Congrats! I am your age just doing pre reqs. Do you know if IUHS is accredited in all 50 states. Where are you looking for residency?
Jazzy, IUHS is not a US based school. The admin offices are in Canada, and campus on St Kitts. Right now there are licensed grads in 27 US states. As I’ve been talking with docs in my town and letting them know where I’m “attending medical school”, they have been overwhelmingly and enthusiastically supportive, as is (surprisingly to me) my states licensing board.
Residency has everything to do with board scores and relationships built during clinical rotations. Of course, if you’re a 20-something with killer MCAT scores and 4.0 GPA (etc), you’re not on this forum lol! I’ve been very surprised to see significantly more support for this school than for the “top three or four” Carib med schools. Very interesting.
Did you find your own mentor for the 20 hours of clinical work for your first year? How is it going now after your first ‘semester’? I’d like to second KSchuck’s question regarding which state you are in…
Anyone even remotely considering a non-US medical school needs to seriously consider if this is the right choice to make. Non-us schools are notorious for ill-equipping their students for the USMLE and matching can be difficult. Stats are hard to find because these schools do not release hard numbers that jive with what is seen out in the wild. States like NY have previously tried to contract with certain hospitals for guaranteed residency slots given the insane bottleneck, but there has been huge pushback from some in the AMA as well as, and understandably, US med grads.