Decision to go into medicine - However need opinions on college to attend?

[keunglh]

Hello everybody!

Class of 2014 Student here and I'm looking for some help and advice on which college I will be attending next year.
As the first in my family to be going into a higher education that High School (In the USA) my parents are both foreign born so they are as clueless as I am.

I have been accepted into the IIT/Midwestern University DO Program which essentially allows me admission into the DO School after my 4 years of undergraduate studies. BUT I have also been granted admissions into a variety of state schools (University of California) which are all great and fantastic schools in itself. So far I have been accepted into UCI, UCD, UCSD, UCSB, UCR and I am still waiting for the UCLA decision to come out this coming weekend. (crosses fingers)

Hoping for your opinions on the route I should go?
Combine program school into DO School vs state school w/ traditional route

Pros of IIT/MWU
-No need to reapply for med school (which I know is a large deterrent for some people)
-More freedom to study what I want because of the guaranteed admission
-More slack requirements for matriculation into medical school
-Chicago! Great city (location is a large factor)
-full tuition scholarship each year (still have to pay for housing and cost of living)
-smaller school thus smaller class sizes
Cons
-Will be matriculating into a DO school, although I understand that the differences are minimal with DO vs MD, there is still the social stigma that DO's are less respectable and etc. (i've read the numerous posts here on SDN about the discussions)
-Not as recognized of an undergraduate or a medical school as opposed to UC system or other DO and MD schools

Pros of UC System School
-Instate tuition, cheaper
-Some of them are more recognized
Cons
-Has to apply for medical school but it gives me the traditional route of applying to MD and DO schools instead of being stuck with just one choice
-Most likely more difficult years in order to maintain high GPA's, competitive MCAT scores, and even more extracurriculars to boost resume
-State schools make class sizes larger and less 1 on 1 time with professor

Opinions? I've been thinking about this day in and out and it's really been bothering me so I am asking for your input?

Also if you think I should go the traditional route with the state schools, could you recommend which one?

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[mmmcdowe]

I'd go the traditional route personally. More options and experiences, especially if you end up deciding to pursue other career options, MD or otherwise.

 

[pyrrion89]

If you don't mind the lesser prestige of the DO title over MD, take the IIT program since it is guaranteed to put you into a doctor track. The other path is much more stressful. Remember that 60% of applicants to MD programs get rejected everywhere they apply.

 

[QuizzicalApe]

I am unfamiliar with MWU, but if they match their students into good residency programs then you may as well just do that and not rock the boat.

 

[keunglh]

I am unfamiliar with MWU, but if they match their students into good residency programs then you may as well just do that and not rock the boat.

Well MWU/CCOM, is there a source I can see where the students match? I'm not particularly interested in like primary medicine or family care, which is what many DOs choose to specialize in

 

[aspirantmed]

OP, if you're a reasonably good student - say, if you had better than a 3.5-3.6 HS GPA and over a 2000-2100ish on the SAT, though this is a very rough approximation - then go the traditional route and apply to MD and/or DO later. If you work hard, study right, and keep your priorities in order, you should be able to at minimum make the grades and earn the MCAT scores required to get into DO school. The cutoffs for most of these schools aren't low, by any means, but they're also not high enough to where you'll spend your undergraduate years trapped in the library. For that reason, I'd say the advantage of a 'guaranteed' DO acceptance isn't really worth it to go to a less-favorable school.

That being said, if IIT is the school you like better than your other acceptances, go there, and then you can always apply outside of your DO program if you choose to go that route.

 

[imymemine]

my gut feeling is to go with the traditional route too. it sounds like you have great options closer to home.

i went to high school with a few people who went the combined program route. one dropped out, another stuck with it and had significant regrets in med school because they did not feel medicine was right for them (don't know what happened to them besides that). 4 others did extremely, extremely well. in fact i believe most would have gotten into better med schools had they applied outside of their combined track. these were all MD tracks though.

if you do choose the combined degree, don't let up just bc you have a "guaranteed" acceptance (which isn't usually guaranteed, typically these programs have GPA and MCAT cutoffs?) - use the next few years to make sure you are ok with medicine as a career choice.

have u visited IIT? you list location as a pro, but IIT specifically is not in a location in chicago that would be considered "desirable" to most college students. this is coming from someone who has lived in chicago for a few years, including some time on the south side. if you like the area, awesome, but i would caution against assuming that since it is chicago, it is an excellent location. i would think the average person would much rather prefer a big college campus location in california than near south side of chicago.

the wild card for me is it sounds like you are a california resident - one of the most difficult states to reach medical school from (at least MD). another wild card is DO vs MD. as i understand, the match is becoming more and more competitive, and now that DO residencies are opening to MD students, the competitive specialties may become even more difficult to match to for DO students in the coming years. i'm by no means an expert on this, but it would be something to research if i were in your situation.

 

[keunglh]

OP, if you're a reasonably good student - say, if you had better than a 3.5-3.6 HS GPA and over a 2000-2100ish on the SAT, though this is a very rough approximation - then go the traditional route and apply to MD and/or DO later. If you work hard, study right, and keep your priorities in order, you should be able to at minimum make the grades and earn the MCAT scores required to get into DO school. The cutoffs for most of these schools aren't low, by any means, but they're also not high enough to where you'll spend your undergraduate years trapped in the library. For that reason, I'd say the advantage of a 'guaranteed' DO acceptance isn't really worth it to go to a less-favorable school.

That being said, if IIT is the school you like better than your other acceptances, go there, and then you can always apply outside of your DO program if you choose to go that route.

Thank you so much! With that much said, my current ideal of the plan is to go to IIT because of the scholarship that I have, and should I do well enough that I feel competitive I would apply out when the time came

 

[keunglh]

my gut feeling is to go with the traditional route too. it sounds like you have great options closer to home.

i went to high school with a few people who went the combined program route. one dropped out, another stuck with it and had significant regrets in med school because they did not feel medicine was right for them (don't know what happened to them besides that). 4 others did extremely, extremely well. in fact i believe most would have gotten into better med schools had they applied outside of their combined track. these were all MD tracks though.

if you do choose the combined degree, don't let up just bc you have a "guaranteed" acceptance (which isn't usually guaranteed, typically these programs have GPA and MCAT cutoffs?) - use the next few years to make sure you are ok with medicine as a career choice.

have u visited IIT? you list location as a pro, but IIT specifically is not in a location in chicago that would be considered "desirable" to most college students. this is coming from someone who has lived in chicago for a few years, including some time on the south side. if you like the area, awesome, but i would caution against assuming that since it is chicago, it is an excellent location. i would think the average person would much rather prefer a big college campus location in california than near south side of chicago.

the wild card for me is it sounds like you are a california resident - one of the most difficult states to reach medical school from (at least MD). another wild card is DO vs MD. as i understand, the match is becoming more and more competitive, and now that DO residencies are opening to MD students, the competitive specialties may become even more difficult to match to for DO students in the coming years. i'm by no means an expert on this, but it would be something to research if i were in your situation.

I visited the campus just a few weeks ago and although I'm not going to say I fell in love with it, it was certainly a great campus to be at. Far away enough from the main city but also close enough to it so that I had an outlet of relaxation. Also aside from like UCLA, UCSD AND UCSB, the rest of the state schools are quite isolated themselves. But I understand your viewpoint, residency match wise, I feel like the competitive MD students would still match with MD programs regardless, though it would be more competitive it wouldn't be the deal breaker for me

 

[aspirantmed]

Also, I've spent a few weeks before at IIT and UChicago, and I don't imagine it's too hard to get to the nicer, more fun parts of Chicago from there. The 'L' station is very close to campus; I mean, the line cuts right through the student center. So to whoever made that point above, it's not the best part of the city but the parts that are better still aren't too far off.

 

[keunglh]

Also, I've spent a few weeks before at IIT and UChicago, and I don't imagine it's too hard to get to the nicer, more fun parts of Chicago from there. The 'L' station is very close to campus; I mean, the line cuts right through the student center. So to whoever made that point above, it's not the best part of the city but the parts that are better still aren't too far off.

Exactly, it's all pretty close to anything big and I really do think there could be much worse places. It even has a nice neighborhood nearby!

 

[algrandeezy]

Strangely enough I'm a 4th year at Midwestern University - CCOM that graduated from IIT. The combined program when I was at IIT was with CMS Rosalind Franklin when I attended. I just matched allopathic EM in Chicago, lots of my classmates got great matches as well including Cleveland Clinc Rads, Emory Path, Univ of Chicago peds off the top of my head. Bunch of kids got ortho, urology, even neurosurgery in the DO match too. Shoot me a pm if you got any questions.

 

[moop]

Reposting the same thing in different threads and sub forums isn't allowed. Just so you know.