Transferring to Yale School of Medicine

[noah_fence]

I was recently fortunate enough to be accepted into medical school in Canada. However, the PI I have been working with for the last two years is based at Yale. As I am getting involved in more projects, it would be better if I could be there in person to continue my work (I would have applied to Yale last cycle except I took the MCAT in September of last year). I was wondering if anyone knew what the Yale transfer process was as I know there have been previous transfers to Yale but I do not see anything about the process on their website. Would needing to work with a PI be a good enough reason to transfer next year? If it helps, my PI is a very highly cited prof at Yale who said he would be willing to vouch for me and I have co-authored a paper in JAMA under his mentorship. I also have decent stats (3.96/516) and diverse ECs.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[chilly_md]

No, the more reasonable approach would be to see that it is time to find someone else to do research with if you can't collaborate remotely.

Transfers are exceptionally rare, and when they do occur, are for more personal and significant reasons than you feeling attached to an old PI. If Yale were to take any, they likely would come from a peer institution on top of that.

Seems like you want a re-do for your app:

.

.

forums.studentdoctor.net

 

[LloydChristmasMD]

I knew a guy who had a dying mother in the city of a school he tried to transfer to. He got denied. Your chances of receiving a transfer are exceptionally slim.

 

[Goro]

. Would needing to work with a PI be a good enough reason to transfer next year?

Nope

 

[LizzyM]

Transfers are generally accepted only after the first 2 years of med school, are exceptionally rare, and are generally for things like a trailing spouse of a newly recruited junior faculty member.

 

[gyngyn]

Transfers are generally accepted only after the first 2 years of med school, are exceptionally rare, and are generally for things like a trailing spouse of a newly recruited junior faculty member.

...and only when the two schools have a comparable curriculum.
I am pretty sure that Yale does not have a curriculum comparable to any Canadian school.

 

[deleted1065184]

Only way I could see this working for you is if you are an MD/PhD student...in which case, this could work if you're in your PhD phase. I've had numerous friends follow their PIs to other schools and I had the opportunity to follow my PI as well (I was almost done, so decided to stay at my institution).

 

[GoSpursGo]

Frankly, there is no chance this will work.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Let me get this straight... the PI did not MOVE to Yale from the Canadian medical school. You were working at Yale but got accepted to a medical school in Canada.

Just find a way to keep your research relationship with the PI and work with the school's student research office. Transferring makes no sense administratively.

Your PI should have vouched for you in your application. If the PI did, then not getting an offer from Yale is statement enough from their admissions committee.

 

[noah_fence]

Let me get this straight... the PI did not MOVE to Yale from the Canadian medical school. You were working at Yale but got accepted to a medical school in Canada.

Just find a way to keep your research relationship with the PI and work with the school's student research office. Transferring makes no sense administratively.

Your PI should have vouched for you in your application. If the PI did, then not getting an offer from Yale is statement enough from their admissions committee.

Yes, the PI did not move to Yale from Canada. However, I also have not previously applied to Yale as I took the MCAT last September so he did not have a chance to vouch for me.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Yes, the PI did not move to Yale from Canada. However, I also have not previously applied to Yale as I took the MCAT last September so he did not have a chance to vouch for me.

I'm sorry, I try to be positive and hopeful for people, but you need to get this idea out of your head. Transferring between any two medical schools is incredibly rare. Transferring from a Canadian school to a top 10 US school is completely impossible. Any time you spend on this venture will be time wasted.

 

[Just D.O. it]

Would needing to work with a PI be a good enough reason to transfer next year?

No.

I also have decent stats (3.96/516)

These are not decent stats by Yale standards. They are an average GPA and a very poor MCAT.

 

[inwantstobeadoctor]

Can you not continue your research at your med school in Canada??

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You should be able to do research at Yale on breaks as allowed by the medical school.

 

[theoceanman]

There’s a zero percent chance of you transferring medical schools; there’s hardly any cases around it and even then, to a T10 school? No, definitely not happening even if you had family members on admissions. Your previous post a while back regarding T10 schools makes your appear relatively obsessed with the T10 name-brand title, rather than your mission-fit and how much the school can contribute to your purpose as a future physician. You should re-evaluate why a T10 school is so meaningful to you, aside from the Yale name and US news ranking in research.

If you got into a medical school in Canada, which I heard is very competitive in of it self, then finish your graduation at that medical school and just do research during breaks at Yale. There’s plenty of research opportunities probably at your school and probably the same goes for most T50 MD schools in the US so going to Yale isn’t going to make you a better doctor.

 

[lacrossegirl420]

You could try reapplying this year if you really want to attend Yale, but you would need to take another gap year

 

[differentiating]

I know of one transfer to Yale a handful of years ago, a student at UCSF who transferred after completion of her pre-clinical years, and she a) did very well in those years, b) had good baseline stats and was a UCSF medical student, c) went to Yale for undergrad and had connections there (including research connections), and d) was moving to be with her new husband, who was already a medical student at Yale. So a very unique circumstance.

As others have said above, I don't think you'd be able to achieve the same outcome.

 

[2024 or 5 ?]

I know two people who transferred medical schools. Both were so they could live with their spouses.

 

[Goro]

I think the OP has gotten the message, and we all know that transferring is rare.

 

[and 99 others]

In the case of transferring to be with a partner, how is this expressed to the school? Do people just say their spouse lives there or do they need to provide evidence that they work or live there or something?

 

[LizzyM]

In the case of transferring to be with a partner, how is this expressed to the school? Do people just say their spouse lives there or do they need to provide evidence that they work or live there or something?

You don't want anyone to say, "She doesn't even go here." If a transfer works at all, it is often because your partner has an established relationship with the institution as a student or faculty member and you, the aspiring transfer, is already known to the powers that be because your partner has made a request that your transfer be considered favorably.

 

[and 99 others]

What about if the partner just lives in the city? Is it dead in the water in that case?

You don't want anyone to say, "She doesn't even go here." If a transfer works at all, it is often because your partner has an established relationship with the institution as a student or faculty member and you, the aspiring transfer, is already known to the powers that be because your partner has made a request that your transfer be considered favorably.

 

[gyngyn]

Is it dead in the water in that case?

With every school using a different curriculum now, transfers of every sort (not just from another country!) are becoming quite rare.
We get about a dozen requests every year. We always ask them to let us know if they find a school that considers them. So far, we haven't heard back...not even once.

 

[pierty]

With every school using a different curriculum now, transfers of every sort (not just from another country!) are becoming quite rare.
We get about a dozen requests every year. We always ask them to let us know if they find a school that considers them. So far, we haven't heard back...not even once.

Im not sure why a student, after being denied transfer to one school, would ever reach back out after transferring to another school. "Hey, after you rejected me, I'm at [X] institution now" doesn't seem particularly helpful to either party.

In truth, I think the adaptation of one pre-clinical curriculum to another tends to be a bit exaggerated. Board exams are the centerpiece, and most of a school's curriculum material not associated with that is (at least currently) minimized in importance for most students, so outside of potential administrative difficulties, I don't think there would be any major issue moving a pre-clinical student from one school to another to learn on the wards.

 

[gyngyn]

Im not sure why a student, after being denied transfer to one school, would ever reach back out after transferring to another school. "Hey, btw, after you rejected me, I'm at [X] institution now" doesn't seem particularly helpful to either party.

In truth, I think the adaptation of one pre-clinical curriculum to another tends to be a bit exaggerated. We have to learn for boards, and most school's curriculum material not associated with that is (at least currently) minimized in importance for most students, so outside of potential administrative difficulties, I don't think there would be any major issue moving a pre-clinical student from one school to another to learn on the wards.

We do the best we can and tell them that any leads will help others down the road.

It is an administrative nightmare to piece together a transfer. It's not just the knowledge, it's the number of hours in each clerkship and elective that must be patched together. This puts them off cycle for graduation if their pre-clinical time does not match exactly (and it rarely does).

 

[deleted1065184]

I know transfer is rare for MD-only, but I legit have multiple MSTP buddies whose PI moved to a different institution and they followed them. Sometimes they returned back to the first institution to finish MD, other times they stayed at second institution. I had the opportunity to do it myself, but as mentioned earlier decided not to.

I also have an MD/PhD friend who is transferring post-PhD to another institution since their fiance is there. This is functionally an MD-only transfer, since they completed their pre-clerkship coursework and PhD at the first school, but will be completing their MD from the second school. Their PhD will officially be from first school and MD from second school.

I'm sure this is quite rare, but just wanted to chime in with an interesting anecdote of successful transfer due to significant other.

 

[LizzyM]

What about if the partner just lives in the city? Is it dead in the water in that case?

We have a full class. Attrition is <1% at these top schools. Even if we had room-- and it is likely that we do not -- why would we want you? "My partner lives in New Haven" hardly makes you a "must admit as a transfer".

As I said at the beginning, the likely scenario, which is very, very rare, would be an incoming faculty member who is married to a medical student at another institution who wants to follow their spouse.