Transfer Question...DO student

[PACtoDOC]

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I need some of you with experience with this issue to chime in and give me your honest opinion. I am a second year student at a DO school and due to extenuating family circumstances, I may need to transfer out of state. My wife has a chronic medical condition that has been making it harder and harder for her to care for our 2 little ones, but this last year we had to take on the burden of basically raising her sister's two kids as well. See, their mother died recently and her sister who is no longer a minor had to move down here to live because the house had to be sold back home. Her sister is basicially a wanderer who leaves us high and dry with the kids quite often, but out of love for them we raise them as if they are ours. I have actually had to increase the number of shifts I work outside of medical school to pay the bills for all these people now( I still work under my PA license), but my wife is not going to be able to do it all without my help when 3rd year comes in June and requires my presence all the time on rotations. My wife needs her families' help to get through the next two years, but I am not about to pack up my family and send them to live 2000 miles away without me. So, I am applying for a transfer to the 3 schools nearest my wife's home town. In case you are wondering, my wife is a very brittle type I diabetic and will be considered for a pancreatic transplant in the future if she meets study criteria. But that aside, do you think my situation is worthy of a "transfer due to extenuating circumstances or hardship"? I would so much prefer to stay right where I am so that I can graduate at my current school which I think is incredible, but my families' needs come first.

Here are my stats if it makes any difference. They may not make much sense, but I will explain them after I list them.

Undergrad degree and Masters degree in PA Studies
undergrade GPA 3.9 grad GPA 4.0
science GPA 4.0
4 years of PA practice experience prior to applying for med school

Med School GPA through 1.5 years- 94.5
Class Rank- 3rd out of 124
MCAT- 23

As you see, my package is okay without the MCAT score. I took the MCAT before I had actually taken physics or organic, because as a PA I had not taken these courses. I actually took a chance and took the MCAT without having them knowing my bio and gen chem were up to speed to get me a possible look. It worked, because I got interviews and acceptances at both MD and DO schools. My interviewers always asked about the MCAT, but once I explained it they all liked me anyway. Then I took organic and physics the year before I started med school while interviewing and all, and at each interview, I told them that my MCAT would obviously go up after having had these courses. Luck paid off, and as I said, they took me anyway. So I never had to retake the MCAT due to all my other attributes. However, now I am stuck with that crappy score as the only bad piece of anything on my application. DO you think it will be possible to explain it away once again especially after seeing my other stats? I am applying to one DO program and 2 MD programs that all accept DO transfers into 3rd year. I was just hoping to hear what some of you thought about this. I would still actually prefer to stay DO but I am not putting all my eggs in one basket. I am also a National Health Service Corps Scholar so the cost of the school is pretty much irrelevant regardless, so private and public are both of interest to me. I am looking at the Phili area because that is a short drive from my wife's hometown in rural PA. I am also planning to go ahead and take the USMLE step I in March, early, so I can have it ready for the schools to look at. I expect to do very well on it because last year after 1st year I had the top score in our school on the GSBS exam which is that nationwide proctored exam that is actually an old USMLE. My score breakdown was a 70% and that was before taking 2nd year courses, and that score was only one of a couple in my class that would have actually passed that USMLE if it had been official. So I know you think I am crazy for taking it early, but I can pull it off and get hopefully above a 220-230. I could do even better if I took longer to study but for transfer purposes I have a strict timeline.

Well, I hope you all had as blessed a Thanksgiving as I had and I look forward to hearing your responses. Please though, don't post any belittling remarks about DO MD transfer because I am one of those people who chose my school not because it was a DO school, but because it was my favorite school in the area I wanted to live. And for transfer purposes, I will do the same thing. So, if any of you know much about the transfer process at Temple, PCOM, and Drexel, I would love to hear from you.

Thanks in advance.

MJM

 

[deleted6669]

matt- sorry to hear about your situation. I went to pa school at drexel( it was hahnemann then). they seemed to also have a fairly strong md program. drexel is in a much nicer neighborhood than temple for what it is worth. pcom is a great school and if I were in your shoes I would probably try to go there first to try and stay D.O.
best of luck-e

 

[PACtoDOC]

thanks -E!

 

[Su4n2]

PAC,

i am sorry i can't help you but i really want to commend you for putting your wife ahead of what you want. i hope that schools will see that u ahve mainatined such an amazing gpa with such difficult circumstances. you should definately include ALL the above reasons in your application. i can't imagine that they won't take you. good luck!!!!!

 

[ckent]

I know nothing about the transfer process at those schools, but I would just encourage you to set up meetings with the dean of student affairs/ dean of admissions at those schools to explain your situation in person as well as in writing. Med schools, for the most part, are run by compassionate and understanding people that realize there are larger concerns then where your degree comes from. There are always people dropping out between first and fourth year, so I suspect that it won't be that much of a problem.

 

[awdc]

PAC,

Sorry to hear about your circumstances but despite it all, you have an amazing record. Like most others, I know nothing about transfers to those schools. But I agree with ckent, just go straight to the deans of those schools and explain your situation in full. They'd be blind to not try and make a seat available for you. Best wishes to you and your family.

 

[kcrd]

MJM,
I don't know much about the transfer process, but I can tell you that last year we did get one transfer student in my second year from an international medical school. So, don't despair, because I don't think it is as rare an occurance as people think.

Good luck, and keep us posted!