West coast native, attended BS/MD program on east coast, applied out during my senior year and am now back on the west coast. 1st year medical student.
Shoot!
@hematoma, congratulations on being successfully able to apply out of your BS/MD program!! I’m guessing you made it into an allopathic medical school in your home state.
@hematoma Congrats on making it through! I just have a few questions out of curiosity (and probably others might have the same)
Was your spot guaranteed regardless of whether or not you applied out? What ‘tier’ medical school was the program affiliated with would you say vs the ‘tier’ of your current medical school? (I understand you might want to keep it anon).
Did you enter the program with the intention of doing well so you could apply out or did you only decide on this later on? Otherwise, why did you want to apply out?
I guess this only applies if your spot wasn’t guaranteed after applying out, but was there any point during the application process where you second guessed your decision (even though, obviously it worked out in the end)?
Having gone through the traditional application process anyways like most people, is there any part of you that wishes that you could have gone to a more prestigious undergrad?
Hopefully these questions can provide any readers some insights.Thanks for providing this opportunity.
@Roentgen thank you, yes I’m at an allopathic school in my home state!
- Yes the spot was guaranteed whether or not I applied out. Mid-tier medical school to a higher tier school (difference of rank is like 30 from what I recall)
- I originally intended to stay in the program, however I believed that a lot of classmates became self-content to the point where I felt that many of them perhaps wouldn't have gotten in at a single place if they were going through the normal route. A desire to go to a place where people really earned their seat to medical school (not saying that they didn't earn it, but they took near 360 turns in their study habits and motivations) and with whom I could have passionate discussions about the field was one of several reasons why I chose to apply out. My word of advice for students who attend these programs is to avoid the peer-pressure of just chilling/partying/self-content; it gets SIGNIFICANTLY harder once medical school starts, and after speaking with my program director of the BS/MD program the students who stay through the MD program are around the class average (not bad, but not what you'd expect from supposedly high performing high school students). I kept my standards up throughout undergrad, and I can comfortably say that for most classes I have taken so far in medical school I am in the top 15-25%. My motto during undergrad was to treat each course like I was at an Ivy League.
- I wasn't sure if I wanted to go somewhere else or not, so I decided to apply to a limited number of schools where I felt that if I got in, I would go over the medical school I already had a seat at.
- There were several points where I second guessed my decision to attend a BS/MD program. As I talked about earlier, the motivation of classmates in the program was quite low after the 2nd year, so I felt that the environment wasn't conducive to the high achieving environment that these programs often suppose.
- I think not going to a prestigious undergrad played well in my favor, but also hurt me. In terms of benefits, I did extremely well in my classes, got recognized multiple times for research, volunteering, etc and held several leadership positions. In a higher-tier school, I suppose there's more of a fight for these positions. I was able to set myself apart and was well respected, so that felt good and I was definitely one of the stronger applicants from my school. However, I do feel that when I applied to med schools the schools did not view my undergrad favorably... in fact, at one school (I later learned), my interviewer had doubts even before meeting me because I went to a "no name" school. However, I happen to be going there now, so I guess he changed his mind after meeting me!
@hematoma thanks so much for this information.
Did you feel any resistance from your undergrad school when you indicated to apply out? Because you will need their complete support to make it to a good med school.
Also did anyone bring up in any of the interviews, why you are applying out?
At the end, did it all work out? You did save money so that helps?
your post was very good, basically stay motivated almost as if you do not have the assurance to med school.
Do you know if most programs are okay applying out?
thx
@Sam999 I didn’t feel any resistance to be frank. You really don’t need much support from your undergrad in general when you apply to medical school, other than letters of recommendation and a committee letter if your school has one. I personally had no problems!
I was never asked at an interview if I was in a guaranteed program (except one of the students giving a tour at one school did). I never mentioned it on my application nor brought it up at my interview. Don’t ask, don’t tell. I was asked by nearly every interviewer why I went to the undergrad I did, since it was a low tier school in a state different from my home… have an answer ready for that.
Worked at well! In state tuition + generous scholarship, but more importantly a better education with more motivated peers.
Most programs are actually not okay with students applying out, and have rules against them… keep in mind that my knowledge is limited to when I was applying, circa 2010-2011
@hematoma what was your answer when they asked why you chose your undergrad. Of course you have no way of knowing but do you think you would have gotten into your current undergrad if you had gone to a higher tier undergrad/Ivy league or do you think you would have gotten into a better or lower tier med school? Thank you for sharing!