Rural Medicine Scholarship

[YoungDoc25]

I have the opportunity to sign a contract with my instate school that provides me with a $16k scholarship each year and moves me to the top of the list for an acceptance. The contract requires me to work in a rural/underserved community for each year I accept the scholarship (4 years), and I have to do "primary care". However, they define primary care as FM, IM, Peds, IM/Peds, Geriatrics, OB/GYN, EM, and General Surgery. The last three I'm very interested in, but I am also not against the true primary care specialties like FM and IM. The school does not interfere with where you do your residency, and you don't have to select a town before signing the contract. It's all figured out post graduation/residency.

I am from a rural area in my state, so rural medicine doesn't sound crazy to me. I was actually planning on doing it part time, if not full time, after graduating. My question is if it's worth doing in regards to contracts I could get offered after residency anyway. I am a competitive applicant for my school, but the basically guaranteed acceptance is very motivational.

I have also applied to DO schools (was told I will be accepted by my instate DO school at the interview last week) where those specialties listed above are realistically all I would be able to (maybe) achieve, but I'd be paying $50k a year. I could do the same at my MD school for ~$15k a year.

Would love to hear opinions on my situation.. Thanks in advance!

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[smq123]

I have the opportunity to sign a contract with my instate school that provides me with a $16k scholarship each year and moves me to the top of the list for an acceptance. The contract requires me to work in a rural/underserved community for each year I accept the scholarship (4 years), and I have to do "primary care". However, they define primary care as FM, IM, Peds, IM/Peds, Geriatrics, OB/GYN, EM, and General Surgery. The last three I'm very interested in, but I am also not against the true primary care specialties like FM and IM. The school does not interfere with where you do your residency, and you don't have to select a town before signing the contract. It's all figured out post graduation/residency.

I am from a rural area in my state, so rural medicine doesn't sound crazy to me. I was actually planning on doing it part time, if not full time, after graduating. My question is if it's worth doing in regards to contracts I could get offered after residency anyway. I am a competitive applicant for my school, but the basically guaranteed acceptance is very motivational.

I have also applied to DO schools (was told I will be accepted by my instate DO school at the interview last week) where those specialties listed above are realistically all I would be able to (maybe) achieve, but I'd be paying $50k a year. I could do the same at my MD school for ~$15k a year.

Would love to hear opinions on my situation.. Thanks in advance!

This sounds like a pretty good deal - 16K scholarship for an in-state, MD degree. As long as it is a school that you feel you will be reasonably happy at (i.e. like the location, like the curriculum, don't hate the fellow students), then I think it sounds like a good situation.

You should probably clarify a few things. How do they define "rural"? How do they define "underserved"? And what are the penalties if you wake up one day and decide that you were meant to be a dermatologist? How do they ensure that you will actually follow through on your obligations?

You could conceivably get a contract after residency that offers to pay back some of your loans, but it probably wouldn't be that much better than what you're being offered now. It would probably be along the lines of $50K for 2 years of employment, but then you would have accrued quite a bit of interest on your loans, so you have more to pay off.

 

[YoungDoc25]

This sounds like a pretty good deal - 16K scholarship for an in-state, MD degree. As long as it is a school that you feel you will be reasonably happy at (i.e. like the location, like the curriculum, don't hate the fellow students), then I think it sounds like a good situation.

You should probably clarify a few things. How do they define "rural"? How do they define "underserved"? And what are the penalties if you wake up one day and decide that you were meant to be a dermatologist? How do they ensure that you will actually follow through on your obligations?

You could conceivably get a contract after residency that offers to pay back some of your loans, but it probably wouldn't be that much better than what you're being offered now. It would probably be along the lines of $50K for 2 years of employment, but then you would have accrued quite a bit of interest on your loans, so you have more to pay off.

I absolutely love the school. It's my #1 school by far! Tons of friends that are current students there too.

I talked to the program director on the phone and she said any town in my state of ~20k or less. Luckily, my state has probably ~10-15 regional hospitals sprinkled into towns that fit the description and she said they all would qualify. The penalty would be that the scholarship turns into a loan for the maximum interest rate they can get (she wasn't sure what that actual percent was but said it would be in the contract that's mailed out in February). If I was waitlisted and then accepted, I have to go through with the contract or else I pay a hefty penalty and lose my license (the contract moves you to the top of the waitlist to be accepted, so that's fair IMO).

I asked some of the physicians at the hospital I work at and they said pretty much the same thing as you as far as contracts go. Some said the scholarship may end up being better when you factor in interest.



Sidenote; I have been accepted at a DO school that has mandatory attendance and a dress code (neither of which I'm fond of and are not found at this MD school), and they require a $2k down payment by mid February. I know it probably wouldn't be smart to pass on the payment, but I am tempted to with this rural program and the fact that the DO school has ridiculous policies. I won't hear back from my MD school until February 20th at the earliest though..