UWGPA: 4.00
WGPA: 4.63
Class Rank: Top 1-2% of Class
SAT: 1500
AP Calculus AB - 5
AP Chemistry - 4
AP Physics C: Mechanics - 4
AP Lang - 4
Will take AP Statistics, AP Calculus BC, and AP Biology this year
Ethnicity: ORM
Awards:
2019 State Model Congress Outstanding Delegate Award
National Honor Society Member
AP Scholar with Honor
CPR Certified
Extracurriculars:
Third author of dermatology research paper published in international journal
Fourth author of cardiology research paper — currently writing manuscript for poster presentation
Personally raised $10,000 in sponsorships for healthcare nonprofit; Lead team of 20 high schoolers to raise $200,000 during high school
Youth president of local nonprofit, Organized event providing free health checkups for rural and underprivileged families
Shadowed gastroenterologist
Neurosurgery virtual internship
Intern at Chemical Analysis Firm
Chemistry Club
Debate Club
Results
VCU - ACCEPTED
Seton Hall - ACCEPTED
NJMS - Interviewed with Feeder - Forwarded To Med School - Interviewed - REJECTED
Stony Brook - REJECTED
Brown PLME - REJECTED
UAB - REJECTED
Case Western - ACCEPTED UG BUT REJECTED BS/MD
W+J/Temple - REJECTED
Rowan Cooper - REJECTED
***I received a supplement application from Augusta and AMC but I declined to complete it.
UPENN - ACCEPTED
Princeton - REJECTED
Harvard - REJECTED
Yale - REJECTED
Decision: VCU BS/MD
NOTES:
Don’t apply to UAB unless you are a local state or in state student since they have clear regional bias.
Seton Hall is a scam in my opinion. They only guarantee an interview at a crappy med school and you pay a tuition of around 35-40K despite being in state. Go regular premed at a much better state school for UG (ie: Rutgers or TCNJ) and you will surely perform better.
AMC is also a waste of time for their BS/MD programs. The med school charges an insane 100K per year tuition, which I can not justify for an unranked med school. For that reason, despite receiving a supplement application, I did not continue on with the application process.
I also received a supplement from Augusta, but declined to complete it since it was too far away from home. Also, their residency placement is kinda poor.
SUNY Upstate is also a waste of time for BS/MD since their med school tuition is close to 100K. Can’t justify spending that amount for a med school ranked around 70 or 80.
Rowan Cooper has only 3 seats per year so don’t count on making it far.
NJMS interview day and Dean’s session was honestly disorganized and I was quite disappointed. On the interview day, NJMS made it seem like there would be an information session when you check in. In reality, you just show your ID, logout, and then wait until your interview time. Interview with the faculty of med school lasted about 25 minutes. Interviewer seemed unprepared and only asked me 3 questions — she couldn’t really continue a conversation. TBH I’m not that surprised that I was rejected.
I was very pleased with how VCU handled the interview day and MMI session. The information session was 2 hours long, contained a virtual tour, and I had the opportunity to ask questions. I enjoyed the MMI interview as well since I got to have great conversations with the faculty and med students interviewing me. Also my total COA for UG at VCU will be around 60K, which is a great deal, especially since I’m out of state.
I did not apply to any BS/DO programs as I felt that I was limiting myself to low ranked med schools and the negative stigma that comes with being a DO. Up until February, my parents kept nagging at me to apply to BS/DO programs that I didn’t even want to attend. My end goal is to match into a top specialty like dermatology or orthopedic surgery, so the DO route was going to be a much harder mountain to climb over.
Probably the most important point for future applicants: APPLY WELL BEFORE THE DEADLINES (perhaps 5-10 days before). START EARLY WITH ESSAYS IN SUMMER. For a lot of the BS/MD programs that I applied to, I mainly submitted the day of the deadline. Although not confirmed, I speculate that AOs read files as they come in and fill in the interview invite slots early like the traditional med school process. I applied to VCU BS/MD around a week before the deadline and got accepted. Same with NJMS feeder schools, although I was ultimately rejected post-interview. Another point: KNOCK OF THE SAT IN SOPHOMORE YEAR OR EARLY JUNIOR YEAR. I waited way too long at the end of Junior year to start preparing.
EMT IS THE NUMBER 1 MOST VALUABLE ACTIVITY TO DO. SHOWS TREMENDOUS COMMITMENT TO MEDICINE. I know tons of people with 1400 SAT scores that go into BS/MD programs because they did EMT. Unless you don’t have a passion for EMT, I highly would recommend pursuing this activity early on starting in 9th or 10th grade.
Upenn for regular premed was not very appealing as I would have to pay 75K per year. I most likely will use VCU Med as a safety and apply out to other med schools like Upenn and NYU. At this point, crushing the MCAT is my main concern along with continuing research publications and etc.
Lastly, thank you to all the parents and students on the forums that provided great advice. Their anecdotal evidence of where students ended up specialty wise from various UGs and med schools was insightful.
Good luck to the BS/MD applicants next year! The torch has been passed down to you guys!