<p>Okay I am putting this up so that maybe some of you guys can help me out here.
I am a student who is currently in a combined medical program. I just finished my undergrad in two years and I am set to begin my medical studies in the fall.
While I know that's great and all and probably most people would want to be in my situation, here's what I have been thinking about. While I am excited to move on and go to medical school, the place where I am going is not one of the best places to go for school and most students end up going into a primary care residency(thats how the program was designed). At this point, I feel like I would like to possibly specialize and I feel like it may be really hard to get into a residency that I want coming from the school I am currently set to attend.
What I'm playing around with is the idea of taking a year off, working, retaking the MCAT, and applying to a school( or maybe a few) that are "better".
I guess the bottom line is that I feel like my head is telling me to stick with this combined program and just get through medical school and things will somehow workout while my heart is telling me to take the risks and that I will be much happier in the long run.
I guess my question is do I give up what I have going for me now and go on this leap of faith?
I have managed to keep a ~3.7 undergrad gpa and ECs, work, shadowing, research, etc. so I am not worried about anything on my application really except for the MCAT which I would need to retake cause for our program we didnt need to do very well on it.
Any and all advice would be appreciated</p>
<p>More specifics such as the school you attend would be helpful.</p>
<p>1.) Don't forget that unlike some undergraduate programs, medical schools do not even pretend to take only your highest MCAT score. All sittings will count.</p>
<p>2.) If your school is explicitly designed to funnel most of your students into primary care and you're not very certain that that's what you want to do, then I do think that might be grounds for outside applications.</p>
<p>3.) I don't like combined programs. I know, I know, you didn't ask, but this is a perfect example of why.</p>
<p>I think you should take the risk if you don't want to be in primary care.....
I heard that medical schools frown on the combined degree program so maybe you should call some of the school you would apply to see if you would have any chance! Good Luck I hope everything works out~</p>
<p>thanks for the input...</p>
<p>at this point, i'm going to start making some calls and see what can be done.i guess just get an idea if i have a chance of making this happen.
my fear, like you said pakbabydoll, is that its going to be frowned upon that i went through everything accelerated... but idk i guess it won't hurt to see if i have a chance.</p>
<p>bluedevilmike- i am not so cool abt combined programs right now. and its probably much better to be in your position hating combined programs than mine. ;)</p>
<p>i just wish i had realized this alll sooner... preferably when i was still in high school... i had a hard time deciding on whether or not to do the combined program, but at the time the "security" of having a medical school acceptance and not having to do amazingly on the mcat appealed to me.</p>
<p>Option 1. If you have had strong GPA in your premed courses during the first two years, I would consider transferring to a college with a strong premed track record. I would focus on an additonal academic area for your major which may or may not be related to medicine/biology,etc. You should gain admission to a top medical school if you continue to do well there. You will not have the burden of taking your premed classes and focus on what you are truly interested in for two years.</p>
<p>Option 2. It may be difficult to transfer to a more research oriented or highly ranked medical school at this time. They would want to evaluate you against applicants who will be graduating from college. However, it does not hurt to inquire as you already have gone through a vetting process of sorts by your admittance to the combined program. Hopefully, you have done well in the premed courses during the past two years.</p>
<p>Option 3. The next option is going to your medical school for two years and then transferring to another medical school. You then officially become a medical student and will try transferring after you finish you pre-clinical courses. This type of thing happens: sometimes for the reasons you mentioned and sometimes for personal reasons. I am aware of students who transferred from primary care programs to research oriented medical schools that may have a full spectrum of subspecialties. I also am aware of students transferring when a spouse has matched to an internship elsewhere. Medical schools are less inclined to give a break if your spouse is not in medicine and takes a job elsewhere for other reasons.</p>
<p>Option 4. Last, you can do electives at schools that have residencies that are in or will point to the subspecialty area you have interest. This also may help you in the residency selection process. Even if your school does not have much by way of subspecialty training, it would be worthwhile to do well in your classes and clerkships, and to try to maximize your opportunities with physicians in those areas. One of my colleagues who is a professor of medicine at a top medical school, and a former division chief, came from a school in the mid-west that was focused on primary medicine and is not known in academic medicine. However, by working hard, he matched to a top residency program in internal medicine, received his subspeciality training at another top program, and has been able to pursue a very active academic career.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>