BS/DO Program vs. regular pre-med undergraduate track?

Pre-Med & Medical School Multiple Degree Programs
1

<p>Hi guys!
I got into NYIT's BS/DO program, and the Geneseo 3+4 DO program. I have not been accepted to any MD programs yet, I feel like I might get an interview. Is it a better choice to go through with a DO program, or enter a college like Penn State under the pre-med track so I can get an MD? I know how difficult it is getting into medical school, so I don't want to regret the decision of not going to a DO program, which basically guarantees I will become a doctor. I know Penn State has an early assurance program for its medical school, so I would definitely apply to that if I chose to enroll there. </p>

<p>What are the drawbacks of DO? And how terribly difficult is it to get into medical school to get an MD if I chose to not go into a DO program? </p>

<p>I am such a confused senior right now, thank you so much for the help!!!</p>

<p>:)</p>

2

<p>i am also interested on jayp777 concern. Any feedbacks?</p>

3

<p>@jayp777 @novic07054‌ </p>

<p>I am posting my previous post:</p>

<p>. Go to regular 4 + 4 + (?) if you don’t mind taking your time getting into a med school. I have advised our S to accept RPI/AMC over Cornell, Northwestern, Vanderbilt and Wash U. Many of my patients need to take extra year or two or three to retake MCAT and do research to strengthen their application even though they have undergraduate degrees from such schools as JHU, Brown, Cornell and Harvard. One of them got into a mid tier med school off the waiting list with 3.9 gpa and 36 on MCAT. That student was unsuccessful in gaining an acceptance into a med school in his first attempt with MCAT score of 31. Three of my patients are in D.O. programs after many year of trying to get into M.D. programs, but they are doing well. One of them matched into a M.D. residency in OB/Gyn program in Pa. Although many students struggle with the regular route of getting into a med school, I do have a successful story with the regular route with a patient’s offspring who received an undergraduate degree from high ranked non-ivy college and eventually got into U of Chicago M.D./Ph.D. program. Now he is doing a neurosurgery residency in the east coast. My another patient is also doing a neurosurgery residency in east coast after completing his combined program. If you decide to take the regular route, you might want to consider applying to both M.D. and D.O. programs simultaneously unless you don’t mind spending a year or two or three years to strengthen your application. </p>

<p>The students that are mentioned above are Asian applicants. The mean MCAT scores of successful medical school applicants are as follow: 24 for African Americans/ 29 for Caucasians/ 31 for Asians.</p>

<p>Here is another recycled earlier post:</p>

<p>“Good you have the DO in hand, but if the kid is smart they feel that they dont fit there”</p>

<p>Not true… many of my fellow DO schoolmates graduated from some of top colleges in US, including Princeton, U of Chicago, Columbia, Cornell, U Penn, Berkeley, Norte Dame, NYU and …many of them went on to very successful careers after completing residencies at either DO or MD programs… one of them was even an intern of the year at Stony as a DO and then completed an anesthesiology program at Mt. Sinai. Now days, many of my pre-med patients apply to both MD and DO programs at the same time. </p>

<p>IMGDAD</p>

<p>Posts: 479</p>

<p>Registered User</p>

<p>Member</p>

<p>October 2013 </p>

<p>@upstream, I cannot agree more. DO is becoming a real alternative for those who want to pursue a career in medicine. Two very successful cardiologists in my town went to DO schools and one did his fellowship in cardiology in Cleveland and another one in Temple. For those who want to do medicine but not accepted into a BS/MD program, a BS/DO program is probably better than going to an undergraduate school not knowing what the future will be. My son initially applied to the BS/DO program as a backup but now he actually is thinking about going to the program rather than to a BS/MD program, even if he is accepted into one. He likes the holistic approach to patients in DO and yet is sure that being a DO would not prevent or disadvantage him from specializing, as long as he does well in his USMLEs.</p>

<p>I hope these posts will help you in making the best decision for you.</p>

<p>Good Luck !!!</p>

4

<p>I personally made the choice to avoid Bs/DO and I’m going through the regular undergrad route. I also got into NYIT’s program (sadly the only program i got into) and while it may have the guarantee, I don’t want to go through the accelerated route and I want to go somewhere I feel like I truly fit in. I didn’t get the same vibe at NYIT, and I know I’m going to love (at least for now) the place where I’m going. Truly it depends on you and your other options I guess. Some of my friends preferred the guarantee and knew they wanted to be doctors 100% and went the accelerated route, others wanted to grow more and have more time while they’re still young to explore the world and not jump into the field. Those other friends ended up pursuing other interests as well. I’d say go wherever it feels right – (as cliched as it sounds). If you love NYIT, go there, if you love Penn State, go there. If you end up hating NYIT you’ll be stuck there for seven long years.</p>

5

<p>You don’t have to be “stuck” at NYIT if you hate it there since you can always transfer to a different program. One of students at RPI/AMC transferred to Yale. You can also apply to other medical schools while completing your undergraduate degree at NYIT. There are many options if the combo doesn’t work out for you.</p>

6

<p>@upstream was that transfer to Yale from RPI or Albany do you know?</p>

7

<p>It was from RPI… You can check out his blog called the Conundrums of Life (Jay Krishnan). He wanted to pursue a career in public health and felt that going to Yale would be more fitting with his career goals. His comments on RPI were very positive.</p>

8

<p>@upstream, RPI is great place esp. for the sciences esp. engineering. It’s at the medical school level that you’re compromising in the RPI/Albany program.</p>

9

<p>@Roentgen‌, What would one compromise by attending Albany Medical College?</p>

10

<p>@upstream, it’s not exactly at high quality MD school, esp. in New York. Hence they have BA/MDs with Siena College, Union, etc. as well.</p>

11

<p>And what is a high quality MD school in NY?</p>

12

<p>Unlike law schools, the ranking of medical schools out side of top twenty do not matter as much in terms of matching into residencies. The average MCAT score(31.2) and GPA (3.6) of AMC are on par with SUNYs and New York Med. Some of undergraduate colleges represented at AMC are Boston College, BU, Cornell, JHU, Amherst, Brown, Duke, NYU, Pomona, UChicago, Notre Dame, Rochester, Wash U, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, U Penn, Brandeis, U Michigan, USC, U of Calif., Oberlin, Smith, UNC, U Toronto, Bowdoin and so on.</p>