Help: Advice and Suggestions ASAP

[Fluffytoez]

So I am currently a senior in college and I am from Texas. My current cGPA and sGPA is a 3.5. I took the MCAT already and I am within range of the average mcat for matriculants. I have about 300 hours of shadowing in Podiatry/Cardiology/Internal Medicine/ENT. I have a lot of volunteering down and leadership positions that I have held and continue to hold. My application is officially complete and I will be submitting it sometime this week. The only challenge I am encountering is which schools to apply to? I have done some basic research, but I truly understand that each school has its pros and cons and that I know for sure I do not have the money to apply and interview at 9 schools. I am thinking of applying to about 3-4 schools, but need help narrowing it down. Ideally, I wanna stay close to Texas (Barry, AZ), but I am open to going to the Northeast side of the country (NY, Ohio, Kent, Temple). I have never lived in any other state besides Texas so it will be a new experience. I want a school that wants students to understand and learn and for them not to just be a number out like 500 for example. I also want a school that matches top residencies. I hope I have given enough detail, but I am more than happy to answer questions you may have to better help me!! Once again, thank you guys so much in advance!!!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Podoosh]

Each school is a top 10 school so it depends on you if you are matched in a top residency. Apply to places you feel comfortable living in and see if it’s a nice fit for you during interview day.

 

[DexterMorganSK]

I want a school that wants students to understand and learn and for them not to just be a number out like 500 for example. I also want a school that matches top residencies.

Any of the 9 schools will provide what you're looking for. We have a few Tx students at Scholl, as I'm sure they are in the other 9 schools. IOWs, there isn't a program that favors more Tx residents than others.

Apply to your top 3-4 schools (based on what's presented here on SDN and your own searches), interview, and then decide which is the best for you. You will be able to decide after interviewing and seeing the campus and the area in person.

 

[Podoosh]

Also, make sure podiatry is truly a career you want to do because I see you are trying for MD/DO as well. I know a lot of people choose podiatry because they couldn’t get into MD/DO and podiatry is the next best chance at becoming a doctor.

 

[DYK343]

Answer is simple. The cheapest school you can go to. Loans are no joke. 2-3k a month for 15 years is a lot of money. Keep it as low as you can.

 

[air bud]

⬆️

 

[FootRad5]

If a top residency is a priority of yours I would use this website (CASPR Directory, American Association of Colleges of Podiatric Medicine) to look at the podiatry residencies available, especially the ones in Texas if that is another priority of yours. There are some very competitive ones (i.e. John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth). From there I would look at their residents who you should be able to find on the website easily and see what schools they came from and what experiences they had, most have little biographies about the residents. For example Residents | Kaiser Permanente Undergraduate & Graduate Medical Education Northern California Although this might be not a quick solution, hopefully it is helpful.

 

[DPMStudent159]

Really depends on where you want to end up in the country for the next few years of your life! If climate matters, and you like Texas weather, than Cali or Florida might be for you. I am at Scholl and trust me, it gets COLD here! All of the schools will provide you the education you need to pass your boards (I believe all the schools at this time have boards pass rates above 85% first time). It is in your hands how well you do, how well you take advantage of the resources the school offers, and how good you do on interviews come boards interview time.

Scholl offers awesome resources mostly because it is a pretty big school that offers many degrees (MD, DPM, PharmD, DPT, PA, nursing, nurse anesthesia, etc) so they can afford to offer many resources that some other schools may not be able to. Great tutoring programs, 24/7 library that offers many many resources to all students, etc. Obviously I am partial to Scholl since I go there, but I did interview at many other schools, and loved Scholl for it being a pretty big school but the DPM class still being small enough for all the professors to get to know every student. Trust me, literally every professor will know your name by October of your first year, and I bet every Scholl student can attest to that!

I would personally see if you can connect with students at each of the schools you are interested in. Visiting each school obviously isn’t a financially feasible option. But if you are able to talk to students and get their opinion on how the transition was, what resources are available, and overall how they like the school, that may help you make the decision. I also don’t think applying to all 9 schools is smart because it is generally not that hard to get into a pod school of your choice if you have even mediocre stats. Worst case, if you don’t get in, you apply to the other schools that you didn’t try applying to.

 

[Packers4lifeDPM]

AZpod is a great school and close to home for you. I’d interview at where ever you can see yourself living for 3 years. You can get into any school with your stats as long as you have a personality. If you have specific questions feel free to DM me.

 

[DYK343]

Every dollar you spend you will potentially pay back 2 or 3 dollars more after interest.

I went to a high cost school and regret it. Loans are horrible. Every month 2-3x a home mortgage payment goes to student loans.

I am making between 300-350k a year with my DPM degree but I still struggle with loans (trying to pay them off ASAP). Not everyone will make the same salary I make out of residency. If youre one of the lucky docs who takes a 100k a year job its going to be real difficult.

Keep in mind taxes on a salary that large are not favorible. Most of that is taken away before I come close to touching it.
Factor cost of living, occasional eating out/entertainment, 401k, health insurance costs, insurance, etc, etc there is not a lot on the table at the end of the month. When you throw in the (aggressive) loan payment on top of that... well thats it. No more.

Sure I could pay less aggressively on the loans over a longer period of time but with interest see the first statement of this post. The faster they are gone the less the bank takes from my overall debt of misery.

I really want a new car and a house. But that has to wait because I spent too much in DPM school.
With aggressive payments I am making in 5-7 years maybe I can start living like a doctor. Maybe. My car has rust and I will continue with that rusty car until these loans are gone. I park that rusty beast next to a Tesla every morning. Had I spent less in DPM school the day I too park a Tesla in that lot could have been in 2-3 years.

If NYC wants to give you a scholarship that offsets the cost of living then go for it but midwest schools are going to be way cheaper. You will be studying the whole time anyways so who cares where you live.

Listen to the practicing DPMs over fellow students in this regard. Keep costs as low as possible. Get the DPM degree as cheaply as possible and move on. 95% of the residency programs do not care which school you went to. Only several residencies have school affiliations and most of them really suck anyways.

You will thank me later if you take this advice. I wish I would have read this 9 years ago.

 

[heybrother]

I'm from suburban Houston. Went to DMU. Winter was an adjustment though all the Midwest schools will have that. Des Moines is easy, affordable, accessible, low traffic. Its not glamorous. East coast cities will have bigger nightlife though Des Moines has plenty of charm, things to explore, parks in and out of the city, trails, rivers, and expanding areas of interest. My wife told me she never once felt unsafe. Like all the schools the tuition unfortunately continues to go up - 7-8 years ago when I started it was hands down the cheapest tuition/CoL combo (for perspective when I was looking in 2011 DMU was like $27K a year). I met no shortage of students from other schools who told me what their rent was and I'd be paying a lot longer if I'd gone to those places. DMUs academics, boards, DO experience more than speak for themselves. A few of the DPM faculty need a personality adjustment (ha), but I never felt the school got in the way of learning or put stupid bullcrap or barriers in front of me to make my life worse or try and flunk a portion of the class.

 

[FutureDPM123]

AZPod has a lot of students from Texas. Now that I'm here, I couldn't see myself studying anywhere else. I wasn't a fan of Barry's stats when I was applying. If I were you, I'd apply to Midwestern and Temple for sure. Des Moines is also one of the best, but can you handle winter weather coming from Texas?