Questions please help

[beckhunter116]

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Hey Everyone,

I am looking for some answers to some questions I have. If I were to go to DO school, after finishing do you have to do the year of rotating internships before a residency? I think I read on here that a lot of residencies include this year in the total number of years you are there.

I am very interested in IM, or FP something along those lines, but how do you deal with the huge amount of debt 250K-300K? I know there was a thread on this, but a lot of people said think of it later. As a slightly older student I can't just think of everything later on, I need to make more practical decisions (at least I feel this way).

Last, (for now) I am in the situation of lacking a lot of volunteer/EC hours. I plan on heavily concentrating on this in the next few months and all next yr if not accepted. I don't have these hours though because I had to work to put myself through school and didn't get any family support. I guess I'm just worried about it looking bad that I am only volunteering now, but really I have no idea how I previously could have and remained sane through school. I'm not a party person, but the little free time I had I liked to socialize or read books, go the the movies, ect. Are ADCOM's open to this? Meaning that as soon as I could volunteer I did.

Thank you and please post! I love getting opinions on this so I know how I stand.

 

[307Doc]

Hey Everyone,

I am looking for some answers to some questions I have. If I were to go to DO school, after finishing do you have to do the year of rotating internships before a residency? I think I read on here that a lot of residencies include this year in the total number of years you are there.

I am very interested in IM, or FP something along those lines, but how do you deal with the huge amount of debt 250K-300K? I know there was a thread on this, but a lot of people said think of it later. As a slightly older student I can't just think of everything later on, I need to make more practical decisions (at least I feel this way).

Last, (for now) I am in the situation of lacking a lot of volunteer/EC hours. I plan on heavily concentrating on this in the next few months and all next yr if not accepted. I don't have these hours though because I had to work to put myself through school and didn't get any family support. I guess I'm just worried about it looking bad that I am only volunteering now, but really I have no idea how I previously could have and remained sane through school. I'm not a party person, but the little free time I had I liked to socialize or read books, go the the movies, ect. Are ADCOM's open to this? Meaning that as soon as I could volunteer I did.

Thank you and please post! I love getting opinions on this so I know how I stand.

Q1. You only have to do a traditional internship before your residency if you want to practice in the 5 states that have the requirement. Which five those are I'm not sure but It's been discussed many times so a search would be very effective.
Q2. As for debt, yes you will have a bunch of debt anywhere you go unless you get in your state school then the debt should be reasonablly less. I'm a first year and this is a major concern of mine as well. I too want to go into FP. I was talking with one of the Chief residents at the fp residency here in town and he is moving back to the pacific west/mountain west. He signed a contract were they will pay off half of his debt in return for a three year contract. He will recieve a competive salary as well. If he choses to sign another contract for three more years they will pay off the rest of his loans. So if you are worried about money there are bunches of places that will get into loan forgiveness with you. Many underserved states and communities are happy to pay for your education if you will practice there.
Q3. As long as you've done some activities that are outside of school, to show you aren't just about the books you'll be fine. Each ADCOM is looking for different things. Good luck. Hope I helped.

 

[TeamZissou]

If you are sure that your interested in primary care, quite a few of the schools I have interviewed at have given us some information pertaining to programs where if you commit to practicing primary care they will cover your expenses. This is an EXCELLENT way to go if your sure you want to do primary care. The best way to get info on that is probably to contact the financial aid at some of the schools you've applied to and they can tell you about programs specific to that school or state.

(The AZCOM program for primary care was one put on by the state of AZ note by AZCOM).

Hope that helps 🙂

 

[alb565s]

307Doc said it right. There a lots of programs to help with loan repayment and/or medical centers which will offer to payback your loans in exchange for a contract of service. At KCOM they had a financial presentation that talked about a bunch of opportunities for "forgivable" loans if you agree to work in an underserved area for X amount of years.

I would recommend volunteering at a few different places. Remember, each volunteering activity gives you another entry on your AACOMAS/ACMAS.

 

[beckhunter116]

Could someone post that link for AACOM, I've looked on the site and I can't seem to find that page. Thanks.

 

[scpod]

Q1. You only have to do a traditional internship before your residency if you want to practice in the 5 states that have the requirement. Which five those are I'm not sure but It's been discussed many times so a search would be very effective.
....

That's a little misleading. The only osteopathic residencies which require a separate internship are Dermatology, Occupational/Preventive Medicine, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Proctology. In all other fields either your first year of residency counts as an internship year or you match into a linked program where you get an internship and automatically go into the residency afterward. There are, however 5 states ( I believe Floridaa, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia) that require you to have done either an osteopathic residency or an osteopathic rotating internship for licensing. Note that it is still possible to petition for an ACGME first year to count under certain conditions.

 

[TeamZissou]

Could someone post that link for AACOM, I've looked on the site and I can't seem to find that page. Thanks.

Here is the info they gave me in my interview...

Arizona Medical Student Loan Program
-Competitive, forgivable loan
-Full tuition and a living allowance of $20,000
- Service commitment requirement
- AZ resident for 1 year
- Committed to primary care: (Family practice, Internal medicine, Pediatrics, Obstetrics, Gynecology or combined Medicine/Pediatrics)
- Practice in underserved area in the State of Arizona
- Refer to MWU website for additional information

The MWU financial aid email address is [email protected]
either that or [email protected]

Hope that helps!🙂