Can some one tell if the application for this year (2017-18) is over or is there any DO schools still accept application?
If so, which DO schools still time to apply? Thanks.
AACOMAS officially closes on April 1 for this application cycle.
About 1/3 of DO programs say they are still accepting applications for Fall 2018.
[AACOMAS Deadlines](https://www.aacom.org/news-and-events/publications/2018-cib/aacomas-deadlines)
Although DO programs start interviewing later than MD programs and have a longer interview season, DO programs accept students on a rolling basis. Most programs have already filled their classes and late applicants will be interviewing for alternate/waitlist positions. You can check the DO school specific threads on SDN to see if any schools are still accepting (not waitlisting) students.
It’s awfully late in the cycle for a successful application, especially since it will take time to get a primary application filled out & verified, transcripts sent & verified, LORs uploaded and secondaries completed.
@WayOutWestMom Thanks for the details. Agree it is way too late. Anyhow, looks like I misunderstood what they were looking. Apparently this kid just joined American University of Anitgua recently it seems.
YAY - So excited for an acceptance! Still waiting on a couple of others, but at least D will be going somewhere in the fall! I also am very confused by the randomness of it all. @Belle315 I am right there with you. The outright rejections that on paper seem a perfect match is so strange…
Congratulations to you and your D @BigRedLongAgo! It is the best feeling to know that your child will be going to medical school somewhere. Everything else is just icing on the cake 
Congratulations to you and your D @BigRedLongAgo!
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:
Students who received a medical school acceptance should go to their PCP or school health clinic soon-ish and get blood titers for Hep B and varicella (chicken pox).
Why? Because Med students will need to present proof of immunity (a positive blood titer) before they will be allowed to start classes and the Hep B series requires 6 months to complete.
As long as your student is getting blood drawn, they should also get a titer for varicella (chicken pox) which is also required. The 2 shot varicella series requires 30 days between vaccinations.
Well, all the decisions are in and this phase is finally and mercifully over. Things ended with a whimper instead of a bang, but that’s ok, and honestly, it was expected.
For future applicants who may read this thread, I thought I would share some thoughts from this mom’s perspective;
- The whole medical school application process is absolutely grueling. Whatever your/your kid's accomplishments may be when you enter into this gauntlet, you will probably have moments of shock and disappointment. I'm just dumbfounded by the large numbers of intelligent, driven, dedicated individuals who worked so hard to achieve their goal of becoming a physician, only to be shut out of medical school altogether. These are not slackers. These are valedictorians, athletes, musicians, researchers, debaters, leaders. And almost 6 out of every 10 will not receive an acceptance to a single school.
- The application process heavily favors the wealthy and connected. I'll probably get some blowback from this, but it's my perspective, and mine only. Getting into medical school is both a very long marathon and a full out sprint at the same time. You have to start early with things like shadowing, research, volunteering, leadership positions, etc. Those with family members who are physicians have a leg up in two major ways. First, they know to a much greater extent what the student needs to do and when. Second, they have connections in the medical/research world that make it much, much easier to get access to the most impressive ECs. My daughter's bff at college is the daughter of a doctor. He was able to pull some strings to get her a plum research assistant position there the summer BEFORE she entered as a freshman. Although he lives across the country, he had the financial means to set her up in an apartment each summer and pay her living expenses so she could continue to volunteer in the lab full time. Another one of D's friends has a father on the Forbes 100 list. I don't think I need to go into detail about how his name opened door after door for his D. If you are neither upper middle class (or above) or well connected, be prepared that medical schools do not care at all about how much help an applicant did or did not receive along the way.
- In the midst of hoping for an acceptance to a particular school, don't lose sight of the goal--to become a physician. Any medical school in the country gives you the opportunity to reach that goal. Be ready to love the schools that love you.
- Use SDN sparingly or you will become neurotic.
- Parents of applicants, let your kid talk when they need to, close off when they need to, cry when they need to, rant when they need to. They need your love and support more than they know. What they're doing is scary, and they need their family as their safety net.
@Belle315 those are good points. My D is a 3rd year med student, and every part of this has been grueling, with I know more to come! And no blowback from me with the statement “The application process heavily favors the wealthy and connected” - and it doesn’t stop after admission. D was able to get plenty of good shadowing, volunteering, and research experience as a pre-med, and I credit her undergrad institution for help with that. But many of her med school classmates come from wealthy and connected families. Her observation - “medicine is a family business”.
Good luck to your D as she begins her med school journey!
Thanks @dheldreth, and congratulations on all of your D’s successes! Sounds like you have much to be proud of
Thank you @Belle315 . I shared your excellent thoughts with my daughter, and she is much more at peace with the randomness of this process. Good luck to you all!
The same to you and your D, @BigRedLongAgo. May all the applicants find the peace they need to keep moving forward.
Thank you @Belle315 for sharping .3 kids in my family went thru the process and its ugly. My DS gave up two year programs to go to go Vandy on full tuition scholarship. Still hoping/praying that he made the right decision. We do have some connections, but I am not sure if we can use them. Didn’t help during BS/MD process.
Can anyone please comment on joining the Harvard’s MD-Phd program as an affiliate vs a MSTP at UCSF or Duke ? Trying to understand how hard are funding opportunities for Phd and MS3 and MS4 years at HMS. TIA
I know it is very difficult to be accepted to a medical school in California and as such I want to get your opinion about my daughter chances.
She is in her third year in UCLA (and gratuating next quarter). She is planning to take MCAT for the first time in May, so please assume a score fitting her other stats:
GPA: 3.91
Major: psychobiology
Publications: coauthor in 7 already published and 6 more submitted (in area of biology/medicine).
EC: Usual activities such as shadowing …
Clubs: UCLA Regents Scholars Society, Mortar Board National College…and several others.
Does the fact that she in finishing in 3 years with a relatively high GPA increases her chances?
The high GPA helps. The graduating in 3 years doesn’t do a thing to improve her odds.
ETA: See p. 4 of this annual survey of admissions officers to see where they rank various characteristics/ECs they value in med school applicants.
https://www.aamc.org/download/462316/data/mcatguide.pdf
@WayOutWestMom Thanks for that link! Very Interesting…
Thankful this is almost over. What a looooooong year!
Very good points. Even the point about how the well-connected/affluent have some advantages is sound.
However, I think the following needs clarification…
It’s not entirely random. More likely than not, the 60% who don’t get an acceptance had a red flag or some issue. Maybe it was a borderline GPA, maybe it was an ok gpa, but chem grades were modest, maybe it was a silly app list (very common problem!), maybe the app was submitted late, maybe the student is from Calif and mostly only applied to Calif meds, maybe it was a troubled MCAT or the MCAT was taken multiple times and some schools will average the scores, maybe the ECs/shadowing/research/volunteering were light. And maybe there was an arrogant tone in the app or during interviews.
It still stands that those with strong grades, strong MCAT, a good app, a smart app list, and adequate ECs, etc, will likely get at least one acceptance.
Not at all.
The more important question is where will she be applying? Calif premeds have it rough so they need a smart app list.