Hello, non-traditionals students. Which schools are you applying to?

[armymedtech]

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I'm am just curious how non-traditional students pick which school to apply to. I am from Hawaii and we have only 1 medical school in the whole state. Besides this one school, a couple of carribean schools, and a few other mainland schools, there is no other place I am sure about applying to. Thank you for your time to read my post.

 

[hawkbit]

Your question is rather... wide. It depends to some degreee on one's gpa/mcat stats. I am planning on applying only to my state schools (Texas, 8 state schools and Baylor) since they require 90% of the applicants to be state residents, and the tuition is much cheaper than most out of state schools.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

you can see on my mdapps profile. what are your stats and we could help more to see if you should apply to more schools.

 

[DrMidlife]

First, grouping Carib med schools in with mainland schools is not a good idea. It's worth waiting to get into a mainland school instead of taking an easy Carib acceptance, for lots of reasons. Look for info (here on SDN and elsewhere) about the match rates at Carib schools, for starters, and pay attention to how the match rates don't take failouts into account. (Also: hurricanes.)

Second, you really don't get treated differently as a nontrad. Almost every US MD school has students over 30 and frequently over 40. You're expected to show up with strong academics (evidenced by a high cumulative undergrad GPA and a high MCAT, where 3.6/32 are about average for US MD schools), exposure to clinical medicine through volunteering and/or jobs, an understanding of the practice of medicine from shadowing etc, strong letters of recommendation, a compelling essay, and if you're lucky, interview skills. Same requirements for 21 year olds as 41 year olds. If your assets are as strong as a 21 year old's, then and only then are your life experiences and maturity taken into consideration as assets. You don't get a reprieve for academic shortcomings because you're employable and pay taxes, for instance.

You may not have eligibility at UH from being stationed there, if that is your situation. UH has perhaps the tightest criteria for "in-state". Did you go to high school there, is your family from there, do you own property there, these are taken into account more than in other states where you can become a resident by living & working.

The first step in choosing med schools is to get an MSAR, available from aamc.org. Pick schools that accept students with your GPA and MCAT, mostly. If your stats are low, then you need to consider DO schools as well. You can find out tons of specifics (usually from a 21 year old's perspective, unfortunately) in the school specific threads in allo and somewhat in pre-allo. Apply early, meaning June 1 with a complete app including your MCAT score in hand, and apply broadly (25 schools is about normal).

Best of luck to you.

 

[phltz]

Second, you really don't get treated differently as a nontrad. Almost every US MD school has students over 30 and frequently over 40.

I just started my first year at Michigan. There are at least four 30+ students in my class that I know of. I dunno how this compares to other schools, but you should check us out. Michigan clearly accepts nontrads, takes a good number of OOS students each year (around half, I think), and is super freakin' sweet.

 

[armymedtech]

Hello, thank you all for your information and help, I greatly appreciate it! I apologize for the lack of details.

I have a bachelors degree in medical technology, and I graduated with a GPA of 3.2. I worked as a medical technologist/Officer for the US Army for 6 years Active duty and currently I have been in the Army reserves for the last 5 years. My post-bac GPA is 4.0 and I have finished most of the required courses for medical school except for the year of physics. I am taking physics 1 this Fall semester. I plan to take the MCATs in the spring right after I finish physics 2 sometime early May 2012. And submit everthing else right after that for matriculation for 2013. I am 36 years old.

Thanks again everyone for your input!

 

[armymedtech]

Hi, yes, basically I am considering the Carribeans schools mostly for financial reasons. I have nothing set in stone in terms of which school I will apply to besides Hawaii. I am in a pickle in considering which schools should I apply to.

Anyways, I have been working as a medical lab tech and going to to school here in Hawaii for the last several years. I was born and raised on Guam though. Thank you so much for your help!

 

[DrMidlife]

Hi, yes, basically I am considering the Carribeans schools mostly for financial reasons

Can you run those reasons by us?

If you go to the Carib, you're going to a for-profit school, thus you're being sold a product. That product may or may not include secured rotations at US hospitals. That product may or may not include reasonable chances for getting a residency in the US after med school. By contrast, at a mainland school, you have no barriers to entry other than competition.

To put it another way, 94% of US MD grads get residencies right out of med school. 50% of Carib grads match. http://www.nrmp.org/data/resultsanddata2011.pdf That 50% may actually be only 25% of an entering class, because Carib schools don't divulge their failout rate (which you can figure out by looking at entering class sizes).

The thing that bothers me, and thus motivates me to bring up these issues, is that Carib schools attract students who don't have stats competitive for mainland schools, and they put 400+ students in a class. They don't put attention on the bottom half of the class that is paying the same tuition and has the same expectations of getting to be a doctor, and then that bottom half does a lot of failing out with $100k or $200k in student debt that can't be discharged in a bankruptcy and no resume to get a high paying job.

The price tag that I personally would put on having support from my school and removing residency obstacles is about $50k. Maybe even $100k.

Best of luck to you.

 

[MedWonk]

Since I'm from MA, I plan on applying to most/all schools in New England (including University of NE DO), plus New York, some in PA, a couple in DC, and OHSU because PDX and Oregon in general is a pretty cool place. A lot of my decision-making was influenced by my fiance and my TF over the summer who is a nontrad med student.

Location gets a lot of weight in my decision. Assuming my post-bacc continues to go well and get a decent score on my MCAT, I'll have a good mix of a couple crazy-dream schools I'll never get into (I'm looking at you Harvard), some schools where I may not have ideal stats but have a reasonable shot, and a bunch of schools where I think I fit reasonably well (can haz UMass?).

Of course if my post-bacc goes poorly for some reason, it'll be back to square one.

 

[nickmx50]

Since I'm from MA, I plan on applying to most/all schools in New England (including University of NE DO), plus New York, some in PA, a couple in DC, and OHSU because PDX and Oregon in general is a pretty cool place. A lot of my decision-making was influenced by my fiance and my TF over the summer who is a nontrad med student.

Portland is a cool place, as I've lived here for 28 years of my life, but sometimes OHSU a hard school to figure out. There's students at my school with stellar grades that haven't even been wait listed at OHSU, but have gotten accepted at some top med schools. However, other students with interesting stories and life experiences seem to have no problem getting in. Dartmouth and UNC also like non-trads from what I understand.

 

[Cooperd0g]

I have the Post 9/11 GI Bill so I'm applying mostly to schools that have a Yellow Ribbon scholarship matching program to ease the cost of schools. Some offer a couple of thousand, but some basically give you tuition free (UMich, Mich State, UPitt to name a few). Some of these schools are pretty lofty for my stats (Harvard, Columbia) and some are more in line. I'm also applying to a couple of schools that I like which don't have any Yellow Ribbon scholarship as well as some DO schools without the scholarship match. My goal is to go to the cheapest American MD or DO school I can get into!

 

[Holderlin]

All the top ones.

But first I need to complete the EC to end all ECs

I'm going under like in Flatliners.

 

[MedWonk]

Portland is a cool place, as I've lived here for 28 years of my life, but sometimes OHSU a hard school to figure out. There's students at my school with stellar grades that haven't even been wait listed at OHSU, but have gotten accepted at some top med schools. However, other students with interesting stories and life experiences seem to have no problem getting in. Dartmouth and UNC also like non-trads from what I understand.

Others have told me similar stories. They're also apparently really, really big on applicants with experience working with underserved populations.

 

[armymedtech]

Yes, it's because I'm poor. The travel costs would be lower.

Anyways, is 20 a good number of schools to apply to? About 10-15 MD schools and about 5-10 DO schools. Does this sound good to anyone? I really don't have a clue(and desire) on anywhere else to apply. I am thinking about just applying to Hawaii, period. If I don't get in, then I don't get in. Thank you.

Can you run those reasons by us?

If you go to the Carib, you're going to a for-profit school, thus you're being sold a product. That product may or may not include secured rotations at US hospitals. That product may or may not include reasonable chances for getting a residency in the US after med school. By contrast, at a mainland school, you have no barriers to entry other than competition.

To put it another way, 94% of US MD grads get residencies right out of med school. 50% of Carib grads match. http://www.nrmp.org/data/resultsanddata2011.pdf That 50% may actually be only 25% of an entering class, because Carib schools don't divulge their failout rate (which you can figure out by looking at entering class sizes).

The thing that bothers me, and thus motivates me to bring up these issues, is that Carib schools attract students who don't have stats competitive for mainland schools, and they put 400+ students in a class. They don't put attention on the bottom half of the class that is paying the same tuition and has the same expectations of getting to be a doctor, and then that bottom half does a lot of failing out with $100k or $200k in student debt that can't be discharged in a bankruptcy and no resume to get a high paying job.

The price tag that I personally would put on having support from my school and removing residency obstacles is about $50k. Maybe even $100k.

Best of luck to you.