BS/MD program vs Top Colleges

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>So, I am stuck in a tough decision between a bs/md program and harvard, stanford, and MIT. I have made pros and cons for each and am thinking really hard about it right now. Ultimately, my life goal is to become a doctor, politician, businessman, live a happy life, and better the society for myself and others. I don't want to work so hard to the point of burning out, but I want to be challenged to grow. My work ethic sucks right now, but I think college will be a great time to really "find" myself and figure out my real strengths and weaknesses.</p>

<p>I am not extremely bright, but am fairly smart and have the potential to do much more by working hard. Academics was definitely not my STRONGEST point in high school (33 ACT, nothing big). So, please take that into consideration: I am no math, science genius. I work hard, but really love to get involved with stuff besides academics, although I am seeing I will have to switch up my gears a bit for college.</p>

<p>The BS/MD program is a 8-year program at Union College with Albany Medical College.</p>

<p>Requirements of the program:</p>

<p>-Maintain3.5 GPA every trimester. If unable to, student will be placed on probation for 2 trimesters and failure to bring it up with remove student from program.
-MUST major in Biology or Chemistry.
-MUST also do an interdepartmental major in the humanities or social sciences.
-MUST do a masters in science or MBA in the summer after sophomore and junior years through Union Graduate School.
-MUST go on a term abroad.</p>

<p>-NO MCAT required (I feel this is pretty big)
-cannot apply out of the program without losing medical school seat.</p>

<p>-I will be in about 20K - 30K in debt after graduating from Union College, assuming I get no other outside scholarships (which I might, so maybe the debt will be around 20K)</p>

<p>HARVARD or MIT, Stanford</p>

<p>-Awesome opportunities</p>

<p>-Even though I am 99% set on medicine, it will allow me to pursue my other passions like politics and business to a larger extent. Union College will allow me to do the same, but at Harvard there will be more internship opportunities.</p>

<p>-I will not have to major in Bio or Chem unlike at Union College (even tho I am probably going to major in Chem).</p>

<p>-I will have the true college experienece in a lively city.</p>

<p>-I liked the campus, but didn't LOVE it.</p>

<p>-90% of premeds get into medical school..</p>

<p>-If I decide to take some time off between med school and undergrad, I can expect to land great jobs and make a true difference in society.</p>

<p>-Practically Full Ride (cost me 2K a year)</p>

<p>Im in need of some advice from fellow high school, college, and medical students, even doctors etc.....</p>

<p>Should I take a guaranteed acceptance to Albany Medical College or go to one of the top colleges (Harvard, Stanford or MIT) and pursue pre-med, explore interests, have fun, and work as hard as I can to make it into "a" medical school (note: I aim to only get into a medical school, I dont care about getting into top 10 med school).</p>

<p>I feel like I will have a ton of stress at Harvard or Stanford, MIT, but less so at Union BS/MS/MD. I will know that I am already into medical school. But then again, I dont want to be in 20K debt when I can go somewhere amazing for free.........so, I am very stuck and since you pre-meds are/have gone through this, please give me some advice. </p>

<p>I have this fear that going to one HSM will be amazingly hard and I will not be able to cut it. I am already burning out in high school with 5 APs, and if college is like this for 4 years, I don't know if I would be able to handle it. So, I have a mix of insecurity, but then I also have this confidence that I will be able to do anything I want if I put my mind to it and should go to Harvard or the like.</p>

2

<p>if i were you, i wouldn’t do the BS/MD program and take advantage of the things H,MIT,S have to offer. but if you’re already feeling burnt out after 5 APs, and as you say have a terrible work ethic, then im not sure if a medical career is right for you.</p>

3

<p>^I may be suffering from bad senioritis though…my work ethic was actually really good in junior year, just this semester, it has gotten bad. And, with apps and working like 20 hours/week, things have definitely gotten stressful and I wont lie, I was to the point of burning out. I guess I am being too self-critical.</p>

4

<p>In this case, the best choice would be Harvard/MIT/Stanford.</p>

<p>They are cheaper then the Union College/Albany Medical School program.</p>

<p>Harvard/MIT/Stanford also give you more opportunities and flexibility to expand your other interests besides medicine.</p>

<p>I personally would choose Harvard/Stanford. MIT sucks for pre-meds, because of the massive amount of grade deflation there.</p>

5

<p>My worst fear is scoring really low on the MCAT and not making it into med school after trying so hard. Union bs/md will provide the backup in this case, but I will lose the other intangibles like exploring my own potential.</p>

6

<p>Take Harvard, hands-down. (Unless you’re from Massachusetts, in which case you should take Stanford.) It’s not even close. Harvard kids, as a general rule, don’t do poorly on standardized tests.</p>

7

<p>Don’t do the combined program. You are limiting your options too much AND taking on debt. Not a good choice.</p>

8

<p>the combined program is extremely ridged. are you sure that wouldn’t stress you out more than the mcat?</p>

<p>just because of how inflexible the combined program is, I personally would go to one of the other schools.</p>

9

<p>lol, same as on SDN, my vote is for Harvard or Stanford.</p>

10

<p>If you have other similar-cost admissions, I’d consider Yale or Princeton, as well.</p>

11

<p>BDM - I do not have those options. My indecisiveness is basically caused by my fear of not doing well at Harvard, I am NOT the strongest academically. My academic profile: 33 ACT, 760 on Chem, Math 2 SAT2. 5’s on Chem, Psych, Gov, APUSH. 3.95 UW GPA. Took 2 AP’s in Junior year. Taking 5 APs this year (acing all my classes except AP Eng Lit and AP Biology… …Most of the people I met at MIT and in my college journey were years ahead of me in sciences and english and all that academic stuff.</p>

<p>I am a very analytical person so stuff like math, chem, and physics come fairly easy to me. What I struggle in is reading in AP Eng and memorizing in AP Bio. Maybe I feel this way because of the time crunch and my somewhat diminished work ethic this senior year. Going to school 7 hours a day and then 20 hours/week job puts me in a real time crunch and maybe if I had more time to devote to Bio, I might not feel this way. But, all in all, I do struggle a lot more with English and Bio than analytical stuff that doesnt need to be studied for.</p>

<p>So, after all this information, I think if I work really hard, I will be able to get high grades and high MCAT (if I improve reading comprehension etc). But, I dont just want college to be work, work, work. I will definitely try to find a balance btw studies and activities.</p>

<p>Knowing all this, what is ur recommendation?</p>

12

<p>I don’t know what an ACT score means, but my impression is that a 33 is pretty strong. Regardless, if Harvard wants you, you’re pretty much guaranteed a spot at some medical school somewhere. (The reason Harvard kids don’t get in at a near-100% clip is because they apply improperly.)</p>

<p>The bottom line is this: there’s no single proxy that strongly resembles medical school admissions except … undergraduate (and, in your case, medical school admissions). These programs clearly think you have what it takes. I don’t see any reason for second-guessing them.</p>

13

<p>I agree with you BDM, harvard seems the best choice. However, seeing this college application round has already made me curious about the ambiguity in the medical school admissions. I disagree with you that I am pretty much guaranteed a spot; it may be that Harvard weeds out the weaker students (who may have become doctors through BS/MD programs), to keep the STRONGEST ones on board. Or worse, maybe it screens the applicants that will be applying to med school and not letting the weaker ones apply.</p>

<p>I dont want to have to just work and compete senselessly with other premeds to get that A in the class. My goal will be 3.6 GPA, +32 MCAT, and pursuing my passions in medicine, politics, and business. </p>

<p>This program may think I have what is takes to succeed, but just having what is takes to succeed is, from what I have been seeing, not enough to get into a medical school. You have to be a superstar. I interviewed at many med schools for the bs/md programs and the competition was pretty intense making me question if I want to go through all this again.</p>

<p>In all honesty, harvard will provide me with a foundation that will help a lot, but so will Union to a lesser extent. If Union bs/md gave me full ride, I am almost sure I would go. But, now Harvard is very enticing with money etc…</p>

<p>It is not that I dont have confidence, but I dont want one little thing to break my dreams of becoming a doctor. I dont want to do stuff to look good on paper. I want to do something meaningful like start a business or nonprofit to help a cause, do extended research, and I know I can at Harvard, but there will always be that pressure to volunteer, shadow, and the cookie-cutter premed stuff.</p>

14

<p>Go to Harvard. Don’t sell yourself short.</p>

15

<p>

</p>

<p>This is a theoretical possibility. But I assure you that *even the weeded out *Harvard students almost certainly could have gotten into medical school somewhere. It just happened that in light of their other options – and Harvard kids have very good options – they chose not to attend medical school.</p>

<p>

No. They don’t do this.</p>

<p>I really really really wouldn’t worry about it. Really.</p>

16

<p>I am really 95% sure i want to be a doctor. Now, I am thinking, why should I work sooo hard and stress with the uncertainty of my future when both routes will take me to the same place (Union bs/md with less stress, more happiness, more ease, time to pursue other things than obsess over MCATs, gpa, and building a resume)??</p>

17

<p>

So? What’s the question? Based on the assumptions you have made, do it. The fact that those assumptions are not necessarily true…well, you don’t appear to want to hear that. Good luck. </p>

<p>BTW, that “95% sure” thing should bother the heck out of you.</p>

18

<p>If you decide on a BS/MD program you should be 100% sure that you definitely want to be a doctor and definitely want to attend that medical school. Granted, since it’s not a shortened program, you probably would not have to worry about saying an extra year or two to complete your undergrad degree should you drop out of the program for whatever reason. However, the requirements that this program has seem to be quite rigid, so take that into consideration as well.</p>

<p>Also, you mentioned that college will be the time to find yourself. What if in finding yourself, you realize that you don’t want to go the path of medicine? Harvard or Stanford may offer you other opportunities to go in any direction you choose. </p>

<p>Ultimately, it’s your choice but consider your options wisely. Working hard in undergrad will get you into the right work ethic for medical school. I know a lot of BS/MDs that don’t completely take all of their work seriously now because they only have to maintain a 3.5 and not participate in as many ECs, and that will hurt them in the long run. My father said that the BS/MDs at his medical school were the ones that struggled the most at first because not all of them worked their butts off throughout undergrad. </p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

19

<p>curm - I apologize if I came off in a bad way. I meant for someone to convince me why those things are not true etc…sort of give me reasons. I might be a little naive and you guys seem to know better so I wanted to state my point of view and see what other people’s reactions are. </p>

<p>sarah- yes, that is ultimately what Im scared of, slacking off and never finding my true potential. Because ultimately, that is what life is all about right, finding yourself and what is important to you, or at least to me. But, I dont know if I will be able to handle that uncertainty in college…and I dont know, but I have always wanted to be a doctor, done many related things, and can really see myself doing that. And if Harvard causes me to change my mind, as of now, I am thinking that will be because I will try to escape either the MCATs or classes and I would hate to see myself give up my lifelong dream just because I couldnt “beat someone else.” At Union, I wont have to worry about that and will really get to see my dream and work come true.</p>

20

<p>bump…any more thoughts?</p>