I have recently been accepted to this school and am wondering if the OOS cost is worth attending their program. I had an enjoyable interview day and they did seem to impress me, however, this is a relatively new school and have only graduated one class (which had a 100% match rate). Still, the ~$95,000/year cost of living is somewhat troublesome to me. This is my only acceptance thus far and I don’t know whether to go for it or take another year off, strengthen my application, and apply again. Please help!
Man that’s a steep cost! The reality is, though, what will you do over the next 4-5 months that will make you an even stronger applicant? The things that are in your record are there, and there’s nothing you can do to change the past. You can only volunteer/research so much before that box is checked and the ink is dry. Any work you do probably won’t afford you the opportunity to advance to an appreciable level of leadership compared to anyone else applying a year out from school. You’ll be considered a reapplicant to all of those schools you’ve applied to this year, and you’ll definitely burn your chance at CMU if you decline their offer. Not knowing anything about you, there is something suspicious about gaining only one acceptance that would make me leery of passing on this opportunity. (Not saying you aren’t a great candidate, just that there must be some thing(s) that made other schools pass on you).
On a re-read of your post, you said “thus far.” It’s still relatively early to be stressed about whether this your only acceptance unless you have been outright rejected at every other school you’ve applied to. When I was applying, my FIRST interview was around Valentine’s day, and I wasn’t accepted until March/April anywhere, let alone the schools that were at the top of my list.
In my opinion, a school that is accredited will give you the knowledge you need to be successful. Maybe even better is that a new school is trying even harder to pad their initial stats so they are “more competitive” for future classes. In the end, it’s really the amount of work you put in as an individual, regardless of what school you attend, that will make you shine come residency application time. The top tier schools tend to outperform other schools, but I would say that is a bigger compliment to their students/admissions office than it is to the school itself.
I would say take the acceptance and run with it, become a doctor in 4 years, then worry about paying off that debt. There are scholarship programs out there, be them state, federal, or individual foundations, that can alleviate some/all of that cost that you could definitely look into.
You’re totally right. Everyone I know has been saying the same, I just needed an unbiased, objective opinion. Going this year would be the best thing for my future and I know that. Thank you for your thorough answer Kennymac!
Not trying to hijack this thread, but something you both said makes me curious: How long does it take for all rejections/offers to be sent out? From what you both say above, it makes me think that I’ll need to just go ahead and plan on applying not just this coming June, but also next June and go through all the steps next year too (i.e. MCAT if needed, more shadowing?, etc.)
The answer to your question is “it depends.” Unfortunately, that’s the answer to most questions about admissions because schools do things differently, they look for different qualities in the applicants, etc.
Probably the most common things I ran into while applying were either 1) school gives outright rejections immediately after reviewing your application, 2) school puts you on an interview waitlist to compare your application against future applications they review, 3) school sits on your application and doesn’t let you know your status until the end of the cycle. Post-interview usually gets a reject/wait list/accept weeks to month(s) after the interview. I had one school that literally had zero communications with me after I submitted my secondary. I’m assuming I’m not getting in there since it was 5 years ago… Kind of funnily, I’ll actually be applying to a residency program there this fall.
You don’t necessarily have to submit in June, but it puts you at a disadvantage for schools that do rolling reviews (first in, first reviewed). My application wasn’t completed until September time frame, and my first responses came in mid December. If you applied this cycle and haven’t heard anything, that’s probably an ominous sign since interview season is coming to a close soon.