Med School Acceptance Dependant on Financial Standings?

[chudat]

I have been accept to a few schools. However, my friend, who has similar stats as me, is still waiting. Sometimes I wonder if him being on state-assisted housing has to do with him not being accepted yet.

So I guess I want to ask if your financial background has anything to do with med school acceptances. Obviously they would rather have you pay them instead of them giving away financial help. Is there any correlation?

Dan

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[psy]

None that I know of. I'm probably poorer than your friend there, at least he has some money even if that is state assistance. However, schools like to see its applicants with a job and some security.

 

[DrMidlife]

Schools couldn't care less about a job or financial security or your credit rating or whether you grew up in the projects on welfare. I don't know what psy is talking about. Have any admitted applicants seen financial questions on AACOMAS or secondaries or in interviews? Didn't think so.

Your financial situation only matters in med school if you have a bad credit rating and/or bankruptcy, and even then you can probably still get federal loans. If you've defaulted on credit cards or whatnot and your credit score is crap, then don't assume you can get private loans. Which you may or may not need.

Being broke and independent is awesome in undergrad - this sets you up for need-based assistance. But in med school there's no need-based assistance, just merit-based.

 

[psy]

I was referring to the the interviews where the adcom asks what you are doing now that you are out of school. They ask this to find out that you aren't being a lazy bum, but other than this it doesn't matter. You can do volunteer work or taking some R&R from school because you just graduated. They will never ask you how much you make or how much savings you have. Like DrMidlife said, they couldn't careless.

 

[stonewall22]

I have been accept to a few schools. However, my friend, who has similar stats as me, is still waiting. Sometimes I wonder if him being on state-assisted housing has to do with him not being accepted yet.

So I guess I want to ask if your financial background has anything to do with med school acceptances. Obviously they would rather have you pay them instead of them giving away financial help. Is there any correlation?

Dan

How would they even know? And not many schools give away money, it comes from the govt (usually) or banks in the form of loans.

 

[ShyRem]

Getting into medical school is more than stats. Is his PS the EXACT SAME as yours? Did he take the EXACT SAME CLASSES and get the EXACT SAME GRADES? Are his LORs written EXACTLY like yours? Does he have the EXACT same ECs? And if he got interviews, did he answer and handle himself/herself in the EXACT same manner as you did? If you can't say "yes" to those questions, then your applications are totally different and your question is moot.

What I'm saying here is you can't ask this question about two applicants unless they are identical in almost every way. Only then can you say there is some discrimination regarding a point - in this case financial need.

 

[Chocolate Bear]

Getting into medical school is more than stats. Is his PS the EXACT SAME as yours? Did he take the EXACT SAME CLASSES and get the EXACT SAME GRADES? Are his LORs written EXACTLY like yours? Does he have the EXACT same ECs? And if he got interviews, did he answer and handle himself/herself in the EXACT same manner as you did? If you can't say "yes" to those questions, then your applications are totally different and your question is moot.

What I'm saying here is you can't ask this question about two applicants unless they are identical in almost every way. Only then can you say there is some discrimination regarding a point - in this case financial need.

You saved me 5 minutes of thinking and typing. Thanks!

 

[AlexiR]

If he played up that he comes from a disadvantage/poor background, and/or indicated that on the application, then most schools love that...they want diversity (including socioeconomic). If he's working a 40 hr/wk job (even if he's working at McDonalds) to support his familiy (mom, dad, etc), schools will not look down on that.

Maybe he should give some of the admissions offices a call. I did that for Western and it turned out that they were missing something from my application (it was misplaced). Had I not called, I wouldn't have heard from them for a while (and I just got accepted).

Plus, some if not all D.O. schools have instutional scholarships (altho small amounts), and you usually have to submit parental financial info to qualify for these....so he would likely qualify for these as well.

 

[cliquesh]

Georgetown Medical School investigates your credit history before allowing you to attend. If you fail the credit check but qualify for acceptance, you have one year to improve your credit situation or the acceptance will be revoked.

 

[NurWollen]

How would they even know? And not many schools give away money, it comes from the govt (usually) or banks in the form of loans.

My thought exactly... anyway, even if they did find out, wouldn't him being from a disadvantaged background help him out?