Getting into a rural track without coming from a rural area

[doctorhopeful333]

I come from a suburban New Jersey town and attended undergrad at Rutgers - New Brunswick with a major in Public Health. I have shadowed a physician for the past year and have been in underserved, but urban, clinics.

I have my heart set on medical schools (MD or DO) that have rural tracks because practicing family medicine in a rural area is what I truly want to do, but considering my background what are the chances that I will be accepted into such a program? Also, is there anything else that I could be doing?

Thank you!

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[mcatjelly]

How do you know you want to practice in rural areas? (What experiences have you had that lead you in that direction?)

 

[efle]

I don't think you need a "rural track" in med school necessarily - go to any school and then just match to a rural community program.

 

[Catalystik]

I come from a suburban New Jersey town and attended undergrad at Rutgers - New Brunswick with a major in Public Health. I have shadowed a physician for the past year and have been in underserved, but urban, clinics.

I have my heart set on medical schools (MD or DO) that have rural tracks because practicing family medicine in a rural area is what I truly want to do, but considering my background what are the chances that I will be accepted into such a program? Also, is there anything else that I could be doing?

If you don't have experience in a rural area, med schools will feel you don't appreciate what you'd be getting into. For a start, to get the flavor of what RuralMed is like, why not shadow in a rural area full-time for two weeks this summer?

 

[LizzyM]

If you don't have experience in a rural area, med schools will feel you don't appreciate what you'd be getting into. For a start, to get the flavor of what RuralMed is like, why not shadow in a rural area full-time for two weeks this summer?

Two weeks would be a bare minimum. I'd like to see such an applicant apply after a gap year of living and working in a rural area. Otherwise, it just seems like someone who is telling a school what it wants to hear with no evidence to back up the claim of seeking a career in rural America.

 

[djtallahassee]

I am interested to know why you want rural health OP. Can you share your reasoning?


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[Catalystik]

I'd like to see such an applicant apply after a gap year of living and working in a rural area. Otherwise, it just seems like someone who is telling a school what it wants to hear with no evidence to back up the claim of seeking a career in rural America.

I agree this is an excellent second step, if you retain your enthusiasm for RuralMed after two weeks of rural shadowing.

 

[thestudiousmeathead]

@LizzyM I, too, am applying to several rural schools and one program that is a specific rural track. I haven't shadowed in a rural area specifically, but lived and worked in one for three years (including two jobs milking cows) and majored in agriculture initially. I have rural family ties, but just happened to grow up in a small suburb. Would this generally exclude me from a rural program?

 

[CyrilFiggis]

@LizzyM I, too, am applying to several rural schools and one program that is a specific rural track. I haven't shadowed in a rural area specifically, but lived and worked in one for three years (including two jobs milking cows) and majored in agriculture initially. I have rural family ties, but just happened to grow up in a small suburb. Would this generally exclude me from a rural program?

No. You have exposure to the lifestyle. The difference between you and OP is that you have empathy for those living in rural America whereas OP merely has sympathy.

 

[LizzyM]

@LizzyM I, too, am applying to several rural schools and one program that is a specific rural track. I haven't shadowed in a rural area specifically, but lived and worked in one for three years (including two jobs milking cows) and majored in agriculture initially. I have rural family ties, but just happened to grow up in a small suburb. Would this generally exclude me from a rural program?

I hope that you listed those jobs in your experience section! This demonstrates that you have lived in a rural area.

 

[thestudiousmeathead]

I hope that you listed those jobs in your experience section! This demonstrates that you have lived in a rural area.

I certainly did! Thank you for the response.

 

[aldol16]

What's important is having "street cred" for what you talk about, either in the essay, secondaries, or interviews. For example, if you keep talking about how you want to pursue hard-core research during medical school and in your career, you better have the credentials to back that up. If you're saying that with no research experience, be prepared to answer why research and how do you know you want to do research if you haven't ever set foot in a lab. Similarly, if you're saying you want to do rural medicine, you better be able to convince someone why - and that becomes exponentially harder without actually having had an experience in rural medicine.

 

[doctorhopeful333]

Two weeks would be a bare minimum. I'd like to see such an applicant apply after a gap year of living and working in a rural area. Otherwise, it just seems like someone who is telling a school what it wants to hear with no evidence to back up the claim of seeking a career in rural America.

My current plan is to spend my gap year working either as a nurse's aid (I have done this in New Jersey for three years now), preferably in a primary care setting, or volunteer with AmeriCorps (specifically, FoodCorps), both in Montana. Would that be enough evidence for schools?

 

[blackroses]

My current plan is to spend my gap year working either as a nurse's aid (I have done this in New Jersey for three years now), preferably in a primary care setting, or volunteer with AmeriCorps (specifically, FoodCorps), both in Montana. Would that be enough evidence for schools?

That depends on where you end up in Montana. It's not like the entire state is considered rural.

 

[doctorhopeful333]

That depends on where you end up in Montana. It's not like the entire state is considered rural.

I apologize, that's not what I meant. Specifically I will be looking for jobs in rural areas or on Native American reservations. The FoodCorps opportunities that I have been looking at also target working within rural communities.

 

[LizzyM]

That depends on where you end up in Montana. It's not like the entire state is considered rural.

But where ever you go, you are likely to be interacting with rural people who come to town for needs that can't be met in their immediate area. Also, even the biggest city in Montana has a population density of about 1,200/sq mile compared with New Brunswick NJ which has over 10,500/sq mile.

 

[doctorhopeful333]

How do you know you want to practice in rural areas? (What experiences have you had that lead you in that direction?)

That is really part of my issue, I feel that I do not have enough experience to back up my claim besides frequently staying with family members that live in rural areas and wanting that lifestyle for myself as well. My uncle is a pediatric critical care doctor who moonlights around the country in rural PICUs, and that is where my interest in rural medicine initially began.

 

[blackroses]

But where ever you go, you are likely to be interacting with rural people who come to town for needs that can't be met in their immediate area. Also, even the biggest city in Montana has a population density of about 1,200/sq mile compared with New Brunswick NJ which has over 10,500/sq mile.

I do understand that even in a larger city in Montana you'll still interact with people from rural areas, but coming from a rural area, I've definitely seen my fair share of physician who, though they may have some casual experience with rural areas, still demonstrate a significant lack of knowledge about how to treat these patients!

 

[mcatjelly]

That is really part of my issue, I feel that I do not have enough experience to back up my claim besides frequently staying with family members that live in rural areas and wanting that lifestyle for myself as well. My uncle is a pediatric critical care doctor who moonlights around the country in rural PICUs, and that is where my interest in rural medicine initially began.

Have you ever shadowed your uncle?

Practicing rural medicine is different than wanting to live in a rural area. I know you know this, but I'm saying this because I think you're right that you don't have sufficient experience to make this claim. You can certainly mention it as a desire and why, but otherwise saying "this is what I want to do and why" is going to fall flat.

 

[Chronicdeseasegirl]

I have an internship at National rural health association, an undergraduate thesis in rural health, a public health degree, and a family farm in rural Minnesota. Thoughts?

 

[LizzyM]

I have an internship at National rural health association, an undergraduate thesis in rural health, a public health degree, and a family farm in rural Minnesota. Thoughts?

Did you grow up on the farm? If not, did you spend summers on the farm or have you lived on the farm for any length of time as an adult?

Just want to know that you have some clue about the issues. The internship may have given you some insights and the thesis will help as well.

 

[jungdoc]

Read Huckleberry Finn twice and call it a day.

More seriously, I've heard that in some programs you apply to be matched to a rural practice program linked to a particular region of the state. Not sure if that is true elsewhere, but in programs where that is the case -- I assume you would have an advantage if you're from that specific region?

 

[Goro]

If you don't have experience in a rural area, med schools will feel you don't appreciate what you'd be getting into. For a start, to get the flavor of what RuralMed is like, why not shadow in a rural area full-time for two weeks this summer?

This. It's one thing to talk the talk...you half to walk the walk.

 

[Chronicdeseasegirl]

Did you grow up on the farm? If not, did you spend summers on the farm or have you lived on the farm for any length of time as an adult?

Just want to know that you have some clue about the issues. The internship may have given you some insights and the thesis will help as well.

Didn’t grow up on the farm but spent MANY summers picking raspberries and tilling. Spent many spring breaks tapping for maple syrup. Many winters sitting and ice fishing.Sitting by the road and selling raspberries and produce. Cousins all over Minnesota, really the most typical midwestern childhood.

 

[LizzyM]

Didn’t grow up on the farm but spent MANY summers picking raspberries and tilling. Spent many spring breaks tapping for maple syrup. Many winters sitting and ice fishing.Sitting by the road and selling raspberries and produce. Cousins all over Minnesota, really the most typical midwestern childhood.

You’ve walked the walk. No worries.

 

[WIMNFamilyMed]

I have an internship at National rural health association, an undergraduate thesis in rural health, a public health degree, and a family farm in rural Minnesota. Thoughts?

My thought: welcome to The University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth campus! If you apply next year, message me and I’ll be your tour guide

This is a good enough background to get an interview and probably into a rural based program. Shadowing in a rural area a bit would be the last little step to add. You might have a shot at the WARM program at UW Madison too.