Thank you to everyone on this forum, the advice and help from everyone here has been extremely useful. I’ve been lurking here since 8th grade and it’s unbelievable that my journey is at its end.
Unfortunately, I will not be elaborating on details for privacy reasons.
Reflections:
Oh boy I still cannot believe I’m done. I’m not going to lie, the past 4 years have been pretty tough and juggling academics and extracurriculars was super stressful. BS/MD programs are for kids who know that they want to become doctors, not forced by their parents; those who are motivated and know why they are working hard will get through! The application process is an absolute crapshoot, I didn’t think I would get into Brown and would’ve been happy going as a traditional premed. I chose Brown because after touring many schools, the environment there is truly special. The camaraderie between students and the positive-sum game attitude that premeds share let me know that I wanted ED, regardless of PLME.
My advice for future applicants:
Do what you love to do! I really didn’t do too many ECs, and on the common app I even had 3 spots blank in the activities section. Quality > quantity.
Essays matter! I started working on mine ASAP and really made sure to polish them. The “why medicine?” essay is extremely important and you must demonstrate both maturity and professionalism beyond that of a normal 17 year old.
From my parents: if you are EDing, maybe submit apps later if you can, they are still a bit salty that a couple hundred could have been saved…
Final note, please remember that if you’re applying to a BS/MD, you already have distinguished yourself from the rest of pack by your initiative. Don’t lose hope if you don’t get into a program, you WILL become a doctor.
Best of luck to all current and future applicants! Hopefully I will have time to stick around this forum.
Wow! Amazing ECs. I totally agree about quality vs quantity. Thank you @ramen2020 for withdrawing from all those schools. This gives other people a chance at the other schools. Amazing that you have applied to 15 schools. I should have applied to a wide variety of schools. Best of luck at Brown. That was my dream school too but I don’t have the credentials like yours. Again congratulations!
@ramen2020 Congratulations! Your achievements are outstanding and PLME would benefit with you as a student in the program.
I was curious about your High Impact publications - did you have a peer reviewed journal paper in an high impact journal as first author?
All,
Please refrain asking questions or passing comments on this thread going forward. This should be strictly kept focused on results and reflections only. Any follow up questions can go under the usual 2020 BSMD applicants thread which is meant for discussion.
@ramen2020 Congratulation to you !!! It’s like early X-mas present , right ?
Looking at your scores, classes and extra activities, I believe Brown made the right decision on choosing you. Wow !!! congrats again and good luck with your future endeavors.
@ramen2020 - I disagree with your statement “BS/MD programs are for kids who know that they want to become doctors, not forced by their parents”. My only child (son) wants to become doctor on his own even though he has strong interest in technology and applied to 6 BSMD programs only, got admitted in 2 and decided to go with traditional path since he wants have full 4 years of UG experience and don’t want to miss out on attending top 20 schools. We were willing to pay fully for BSMD. He is thriving at Vandy (he chose it over 2 top 10 schools) in all aspects and absolutely has no regrets about his decision.
@srk2017 I totally agree with your son’s decision to attend Vandy! I applied to Brown ED because I wanted to have a traditional undergrad experience at a strong school regardless of MD acceptance.
@ramen2020 - Brown is a great school to attend for UG. I am surprised by your statement about BSMD and find it strange that you applied broadly for BSMD while applying for ED to Brown. iSince you are good debater I would like to hear your rationale.
@srk2017
It is not that complicated. Applying ED doesn’t mean they will be either accepted, in which case they have to attend irrespective of PLME selection, or denied. They can also be deferred. In that case it won’t be binding anymore. So even if the deferred candidate is accepted eventually, they have the option and freedom to go there for traditional route or go elsewhere for a direct MD route (especially if not selected to the PLME).
Child knows a student who chose not to join PLME, selected RD, because of 8 years and no price breaks. Went to an accelerated program where also given NMF price break of 20k per year for undergrad.
@rk2017 I understand how ED works question is @ramen2020 is strongly advocating for BSMD, applied to liw tier to top tier programs but then why apply ED to Brown knowing that he may or may not get PLME. I am glad he got PLME.
I still think with his stats and ECs he should have gone traditional. Brown PLME will cost a fortune and it’s not a T20 medical schoil. However each kid (not parents) have to make their own decisions and we all should respect their decision but we can debate and rank may not matter to most.
So in your example scholarship trumped traditional route? If so money was the factor not BSMD vs traditional.
Did you get any awards to put in your award section?
I understand if you don’t want to specify but could if you did would you say any were significant enough to make a difference?
question is