transfer from one US allopathic to another?

[noodle pudding]

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Does anyone have any info on transferring or know a good source of information? I'm a MS1 and am pretty unhappy with my school. It's not a bad school as far as rankings (top 30). But it's going through a lot of changes, implementing a new curriculum, and just not the right fit for me. I've done some quick research on places that accept transfers after 1st or 2nd year. Anyone know how difficult the process is? My first thought was to look at the other schools where I was accepted to see if I could transfer there. Of course, it's difficult to know if I'll be any happier at another school. But I have some real problems with my current school that I think would be different elsewhere.

I'd love to transfer after this year. But I'm afraid the curriculum doesn't match perfectly with any other school, so there would definitely be holes. So it seems more realistic to transfer after 2nd year.

Has anyone been through this before? It would make sense for me to go speak with someone in my dean's office. But they're also the people who write letters of recommendation, and I don't want to put myself in a bad position if I end up staying.

 

[Pianoboe01]

Does anyone have any info on transferring or know a good source of information? I'm a MS1 and am pretty unhappy with my school. It's not a bad school as far as rankings (top 30). But it's going through a lot of changes, implementing a new curriculum, and just not the right fit for me. I've done some quick research on places that accept transfers after 1st or 2nd year. Anyone know how difficult the process is? My first thought was to look at the other schools where I was accepted to see if I could transfer there. Of course, it's difficult to know if I'll be any happier at another school. But I have some real problems with my current school that I think would be different elsewhere.

I'd love to transfer after this year. But I'm afraid the curriculum doesn't match perfectly with any other school, so there would definitely be holes. So it seems more realistic to transfer after 2nd year.

Has anyone been through this before? It would make sense for me to go speak with someone in my dean's office. But they're also the people who write letters of recommendation, and I don't want to put myself in a bad position if I end up staying.

If you're really wanting to transfer schools, I would call up the schools you're interested in and find out their specific process and conditions for transfer. I know it can be done. FYI, my school takes transfers into 2nd or 3rd year: http://medicine.iu.edu/body.cfm?id=174&oTopID=174

However, it seems like you're mainly having issues with your school's curriculum -- is this just for the first 2 years or for all 4 years? If it turns out that you can't transfer until after 2nd year anyway, maybe you would be happy staying at your school for 3rd and 4th year??

 

[deleted77919]

maybe you would be happy staying at your school for 3rd and 4th year??

Agreed.

Further, it will be really hard to transfer based on "I don't like the curriculum." Better would be "I married a med student at another school," or "my mom is dying of cancer so I need to be closer to take care of her."

A school will only let you transfer into an open spot left from a student decelerating, dying, dropping out, transfering, etc. Most schools only consider students after they have passed Step I, for the reason you mentioned, because few curricula will mesh perfectly you could cover some things twice, but worse also have gaping holes in your knowledge base.

 

[noodle pudding]

Further, it will be really hard to transfer based on "I don't like the curriculum." Better would be "I married a med student at another school," or "my mom is dying of cancer so I need to be closer to take care of her."

Yeah, that's what I figured but wasn't sure about. It makes sense that schools might be reluctant to give a spot to someone just because they're not happy with the way the curriculum is structured. Who's the say I'm not just a whiner?

Also a good point that things may be better in years 3 and 4. I hope that's the case. Part of what I don't like is being the guinea pig for a brand new curriculum. Everything at my school is being revamped and at the moment, there's a lot of confusion and lack of clarity. I know they'll keep tweaking the changes until they have things in good shape. But I'll be gone before the first/second round of changes.

 

[yeahok]

like the posts above said, its probably gonna be pretty hard to transfer to another school between 1st and 2nd year, the majority of schools only allow transfers between 2nd and 3rd years (after completing basic sciences and passing step 1). Also, IF they have an open spot for a transfer student, it's usually based on "compassionate reason for transfer" which means like the post above said, spouse is there or parent is ill, etc.

so basically, you say ur at a good school (top 30) and ur finishing up 1st year. you probably won't be able to transfer until after 2nd year, which probably wouldn't be worthwhile anyway cuz 3rd and 4th year are probably just the same as any school ur gonna transfer to. so i would say just put up with it for another year and u'll be ok.

i'm in the middle of applying for transfer to somewhere else bc my wife is going to school there. its kinda rough, only one position open and many people wanting it. anyway, good luck.😎

Edit: I'm in the guinea pig class for my school's new curriculum too, so I know how u feel.

 

[Critical Mass]

MS 3/4 are far more "standardized" among medical schools. I would tend to think that moving between MS 1 and 2 would cause more harm than good because you'd never know if board material got left out in the switch (e.g. some schools put stuff like micro in M1, others M2). Stick to the board review materials and you'll be golden.

I'd just stick it out. As previously noted, transferring is almost impossible. I am also unimpressed by my school, but giving up in-state tuition is not something that I'm willing to do in any case.

BTW, feel free to flame your school on SDN. I'll pretend to be a student there and join in on the flames. Your name/profile look pretty anonymous so you shouldn't be in too much danger.

 

[TheMightyAngus]

What schools are you considering transferring into?