Deferring, taking a year, and reapplying (AMCAS and TMDSAS)

[a12345678]

I am currently holding an acceptance at an AMCAS school; I deferred for a year. I'm working in Texas, and I have family here, and I really love it. I realized this past week that if I work in Texas for a year and am living here for a year, I will be considered a Texas resident. Going to medical school in Texas as a resident will be much cheaper than going to a private medical school....so I'm considering turning down my deferred acceptance in the spring and then reapplying next year using TMDSAS.

Does anyone have any advice for me? I'd rather go to medical school than not, of course, but I was thinking that TMDSAS is a different application and so they won't see that I deferred at an AMCAS school and then turned it down. I'll also be a stronger applicant in TMDSAS because I'll be a resident. Do you think this is a risky move?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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[DrMidlife]

Of course it's risky - there's no guarantee you'll get accepted again, or that you'll get accepted on a first app cycle. But of course going after med school is risky in any case.

You'll want to double/triple check the state domicile requirements, and be paranoid about whether this will affect your chances or not. You'll want to look for SDN stories from folks who changed their state residency to TX at various stages of applying. You'll want to decide whether it's critical to you to be in a particular TX location, or whether you're willing to be in any TX med school. (Lubbock is an acquired taste, for instance.) If you have the option to buy land or other real estate in TX, that's the gold standard of residency that can save you some of the endless proof paperwork you have to submit. Don't fool around with keeping your drivers license, car registration or voter registration in another state. Clean house.

Ask for another deferral year at your current school. Could happen.

The GPA calcs on TMDSAS are different from AMCAS (and AACOMAS). Check this out. Also if your MCAT is older than 1 year that's another issue.

Generally I think it's worth it to try to get a TX acceptance, as in maybe $150k worth it. This isn't necessarily outweighed by "lost" income as a doctor, but if you're taking on federal student loans to pay for med school, I expect the interest on that $150k works out.

Best of luck to you.

 

[cabinbuilder]

I personally would NEVER turn down a medical school acceptance. It may be your only one. I say that because I applied 4 times over a 9 year span and only ever got one acceptance.

 

[AspiringERMD]

It's generally very much not advised to have an acceptance and then reapply. Most schools apparently will not take you, perhaps partially because it reveals poor judgment. As in, if you applied just to turn it down, you shouldn't have applied in the first place. Also partially because they'll worry you're just going to do that to them again and waste everyone's time.

 

[a12345678]

Thanks for your opinions. Yeah, this is definitely a risky move...but would TMDSAS know if I'd applied to an AMCAS school before?

 

[cabinbuilder]

Thanks for your opinions. Yeah, this is definitely a risky move...but would TMDSAS know if I'd applied to an AMCAS school before?

They know, they always know.

 

[QofQuimica]

Dude(tte), don't let the "perfect" be the enemy of the good. Just go to med school wherever you already got in, and move on with your life. Yeah, you may have made a bad financial decision when you applied, but a private school tuition is a much smaller price to pay than is the possibility that you might never become a physician, isn't it? You should consider that extra money you're going to pay as your tuition to the school of hard knocks. It teaches all of us some tough lessons sometimes, but the tuition may be worth the price in this case if you actually manage to learn something from it...such as not wasting an opportunity to achieve your dream because the grass looks greener elsewhere. :-/

 

[Goro]

This course of action is a guarantee that you'll never be a doctor.

I am currently holding an acceptance at an AMCAS school; I deferred for a year. I'm working in Texas, and I have family here, and I really love it. I realized this past week that if I work in Texas for a year and am living here for a year, I will be considered a Texas resident. Going to medical school in Texas as a resident will be much cheaper than going to a private medical school....so I'm considering turning down my deferred acceptance in the spring and then reapplying next year using TMDSAS.

Does anyone have any advice for me? I'd rather go to medical school than not, of course, but I was thinking that TMDSAS is a different application and so they won't see that I deferred at an AMCAS school and then turned it down. I'll also be a stronger applicant in TMDSAS because I'll be a resident. Do you think this is a risky move?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!