Falling in love

Do I fall in love too easily? Today’s visit at Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine felt like love. It felt like they loved me and, frankly, I can reciprocate. The day was sunny and bright and beautiful, and the weather was pretty good, too!

So what’s the love about? TCOM is an innovator. It was one of the first schools to develop a systems-based, integrated curriculum. It has a sim lab that served as the model for Mayo and the anatomy lab was set up by a former surgeon general (C. Everett Koop, I believe—my personal favorite SG.) There are computers at each tank and a mobile camera for all to observe particularly interesting finds on the large-screen monitors throughout the room. Students have 24-hour access to both labs.

 

The classrooms are massive. Not my favorite, but expected for such a large school with 240 students per class. There are screens in the classroom and each student has a personal mike for asking (or answering) questions. The OMM lab has five cameras on the demo table and plenty of monitors throughout.

How do they make the large classes feel not so overwhelming? Students are divided into four “colleges”—think Hogwarts School of Medicine. Each college provides students with a support network for studying and socializing. The students are further divided (not sure if this is a cross colleges or not) into work groups of 6-7 people. These are the same folks you will be doing group assignments with throughout your first two years.

 
Whatever their recipe for success is, it seems to be working. The school has one of the highest COMLEX pass rates and 90% of their students sit for USMLE Step 1 (and have a pass rate on par with any other med school in the nation).

I know that at some point in time, I would like to be involved in academic medicine. TCOM is a place where I truly would feel comfortable. It is collegial and inviting. One of my interviewers was a “second-career” DO. He was soft-spoken and very encouraging. The interview ended with him saying, “We need to find your husband a job here.”

 

My second interview was even more calming than my first. We sat down and he let me know that he read my file thoroughly. He liked what he read, and told me so. We talked a little about the journey of life. I felt like I was speaking to a kindred spirit.

And that is the greatest love. Finding kindred spirits in life is so rejuvenating. I know that TCOM would be full of them. No, not 240, but enough. Maybe I have settled into a place in my life where connecting with such spirits is easy. Maybe I’ve become better able at trusting my intuition and feeling things out. I like what I felt today. It felt like home. A strange, unfamiliar, comfortable home.

Cost of Applying

Time for numerical disclosures...

On Friday, I submitted by TMDSAS application for the Texas medical programs I am applying to. One huge plus of getting in to a medical school in Texas is their incredible tuition. Their out-of-state cost is better than in-state for quite a few schools. With two of my kids graduating high school by the time I finish medical school, it sure would be nice for them to be able to chose from a lot of affordable places, too. Cost of submitting to 7 schools: $180. (Wish I could say "Cost of being a physician: Priceless" but it does come with a pretty hefty price tag.)

I caught a typo on my application after I submitted it--no going back and changing it! Sigh. I had a nightmare last night that I hit submit on my AMCAS right now. (Still some cleaning up do to. I will submit this week.)

The TMDSAS was tedious! They want you to account for every 3-month period from the time you graduate from high school. When you've been out of high school for 20 years like I have, that's a ton of detail to include. All in all, I'd say that taking that trip down memory lane helped me include more items in my AACOMAS application.

AACOMAS is for the system for the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine. Unlike AMCAS and TMDSAS, there is no letter service. That's because the AACOMAS site is powered by Interfolio. Unfortunately, that means one more system to figure out and an additional cost of $6 per letter I send, or about $18 per school. OK, OK, maybe it seems petty to worry about the price of the application process, but, hey, I'm trying to figure out how to do med school while simultaneously launching my kids off to college. It adds up. Pretty quickly.

I submitted my AACOMAS application to 7 additional schools. Perhaps 7 was over-kill. I'm pretty comfortable that I will get a comfortable number of interviews from these schools. Cost: $367.  Secondaries ranged from $50-$100 each.

I have heard plenty of people tell me not to worry about costs when applying to school. These people are usually 10 years younger than me--still "non-traditional," but no idea of the reality of sending children to college. I ruled out all of the DO programs that had tuition at $50,000 or more. Michigan State has a fantastic philosophy, but they also have a $78,000 annual tuition for out-of-staters. Even if I could get residency after the first year (and I'm not sure I could), the dollar-cost averaging still doesn't make sense.

AMCAS has a financial need program that lowers the cost of the MCAT and waives the application fee for the first 12 schools you apply to. The cut-off is 300% of the Federal poverty level. For a married couple with no kids, this program may not be much help, but with my family size, my husband and I could make over six-figures and I would still qualify. Sweet! Most schools waive the secondary fee for those who qualify.

That takes me to an absurd number of 26 schools I'm applying to. I think I laughed at my friend last fall who sent in that many applications. Now that I've spent some time in her shoes...well, you know.

We are squirrelling away money now to cover the cost of travel for interviews. Wish me luck!

Watching my future insanity play out...

Holy smack! How many schools does a person need to apply to?

A friend is applying this cycle. She's a late applicant. (No, I didn't say "old" applicant.) She took her MCAT in September and just got her personal statement finished last month. Just yesterday she confessed that she was thinking of sending applications off to "a couple more schools--just to be safe." Oh, I forgot to mention that she has already sent her application to 22 schools. Twenty-two schools! As an "older" applicant (mid-twenties) her rationale is that she must do everything she can to secure her spot this year, as time is money.

With the wisdom that comes with age, I kindly suggested that she might say to herself,  "I've done my research and I know that these five schools are well-within my grasp," take a couple of deep breaths, and just chill. Her response was, "Yeah, but I think that there are a couple more schools that I could have applied to that don't have their deadline until next week." I just smile. "If it makes you sleep better, then do it."

Is that what I have to look forward to? Second-guessing, trying to maximize every possible chance I've got to get in? Hmm. Probably. I'm taking steps to avoid finding myself in that same up-against-the-wall scenario my friend is in.

Here's my game plan:

First (and kind of duh), I'm applying early. I've got my personal statement in the works and I'm scheduled to take the MCAT in April. That leaves me with May to enter transcript data, shepherd my letters of recommendations in, and fill in all those time-consuming, irritating parts of the AMCAS application.

Second, I'm including a few DO schools in my application. It seems like some individuals view DO programs as an after-thought. ("Oh, no, I didn't get in to the MD programs I thought I was a shoo-in for...quick, scramble, hit up the DO schools before their deadlines.") DO program usually have later deadlines than MD programs. I really believe that the fresher the reviewer's eyes are when he or she looks over my application, the better odds I have.

Finally, I'm prepping myself for the inevitable. I know that next fall will take me to the brink of insanity as I wait to hear back from the schools I pick. Knowing what's on the horizon, I'm working on a coping strategy that includes staying away from Student Doctor Network next fall (I love the site, but I know when I'm in the midst of my craziness I don't need to be seeking advice from other crazies), training for a few races (at least one half-marathon and maybe an early-spring marathon), and getting a message before each interview.

So stick around and see what happens Fall 2012. Hopefully I won't be telling myself that two dozen applications really isn't that many.