Help me decide which schools to apply to in this coming cycle

[MedSchoolMama]

Hey all! I am new member here but a long time lurker. Just got brave enough to post something.

I need a little help deciding which schools are the best for me with my stats. I will be applying mainly DO with a few MD tossed in. Love the DO philosophy! It fits what I believe and where I would like to go with my medical career. For this thread we will stick to only DO unless you know of a MD I should definitely consider.

My stats:
Nontraditional with a family. Have good spouse support, but we would need to live somewhere close to a major city for his work. Currently Florida resident but willing to relocate.

GPA: 3.45 / sGPA: 3.5
MCAT #1: 24R 9/7/8
MCAT #2: 28N 10/8/10

Have worked in the medical field (CNA, Medical Assistant) for 6 years. Loads of volunteer activities - some for kids schools, others for teaching health to students on campus. One medical mission to Guatemala.

Leaning toward family practice or emergency medicine but as I get closer I realize I know enough now to know that I dont know.

I am applying to all the florida schools including MD.

These are the schools that are on my radar. Please let me know the good, the bad and the ugly! If I am totally unqualified or will not have a chance please tell me! As you can imagine with a family and children(3) money just doesnt grow on trees. I dont want to waste it on a school I have to chance getting into.

NOVA
LECOM - BRADENTON/ERIE - both
PCOM
CUSOM
WESTERN U/COMP-CA
TUCOM-CA
VCOM-VA
GA-PCOM
UNECOM

So, what do you think? Any I missed that are good for families? Or have strong programs? Are just wonderful all around schools?

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[gmcguitar4]

Good to go for DO schools. Just get some letters of recommendation from employers or from any recent classes you did well in. Florida MD might show you some love too so def apply to those.

 

[Prncssbuttercup]

RVU is good for families...

 

[backsideattack1]

hey all! I am new member here but a long time lurker. Just got brave enough to post something.

I need a little help deciding which schools are the best for me with my stats. I will be applying mainly do with a few md tossed in. Love the do philosophy! It fits what i believe and where i would like to go with my medical career. For this thread we will stick to only do unless you know of a md i should definitely consider.

My stats:
Nontraditional with a family. Have good spouse support, but we would need to live somewhere close to a major city for his work. Currently florida resident but willing to relocate.

Gpa: 3.45 / sgpa: 3.5
mcat #1: 24r 9/7/8
mcat #2: 28n 10/8/10

have worked in the medical field (cna, medical assistant) for 6 years. Loads of volunteer activities - some for kids schools, others for teaching health to students on campus. One medical mission to guatemala.

Leaning toward family practice or emergency medicine but as i get closer i realize i know enough now to know that i dont know.

I am applying to all the florida schools including md.

These are the schools that are on my radar. Please let me know the good, the bad and the ugly! If i am totally unqualified or will not have a chance please tell me! As you can imagine with a family and children(3) money just doesnt grow on trees. I dont want to waste it on a school i have to chance getting into.

Nova
lecom - bradenton/erie - both
pcom
cusom
western u/comp-ca
tucom-ca
vcom-va
ga-pcom
unecom

so, what do you think? Any i missed that are good for families? Or have strong programs? Are just wonderful all around schools?

urm?

 

[ladybug1552]

It's far, but Western COMP-NW in Lebanon, OR is a non-trad heavy (read lots of students with families/children) school.

 

[MedSchoolMama]

Thank you so much for the suggestions!
Add RVU to my list and also Western COMP-NW.

Thanks for reminding me - I do have good letters of recommendation. From a MD, 2 science professors, 1 non science and a committee letter. Do any of these schools require a DO letter? I am trying to arrange shadowing, but with work, school and family its tough. I plan to start shadowing a DO in the summer, hopefully.

I have some research experience in a microbiology lab studying parasites in primates and also the small ribosomal subunit in select bacteria.

I am not a URM and am not considered disadvantaged. I did grow up in a rual environment but live in a suburban environment now.

When i was younger I did not take my studies seriously, had no direction, 3 small children and just did not want to be in school. That was 10 years ago. I made some mistakes including 3 Ds (English 2, Trig and Western Civilization) and lots of Cs. I can not use grade replacement for most of these becuase of slightly different descriptions and titles. My current GPA is a 3.9 and has been for 3 years. Will all of this eliminate any schools? I have heard a rumor that some schools will not consider anyone with a grade below a C. All my prereqs are As and a few B+. I am using statistics (B+) and Calculus (A) for my math credits. I dont want to apply anywhere that will not consider me because of what happened 10 years ago.

 

[hallowmann]

Thank you so much for the suggestions!
Add RVU to my list and also Western COMP-NW.

Thanks for reminding me - I do have good letters of recommendation. From a MD, 2 science professors, 1 non science and a committee letter. Do any of these schools require a DO letter? I am trying to arrange shadowing, but with work, school and family its tough. I plan to start shadowing a DO in the summer, hopefully.

I have some research experience in a microbiology lab studying parasites in primates and also the small ribosomal subunit in select bacteria.

I am not a URM and am not considered disadvantaged. I did grow up in a rual environment but live in a suburban environment now.

When i was younger I did not take my studies seriously, had no direction, 3 small children and just did not want to be in school. That was 10 years ago. I made some mistakes including 3 Ds (English 2, Trig and Western Civilization) and lots of Cs. I can not use grade replacement for most of these becuase of slightly different descriptions and titles. My current GPA is a 3.9 and has been for 3 years. Will all of this eliminate any schools? I have heard a rumor that some schools will not consider anyone with a grade below a C. All my prereqs are As and a few B+. I am using statistics (B+) and Calculus (A) for my math credits. I dont want to apply anywhere that will not consider me because of what happened 10 years ago.

Are you sure you can't use grade replacement? As long as the material is essentially the same and the credits are greater or equal to the old courses, grade replacement should work. I had to do this for a few courses that I either took at different schools or weren't offered anymore. That included courses with slightly different descriptions and titles. Obviously the more specific ones (e.g. Western Civilization) might be hard to find replacements for, but English 2 should be doable, etc.

 

[Didierdrogba]

When i was younger I did not take my studies seriously, had no direction, 3 small children and just did not want to be in school. That was 10 years ago. I made some mistakes including 3 Ds (English 2, Trig and Western Civilization) and lots of Cs. I can not use grade replacement for most of these becuase of slightly different descriptions and titles. My current GPA is a 3.9 and has been for 3 years. Will all of this eliminate any schools? I have heard a rumor that some schools will not consider anyone with a grade below a C. All my prereqs are As and a few B+. I am using statistics (B+) and Calculus (A) for my math credits.

you have a great shot for all DO schools. Despite the average MCAT, your overall GPA looks great, and good recent grades and pre req grades are ++. plus health care experience and rural upbringing.
However, your MCAT scores are low for MD schools, but still try anyway,you might luck out.
try to call around to see which schools don't require doing rotations far away, so you can stay with your family.

 

[bajastapler]

Just a heads up some DO programs won't look at your app unless you have shadowed a DO physician and have a LOR from them. I forget which schools exactly but I know it's on this forum somewhere. Try the search function. Sorry for the vagueness I'm on a smartphone and typing is apain

 

[CurtainCall2]

Thanks for reminding me - I do have good letters of recommendation. From a MD, 2 science professors, 1 non science and a committee letter. Do any of these schools require a DO letter? I am trying to arrange shadowing, but with work, school and family its tough. I plan to start shadowing a DO in the summer, hopefully.

VCOM requires a letter from a DO.

I know a lot of schools (I also applied to PCOM-GA) technically don't require one, but it is "strongly encouraged."

Don't know if this was fluke chance or related but I had a little bit of a delay in getting my LOR from my DO sent out. Once it was finally sent out and arrived at the schools, I received ii's a week later to all the schools.

 

[dododr]

I thought AZCOM was the most family friendly school I went interviewed at, it also has LA rotations. I assume living in Cali is something your interested in because of Western and Touro-CA.

As for COMP Pomona and NW, last cycle they didn't really have separate applications. They would primarily consider your app for either one school or the other. It was complicated but I would only apply to one or the other

 

[hallowmann]

Just a heads up some DO programs won't look at your app unless you have shadowed a DO physician and have a LOR from them. I forget which schools exactly but I know it's on this forum somewhere. Try the search function. Sorry for the vagueness I'm on a smartphone and typing is apain

Yes, just to name a few the following schools require a DO letter: LECOM, LECOM-B, LMU-DCOM, OSU-COM, PCSOM, RVUCOM, VCOM, and WVSOM. In addition the following schools strongly recommend a DO letter: CCOM, AZCOM, NYCOM, PCOM, PCOM-GA, PNWU-COM, TUNCOM, UNECOM, and the Westerns (the COMPs). So basically, its in every DO applicants best interest to get a DO letter (pretty much a must).

 

[MedSchoolMama]

Great! Thanks!

Thank you for the information.

I will make it a bigger priority to start shadowing a DO soon and get that letter for my application.

I am not sure about the grade replacement. I spoke with a representative at aacomas and she said that the descriptions and the credits must be the same. I have slight differences. For instance ENG 2 was English Writing and Research Paper 2, the replacement was simply English 2. Essentially they were the same class just different title. But it doesnt hurt to ask again.

I am open to any and all suggestions. AZCOM sounds wonderful. I will add it to my list.

 

[hallowmann]

Great! Thanks!

Thank you for the information.

I will make it a bigger priority to start shadowing a DO soon and get that letter for my application.

I am not sure about the grade replacement. I spoke with a representative at aacomas and she said that the descriptions and the credits must be the same. I have slight differences. For instance ENG 2 was English Writing and Research Paper 2, the replacement was simply English 2. Essentially they were the same class just different title. But it doesnt hurt to ask again.

I am open to any and all suggestions. AZCOM sounds wonderful. I will add it to my list.

Definitely get the DO letter.

Those two english courses seem the same. I would just label them as replacements, and then worst case scenario they will change it upon verification (very unlikely). Honestly if its essentially the same course (regardless of minor differences in the title/descriptions), just label them as replacements when you had bad grades in the original course. Worst case scenario they will change them on verification, but most likely they won't. I had a number of courses that I used for replacements that had different titles, but were essentially the same course, and they had no problems with them. Obviously, they should be similar level courses as well. Like you shouldn't replace a higher level course with a lower level course, etc.

Also, when she said the same, I don't think she meant verbatim. Generally the courses should be the same, and the credits of the replacement must either be equal or greater than the original.

 

[Back 5]

Yes, just to name a few the following schools require a DO letter: LECOM, LECOM-B, LMU-DCOM, OSU-COM, PCSOM, RVUCOM, VCOM, and WVSOM. In addition the following schools strongly recommend a DO letter: CCOM, AZCOM, NYCOM, PCOM, PCOM-GA, PNWU-COM, TUNCOM, UNECOM, and the Westerns (the COMPs). So basically, its in every DO applicants best interest to get a DO letter (pretty much a must).

I thought Nova Southeastern had a DO requirement.

 

[hallowmann]

I thought Nova Southeastern had a DO requirement.

That's very possible. My list is a bit old, but it was more to demonstrate that basically half of all DO programs either require/strongly recommend a DO letter, i.e. its basically a requirement for applying DO. For example, MU-COM also strongly recommends a DO letter.

Practically all schools require a physician letter and around half require/strongly recommend a DO one, so its best to get a DO one.

 

[Didierdrogba]

I thought Nova Southeastern had a DO requirement.

Absolutely not true. Granted, I had above average stats for DO schools (3.45/31) I got accepted there last year without a DO letter. (I did shadow a subspecialist DO for about 3 times though).

From the list above, I also got interview invites to LMU-DCOM, CCOM, AZCOM, PNWU, Touro-CA, Western, all without the DO letter. Can't say about the rest of them, I didn't apply to those schools.

I heard LECOM-B wants a DO letter, but if you don't have one, I heard they are able to provide it to you on your interview day.

Moral of the story: call each school and ask, and with OP's stats, I wouldn't be too worried.

 

[pinkstarr]

You should add ATSU-SOMA to the list also, tons of non-trads and students with families there. Their curriculum is a little different though (1+3). You start going to clinics your second year, you should definitely look into this school.

 

[GUH]

Yes, just to name a few the following schools require a DO letter: LECOM, LECOM-B, LMU-DCOM, OSU-COM, PCSOM, RVUCOM, VCOM, and WVSOM. In addition the following schools strongly recommend a DO letter: CCOM, AZCOM, NYCOM, PCOM, PCOM-GA, PNWU-COM, TUNCOM, UNECOM, and the Westerns (the COMPs). So basically, its in every DO applicants best interest to get a DO letter (pretty much a must).

A lot of schools are willing to overlook the lack of a DO letter for an otherwise strong applicant. I didn't have one and got into three of the schools in your "strongly recommended" category.

OP, a 28/3.5 is quite competitive for DO schools. I would be very surprised if you applied to all of the ones you listed and didn't get in somewhere.

I chose TUNCOM but am in a very different position than you regarding family and stuff so I'll refrain from a shameless plug! It is in a fairly reasonably sized metro area though.

 

[abolt18]

If you want good for family, go to KCOM. No doubt about it! I'm really serious. There are a HUGE amount students who are married with kids there. (me included coming this fall) Kirksville is extremely family-friendly, great environment for SO's and kids, plus if you find you don't like the small-town feel, you can get right back out after 2 years. In my opinion if you want a good environment for your family, this school must go on your list.

(fyi a large portion of the non-trads at KCOM are from Utah.)

 

[coolingglasses]

Statswise for DO, most if not all are within reach.

 

[AFVet07]

I would think about adding KCUMB

 

[Back 5]

Absolutely not true. Granted, I had above average stats for DO schools (3.45/31) I got accepted there last year without a DO letter. (I did shadow a subspecialist DO for about 3 times though).

From the list above, I also got interview invites to LMU-DCOM, CCOM, AZCOM, PNWU, Touro-CA, Western, all without the DO letter. Can't say about the rest of them, I didn't apply to those schools.

I heard LECOM-B wants a DO letter, but if you don't have one, I heard they are able to provide it to you on your interview day.

Moral of the story: call each school and ask, and with OP's stats, I wouldn't be too worried.

My apologies. I thought Nova was the school who would sit you down with a DO and have them write you a letter if they wanted to accept you and you didn't have one. Perhaps this is LECOM?

Or am I making this up

 

[touchpause13]

Back5: ur thinking of lecom b, also sidenote tight 5 is better

Mods: please move to wamc

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[survivordo]

As mentioned above, you are going to be a very strong DO candidate and I fully see you getting in somewhere. To push you over the top definitely get a DO LOR, it will make it much easier on you . Glad to hear that you are going to DO school because you enjoy the philosophy!

Survivor DO

 

[Back 5]

Back5: ur thinking of lecom b, also sidenote tight 5 is better

Sent from my SCH-I405 using SDN Mobile

You know, I've slapped a guy for a much less offensive statement It's alright though, forwards were never the brightest crayon in the box.

 

[touchpause13]

You know, I've slapped a guy for a much less offensive statement It's alright though, forwards were never the brightest crayon in the box.

TBH I'm not exactly sure what you guys do back there... you know if your hair isn't messed up by the end of the match your not doing it right

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[MedSchoolMama]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! I appreciate it. I am going to do a bit more research into some of the schools you suggested.

Its exciting to even think about applying!

 

[as1212559]

Strongly consider schools where many of the students rotate in nearby hospitals, unless you want to be moving your family around repeatedly. I would look at KCUMB if I were you.