I applied to medical school for the 2015 admission year. The thing is… Since my MCAT score is a 30 (with a 8 in verbal - acceptable at some schools but less than stellar), I applied broadly. And being a CA resident, I didn't really have high hopes on getting admitted to a CA medical school. The competition is just too fierce. And with medical-school admission rate being ~1%, I just want to get into a medical school.
There are some options besides going out of state. I can attend Western's osteopathic program, which is about $20K more in tuition than a public allopathic school. I don't have that much money saved up. The tuition is the thing that turns me off about Western's osteopathic program. It's just plain expensive.
So as it is right now, I am not competitive for California's allopathic program, and I am not sure if I am willing to take out $20K more in loans every year to attend an osteopathic program in the state.
However, my 90+ year old grandma just decided to move into town. She has expressed that she'd like to see me on a daily basis - to keep her company and etc. I don't mind doing so (since she and I were always close), but it means limiting myself to competitive allopathic medical schools in CA or an expensive DO program. I don't know what to do. I feel guilty for going out of state to attend a less competitive allopathic program.
I was thinking about iPad and Facetime. Can you do rotations in CA?
Read more: Out-of-state medical schools vs Being close to family?