Dropping out and re-applying to a different school

[Coffeelover7502]

Hello All,
I am currently in my first semester at LECOM. I have been having a really terrible experience here. The curriculum is terrible with ridiculous scheduling for exams. In addition, their PBL program is practically set out to make a good amount of students fail and end up in their master's program. Long story short, I really don't think I can reach my full potential at this school. I realized now that I to be able to match into more competitive specialities and I would not be able to do it at this school. I am considering dropping out since it is only my first semester here and attempting to reapply somewhere closer to home. I also want to be able to match residency closer to home and realized it would more difficult if I stay at LECOM. I was wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation or if anyone has any advice about what I should do. I was an early acceptance student at LECOM so I did not go through the medical school application process or take the MCAT. My GPA in undergrad was very high and I had a decent amount of research, volunteering, etc. and would need to just go back home and take the MCAT and build a good application. Would dropping out make it impossible for me to get accepted to a school closer to home? I am not sure if I am even in the medical school system since I never had to apply to LECOM through AMCAS or AACOMAS nor did I take the MCAT. Wouldn't it practically be like me applying as a brand new applicant? Advice would be greatly appreciated!!

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[Drrrrrr. Celty]

So what you're saying... is you want to quit medical school. Study for the mcat. And then reapply to medical school. And hopefully get in after doing this?

What is going to be your answer when they ask: Why did you quit medical school? - Oh because it was too far from home, the school and I didn't agree on my learning style, and it didn't conform to my schedue? Oh and philosophically I hated that it was built to wean people out?

Are you going to go get a job for the 2+ years this is going to take?

Sorry to say this but you're not a brand new applicant. You'll be seen as a med school drop out. And if I was interviewing you I'd ask why I should take you over someone who did not drop out. It's one thing if you say you needed to leave to take care of someone, support your family, or pause your life to do something noble. It's another thing to say well I think I just wasn't going to hit my highest potential here.

Finally why do you think other programs will be better? At my medical school I did a test Q2 weeks, quiz Q1 week, and an OMM practical every 4 weeks.

 

[DO2015CA]

You should stay. LECOM is the cheapest CoA and no other medschool (minus maybe state schools with home competitive programs) will set you up to match more competitively than LECOM. You are in the adjustment period. Med school is hard. It’s hard everywhere. Also no one agrees with their school’s choices in how they lay out their curriculum everywhere.

Stay.

 

[DOVinciRobot]

Real talk. If you can’t match competitively at LECOM you won’t match competitively anywhere else either.

Reaching your full potential is completely on you.

 

[gyngyn]

Hello All,
I am currently in my first semester at LECOM. I have been having a really terrible experience here. The curriculum is terrible with ridiculous scheduling for exams. In addition, their PBL program is practically set out to make a good amount of students fail and end up in their master's program. Long story short, I really don't think I can reach my full potential at this school. I realized now that I to be able to match into more competitive specialities and I would not be able to do it at this school. I am considering dropping out since it is only my first semester here and attempting to reapply somewhere closer to home. I also want to be able to match residency closer to home and realized it would more difficult if I stay at LECOM. I was wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation or if anyone has any advice about what I should do. I was an early acceptance student at LECOM so I did not go through the medical school application process or take the MCAT. My GPA in undergrad was very high and I had a decent amount of research, volunteering, etc. and would need to just go back home and take the MCAT and build a good application. Would dropping out make it impossible for me to get accepted to a school closer to home? I am not sure if I am even in the medical school system since I never had to apply to LECOM through AMCAS or AACOMAS nor did I take the MCAT. Wouldn't it practically be like me applying as a brand new applicant? Advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Allow me to respond to the bolded:
The first year is terrible for many. I attended a pretty fancy school and I'm still recovering from my first year!

There is no way to know your odds of being accepted to a particular school (especially without the elements of your application that do not exist at this time).

"Just" taking the MCAT and building a good application seems to escape the majority of applicants. I see a boatload of folks with high gpa's whose MCAT is incompatible with acceptance.

There is no "medical school system." I am unfamiliar with AACOMAS, but the AMCAS application asks for all transcripts and if you have previously matriculated to medical school. It would be nothing like applying as a first time applicant.

Edit: I found this regarding the AACOMAS application: Report all institutions attended regardless of their relevance to the programs you are applying to. AACOMAS Quick Start Guide and FAQs

 

[GoSpursGo]

Agree with above. Thinking you can drop out, retake the MCAT and wind up at a "better" med school is fantasy. Even if it was not, it's setting you back at least 3 if not 4 years (you're almost definitely not taking the MCAT in time to apply in 2024, so you're applying in 2025 at the earliest and matriculating in 2026 if absolutely everything goes right). There is no school that you could realistically get into that is so much better than LECOM to be worth foregoing 3-4 years of attending salary.

It gets better.

 

[Ho0v-man]

You have no idea if you would even be able to get into another med school at all.

Everyone hates their school’s curriculum. I literally wanted to drop out every effing day.

Being a med student isn’t easy. Your experience is not unique to you or your school.

If you drop out of Lecom, every medical school you apply to will see you as someone who couldn’t handle a med school curriculum. This is the bed you made. Don’t drop out unless you don’t ever want to be a doctor.

 

[Goro]

If you drop out of Lecom, every medical school you apply to will see you as someone who couldn’t handle a med school curriculum. This is the bed you made. Don’t drop out unless you don’t ever want to be a doctor.

This 100000000%
OP, If you drop of med school, especially with the rationale you're giving, I guarantee your medical career is over.

Have you reached out to faculty for help with the material? Or student services and thier learning or education center? How about your classmates?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

OP's first post unless they were under a different alias before, so welcome... I wish you had posted when your were an applicant. So many people could have helped you sort through your decision before you committed to your medical school.

We would have all told you that you need to pick a place that is highly supportive, done your homework on the curriculum, and made sure you covered your bases. Now that you have started, the bloom is off the rose, and you realized medical school won't be the cakewalk you wanted it to be.

As a guaranteed admit student, you should have talked with current students about the curriculum. You should have gotten your concerns about not finding a match close to home addressed. You could have considered going RD and waiving your seat.

Dropping out now would still raise questions if you are doing it because you wanted to avoid a "bad grade." (This isn't clear in the post.) You would need help from student services to make sure any transfer in good standing doesn't make you look like damaged goods... though schools will still think you might be.

Understand I am not absolving the program. They need to be sure they impart confidence so you could continue, as long as you take advantage of their resources.

 

[MedBoardTutors]

Hello All,
I am currently in my first semester at LECOM. I have been having a really terrible experience here. The curriculum is terrible with ridiculous scheduling for exams. In addition, their PBL program is practically set out to make a good amount of students fail and end up in their master's program. Long story short, I really don't think I can reach my full potential at this school. I realized now that I to be able to match into more competitive specialities and I would not be able to do it at this school. I am considering dropping out since it is only my first semester here and attempting to reapply somewhere closer to home. I also want to be able to match residency closer to home and realized it would more difficult if I stay at LECOM. I was wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation or if anyone has any advice about what I should do. I was an early acceptance student at LECOM so I did not go through the medical school application process or take the MCAT. My GPA in undergrad was very high and I had a decent amount of research, volunteering, etc. and would need to just go back home and take the MCAT and build a good application. Would dropping out make it impossible for me to get accepted to a school closer to home? I am not sure if I am even in the medical school system since I never had to apply to LECOM through AMCAS or AACOMAS nor did I take the MCAT. Wouldn't it practically be like me applying as a brand new applicant? Advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Totally valid experience, but I think you're selling yourself short when you say you can't match competitively. If you mean you want a surgical subspecialty, then that's less a LECOM issue and more a DO thing in general. I've met several people in the past couple years who have done pretty well on Step/COMLEX and gotten into good residencies from that place. Agree with the above posts that you'll have to dig deep and rely on yourself to really push and maximize performance. Again, I know it's possible because I've seen people do fine from that place, but it's a biased sample.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Wow, I've heard of bad ideas, but this one takes the cake

I can nearly guarantee you that 100% of medical schools in the US will not accept you

My friend, you need to take off those training wheels from your bike and accept your reality. There's a lot of more "poor education" coming along. If you can't adapt, you're not made for this field