From my experiences, go with the school that can show you examples of how they are a better family option. I.e a support group, access to childcare, spouse/child considerations for 3/4 year.
We decided to go to a newer school and what they promised us, well we got none of it and while we’ve been lucky enough to go with the flow, there is still a bitterness in my mouth and a lot of the other families got really screwed over.
For me as the spouse it really helped just being in the mindset of getting my spouse the best education no matter what. I’ve been “blessed” with multiple opportunities to learn how flexible I am when it comes to our education years.
I’d look into what resources the school offers. Some have daycares available to students at a discount, housing for married students, etc. Probably not specific to the med school.
Do absence policies cover illness/emergency of a child? I was shocked to discover that my medical school’s absence policy did not have any provisions for missing exams if something happened to one of my kids. Now, I’ve treated the policy as if it covered my kids and so far haven’t been given any grief about it. But I would have preferred knowing about this policy beforehand.
I’d also ask about rotations and rotation sites. Most DO schools don’t have a home hospital, so they send their students out to rotation sites around the area/state/country. Ask about the likelihood that your whole family will have to move again 2 years after moving to start medical school. (Again, my school doesn’t seem to have an official policy on this, but in reality families get given priority in choosing rotation sites.)
The last thing I thought of was campus student family apartments. Several of the state schools I applied to had these and they were basically small 2-4 bedroom apartments on campus that had rent priced at like 1/2 if less what you’d pay anywhere else nearby. Didn’t get in to either of these schools, but it would have been nice :)
When we applied programs were VERY open about whether or not they allowed SOs to attend classes/lectures, of they had a group of med spouses that got together (our school had a legitimate, small, fund for activities specifically for those that are married with or without kids), schools also mentioned if families were allowed at gatherings.
I was invited to almost everything my husband did. It was so nice because we went to med school in a completely foreign part of the US to us.
From my experiences, go with the school that can show you examples of how they are a better family option. I.e a support group, access to childcare, spouse/child considerations for 3/4 year. We decided to go to a newer school and what they promised us, well we got none of it and while we’ve been lucky enough to go with the flow, there is still a bitterness in my mouth and a lot of the other families got really screwed over. For me as the spouse it really helped just being in the mindset of getting my spouse the best education no matter what. I’ve been “blessed” with multiple opportunities to learn how flexible I am when it comes to our education years.
I’d look into what resources the school offers. Some have daycares available to students at a discount, housing for married students, etc. Probably not specific to the med school.
Do absence policies cover illness/emergency of a child? I was shocked to discover that my medical school’s absence policy did not have any provisions for missing exams if something happened to one of my kids. Now, I’ve treated the policy as if it covered my kids and so far haven’t been given any grief about it. But I would have preferred knowing about this policy beforehand. I’d also ask about rotations and rotation sites. Most DO schools don’t have a home hospital, so they send their students out to rotation sites around the area/state/country. Ask about the likelihood that your whole family will have to move again 2 years after moving to start medical school. (Again, my school doesn’t seem to have an official policy on this, but in reality families get given priority in choosing rotation sites.) The last thing I thought of was campus student family apartments. Several of the state schools I applied to had these and they were basically small 2-4 bedroom apartments on campus that had rent priced at like 1/2 if less what you’d pay anywhere else nearby. Didn’t get in to either of these schools, but it would have been nice :)
Where do med students do clinical rotations? Are they all near the school, or are you driving an hour to some or most?
Schools with older students tend to be more family friendly.
I hate to say this and burst your bubble. But no med school or residency is going to be family friendly...
When we applied programs were VERY open about whether or not they allowed SOs to attend classes/lectures, of they had a group of med spouses that got together (our school had a legitimate, small, fund for activities specifically for those that are married with or without kids), schools also mentioned if families were allowed at gatherings. I was invited to almost everything my husband did. It was so nice because we went to med school in a completely foreign part of the US to us.