It's even more difficult to get into med school

WayOutWestMom
Sat, 11 Dec 2021 02:36:29 +0000

The public medical school in my former state has one of the lowest tuitions in the country and requires all med students to do a intensive 6 week shadowing experience with a primary care physician in an underserved area (rural or urban) in the summer after MS1. (The school sets it up.) Students are also required to do one rural primary care medicine rotation during MS4. My younger D did her rotation with IHS (Indian Health Service) on the Navajo Reservation in AZ.

Additionally, there is a state service scholarship program that pays 100% of tuition & fees plus a modest living expenses stipend for any medical student who commits to enter primary care and work in a an underserved area of the state post-residency. The payback for the scholarship is 1-for-1. (One year of service for every year of scholarship received.)

I’d like to see more med schools do something like this rather than just offer free tuition to everyone.

Unfortunately the early data from NYU shows its grads going into non-primary care fields at the same high rates they did before the free tuition program was introduced. (Probably because they have very high standardized test scores feel they deserve better than “just” primary care.)