^ I’d ask on the school specific SDN thread regarding equipment needed when you get that far (probably not until spring/summer). D was required to get her own stethoscope and some other equipment. The Facebook group of incoming MS1s at her school formed a group of 15+ in order to get a 10% discount.
^^Another option is to get together with a classmate or 2 to buy and share one stethoscope/otoscope/ophthalmoscope set among them during MS1-2. (Both my Ds did that.)
I agree with WOWM - it might be best to wait on specific med school items. D received stethoscope at white coat ceremony from alumni group, and all students received a black bag with blood pressure cuff, otoscope, ophthalmoscope the first week of class. The school wanted all to be uniform and of the same quality, so that was purchased with their fees.
All of the suggested items are great. D buys a lot on Amazon, from supplementary books to rain boots to external DVD drive, because she doesn’t have a lot of time to shop. She goes to Starbucks daily.
What I bought last Christmas was a couple of T-shirts and a coffee mug from the med school that she had decided on. And some anatomy pajamas. Not really that useful for med school, but fun.
2nd acceptance came over weekend, so 2 interviews, 2 acceptances! Yay!! As for the gifts… My daughter LOVES to bake, so I got her her own set of nice measuring spoons, stainless steel bowls, and other various kitchen stuff she doesn’t have leftover from college/apartment. Mostly special cooking things that she won’t have money to buy!
Yeah Moonpie!! Big congrats
Son just got a II from one of his top choices! He’s thrilled. He thought interviews invites are all done. Hasn’t heard a peep from anyone except rejections since early September.
Its not done!!!
@WayOutWestMom - thanks for the pointer to the iheartguts site. Found some cute gift ideas there!
This thread seems very quiet…
D is done with all interviews except one. She is bummed about a couple of rejections pre interview and is waiting on only one school for a II. Need to wait for outcomes from 4 schools until March and so this will be a long wait.
This thread has been very helpful - hoping for some more advice from veterans here. D is fortunate enough to have multiple acceptances. She now has to figure out which school to attend. Cost, proximity to home are definitely going to be factored in. She’s going to look at the curriculum, the program - but do folks have other tips on what could set one school apart from the others? Anything else that she should be looking at while comparing schools? Is there any website that compares programs or do we need to look at each school’s website in great detail ?
Also, is there a possibility of merit scholarships at any of the medical schools? She hasn’t been offered any right now - but if there were to be some offered, that could make a difference.
Thanks!
There are scholarships, most tend to be pretty small in the grand scheme of things - but $1000 is a $1000. That said, if you don’t love the school, it’s probably not enough to make you change your mind. I always felt like I had Monopoly money in my bank account when loan checks came, but would then pay tuition the next day and never really notice the costs. As an attending, the one year $1500 scholarship I received as an M1…not really showing up in my repayment structure. However the out-of-state tuition waiver that saved me $25k a year…that’s really noticeable now!
Cost and gut feeling are probably the two most important considerations. After six years of training where I put all my student loans into forbearance, I essentially have a second mortgage payment every month. There comes a point where the money becomes very real, it just takes almost a decade to get there.
Beyond cost, I personally don’t believe that there’s much difference between one school and another that’s going to show up on a spread sheet at least in any sense that is going to impact your D’s future career plans. Maybe something unique like a rural primary care rotation will ignite a passion, but that nebulous “fit” is going to matter more for her relative enjoyment during the next four years than anything else. Curriculum/grading structure/research opportunities/facilities could all matter, but unless there is some major outlier, I just don’t see much difference in outcome.
Merit scholarships seems to be a tricky subject. From what I have seen on SDN, it looks like if one is given, then it can be leveraged to request from other schools. If there are no pending offers, one might simply try to use the numbers? If a school costs 60k and an instate choice costs 40k, you try to see if the school costing 60k gives some money by stating that you are more interested in them but the price tag is 80k more than your second choice.
I also get the feeling that most kids know where they really want to go if there are no barriers (mostly financial). Second look helps in solidifying some of those decisions if there are doubts.
RE: leveraging merit offers.
This only works if the more expensive school is private and is approx equivalently or lower ranked than the in-state med school. Publics seldom offer merit to OOS students simply because they don’t have the funds. Merit most often results when a student who is from a desirable demographic has multiple offers. (High stats, URM, etc)
For D2, it helped to go to Second Look days where she got a chance to talk in depth to current students and meet her potential classmates. She was better able to assess the fit of the program without the cloud of anxiety that is Interview Day hanging over her head.
Your D should think hard about what she values in a med school–including location (she’ll be living there for the next 4 years–sucks to hate where you live…), price (graduating with less debt gives a student more freedom later on), and curricular details (like early clinical vs 2+2; P/F vs graded during didactics; dedicated STEP/COMLEX study time; locations of clinicals during MS3-4; mandated research) and school policies (campus dress code; mandatory lecture attendance, available support service like recorded lectures, tutoring, counseling services)
BTW, never under-estimate the value of a support system–whether that is being close enough to home that mom/dad/relative/family friend can come help in a pinch or it’s having a friend also attending the same school or being the same town as undergrad or having well defined support services available to students. One of my kids experienced a life threatening illness during med school–I can’t imagine her trying to deal with that (and its aftermath) alone in an unfamiliar city. Fortunately her school helped her catch up missed coursework, provided support services (like psychological counseling and allowed her to participate in TBL discussions/projects via Skype while she was homebound) and she had non-med school friends (and mom) there to lend a hand in a pinch.
I second what WOWMom said in her first paragraph regardingleveraging merit offers.
I only heard of a case: An URM got into two schools and one offered a higher scholarship than the other. He preferred the latter school due to its location so he tried to negotiate the “out-of-pocket cost” with the latter school. The problem was: The latter school was not only higher ranked but also at a better location. He did get a small amount of the increase (a couple of thousands discount per year.) In the end, he chose a cheaper school. He did not get into a school that offers a need-based scholarship to every student (international or domestic.) If he did, he would most likely attend a need-based school.
There are free Medical Schools also. D. had applied to one, was put on hold and withdrew, stating that the program did not match her objectives. I know several cases when people actually were accepted there after being put on hold. Cost at this point should not be a major consideration as D. later discovered that applying to selective specialty may be influenced by the ranking of the medical school. So, the best is to focus on a the good match for yourself vs cost. D. happened to choose the most expensive medical school out of 4 that she was accepted. The medical school is stressful enough. Do not add another layer. D. just talked about one of her friend who simply decided to attend at the most prestigious of her offers. Unfortunately, this strategy is not working well for this person either. She wished that she went to the other of her choices. Study programs / locations / student body closer if you have choices. Treat your personal preference with the most respect, you will be there leading very stressful life for 4 years. Forget cost, choose what you feel the most fitting your personality and ultimate goal.
@arisamp Yes, there can be merit scholarships. It’s been awhile for @bigredmed so may not be aware that a number of SOMs will offer to those who hold multiple acceptances to protect yield.
Have your child hold onto acceptances, then around March the schools who want to protect yield MIGHT offer merit. My son was offered merit at all 3 of his accepted schools. the smallest amount was $10k per year. the largest was half tuition.
His friend with multiple acceptances was offered the “OOS difference” at an OOS public.
What are the profiles of the merit scholarship recipients? Are they similar to the college merit scholarship awardees?
It really depends upon the specific med school.
Some med schools have merit awards for specific categories of students (female student with a strong interest in women’s health, resident of XYZ County who plans to practice in a primary care field, Hispanic student who is the first in his/her family to attend college …)
Some offer merit to high stats accepted students, particularly those who are URMs or who hold multiple offers to higher ranked schools.
Some only offer merit to instate students; some have special merit awards for OOS students.
It really varies by school.
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profiles of the merit scholarship recipients?profiles of the merit scholarship recipients?
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I agree with Wowmom…it depends on the school. We’ve seen posts from students with amazing stats get very large offers (free tuition) from a very good med school, likely to poach that student from a tippy top school.
My son didn’t have spectacular stats. I think in his case, the schools were trying to protect yield.
Thanks, WOWM and M2CK.
DS is currently a sophomore premed. When he was applying to college, I always read cc advice encouraging high school students who plan to apply to med school down the road to save money by going to a college with low cost (high merit offer or financial aid). The point was made that since medical schools don’t give merit then it’s better to save money at college and be prepared to spend $$ for med school.
So I am intrigued by reading about the merit offers by med schools. Compare to college merit scholarships, are med school merit scholarships much more difficult to obtain, much less available, very infrequent? Do the students actually apply for them or med schools just offer to the students with profiles mentioned in the above two posts in order to lure them from the other med schools?