Unique situation? Acceptance in hand but tuition is outrageous

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Parietal Lobe

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I'm in a sticky situation. I applied last summer and took the August MCAT, but scored low so I was rejected from most schools and only got one interview. I didn't hear back and it's been months. I've been studying now for the June MCAT this year, but I just unexpectedly got into the school yesterday. The thing is, the school costs over 60,000 a year and I'm not excited about going after seeing it. The only reason I interviewed there was because I thought it might be my last hope because at the time, I didn't think i could retake the MCAT. But I've been studying now and it's not so bad and I think I can do better this time and maybe get into a cheaper school next year. But I would be foolish to not take this acceptance right? How bad would it look? Would med schools next year understand if I explained why I would turn down an acceptance?
 
Personally considering you got a "low" MCAT score and still got into an allopathic school, you should go with it. 60K is a lot, but the amount of time and money you will spend doing everything again will add up to quite a lot as well AND it is still no guarantee. Plus what makes you think a better MCAt score will get you an acceptance at a cheaper school? Not worth it.... lots of kids would die to be in your place (despite them having really good MCAT scores), be grateful and go
 
But I would be foolish to not take this acceptance right? How bad would it look? Would med schools next year understand if I explained why I would turn down an acceptance?
1. yes you would
2. pretty bad I think
3. maybe

Edit: I would also check out this site if you decide to re-apply next year. It has the tuition, fees, and health insurance of every US allo school.
 
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Hi Parietal Lobe,

Financial burden is a legitimate reason not to attend a given medical school...and usually one that would stop you from applying to it. I do believe a legitimate question adcomms could ask you would be "Why did you apply to this school if you weren't going to take it even if you were accepted?" To that you could simply respond honestly that you hadn't fully considered your finances, and that you're now in a better position to understand the financial demand of med. school.

With regards to retaking the MCAT and turning down the offer...if you are positive that you can do better and that that is the only factor pulling down your application, then go ahead. It would be useful to know your old score and what you have been getting on recent practice tests. You could then look at the curves for acceptances as a function of GPA and MCAT score (check out the school selection spreadsheet for starters):

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=527971

That'll be your best indication if you would be accepted at more cost effective school.
 
What an interesting situation...
I know plenty of people who will tell you to "take the acceptance or else, next year, every med school will 'look down on you' " (whatever that means)

But if you won't be happy for the next FOUR years at this expensive school, I personally don't think you should do it. This, of course, is contingent on the fact that you are extremely confident that you will get into "better" schools in the future. Good luck!
 
The cost of attendence is NOT a valid reason to turn down an acceptance - other students will be attending that institution with the same financial situation as yours.

If you turn down the acceptance, you had better come up with a "personal" reason for doing so... and, I assure you, adcomms will take a harder look at your next application (as they know that most all students will give their right arm to get into ANY med-school).
 
is the tuition 60k or is cost of attendance 60k?? if it is the latter i think that is more or less where a good number of US MD schools are at.
 
More info may be necessary, but it's a pretty tough decision to make. You have no idea what might happen next year. Maybe you'll get the same/a lower MCAT score and then what? Out of state/private schools will almost all run you about 60k a year, so it might help to know what state you're from and what kind of in state options you might have. You seem to be out of the running for merit based scholarships, so it comes down to 2 things:

The new MCAT score (would help to know the original score)
What kind of in-state options you're hedging this bet on

I know it doesn't help you, but this is the primary reason why people shouldn't apply to schools they wouldn't attend for one reason or another.
 
If you didn't want to go there, you should have withdrawn. I think you should take this and run with it, there's no guarantee you'd be able to get into any schools next cycle, much less cheaper ones.
 
The cost of attendence is NOT a valid reason to turn down an acceptance - other students will be attending that institution with the same financial situation as yours.

If you turn down the acceptance, you had better come up with a "personal" reason for doing so... and, I assure you, adcomms will take a harder look at your next application (as they know that most all students will give their right arm to get into ANY med-school).

Sure, the cost of attendance alone may not be a valid reason. But if you are shelling out 60k/year, you are entitled to be happy at that school.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. Some answers:

My MCAT score was 26. No instate options. The 60,000 is tuition. It's actually just below 60,000. Some of the students said they took out 70,000 plus in loans a year.

I applied because it's a decent school but I wasn't as impressed after interview but I thought with my MCAT score beggers can't be choosers. Then I started studying for the MCAT again and it doesn't seem nearly the impossible feat it did last time. I haven't taken practice tests yet because I'm testing in June, but I feel so much more confident in understanding the material this time.
 
Sure, the cost of attendance alone may not be a valid reason. But if you are shelling out 60k/year, you are entitled to be happy at that school.

But if tuition seriously impacts your happiness, why apply to these expensive schools at all? The OP had opportunities before applying, after applying, and after interviewing (at which point he certainly knew what the cost of attendance would be) and he didn't. I understand that your debt may not become a reality until you actually see your financial aid package, but to get this far in the process before deciding it's too much money is risky and shows a lack of maturity.
 
I'm in a sticky situation. I applied last summer and took the August MCAT, but scored low so I was rejected from most schools and only got one interview. I didn't hear back and it's been months. I've been studying now for the June MCAT this year, but I just unexpectedly got into the school yesterday. The thing is, the school costs over 60,000 a year and I'm not excited about going after seeing it. The only reason I interviewed there was because I thought it might be my last hope because at the time, I didn't think i could retake the MCAT. But I've been studying now and it's not so bad and I think I can do better this time and maybe get into a cheaper school next year. But I would be foolish to not take this acceptance right? How bad would it look? Would med schools next year understand if I explained why I would turn down an acceptance?

Can you defer your current admission for a yr..? That cld be an option...idk if they'll let you do that if you dont have a good reason to..
 
Thanks for the advice guys. Some answers:

My MCAT score was 26. No instate options. The 60,000 is tuition. It's actually just below 60,000. Some of the students said they took out 70,000 plus in loans a year.

Are you able to become a state resident/get in-state tuition after a year? Is your GPA/rest of the app good? I think it seems quite a lot more reasonable, but keep in mind that other schools you apply to next cycle will likely have an estimated cost of attendance of about 60-65k.
 
Can you defer your current admission for a yr..? That cld be an option...idk if they'll let you do that if you dont have a good reason to..


I don't think that "I'd like to see if I can get into other cheaper schools" is a legitimate reason to defer admissions...
 
I've been reeling recently about the cost of med school. But here is what I've concluded: Med school has been expensive for a long time, but doctors have managed to make it work - you don't see any homeless MDs on the corner with a cardboard sign. Heck, if teachers can pay off their student loans by making under 30k, then a doctor can do it, too.
 
I think you should take it. You got in, and not accepting puts you back into the possibility of not becoming a doctor at all...then what?

Also, realize that retaking the MCAT is not a guarantee for an improved score, in fact - depending on your score in each section - for example more than half of retesters with 8's in a section will see either no change or a drop in their score. Here's the retesters data from the aamc:
http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/examineedata/tables.htm
 
As far as finances go, I would at least consider factoring in the loss of one year's income as an attending. Let's say that, depending on what it is you ultimately do in medicine, the lost income would range from 100K to 300K. Since you don't have any in state options, we can assume your debt load will still be 30 thousand a year or so if you get into another school next cycle. So if you wait, you save 35K a year, totaling 140 thousand dollars over the four years, but you also give up a year's income as a doctor. Once you factor in the fact that you're forcing yourself to spend another year not working towards your career, I would say that unless you profoundly disliked the school you've been accepted to, you're best choice would be to take the acceptance and head to school in the fall. At least from a financial perspective, attending a school with a higher then average tuition is still probably better in the long run then delaying your entry to med school. Just a thought.
 
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Your main struggles will be in residency when you need to start paying back. You will just have to be smart on the residency of choice. If you are married to a non medical student person, just live off their salary and put every penny you can of your first couple of years salary as a doctor and get as much paid off as you can and then start living like a normal person again.

Chances are that a bank would laugh at you if you went and asked for a mortgage loan with that type of debt right after residency is done.
 
I'm in a sticky situation. I applied last summer and took the August MCAT, but scored low so I was rejected from most schools and only got one interview. I didn't hear back and it's been months. I've been studying now for the June MCAT this year, but I just unexpectedly got into the school yesterday. The thing is, the school costs over 60,000 a year and I'm not excited about going after seeing it. The only reason I interviewed there was because I thought it might be my last hope because at the time, I didn't think i could retake the MCAT. But I've been studying now and it's not so bad and I think I can do better this time and maybe get into a cheaper school next year. But I would be foolish to not take this acceptance right? How bad would it look? Would med schools next year understand if I explained why I would turn down an acceptance?

In the large scheme of things, tuition doesn't play all that big of a role because you will manage to pay it off relatively easily. It sounds as if it's just the school itself that you didn't like, in which case I can emphasize...

Many (but not all) of the schools I've interviewed at this year have asked me questions about reapplying (I'm a re-applicant), so if you decide to drop, do expect them to bring up something about that.
 
i'm really curious about which school this is... is it boston? because boston is 45K...was looking at that AAMC list of tuitions, and none of the private schools are 60K, while only a few of the public schools manage to hit 60K a year, but I'm assuming people claim residency after that.

honestly, I would totally take the acceptance... the process is such a crap shoot that you don't want to do find yourself in the terrible situation where you don't do as well as you expected on the MCAT, or you don't get in anywhere...

Also, if it's not really about the tuition, but it's that you don't really like the school, i still say go for it - you're not getting married to the school. It's only 4 years. After you graduate, you can do your residency far away from it.

best of luck with your decision!
 
Gotta agree with FatherOblivion on this one. Here are the disadvantages to waiting another year, in my opinion:
1. You are, in essence, forfeiting a year of eventual physician salary, which isn't chump change (although who knows, it may be when healthcare goes through radical changes in the next few years).
2. Medical School tuition rises every year. Even your "cheap" school will be more expensive (slightly) next year.
3. You are postponing your eventual goal. Just bite the bullet and do it. Taking out loans really isn't even that bad. Everybody does it.

That said, if you think you will be miserable at that particular school, for reasons that aren't financial, then maybe you should reconsider.
 
I'm in a sticky situation. I applied last summer and took the August MCAT, but scored low so I was rejected from most schools and only got one interview. I didn't hear back and it's been months. I've been studying now for the June MCAT this year, but I just unexpectedly got into the school yesterday. The thing is, the school costs over 60,000 a year and I'm not excited about going after seeing it. The only reason I interviewed there was because I thought it might be my last hope because at the time, I didn't think i could retake the MCAT. But I've been studying now and it's not so bad and I think I can do better this time and maybe get into a cheaper school next year. But I would be foolish to not take this acceptance right? How bad would it look? Would med schools next year understand if I explained why I would turn down an acceptance?

During the 2007 application cycle, there was a well known SDN member - an east Asian male from Cali. His has GPA of 3.8, MCAT 29, good EC's, but his verbal is only 6. (He took MCAT twice, and both time got verbal scores of 6! His name is IHateVerbal, which is appropriate). He was rejected by all the schools except one. On May 17, 2008, he was accepted to Michigan State, which charges OOS students $60,000+ tuition per year. This guy really wants to go to a big city, and East Lansing is not where he wanted to go. He put in a post about his dilemma which made him kind of famous for awhile:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=402293&highlight=ihateverbal

In case you wonder, he went to Michigan State and will graduate with a MD degee in 2011.
 
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what school is this?
 
I was guessing Wright state or Northeastern Ohio.

that can't be... OOS for wright state is 35K and for NEOUCOM it's 50K...and ohio is one of the easiest states to become a resident of... i.e. you're just paying that tuition for the first year only. After that, tuition in both schools drops to about 25K.
 
I'm fairly certain that the OP's biggest concern is not liking the school. The tuition is just a red herring. It's hard to pay that kind of money to spend 4 years in an unhappy place.

Attending the school is a decision only the OP can make. He needs to search deep inside of himself and find the answer. It should already be there.
 
that can't be... OOS for wright state is 35K and for NEOUCOM it's 50K...and ohio is one of the easiest states to become a resident of... i.e. you're just paying that tuition for the first year only. After that, tuition in both schools drops to about 25K.

I am always confusing Wright state and Wayne state.
 
let me take a shot at this.... i think it's GW lol

with that said, i'm going to present quite an unorthodox option, albeit possibly selfish too. you can maybe take this acceptance, and go ahead and retake your MCAT in june. if you get something like a 35+ or whatever, you can choose to withdraw from the school and give your place to someone else and go ahead and reapply. but like i said, this might be quite selfish.

however, you might also remember, that your MCAT score follows you through life. i believe your MCAT score will be a factor in what field residency you will land.
 
what school is this?

I'm thinking MSU. Their OOS tuition is $60K, which is the highest allopathic tuition I know of.

NEOUCOM it's 50K

Am I missing something here? I know that the Buckeye State is home to several fine medical schools, but who would want to pay $50K to go to school in Rootstown, Ohio?????
 
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What about University of Colorado OOS? I thought that was like 60k?
 
let me take a shot at this.... i think it's GW lol

with that said, i'm going to present quite an unorthodox option, albeit possibly selfish too. you can maybe take this acceptance, and go ahead and retake your MCAT in june. if you get something like a 35+ or whatever, you can choose to withdraw from the school and give your place to someone else and go ahead and reapply. but like i said, this might be quite selfish.

however, you might also remember, that your MCAT score follows you through life. i believe your MCAT score will be a factor in what field residency you will land.

I don't think this is true... can anyone confirm this?
 
I'm thinking MSU. Their OOS tuition is $60K, which is the highest allopathic tuition I know of.



Am I missing something here? I know that the Buckeye State is home to several fine medical schools, but who would want to pay $50K to go to school in Rootstown, Ohio?????

well NEOUCOM doesn't really take people from out of state. i think last year only one OOS student enrolled at their school (out of a class of 120).
 
What about University of Colorado OOS? I thought that was like 60k?

Colorado is 25k for tuition, but since the OP is most likely including fees it is like 53k a year. George Washington is like 43k

If we are talking just tuition it is either
Wayne state 56k
Northeastern Ohio 55k
Illinois 57k

If it is tuition and fees it is either
Florida 57k
Missouri KC 56k
Nebraska 56k
Northeastern Ohio 59k
Wayne state 59k
 
let me take a shot at this.... i think it's GW lol

with that said, i'm going to present quite an unorthodox option, albeit possibly selfish too. you can maybe take this acceptance, and go ahead and retake your MCAT in june. if you get something like a 35+ or whatever, you can choose to withdraw from the school and give your place to someone else and go ahead and reapply. but like i said, this might be quite selfish.

however, you might also remember, that your MCAT score follows you through life. i believe your MCAT score will be a factor in what field residency you will land.

Just like our SAT scores are used by adcoms to make admissions decisions, right?
 
I'm in a sticky situation. I applied last summer and took the August MCAT, but scored low so I was rejected from most schools and only got one interview. I didn't hear back and it's been months. I've been studying now for the June MCAT this year, but I just unexpectedly got into the school yesterday. The thing is, the school costs over 60,000 a year and I'm not excited about going after seeing it. The only reason I interviewed there was because I thought it might be my last hope because at the time, I didn't think i could retake the MCAT. But I've been studying now and it's not so bad and I think I can do better this time and maybe get into a cheaper school next year. But I would be foolish to not take this acceptance right? How bad would it look? Would med schools next year understand if I explained why I would turn down an acceptance?

OP, I know exactly how you feel, because I'm going through something similar. (My story is below.) I would advise you to hold onto your acceptance for now, but retake the MCAT, ideally before June if you think you can do well (could you manage April or May?). It won't affect the acceptance you already have, but it might help you get off waitlists at schools you like better. If that effort fails, though, I think it would be wise to attend the school that's accepted you.


My problem was that I took the MCAT twice in quick succession and got 7's in the PS section both times, due to very bad nerves. I did well in the other sections, though (13 verbal and 11 bio). I'm married with kids, so I really wanted to go to med school where I live (NYC area), but I knew I was doomed with that 7. I thought really hard about it and talked to my husband, and decided that if I had no other choice but to leave home for med school, that's what I would have to do. So I added a bunch of faraway schools to my app which might be friendlier to someone with my MCAT score. I also put in a huge effort with all the schools to write really good secondary essays, and sent them all supplementary essays and several rounds of LOIs as well. And I planned from the beginning to take the MCAT one more time, in January (the first opportunity in 2009). I was sure I could improve my PS score, and I thought there was a small chance I could use a better MCAT to snag a late interview somewhere, or at least help me get off waitlists if I landed on them.

As it turned out, I did great with the out-of-town schools and horribly with the NY schools. I got interviews at 6 out of 12 out-of-town schools, but absolutely none in NY. I got my first (and so far only) acceptance in Feb--but instead of making me happy, it did the opposite, because the school is 800 miles away. The thought of going that far away from my family really felt awful to even think about, even though I really and truly want to go to med school. I put down the deposit, but found myself praying that something better would come through. In the meantime, I got waitlisted at a couple of OOS schools which are much closer to my home.

About 10 days ago, I did get my new MCAT score, and it was a huge improvement: 12 PS-11 VR-10 BS. I immediately contacted all the schools where I haven't been rejected yet, as well as the WL schools. I found that the WL schools were very interested to hear about my new score (although nothing has happened with either of them yet), but schools where I haven't interviewed flatly refused to even look at it. This was very depressing, because my hope all along was that I could get an interview in or near NY. But as a last-ditch measure, I sent a personal appeal to the dean of admissions at the one NYC school that hasn't rejected me, which also happens to be my dream school. To my amazement, I actually got an interview there, on the next-to-last day of the whole season. I should be hearing from this school in a couple of weeks.

So, although you certainly can't count on a new MCAT score helping you in this admissions cycle, there's a very small chance that it might. HOWEVER, you must be very sure that you're ready before you take the test again, because rushing into it and getting a bad score won't help you at all.
 
OP, I know exactly how you feel, because I'm going through something similar. (My story is below.) I would advise you to hold onto your acceptance for now, but retake the MCAT, ideally before June if you think you can do well (could you manage April or May?). It won't affect the acceptance you already have, but it might help you get off waitlists at schools you like better. If that effort fails, though, I think it would be wise to attend the school that's accepted you.


My problem was that I took the MCAT twice in quick succession and got 7's in the PS section both times, due to very bad nerves. I did well in the other sections, though (13 verbal and 11 bio). I'm married with kids, so I really wanted to go to med school where I live (NYC area), but I knew I was doomed with that 7. I thought really hard about it and talked to my husband, and decided that if I had no other choice but to leave home for med school, that's what I would have to do. So I added a bunch of faraway schools to my app which might be friendlier to someone with my MCAT score. I also put in a huge effort with all the schools to write really good secondary essays, and sent them all supplementary essays and several rounds of LOIs as well. And I planned from the beginning to take the MCAT one more time, in January (the first opportunity in 2009). I was sure I could improve my PS score, and I thought there was a small chance I could use a better MCAT to snag a late interview somewhere, or at least help me get off waitlists if I landed on them.

As it turned out, I did great with the out-of-town schools and horribly with the NY schools. I got interviews at 6 out of 12 out-of-town schools, but absolutely none in NY. I got my first (and so far only) acceptance in Feb--but instead of making me happy, it did the opposite, because the school is 800 miles away. The thought of going that far away from my family really felt awful to even think about, even though I really and truly want to go to med school. I put down the deposit, but found myself praying that something better would come through. In the meantime, I got waitlisted at a couple of OOS schools which are much closer to my home.

About 10 days ago, I did get my new MCAT score, and it was a huge improvement: 12 PS-11 VR-10 BS. I immediately contacted all the schools where I haven't been rejected yet, as well as the WL schools. I found that the WL schools were very interested to hear about my new score (although nothing has happened with either of them yet), but schools where I haven't interviewed flatly refused to even look at it. This was very depressing, because my hope all along was that I could get an interview in or near NY. But as a last-ditch measure, I sent a personal appeal to the dean of admissions at the one NYC school that hasn't rejected me, which also happens to be my dream school. To my amazement, I actually got an interview there, on the next-to-last day of the whole season. I should be hearing from this school in a couple of weeks.

So, although you certainly can't count on a new MCAT score helping you in this admissions cycle, there's a very small chance that it might. HOWEVER, you must be very sure that you're ready before you take the test again, because rushing into it and getting a bad score won't help you at all.
👍 very cool story. Best of luck! :luck:
 
Ridiculous right?! 😱
I was staring a similar dilemma in the face a few weeks ago before OHSU came through for me.

wow, i just noticed michigan state's tuition is 64K for OOSers... though it drops to 29K after the first year (assuming you become a resident), that's still ridiculous...

awesome job with oregon!👍
 
wow, i just noticed michigan state's tuition is 64K for OOSers... though it drops to 29K after the first year (assuming you become a resident), that's still ridiculous...

awesome job with oregon!👍

If only they awarded residency to students at all 🙁
I actually really liked the school too, their philosophy is a perfect fit for me.

(and thanks a lot!!)
 
For now, it doesn't even matter. Continue holding your seat. Retake your MCAT. Don't let go of your seat until/unless you get back your score and it is much higher.

If you still score below 30, you risk that you will not get any interviews next year...regardless of whether or not you had been previously granted admission and turned it down.

You can take the same applicant and present the same application two years in a row and have it turn out differently in two different years due to dumb luck. You need to make your application SIGNIFICANTLY different if you re-apply. It is hard to go from a 26 to a 30+. There are so many applicants with all GPAs and MCATs below 30 who get NO interviews at all that you really might be looking a gift horse in the mouth if you turn down this offer without knowing your new MCAT score.
 
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