Transferring between schools

[obiwan]

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I was just wondering if any of you guys know from personal experience or through the grapevine how difficult it is to transfer between medical schools after your basic science years. Does there have to be an important reason and what sort of of things do they look at it for transfer acceptance. BTW, I am currently at a Texas med school and am thinking about transferring to another TX school that I was rejected from when I applied for matriculation. thanks

 

[Law2Doc]

I was just wondering if any of you guys know from personal experience or through the grapevine how difficult it is to transfer between medical schools after your basic science years. Does there have to be an important reason and what sort of of things do they look at it for transfer acceptance. BTW, I am currently at a Texas med school and am thinking about transferring to another TX school that I was rejected from when I applied for matriculation. thanks

You usually have to have a good reason (most frequently family related) and the school to which you are interested in attending has to have a slot. And you have to be a better applicant than whoever else is hoping to make a transfer to that school. From what I've heard it's fairly low odds to get where you want -- not like undergrad at all. What is your reason?

 

[njbmd]

I was just wondering if any of you guys know from personal experience or through the grapevine how difficult it is to transfer between medical schools after your basic science years. Does there have to be an important reason and what sort of of things do they look at it for transfer acceptance. BTW, I am currently at a Texas med school and am thinking about transferring to another TX school that I was rejected from when I applied for matriculation. thanks

Transfer applications are generally successful when there is a compelling reason for the transfer such as your spouse attends the school and you have been away from each other or you need to be closer to family/spouse because of the financial hardship of maintaining a distance relationship. Not liking your school or (wanting to be at another school ) are not compelling reasons for transfer.

In general, both schools have to be in favor of the transfer. You need to contact your dean of students (because you have to be in good standing at your school) and the dean of students at the school that you wish to transfer into and inform them of your reasons. The school that you wish to enter also needs to have space for you.

Many school that accept transfers, require that you take and pass Step I before your transfer application is considered. Be sure that take care of this matter if you need to do this. Good luck!

 

[Timmythemic22]

What about a situation where you were a victim of crime on multiple occasions, and you want to transfer into a safer area? One thing, the school I would think to transfer to is in another state.

 

[45408]

What about a situation where you were a victim of crime on multiple occasions, and you want to transfer into a safer area? One thing, the school I would think to transfer to is in another state.

As much as that sucks for you, I don't think any schools would find that a compelling reason to accept your transfer.

 

[Blade28]

As much as that sucks for you, I don't think any schools would find that a compelling reason to accept your transfer.

Agreed.

4 1/2 months into my MS-I year, my car was stolen from my apartment's parking lot. It was never found.

But you just gotta move on.

 

[45408]

On that note though, if these crimes occurred near your school, you should definitely talk to your administration. My med school has a pretty good public safety department with uniformed employees walking around all the time, and they monitor the parking lots fairly closely. If you need an escort for a walk into a dark parking lot, you can ask. My undergrad was even better. We had our own actual police force with squad cars, and we also had school minivans that would pick you up or drop you off after dark, anywhere within a several mile radius of the school.

 

[Blade28]

On that note though, if these crimes occurred near your school, you should definitely talk to your administration. My med school has a pretty good public safety department with uniformed employees walking around all the time, and they monitor the parking lots fairly closely. If you need an escort for a walk into a dark parking lot, you can ask. My undergrad was even better. We had our own actual police force with squad cars, and we also had school minivans that would pick you up or drop you off after dark, anywhere within a several mile radius of the school.

Although I lived less than 15 minutes away from my med school, the university didn't offer any such protection. 🙁

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Yale lets you transfer for research reasons if you're getting a Ph.D. If you are an outstanding medical student however I'd imagine schools may feel more compelled to poach you.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

What about a situation where you were a victim of crime on multiple occasions, and you want to transfer into a safer area? One thing, the school I would think to transfer to is in another state.

I would guess that if you were a victim of an assault on or near the campus, you might get more consideration. If you were the victim of something like a sexual assault on or very near to campus, I would see that a good reason to transfer. Property crime is probably not so compelling.

 

[Blade28]

I would guess that if you were a victim of an assault on or near the campus, you might get more consideration. If you were the victim of something like a sexual assault on or very near to campus, I would see that a good reason to transfer. Property crime is probably not so compelling.

Agreed.

 

[Corker]

This is a related question, though not exactly the same as the thread.

Do med schools give any consideration to applicants based on a spouse already being enrolled in that medical school? In other words, one student is admitted, then the spouse applies the next year...given the spouse has a good app, would the marriage be considered at all? Just curious.

 

[Law2Doc]

This is a related question, though not exactly the same as the thread.

Do med schools give any consideration to applicants based on a spouse already being enrolled in that medical school? In other words, one student is admitted, then the spouse applies the next year...given the spouse has a good app, would the marriage be considered at all? Just curious.

Are we talking first time applicants or transfers? Some schools certainly consider this for first time applicants. But you'd still need a compelling reason for a transfer.

 

[Timmythemic22]

Damn...what are the reasons that make it so difficult to transfer between med schools?

If someone was hypothetically unhappy with their medical school, wouldn't it be a disservice to them and the entire community to force them to continue to learn and practice in an environment that may make them miserable?

I'm more curious than anything about this now.

 

[45408]

Damn...what are the reasons that make it so difficult to transfer between med schools?

If someone was hypothetically unhappy with their medical school, wouldn't it be a disservice to them and the entire community to force them to continue to learn and practice in an environment that may make them miserable?

I'm more curious than anything about this now.

They generally try to discourage people from doing it for random reasons, like getting into Podunk State U and then trying to transfer into Harvard because of the name. Schools fill up their classes almost 100% of the time, and adding an extra student means they need to find more preceptors, rotations, etc. It's really not their problem if you don't like it somewhere else, but some will accomodate you if your mother lives next door and is gravely ill with a terminal disease or if your spouse is transferred for work.

 

[Law2Doc]

Damn...what are the reasons that make it so difficult to transfer between med schools?

If it were up to the med schools there would be no transfers at all. That they allow a couple a year for good reasons is already a huge concession. Not only do med schools not want folks to try jockying from one school to another (for prestige reasons, etc), and don't want to be accused of poaching students from other schools, but to a large extent schools spend a ton of time in admissions going through applications, creating a class that is diverse, balanced, a good fit, etc. When people transfer in and out, that all goes by the wayside. As Prowler has indicated, the classes are full (give or take a percent or two who drop out) and so the numbers need to be carefully managed so that they have adequate space in rotations. This gets complicated because people take time off, take research years, do PhD or joint degree years, and so are constantly falling back into and out of the class ranks. So logistically it is helpful if the number stays constant for all 4 years. Plus not all schools cover the same things in the same way and in the same years, so letting people transfer before Step 1 can leave huge gaps in people's education. Finally, and importantly, a school's reputation is tethered to the abilities and actions of its graduates, and so a school prefers to limit its graduates primarilly to those it actually educates all the way through. If someone has huge educational shortcomings down the road, they don't want to assume the blame of another institution.

 

[njbmd]

Damn...what are the reasons that make it so difficult to transfer between med schools?

If someone was hypothetically unhappy with their medical school, wouldn't it be a disservice to them and the entire community to force them to continue to learn and practice in an environment that may make them miserable?

I'm more curious than anything about this now.

When transfers occur, they occur for good reasons and not for "I don't like my school". First of all, there are very few slots for people to transfer into and second, most schools will insert people who are on LOA before they will seek outside students if the rare opening does occur.

Most graduate-level professional schools do not have much of an attrition rate. Those that do, wind up losing accreditation. Transferring has nothing to do with preserving "happiness" but more of a supply and demand.