Alternate way to get into med school AMA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you get an MD abroad won't it be harder for you to practice in the states?

It will be very hard to get a residency spot, so technically yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a new poster- I was also a nontraditional medical student.

TJ -> UVA and went into multimedia development, mostly web but also some web based educational software. I volunteered at a hospital because I liked it. After a few years I decided I would really rather be in medicine and started taking the courses I would need to apply. A post-bacc was really expensive and I was going to be paying on my own. So, I went to community college at night (NVCC and LFCC depending on offerings) and took a job as a medical assistant and medical office manager for a single physician practice. Studied a lot on my own and did well on the MCAT. Fortunately got in to an MD program on my first round of applying! No debt because I went through the military- has pros and cons but medical school has become so expensive, esp if you know you want to go into a lower paid specialty.

Having outstanding grades and high test scores is important, but I agree that the application process is holistic and looks at the whole applicant- it helps to have something different about you, and something you're passionate about.

Very interesting. My DC1 is at Brown and they won't take CC science classes.

Brown Medical School? The undergrad school does not have to accept the post bacc classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a new poster- I was also a nontraditional medical student.

TJ -> UVA and went into multimedia development, mostly web but also some web based educational software. I volunteered at a hospital because I liked it. After a few years I decided I would really rather be in medicine and started taking the courses I would need to apply. A post-bacc was really expensive and I was going to be paying on my own. So, I went to community college at night (NVCC and LFCC depending on offerings) and took a job as a medical assistant and medical office manager for a single physician practice. Studied a lot on my own and did well on the MCAT. Fortunately got in to an MD program on my first round of applying! No debt because I went through the military- has pros and cons but medical school has become so expensive, esp if you know you want to go into a lower paid specialty.

Having outstanding grades and high test scores is important, but I agree that the application process is holistic and looks at the whole applicant- it helps to have something different about you, and something you're passionate about.

Very interesting. My DC1 is at Brown and they won't take CC science classes.

Brown Medical School? The undergrad school does not have to accept the post bacc classes.

Yes. A quick google search points that other med schools also discourage science classes at CC
https://www.upstate.edu/com/admissions/faqs.php

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a new poster- I was also a nontraditional medical student.

TJ -> UVA and went into multimedia development, mostly web but also some web based educational software. I volunteered at a hospital because I liked it. After a few years I decided I would really rather be in medicine and started taking the courses I would need to apply. A post-bacc was really expensive and I was going to be paying on my own. So, I went to community college at night (NVCC and LFCC depending on offerings) and took a job as a medical assistant and medical office manager for a single physician practice. Studied a lot on my own and did well on the MCAT. Fortunately got in to an MD program on my first round of applying! No debt because I went through the military- has pros and cons but medical school has become so expensive, esp if you know you want to go into a lower paid specialty.

Having outstanding grades and high test scores is important, but I agree that the application process is holistic and looks at the whole applicant- it helps to have something different about you, and something you're passionate about.

Very interesting. My DC1 is at Brown and they won't take CC science classes.

Brown Medical School? The undergrad school does not have to accept the post bacc classes.

Yes. A quick google search points that other med schools also discourage science classes at CC
https://www.upstate.edu/com/admissions/faqs.php

Very high number medical schools take cc credits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you get an MD abroad won't it be harder for you to practice in the states?

It will be very hard to get a residency spot, so technically yes.

I know three peers from undergrad who did this and did fine with residency. The first was a very strong student and got into some lower / mid tier med schools and instead opted to go to Israel (he’s an Orthodox Jew so there is a connection) for medical school. He placed into a top US residency for ER medicine. Two other friends went to school in the Caribbean, which is sort of a last resort, but they both did fine. One who was a very meh student undergrad did a internal medicine residency in Florida and is doing fine as a GP. The other did a surgery residency in Arizona and then a decent fellowship in surgery also in arizona.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, this is an option, but there is a cost. Time and money. A post bacc takes at least an additional 2 years of education. That’s 2 additional years of tuition and living expenses. Probably around $100K. Also wondering if the OP got ALL their medical school required classes while in post grad education. Some medical schools want pre reqs within a certain period of time. A 6 year old biochemistry class might not be accepted.

Yes, but you have to spend that time anyway in most cases. Most med students don’t go to med school right out of college these days. The average age of first year med students is 24. Med schools. Want to see something besides pre-med, with high gpa and and MCATs. A member of my family sits on the admissions committee of a top 5 med school and says that admissions is holistic. These other things matter, so her kid is spending a year after college doing something else before applying to med school. The PP is right on the money.

Right, but there is also MONEY. Post bac programs generally cost $30-40k and you cannot take out federal loans or get fin aid for them. So you'd either have to get private loans ( ) or have loaded enough parents who can cough that money up. That's not realistic for many (most?) students.

OP again just wanted to point out I was able to get some federal aid for the post-bacc. I owe about 12,000. Good news is that many job offers for physicians have loan repayment baked in so hopefully it won't be too bad.

This is mostly if you work in underserved community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, this is an option, but there is a cost. Time and money. A post bacc takes at least an additional 2 years of education. That’s 2 additional years of tuition and living expenses. Probably around $100K. Also wondering if the OP got ALL their medical school required classes while in post grad education. Some medical schools want pre reqs within a certain period of time. A 6 year old biochemistry class might not be accepted.

Yes, but you have to spend that time anyway in most cases. Most med students don’t go to med school right out of college these days. The average age of first year med students is 24. Med schools. Want to see something besides pre-med, with high gpa and and MCATs. A member of my family sits on the admissions committee of a top 5 med school and says that admissions is holistic. These other things matter, so her kid is spending a year after college doing something else before applying to med school. The PP is right on the money.

Right, but there is also MONEY. Post bac programs generally cost $30-40k and you cannot take out federal loans or get fin aid for them. So you'd either have to get private loans ( ) or have loaded enough parents who can cough that money up. That's not realistic for many (most?) students.

OP again just wanted to point out I was able to get some federal aid for the post-bacc. I owe about 12,000. Good news is that many job offers for physicians have loan repayment baked in so hopefully it won't be too bad.

This is not true anymore. Many jobs offer loan repayment or sign in bonuses as part of a hiring package. Regardless I’m okay with the amount I took out given my future earnings.


This is mostly if you work in underserved community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am another post-bac alum and have encouraged my kids to consider this route if they think they might be interested in medicine.

Why this way ?

More chance to explore other interests (and less time in pre-med culture.)

Is it the competition the “pre-med culture”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a new poster- I was also a nontraditional medical student.

TJ -> UVA and went into multimedia development, mostly web but also some web based educational software. I volunteered at a hospital because I liked it. After a few years I decided I would really rather be in medicine and started taking the courses I would need to apply. A post-bacc was really expensive and I was going to be paying on my own. So, I went to community college at night (NVCC and LFCC depending on offerings) and took a job as a medical assistant and medical office manager for a single physician practice. Studied a lot on my own and did well on the MCAT. Fortunately got in to an MD program on my first round of applying! No debt because I went through the military- has pros and cons but medical school has become so expensive, esp if you know you want to go into a lower paid specialty.

Having outstanding grades and high test scores is important, but I agree that the application process is holistic and looks at the whole applicant- it helps to have something different about you, and something you're passionate about.

Very interesting. My DC1 is at Brown and they won't take CC science classes.

Brown Medical School? The undergrad school does not have to accept the post bacc classes.

Yes. A quick google search points that other med schools also discourage science classes at CC
https://www.upstate.edu/com/admissions/faqs.php

Very high number medical schools take cc credits.

I'm the prior poster who took community college classes. I called the schools I most wanted to attend and ensured that those classes would be acceptable. In Virginia since the basic science community college course credits transfer to our state flagships so it wasn't an issue. I was applying to mid tier schools out of state and of course the VA allopathic medical schools. I graduated about 10 years ago, though, so of course check current policies and specific schools.

In the context of a strong academic history taking a few classes at CC and acing them, and then doing well on the MCAT it was fine. The upside of CC is that classes like organic chemistry didn't have a lot of students so I had a lot of one on one instruction and learned the topics well. I had already taken some science courses in undergrad and did well (bio, chem). I was already successful in a different STEM field so that probably impacted my applications.

The med school application process seems like it's a lot more miserable than when I applied. I didn't want to waste money applying to schools where I had no shot so I only applied to 6, interviewed at 4 and was accepted to 2. It seems like current students are encouraged to apply much more broadly and applicants are getting more qualified all the time.

I would definitely say that community college while working full time and volunteering and then test prepping on my own, and navigating the whole application process solo was not optimal. If I had a kid who was really sure they wanted medicine I would encourage them to look at one of the combined undergrad/MD programs. For someone making a career change who didn't want to go in debt it worked out for me but it did take a lot of hustle and planning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a new poster- I was also a nontraditional medical student.

TJ -> UVA and went into multimedia development, mostly web but also some web based educational software. I volunteered at a hospital because I liked it. After a few years I decided I would really rather be in medicine and started taking the courses I would need to apply. A post-bacc was really expensive and I was going to be paying on my own. So, I went to community college at night (NVCC and LFCC depending on offerings) and took a job as a medical assistant and medical office manager for a single physician practice. Studied a lot on my own and did well on the MCAT. Fortunately got in to an MD program on my first round of applying! No debt because I went through the military- has pros and cons but medical school has become so expensive, esp if you know you want to go into a lower paid specialty.

Having outstanding grades and high test scores is important, but I agree that the application process is holistic and looks at the whole applicant- it helps to have something different about you, and something you're passionate about.

Very interesting. My DC1 is at Brown and they won't take CC science classes.

Brown Medical School? The undergrad school does not have to accept the post bacc classes.

Yes. A quick google search points that other med schools also discourage science classes at CC
https://www.upstate.edu/com/admissions/faqs.php

Very high number medical schools take cc credits.

I'm the prior poster who took community college classes. I called the schools I most wanted to attend and ensured that those classes would be acceptable. In Virginia since the basic science community college course credits transfer to our state flagships so it wasn't an issue. I was applying to mid tier schools out of state and of course the VA allopathic medical schools. I graduated about 10 years ago, though, so of course check current policies and specific schools.

In the context of a strong academic history taking a few classes at CC and acing them, and then doing well on the MCAT it was fine. The upside of CC is that classes like organic chemistry didn't have a lot of students so I had a lot of one on one instruction and learned the topics well. I had already taken some science courses in undergrad and did well (bio, chem). I was already successful in a different STEM field so that probably impacted my applications.

The med school application process seems like it's a lot more miserable than when I applied. I didn't want to waste money applying to schools where I had no shot so I only applied to 6, interviewed at 4 and was accepted to 2. It seems like current students are encouraged to apply much more broadly and applicants are getting more qualified all the time.

I would definitely say that community college while working full time and volunteering and then test prepping on my own, and navigating the whole application process solo was not optimal. If I had a kid who was really sure they wanted medicine I would encourage them to look at one of the combined undergrad/MD programs. For someone making a career change who didn't want to go in debt it worked out for me but it did take a lot of hustle and planning.

Wow, now students with perfect GPAs apply to 30 and they are lucky to get into 1, hence why I said that science CC classes are a big disadvantage. The process is insanely competitive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a new poster- I was also a nontraditional medical student.

TJ -> UVA and went into multimedia development, mostly web but also some web based educational software. I volunteered at a hospital because I liked it. After a few years I decided I would really rather be in medicine and started taking the courses I would need to apply. A post-bacc was really expensive and I was going to be paying on my own. So, I went to community college at night (NVCC and LFCC depending on offerings) and took a job as a medical assistant and medical office manager for a single physician practice. Studied a lot on my own and did well on the MCAT. Fortunately got in to an MD program on my first round of applying! No debt because I went through the military- has pros and cons but medical school has become so expensive, esp if you know you want to go into a lower paid specialty.

Having outstanding grades and high test scores is important, but I agree that the application process is holistic and looks at the whole applicant- it helps to have something different about you, and something you're passionate about.

Very interesting. My DC1 is at Brown and they won't take CC science classes.

Brown Medical School? The undergrad school does not have to accept the post bacc classes.

Yes. A quick google search points that other med schools also discourage science classes at CC
https://www.upstate.edu/com/admissions/faqs.php

Very high number medical schools take cc credits.

I'm the prior poster who took community college classes. I called the schools I most wanted to attend and ensured that those classes would be acceptable. In Virginia since the basic science community college course credits transfer to our state flagships so it wasn't an issue. I was applying to mid tier schools out of state and of course the VA allopathic medical schools. I graduated about 10 years ago, though, so of course check current policies and specific schools.

In the context of a strong academic history taking a few classes at CC and acing them, and then doing well on the MCAT it was fine. The upside of CC is that classes like organic chemistry didn't have a lot of students so I had a lot of one on one instruction and learned the topics well. I had already taken some science courses in undergrad and did well (bio, chem). I was already successful in a different STEM field so that probably impacted my applications.

The med school application process seems like it's a lot more miserable than when I applied. I didn't want to waste money applying to schools where I had no shot so I only applied to 6, interviewed at 4 and was accepted to 2. It seems like current students are encouraged to apply much more broadly and applicants are getting more qualified all the time.

I would definitely say that community college while working full time and volunteering and then test prepping on my own, and navigating the whole application process solo was not optimal. If I had a kid who was really sure they wanted medicine I would encourage them to look at one of the combined undergrad/MD programs. For someone making a career change who didn't want to go in debt it worked out for me but it did take a lot of hustle and planning.

Wow, now students with perfect GPAs apply to 30 and they are lucky to get into 1, hence why I said that science CC classes are a big disadvantage. The process is insanely competitive.

I agree, it's shocking. I think that having "something" that stands out from the average application is an intangible element that may help a student get an interview. At the time people seemed really interested in asking me about software/multimedia development because that was all exploding at the time. And having good, very personal rec letters as I had worked for a doc for a few years managing the office/direct patient care. The applicants now have to be the complete package with grades, MCAT, research, extracurriculars and that "something" which is crazy. I wanted to make it clear that my application experience is from the late 2000s!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a new poster- I was also a nontraditional medical student.

TJ -> UVA and went into multimedia development, mostly web but also some web based educational software. I volunteered at a hospital because I liked it. After a few years I decided I would really rather be in medicine and started taking the courses I would need to apply. A post-bacc was really expensive and I was going to be paying on my own. So, I went to community college at night (NVCC and LFCC depending on offerings) and took a job as a medical assistant and medical office manager for a single physician practice. Studied a lot on my own and did well on the MCAT. Fortunately got in to an MD program on my first round of applying! No debt because I went through the military- has pros and cons but medical school has become so expensive, esp if you know you want to go into a lower paid specialty.

Having outstanding grades and high test scores is important, but I agree that the application process is holistic and looks at the whole applicant- it helps to have something different about you, and something you're passionate about.

Very interesting. My DC1 is at Brown and they won't take CC science classes.

Brown Medical School? The undergrad school does not have to accept the post bacc classes.

Yes. A quick google search points that other med schools also discourage science classes at CC
https://www.upstate.edu/com/admissions/faqs.php

Very high number medical schools take cc credits.

I'm the prior poster who took community college classes. I called the schools I most wanted to attend and ensured that those classes would be acceptable. In Virginia since the basic science community college course credits transfer to our state flagships so it wasn't an issue. I was applying to mid tier schools out of state and of course the VA allopathic medical schools. I graduated about 10 years ago, though, so of course check current policies and specific schools.

In the context of a strong academic history taking a few classes at CC and acing them, and then doing well on the MCAT it was fine. The upside of CC is that classes like organic chemistry didn't have a lot of students so I had a lot of one on one instruction and learned the topics well. I had already taken some science courses in undergrad and did well (bio, chem). I was already successful in a different STEM field so that probably impacted my applications.

The med school application process seems like it's a lot more miserable than when I applied. I didn't want to waste money applying to schools where I had no shot so I only applied to 6, interviewed at 4 and was accepted to 2. It seems like current students are encouraged to apply much more broadly and applicants are getting more qualified all the time.

I would definitely say that community college while working full time and volunteering and then test prepping on my own, and navigating the whole application process solo was not optimal. If I had a kid who was really sure they wanted medicine I would encourage them to look at one of the combined undergrad/MD programs. For someone making a career change who didn't want to go in debt it worked out for me but it did take a lot of hustle and planning.

Wow, now students with perfect GPAs apply to 30 and they are lucky to get into 1, hence why I said that science CC classes are a big disadvantage. The process is insanely competitive.

I agree, it's shocking. I think that having "something" that stands out from the average application is an intangible element that may help a student get an interview. At the time people seemed really interested in asking me about software/multimedia development because that was all exploding at the time. And having good, very personal rec letters as I had worked for a doc for a few years managing the office/direct patient care. The applicants now have to be the complete package with grades, MCAT, research, extracurriculars and that "something" which is crazy. I wanted to make it clear that my application experience is from the late 2000s!

Yep. My DC1 went to a developing country and worked in a hospital for two summers. It was a great thing for mine, because we wanted to make sure that he understands the process of taking care of sick people before spending half a mil on med school.