Can anyone weigh in on LOR issue?

WayOutWestMom
Fri, 27 Feb 2026 13:53:40 +0000

isitmayyet:

Is the school of thought these days to take the sure thing if you have that chance?

Take the sure thing IF–

1. the student is happy with the med school they were admitted to
AND

2. the student is able to pay for the med school they are being asked to commit to

The student needs to be able to “let go” of the idea they could have gone to a “better,” “more prestigious,” “different” med school. Just like ED, early assurance means the student will never know what other med schools they may have been accepted to. If that’s not an issue, then EA is a great idea. Much less stress than applying traditionally.

Finances are now the big issue w/r/t med school admission. With the new cap on federal student loans, students need to be more price conscious. Starting this summer, med students can only borrow a maximum of $50K/year for medical school. Since the student is “locked in” at the EA school, there is no incentive for the med school to offer anything else in FA–even if there any discretionary grants or low interest school loans available.

If the EA med school COA is more than $50K/year, are you, the parent, willing to co-sign private loans for the balance of the costs? Or can you, the parent, pay OOP from your income/assets the balance of the cost their medical education?

isitmayyet:

no MCAT

I always find it kind of amusing when people list this as a pro. The MCAT is just the first --and easiest-- of the many, many career-determining standardized exams that physicians take.

Med students still need to take pass national board exams (USMLE or COMLEX or both). Those are 8 solid hours long each. They need to take and pass the NBE (National Board of Medical Examiners) exams for each clinical rotation they do in med school. Don’t pass a NBE exam and you fail the rotation. Failing a rotation is major black markand can lead to being dismissed from med school. Even if not dismissed, a failed rotation will take a student out of consideration for competitive specialties, even mid-competitive specialties like general surgery, anesthesia, radiology or Ob/GYN.

During residency, there are ITEs (in-training exams–different specialties use different names for these exams) every year. Don’t pass one of those–you can be dismissed without being allowed to remediate.

And then there are specialty boards which include oral and written multi-hour long standardized exams. The written portion of the specialty board exams have to be repeated every 5-8 years for the rest of their career.

Med schools give students dedicated time off to study for their USMLE/COMLEX exams, but residency sure as heck doesn’t. Neither do employers.