What would you do question...

[mma4life]

Ok Ill get right to it, I am 26 and did 1 semester med school in the carib. I am back home (U.S) cause I was pondering transferring to another carib school(previous one was not good at all). As I was thinking about it I said I have 29 more credits to finish undergrad and take my mcat and see what my chances are to get in a U.S school?!
I keep telling myself "youre 26 already stop wasting time" (which is why I was so quick to go abroad) I know I am not in a race with anyone but myself, but it just seems like I will be done late...ill stop my whining, Anyway my question is, I read on here that there are some "bad" med schools like in my state its New york medical (or something like that) so say worse case scenario I get in there, would that be better than if I were to go back overseas? What makes U.S medical schools not so good on the 'lists" I see on here??? Thank for your help guys!

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[drguy22]

Ok Ill get right to it, I am 26 and did 1 semester med school in the carib. I am back home (U.S) cause I was pondering transferring to another carib school(previous one was not good at all). As I was thinking about it I said I have 29 more credits to finish undergrad and take my mcat and see what my chances are to get in a U.S school?!
I keep telling myself "youre 26 already stop wasting time" (which is why I was so quick to go abroad) I know I am not in a race with anyone but myself, but it just seems like I will be done late...ill stop my whining, Anyway my question is, I read on here that there are some "bad" med schools like in my state its New york medical (or something like that) so say worse case scenario I get in there, would that be better than if I were to go back overseas? What makes U.S medical schools not so good on the 'lists" I see on here??? Thank for your help guys!

there is no bad medical school.....if you go to any US medical school...you will be able to compete for a residency better than the carribean med school can...US students get first pick...then the DO, then the carribean, then International...I think this is how the general trend goes......THERE IS NO BAD MEDICAL SCHOOL.....i agree that some medical schools have SOME problems.. and if the medical school has MAJOR problems they will be taken care of by the LCME(or watever its called).

 

[Fermata]

If you can, try to stay in the U.S. It makes for far less hoops to jump through in the future.

What kind of grades/scores do you have?

 

[drsungoddess]

Ok Ill get right to it, I am 26 and did 1 semester med school in the carib. I am back home (U.S) cause I was pondering transferring to another carib school(previous one was not good at all). As I was thinking about it I said I have 29 more credits to finish undergrad and take my mcat and see what my chances are to get in a U.S school?!
I keep telling myself "youre 26 already stop wasting time" (which is why I was so quick to go abroad) I know I am not in a race with anyone but myself, but it just seems like I will be done late...ill stop my whining, Anyway my question is, I read on here that there are some "bad" med schools like in my state its New york medical (or something like that) so say worse case scenario I get in there, would that be better than if I were to go back overseas? What makes U.S medical schools not so good on the 'lists" I see on here??? Thank for your help guys!

The problem with going abroad is that you will not be liscensed to practice medicine in the US. I am not sure what the process is but you will have to jump though alot of hoops to be able to practice in the us. I recomend you study very hard, take the MCAT and apply in the states. 26 is not that old at all, there are people being admitted to med school in their 40s. You are only three years older then me, so I do not see you being to old to start med school. As for school rankings, it is usually a bunch of crap. Schools teach all the same material and you are always going to have bad and good professors, so i beleive that what ever med school you will go to will be as good as you make, study hard, learn all the material and try to get as much clinical exp as possible. I think that US news ranks schools based on the amount of money they have to do research and how many publications they produce, at least this is for ranking research schools. I am not sure how they rank primary care schools, but it probibly has to do with res matches, step 1 &2 scores.Hope this helps. Good luck

 

[mma4life]

Thnx for the advice guys. I have just been thinking alot lately and dont wanna ask myself "What if I applied to a US med school" in the future. I am in the low 3's gpa wise and with two semesters left for undergrad and know I can bring that way up(especially since doing a semester of med classes, it shouldn't be difficult at all) lots of hospital exp, sga in med school, community work etc., I know tha MCAT is coming up too.
There was a website that was posted on here a while back that showed a range in where students had for example a 20-25 MCAT, certain gpa2.5-3.0 and were accepted at this such and such a school. If there are schools that accept low scores like that then is it really that hard to get in a US med school??? thnx in advance fellas
Oh yeah I got a letter of rec from my dean of basic sci overseas...think that will look good or should I not even mention I went overseas for a semester?

 

[mma4life]

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[liverotcod]

Check out mdapplicants.com to find schools that accepted or interviewed applicants with specific GPA or MCAT values.

 

[beep]

Oh yeah I got a letter of rec from my dean of basic sci overseas...think that will look good or should I not even mention I went overseas for a semester?

They make you tell. You have no choice.

 

[NYCDesi]

2 questions -

1) where did you hear new york medical college was a 'bad' med school?

2) where did you see students with 20 - 25 MCATs and 2.5 - 3.0 GPAs getting into med school? DO schools generally tend to have lower stats but NOWHERE near 20 - 25/2.5 - 3.0.

As for your questions, dont sweat the age. In the grand scheme of things, there are for more important things to consider (like not jumping thru too many hoops to get licensed in the US...).
So if I were you, I'd study my butt off and retake the MCAT. And then finish either a 1-2 yr post-bacc or 1-2 yr special master's program which will raise your cumulative GPA.

Good Luck

P.S. There's no such thing as a 'bad' med school. if there was, the LCME (licensing committee for medical education) wouldn't let it exist. Also, I think someone misled you if they told you that students are getting in with 20 - 25 MCATs and 2.5 - 3.0 GPAs. If it happened somewhere, then that was an exception, and an extremely rare one at that. Generally, the avg MCAT is close to 30 and GPA is close to 3.6.

Think about it, if all you need is mid 20s MCAT and a C+/B- GPA in order to get into a US med school, why would ppl w/ these stats bother going all the way down to the caribbean?

 

[mma4life]

2 questions -

1) where did you hear new york medical college was a 'bad' med school?

2) where did you see students with 20 - 25 MCATs and 2.5 - 3.0 GPAs getting into med school? DO schools generally tend to have lower stats but NOWHERE near 20 - 25/2.5 - 3.0.

Mayeb I used the wrong term in saying it was "bad", it seems like it is not the most appealing school to many on here, and I looked on mdapplicants.com and put in different ranges and a handful popped up with stats like that.
Anyway thnx for the advice guys I appreciate it!

 

[shahalam]

there is no bad medical school.....if you go to any US medical school...you will be able to compete for a residency better than the carribean med school can...US students get first pick...then the DO, then the carribean, then International...I think this is how the general trend goes......THERE IS NO BAD MEDICAL SCHOOL.....i agree that some medical schools have SOME problems.. and if the medical school has MAJOR problems they will be taken care of by the LCME(or watever its called).

Are you sure that the order of "US, DO, carribean, international" student picking is for real? I never heard of any med school comittee talking like that

 

[TexPre-Med]

No, I have heard of this too. U.S. M.D.- U.S. D.O.- Caribbean- Foreign is in order of decreasing difficulty of acceptance therefore it only makes sense to accept them into residencies in this order. D.O.'s have a much harder chance of gaining a specialty that M.D.'s do. For caribbean students it is even harder. If you care about entering a specialty, go M.D. within the states. If primary care is your calling, it does NOT matter.