Ok so I just posted threads about whether I could get in to certain schools and the replies were much worse than I thought they would be. I just got my mcat back. I have a 30. 11PS, 10 VR, 9 BS. I have research (publication), good ecs, and good volunteer. I have been dating a guy for 5 years and he is in chemical engineering. We really want to get married and live together the rest of our lives. We really want to start a family too, which means I need to get in to medical school at a decent age. I am just 21 right now. First year applying. He has a great chance of getting a job with chemical companies in houston, other places in texas, and possibly some other states like lower Louisiana and Chicago, Illinois. Please give me advice! I am from Arkansas and could easily get in to the medical school here, but I don't think my future fiancé would find a good chemical job after all the work he has put in.
Trying to get into Medical School where my fiancé will be. Please help!
- Thread starter eac006
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Also, if anyone has success stories of similar situations feel free to share! Did anyone just retake the mcat and take a year off?
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Sigh. Young love... I have also been in a relationship with someone for five years. He works in Manhattan (was LA). I live in Boston. I would love to go to school somewhere in the northeast, but I will go where I get in. If you are going to be together forever and your love is that real, it can survive a little distance for a few years. If you really want to be a doctor, you will go wherever you get in. Family ties are a legitimate concern when deciding where to go to school, however, if you come across to ADCOMs like you do in the post (no offense) they will think you lack maturity.
Yes I know. Sometimes I just want to remind myself that there are other things that make life special than being a doctor though. Eight years of commitment to doing something away from family is a long time. I love science and medicine and I am very serious about it, but I only have one shot at the life I want to live. Oh well, I know there are much worse situations and I am very thankful this is the biggest problem I have right now
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This is a bit of a tough spot -- Ask yourself brutally honestly -- Is he as committed in this relationship as you are? And is your career as important to both of you as his is? These are vitally important questions to the success of any marriage, and you owe it to yourself to examine them clear-headedly.
You're probably right that you can get in in Arkansas. And there are ChemE jobs in Arkansas also. True, not the most lucrative, like Houston or LA, but AR jobs may very well require less travel or relocation. Oil patch jobs frequently involve both -- especially the high paying ones. If he is truly committed to you, he can begin his career in AR while you go to med school. A moderate sacrifice for him that demonstrates his commitment to you and your future.
Or track 2 -- He goes to Texas, you move with him for a year to establish residency, then apply next year as a resident. Your numbers are pretty good for Texas residents, so your odds of getting in here as a TX resident are about as good as the national avg. of getting in anywhere. But one important caveat -- With your current stats, of the Houston schools, Baylor is a big reach, UTH is a reach, and only UTMB is realistic. A&M, TT Lubbock and UTHSCSA are also within reach, but not in Houston, so...
You're probably right that you can get in in Arkansas. And there are ChemE jobs in Arkansas also. True, not the most lucrative, like Houston or LA, but AR jobs may very well require less travel or relocation. Oil patch jobs frequently involve both -- especially the high paying ones. If he is truly committed to you, he can begin his career in AR while you go to med school. A moderate sacrifice for him that demonstrates his commitment to you and your future.
Or track 2 -- He goes to Texas, you move with him for a year to establish residency, then apply next year as a resident. Your numbers are pretty good for Texas residents, so your odds of getting in here as a TX resident are about as good as the national avg. of getting in anywhere. But one important caveat -- With your current stats, of the Houston schools, Baylor is a big reach, UTH is a reach, and only UTMB is realistic. A&M, TT Lubbock and UTHSCSA are also within reach, but not in Houston, so...
Thank you. This was actually very uplifting and gave me some perspective. He is very committed and he is going to try for jobs in little rock, AR. He is just afraid he won't find any. Also, did you mean with my current stats and out of state or my current stats if I were to be a Texas resident?
Also, I have considered retaking the mcat if things don't work this year and getting a TX residency. The thing is I studied 6 months as hard as I could while taking hard engineering classes also. I never got above a 32 on practice tests and I took 15, five were Berkeley, which are supposed to be harder. I guess if I set my mind to it and find a really good study plan I could do better, but it worries me that I would do worse. Especially with the new social sciences section being added that no one knows anything about.
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Texas schools are required by the state government to take 90% Texas residents. Which means, if your stats/ECs aren't fantastic, you'll have a hard time getting in as an out of state resident. The bright side is that it only takes 12 months of living there to gain resident status. So, are you willing to give up a year for the CHANCE of getting into a med school closer to Houston (while still having a more likely scenario of being 3-6 hours away by car)?
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With your current stats after you establish residency unfortunately. Texas is very unfriendly to OOS applicants as a legal requirement, so "strong ties" don't mean much. Sadly, the Texas route means Gap Year for you -- or more realistically, two years, since residency requirements stipulate that you will need to have lived here for a year before applying, and it's already mid-June and you don't live here...
I see. Looks like I will just have to wait and see about possibilities in Arkansas for this one. Thank you all for giving me some insight.
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Helpful to know -- So a 30 is a pretty good score for you, and actually, a pretty good score period. A retake with a 31-32 won't really improve your chances all that much, and the chances of getting a lower score are actually very real.
So I would suggest that if you get an acceptance this cycle, you take it, rather than risk "I can do this again later"...
The odds of your fiance's getting a good job in Little Rock are higher than yours of getting into med school in Houston this year, unfortunately.
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Best way to find out is to go to each school's website and/or call the admissions office and see. I'd have to say "probably" though, since the TX 10% is pretty nasty... Could be "strong ties" actually means something in LA.
No chance at Texas unfortunately unless you establish residency. There are some schools you could shoot for in Chicago, but you aren't necessarily super competitive for them, and even if you were it is hard to count on getting 1 of like 2 schools that you apply to. Either you are going to have to setup residency in TX if that's what you want, retake an MCAT and score a fair amount higher (still no guarantees), work with your SO to see if/where you can get in and if they are willing to follow, or give up your pursuit of an MD...
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One more question -- Timelines. When do you graduate? When does he?
If you're applying now, you'll probably find out something in spring of 2015. If he graduates in 2015, he can apply where you are accepted. If he's applying now, the best strategy is probably just to assume he will need to change jobs in the summer of 2015 when you (hopefully) matriculate.
If you're applying now, you'll probably find out something in spring of 2015. If he graduates in 2015, he can apply where you are accepted. If he's applying now, the best strategy is probably just to assume he will need to change jobs in the summer of 2015 when you (hopefully) matriculate.
Yes, we are both graduating in 2015. Im not sure when he will start getting offers. Maybe late fall and spring? He will be going to a big career fair both semesters.
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Keep in mind that, even if he will have to be underemployed for 4 years during medical school, you may have better luck matching to a more desirable for him city when it is time for your residency - he compromises now and you can compromise for him later. It seems to me as though you will have a better chance of matching within a certain geographic area (there are lots of hospitals in/near major cities) than you have a chance of getting into a specific medial school.
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That information is all listed in the msar, it might make seeing your odds a bit easier
Just looked at a map that showed the states with the highest density of chemical engineering jobs. here are five more schools that are also good places for jobs. From msar, they look to be in my range with good OOS acceptance.
Loma Linda
Oakland
Drexel
Jefferson
Uniformed Services in Maryland
Tufts
Loma Linda
Oakland
Drexel
Jefferson
Uniformed Services in Maryland
Tufts
If you are looking up schools make sure you are looking up their missions to see if you fit them
I see what you mean. Loma Linda is a Christian medical school and Uniformed Services is military medicine. If I am willing to go to either one of these does that mean my personal statement has to involve Christian activities or talk about my interest in these specific topics? I am religious, I just never knew there were medical schools out there with that focus.
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For Loma Linda it helps to be open to the Seventh Day Adventist lifestyle which means no drinking, smoking, or pre-marital sex. They take a dim view of caffeine and meat, too.
For Uniformed Services, the premise is that upon graduation you will be an officer in the military and you will be deployed to wherever the military needs you.
Yikes. Thanks for the heads up on the mission statements.
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There are plenty of pharmaceutical companies in the Philadelphia area in particular, along with other chemical companies (a friend works for Dow). Just keep in mind, it's an incredibly saturated area, lots of local schools and the penn state engineering program feeds into the area as well.
But include temple if you're applying up here. (Also keep in mind that Drexel gets a TON of apps every year)
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There is also PCOM if you are willing to apply DO. A 30 MCAT will make you borderline for Temple, Jeff and Drexel unless there is something exceptional about you.
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Ahh, yes, forgot about PCOM.
Drexel's 10th percentile mcat is a 28, but a the median is a 31-32.
Even the ones I am slightly out of median range, I'm gonna go for. I've been researching more. Trying to find lower tier private schools.
Albany
Rosa. Franklin
Drexel
East Virginia
Jefferson
Keck (Hard to find a low tier in Cali.)
Loyola
Morehouse
New York (Valhalla)
Oakland
St. Louis
Temple
Tufts
and of course Arkansas
Feeling pretty good about this list. I didn't consider some because they didn't have much chemical jobs to offer. Like Washington DC had some good choices, but I don't think there is much engineering there.
Albany
Rosa. Franklin
Drexel
East Virginia
Jefferson
Keck (Hard to find a low tier in Cali.)
Loyola
Morehouse
New York (Valhalla)
Oakland
St. Louis
Temple
Tufts
and of course Arkansas
Feeling pretty good about this list. I didn't consider some because they didn't have much chemical jobs to offer. Like Washington DC had some good choices, but I don't think there is much engineering there.
Thanks for that. Just looked at their demographics. 6 whites out of the entire class.
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Nobody refers to NYMC that way, much less so is NYMC a Valhalla 🙄
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Ya that seems fair enough then, if that's the case then NYMC is a good choice for the OP. I've just personally never heard of someone referring to NYMC and New York and assumed they meant long shot rather than nymc and location.Hmmm? NYMC has a campus in Valhalla and that is what OP is referring to I think. Not NYU in Manhattan. I could be wrong.
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Yeah, you are right in that school's range.
Get the MSAR. You're flailing blind right now with your choices, e.g., you can't tell the difference between NYU and NYMC. Also, (to channel a tiny bit of Goro), your stats are right on for a lot of DO schools.
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M2 here and I was in a VERY similar situation to you. My boyfriend was finishing up his master's in electrical engineering while I was applying. I applied to schools that had two things- 1) an EE PhD program that he could apply to if he wanted or 2) good enough prospects that he could get a decent job within a 1 hour commute range. He wasn't sure which he wanted to do and he started PhD applications at some of the schools I applied to, but he also started using Monster to scope out areas that had at least a few jobs in his field. He started applying broadly for jobs at a few of the sites that had given me interviews in February or March of the year before I started med school. I ended up not applying to my pre-med "dream school" at all and applied at some schools that I wouldn't have considered were it not for him. I still ended up going one of the schools that was tied for my top choice.
The thing about engineers is that they are VERY employable pretty much any where you go. Your fiancee might not get a job that is straight up chemical engineering and hopefully he has other skills he'd be willing to put to use (i.e. coding, engineering tech work, etc), but he will most likely find a job. I ended up picking a med school before my bf had landed a job and we got very lucky in that by June before school started he had a job lined up. If you both put the work in that you need to, things will work out. I kept getting told by others that everything worked out for us like a I was in a fairytale, but my bf and I worked very hard and sacrificed on both sides so that we could be in the same place together. He was willing to commute for a job, take a job that might not be ideal pay or work, or apply for jobs outside of engineering if it came to that. He considers our situation (he pays for all of our living costs-rent, car payment, groceries, etc) an investment into our future, where I'll be a doctor with less debt because of him. It's how the saying goes, "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."
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All these choices were based on msar stats. I have been using it the whole time. I didn't know what they were referring to above because msar wasn't right in front of me at the time. I just knew Valhalla was the one I chose
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Beautiful. This is exactly what the two of you need to do to end up in the same city. Expect that it will involve some degree of sacrifice on his part, but note that his options will be much broader and more flexible than yours. You're looking for an acceptance or maybe two; he's looking for one of a great number of engineering jobs. And as someone noted above, when it comes to applying for residencies, that's when you can pay back the geographic flexibility.
Thanks everybody for your help! It made me realize going to a top school isn't everything. I have been studying msar so long I'm exhausted! Sending in my application tonight and hoping for the best! I have a range of 20 schools, almost all have mcats medians close to mine, now so surely there will be a few options 🙂 and my significant other has already researched jobs in those places. I wish everybody the best of luck in their future!
