<p>Applying to a combined program can be taxing. As exciting as acceptances are, rejections are heartbreaking. I feel that a side celebration of our other successes might take away from the anxiety of the BS/MD results just a little bit. I think we will all be very impressed. Let's share and celebrate other acceptances/options that BS/MD candidates have. I will start.</p>
<p>My son applied wide just in case (he only applied to 3 BS/MD programs). Other than some state schools, he will be deciding between:
Union College - accepted (but also waiting for Albany decision)
Case Western - accepted
RPI - waiting for Albany decision
UPenn - March 27th decisions come out</p>
<p>OK I don’t know too much detail but here is what I know - </p>
<p>SMED is one year less right? And I hear the UG has grade deflation but I have heard students there to be happy while others during their visits posted that the students in the program didn’t look happy. But you save a year’s tuition for sure. Their med school ranks pretty well too.</p>
<p>REMS - I like how they provide research experience with mentorship provided throughout the 8 years.My parenjts had a friend who worked as a cardiologist there for many years and we heard nothing but excellent things from him. Never a complaint of how things were being run. Also aren’t you exempt from MCAT in this program?</p>
<p>HPME - The UG here is really strong and lots of options for students. Not sure if those in the HPME program have to take certain classes or not but it’s a tough school with excellent students. As a fall back UG it’s the best option. You can’t just coast through this school. You are expected to be a go getter and their selection is based on that. They would love for you to do a study abroad for a summer and increase your global health experience. They expect these program students to be leaders on campus as in president of organizations etc.They love for students to do some sort of combined Master’s degree with the medical degree
I am sure you checked out this page already <a href=“http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/education/degree-programs/hpme/student-profiles/index.html”>http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/education/degree-programs/hpme/student-profiles/index.html</a> </p>
<p>So it depends on what you are after and what you are willing to put in. If you are terrified about the MCAT maybe REMS is the way to go. If you want the super challenge then HPME is the way to go. SMED falls in between.
Good luck - let us know what you decided.</p>
<p>Haven’t posted in this thread because I don’t have any undergraduate acceptances other than those of BS/MD Programs. Most of our decisions are coming out within the next two weeks anyway, so hopefully some luck will come my way in temrs of those schools. Good luck everybody!</p>
<p>My son applied few ivies and Emory as a back up, then I found “demonstrated interest” is very important for emory, like Case. Will be interesting to see what happens. All the Waitlist by BS/MD undergrad is making us doubt his credential. Now I think he applied too many Hard schools, tomorrow could be brutal.</p>
<p>@class1417 waitlist is better than rejection. Yes tomorrow will be brutal for many for the Ivy applicants while quite the celebration for others. Good luck! Thanks for sharing - maybe after tomorrow we will hear from others too.</p>
<p>I would rank HPME first and first and first !!!
HPME requires NO MCAT and has relatively low GPA requirement with an excellent undergraduate college in an ideal location, Evanston- a safe suburb of Chicago. Northwestern undergraduate program in itself is very difficult to get in. According to parents of Chicago BA MD candidate who we met during an interview at other program, only 2 or 3 students are accepted into regular NW university from each high school in Chicago even if they are highly ranked high schools. Northwestern U medical school is located in the best area of downtown Chicago near Water Tower Place, and its buildings are known as “Taj Mahal.” I would even rank HPME ahead of Brown PLME.</p>
<p>As far as SMED is concerned, I did hear first hand from parents about students appearing not to be happy </p>
<p>REMS is an excellent choice as well if one is interested in being a student athlete. But I still prefer HPME if $$ is not an issue. As a national merit finalist, one is guaranteed to receive $70K over 4 years at Rochester.</p>
<p>@upstream - Boston SMED is not an option for my D. I am puzzled by your comment though. </p>
<p>From outside, it seems like BU, its reputation and its location would be a top choice for kids - much better than Evanston/HPME purely from location perspective. Why would students not be happy? Too much competition? Not enough support from the program?</p>
<p>Both SMED and HPME are not an option for my son as well…
In terms of reputation only, I would pick Northwestern and HPME over BU and SMED.
Location is more subjective, but NW has more collegial atmosphere than BU- just a personal opinion here.
As Midhelper has mentioned in the previous post, BU has grade deflation, which could cause a bit of more stress for its students.</p>
<p>Thanks @midhelper@upstream. Our decision became more complicated, as my D got into Harvard. She was leaning towards the combined program but the allure of Harvard is swinging her mind. Would Harvard undergrad be worth to give up HPME?</p>
<p>@bsmdad that is an excellent alternative. I know someone whose son went to Harvard, he graduated this year and he is very focused. He knows he will go onto medicine. He decided to take a 2 year gap year where he will do something like PeaceCorp or TeachAmerica then apply to Stanford medical school. He did very well at Harvard, almost a 4.0 GPA if not a 4.0 so it’s doable as well. This guy is super focused though something to keep in mind. We were all impressed as to how he wasn’t just diving into going on to do medicine and was taking time to give to community but also to round out his own self. No doubt he will be successful.</p>
<p>Look at the worst case scenario. She goes to Harvard - GPA not high enough and doesn’t get into Med school. What would she do? Once you think of worst and best case scenario, what consequences you are willing to live with is what it comes down to and of course how badly do you want the medicine? If she is dead set on medicine 100% then I would give up Harvard in a heart beat.</p>
<p>My vote is still with HPME… One of my patient’s daughter, who had a stellar high school record with a high rank,
SAT scores (2400) and Bio Olympiad Finalist, went to Harvard as a premed and ended up at a mid-tier medical school even after doing one year of post-graduation research at a famous hospital. If your D is an Asian, her chance of getting into Northwestern U Med School would be extremely difficult even with a Harvard degree. However, if your D is uncertain about going into medicine, then perhaps she should consider Harvard. If your D changes her mind at NU, she could change her major at NU or even transfer to different college. There was one student who was attending RPI/AMC transferred into Yale after completing one or two years at RPI. To sum it up, I would go to HPME if finance is not a concern.</p>
<p>Still waiting for RPI/AMC… which would be our son’s number 1 choice… </p>
<p>otherwise, his options are: Case U (regular program- 120K merit), U of Rochester (regular program- 70K merit), Brandeis U (70K merit), Wash U, Cornell and Northwestern (regular program).</p>
<p>If he gets into RPI/AMC, that would be my number 1 choice as well… if not, Case U with 120K merit. Otherwise, I need to take new patients in my practice. But I will respect my son’s decision. He even went against my advise on the choice of his high school.</p>
<p>@upstream good luck with the RPI/AMC results should come out Fri or Mon My son is also waiting on RPI but he would prefer the Union/AMC. But if not, as of now he is considering for UG only - Union, Washington & Lee, and Case. I’m pretty happy with these options as well.</p>
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