Do msar (cib)

[MedPR]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Can anyone who has matriculated or will be matriculating this fall comment on how accurate the CIB is in regard to financial aid? From memory almost all of them are 0 to a couple thousand dollars, while DMU and ATSU-KCOM were $20k+.

I've cut some schools from my AACOMAS simply because the CIB says they don't offer any (or very little) financial aid. ATSU-SOMA and CCOM are on the fence right now because of the tuition and lack of aid.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

KCOM and DMU may be artificially inflated because they are in or near more rural areas and they may offer a lot of rural scholarships.

 

[MedPR]

KCOM and DMU may be artificially inflated because they are in or near more rural areas and they may offer a lot of rural scholarships.

What's a rural scholarship?

 

[FrkyBgStok]

DMU offers a rural pathway scholarship. I think there are 6 of them, or a total of 6 full rides. This basically says, "we will pay for your school if you sign a contract to go into family practice, internal medicine, family practice, or general surgery, and if you practice in the a town that is <10,000 people for 5 years after you practice." Fantastic deal if you are interested in primary care or rural medicine. It pigeonholes you into one of those with no chance of a fellowship (basically). Plus, my guess is that if you practice general surgery in BFE for 5 years, your general surgery skills will be lacking and there would be a real risk that it would be hard to move into a non-rural based practice. This would in effect keep you there forever. But this is a guess and is based on nothing but my own speculation. but I wasn't interested in it.

Plus at DMU you have to take a rural medicine elective and most of your clinicals are rural based.

 

[MedPR]

DMU offers a rural pathway scholarship. I think there are 6 of them, or a total of 6 full rides. This basically says, "we will pay for your school if you sign a contract to go into family practice, internal medicine, family practice, or general surgery, and if you practice in the a town that is <10,000 people for 5 years after you practice." Fantastic deal if you are interested in primary care or rural medicine. It pigeonholes you into one of those with no chance of a fellowship (basically). Plus, my guess is that if you practice general surgery in BFE for 5 years, your general surgery skills will be lacking and there would be a real risk that it would be hard to move into a non-rural based practice. This would in effect keep you there forever. But this is a guess and is based on nothing but my own speculation. but I wasn't interested in it.

Plus at DMU you have to take a rural medicine elective and most of your clinicals are rural based.

Ah that doesn't sound like that great of a deal. I mean one of my main goals is to help serve minorities and those with limited access to health care, but I was thinking more along the lines of urban populations that were limited by income and not by location.

I'm surprised that most of DMU rotations are rural. I thought Des Moines was a relatively urban area.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

Ah that doesn't sound like that great of a deal. I mean one of my main goals is to help serve minorities and those with limited access to health care, but I was thinking more along the lines of urban populations that were limited by income and not by location.

I'm surprised that most of DMU rotations are rural. I thought Des Moines was a relatively urban area.

They aren't, but if you go into the rural pathways scholarship they require that most of them be rural. generally they aren't.

 

[MedPR]

They aren't, but if you go into the rural pathways scholarship they require that most of them be rural. generally they aren't.

Oh ok, thanks for clarifying that for me.

 

[rjelalam]

I can only comment on PCOM, but I have $5000 in various scholarships from them. I was told that's about the average from them, depending how many ppl qualify for aid in a given year.

 

[MedPR]

I can only comment on PCOM, but I have $5000 in various scholarships from them. I was told that's about the average from them, depending how many ppl qualify for aid in a given year.

Are your scholarships need based or merit based? Both?

I would definitely qualify (I think) for need based scholarships, but I don't think my stats or application are good enough for any school to "pay" me to attend their school over any other school.

Before really looking into the medical school application process I was under the impression that only extraordinary students got scholarships and that medical schools simply did not give out money to the vast majority of students. While a few thousand dollars each year isn't much when you consider the cost of four years of medical school, it would be nice to get something!

 

[group_theory]

Depends on the school

The newer schools will have little to no scholarships since they have been focused on starting the school (and recruiting staff) and likely there is little dedicated fundings for scholarships

The older establish schools (DMU, PCOM, KCOM, etc) have a large alumni base and have had time to establish various scholarships (ie Class of 1927 scholarship, Class of 1950 scholarship, the Dr John Doe Memorial Surgical Scholarship for students interested in surgery, the Dr Jane Doe Emergency Medicine Scholarship for excellence in emergency medicine rotation, etc). Usually with a large (and older) alumni base, there is time for its alumni to make money, reflect on life, and donate to the school (either into the unrestricted fund, or establish a trust/endowment in memory of someone they love, or give at class reunion to establish a class scholarships).

When I was at PCOM, I received the Board of Trustees Scholarships, some class memorial scholarships, and even some scholarships sponsored by companies (PCOM selected who received them) such as Office Max, Lowes, Home Depot, etc.,


This is one of those topics that many people on SDN don't talk about (in regards to new school vs old school) ... now $5k/year or $10k/year may not sound like a lot (compare to tuition), but multiply that over 4 years, and you are talking about a $20k-$40k in scholarships (and if you convert that into loans at current interest rates, you are saving a lot of money throughout your lifetime by NOT having to borrow that additional amount)

These scholarships (or at least the ones I received) were a mixed of pure financial need and some were academics.



*I wonder if schools count students receiving the HPSP scholarships when they report how much aid students receive (and why the percentage is so high at some school)

 

[MedPR]

Depends on the school

The newer schools will have little to no scholarships since they have been focused on starting the school (and recruiting staff) and likely there is little dedicated fundings for scholarships

The older establish schools (DMU, PCOM, KCOM, etc) have a large alumni base and have had time to establish various scholarships (ie Class of 1927 scholarship, Class of 1950 scholarship, the Dr John Doe Memorial Surgical Scholarship for students interested in surgery, the Dr Jane Doe Emergency Medicine Scholarship for excellence in emergency medicine rotation, etc). Usually with a large (and older) alumni base, there is time for its alumni to make money, reflect on life, and donate to the school (either into the unrestricted fund, or establish a trust/endowment in memory of someone they love, or give at class reunion to establish a class scholarships).

When I was at PCOM, I received the Board of Trustees Scholarships, some class memorial scholarships, and even some scholarships sponsored by companies (PCOM selected who received them) such as Office Max, Lowes, Home Depot, etc.,


This is one of those topics that many people on SDN don't talk about (in regards to new school vs old school) ... now $5k/year or $10k/year may not sound like a lot (compare to tuition), but multiply that over 4 years, and you are talking about a $20k-$40k in scholarships (and if you convert that into loans at current interest rates, you are saving a lot of money throughout your lifetime by NOT having to borrow that additional amount)

These scholarships (or at least the ones I received) were a mixed of pure financial need and some were academics.



*I wonder if schools count students receiving the HPSP scholarships when they report how much aid students receive (and why the percentage is so high at some school)

That's a really good point about new school/old school. I agree that the scholarship money can add up quickly especially when you take into account what you're saving on loans.

If you are eligible for scholarships do the schools typically offer it to you with your acceptance or is it something you have to apply for after sending them your deposit and intent to matriculate? Also I know that there are many sources for scholarships outside of schools, did you apply for any of those?