similar problem?

[squeakyuk]

My husband and I are graduating next year with our BAs. We're then returning home to MA and he'll be going to grad school to get his PhD (which will take 5 years). I need to take a couple years off to take pre-med classes (went to college in England so need to have grades in US on top of the fact that I can't take any of the science classes anyway). But after those 2 years I want to go to med school.

The only problem is I'm kind of restricted as to where I can apply. We can stay in MA at my in-laws for free basically (just give them a few hundred a month towards food & utils) and my husband will be in the middle of getting his PhD so we can't leave MA really. So I'm left with only really being able to apply to the 4 med schools in Mass. (Harvard, Tufts, BU & UMass), and they're all big ones that seem impossible to get into. It's just all very overwhelming really. And because of being in the UK and not being used to the system as well as having an infant to raise our first year, my GPA was a 2.5 (which was pretty good considering all the stresses that year).

Anyone else 'stuck' in a certain area? Or have any sort of advice? I really don't want to have to take like 5 or 6 years out while my husband gets his PhD, but I don't know if he could transfer and relocate for my school needs.

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[AZCOMstudentdoc]

The only problem is I'm kind of restricted as to where I can apply. We can stay in MA at my in-laws for free basically (just give them a few hundred a month towards food & utils) and my husband will be in the middle of getting his PhD so we can't leave MA really. So I'm left with only really being able to apply to the 4 med schools in Mass. (Harvard, Tufts, BU & UMass), and they're all big ones that seem impossible to get into. It's just all very overwhelming really. And because of being in the UK and not being used to the system as well as having an infant to raise our first year, my GPA was a 2.5 (which was pretty good considering all the stresses that year).

Anyone else 'stuck' in a certain area? Or have any sort of advice? I really don't want to have to take like 5 or 6 years out while my husband gets his PhD, but I don't know if he could transfer and relocate for my school needs.

I was in the same boat...but I only had my state allo school and 1 DO school (my wife...who will support the family financially while I am in school...has a great job here in AZ...not practical to relocate...even though I did apply to other schools in cities / state where we had strong family ties).

I was accepted at AZCOM.

You are right about the schools in MA. One option might be to try DO schools close-by...UNECOM and NYCOM. They might be close enough for you 2 to make it work and you would almost certainly increase your chances of getting accepted to med school.

 

[calliMD]

Are any out-of-state schools close enough to commute to by train? (I'm just asking because I don't know the MA area very well). If there are, it's very doable just to commute each morning and evening, taking the train ride time to study and/or sleep. Since your in-laws are in MA, they can watch your child for you during the hours you're in school and commuting back and forth. Sounds difficult, but I knew of a girl that did this exact thing. She lived in San Diego and took the train everyday to Los Angeles for class. Of course she had to wake up at a god forsaken hour every morning, but she said it wasn't that bad if she used her commuting time wisely. During exams, she would rent a hotel room near school for the week to concentrate more fully on studying. She wasn't AOA or anything, but she received passing marks and with her family and everything to take care of, she was more than satisfied with that.

 

[.edu-MD]

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[squeakyuk]

Thanks for the advice.

My husband is getting his degree in Marine Biology and should be going to UMass Dartmouth out on the Cape (which is still an hour away).

We live close to boston (so NY/CT is out of the question... maybe if we were in Western Mass). Dartmouth in NH is about 2 hours (1 way) and Brown in RI is about an hour. These are both top schools I believe (I'll have to check the class stats) but when it comes to applying in a couple years I'll just have to give it a shot (just need an interview so I can explain the 2.5 or so my first year).

Our poor son is never going to see his parents. At least he'll be like 5 by then and in school as well. And hey, he's getting the 1st 3 years of his life with both of us around all the time so that's what matters I guess.