<p>ferredoxin - We are waiting to see your stats.</p>
<p>So glad my college admissions process is finally over! Here are my stats:</p>
<p>Class Rank n/a, but top 1-2% in a large public school
Unweighted GPA 4.0
Weighted GPA 4.6</p>
<p>SAT:
Math 760; Critical Reading 780; Writing 780 = 2320 Superscore</p>
<p>SAT II:
Math Level 2: 800
Chemistry: 760
Biology: 800</p>
<p>AP (by the time I have applied to BS/MD programs):
Biology: 5
Calculus BC: 5
Calculus AB Subscore: 5
Chemistry: 5
English Language and Composition: 5</p>
<p>During my senior I completed 2 more APs:
(Psychology and Physics C)</p>
<p>Major Extracurriculars:
Intern at pediatrics office, NHS & other honor societies (Spanish, math, science), Leo Club (president), Science Olympiad (president), Yearbook (editor-in-chief), Columbia University Science Honors Program, painting workshops</p>
<p>Community Service:
Leo Club, Hospital volunteering, Summer camp counselor, Clinical volunteering abroad over the summer</p>
<p>Research Experience:
none :(</p>
<p>Applied to the following BS/MD programs:</p>
<ol>
<li>Boston University - INTERVIEW & SELECTED FOR PROGRAM- CLASS OF 2019 :)</li>
<li>Drexel/Drexel INTERVIEW & SELECTED FOR PROGRAM</li>
<li>TCNJ/NJMS INTERVIEW & SELECTED FOR PROGRAM</li>
<li>UConn INTERVIEW & SELECTED FOR PROGRAM</li>
<li>NJIT/NJMS INTERVIEW, status pending, but BU SMED class of 2019, regardless!</li>
<li>Northwestern INTERVIEW, waitlisted at undergrad</li>
<li>Case Western INTERVIEW, alternate for program (aka waitlist)</li>
<li>Brown alumni interview, not selected</li>
<li>VCU offered interview, declined</li>
<li>Siena/AMC offered interview, declined</li>
<li>GW/GW no interview</li>
<li>Penn State no interview</li>
<li>Miami no interview</li>
<li>UMiami - no interview</li>
<li>Rice/Baylor no interview</li>
</ol>
<p>Other schools: Accepted: USC, Rutgers, Vanderbilt, Rice, UNC-Chapel Hill (Robertson Scholar semifinalist). Waitlisted: Yale, Duke, Northwestern. Rejected: Harvard, Princeton, Penn, Brown</p>
<p>Decision: I chose BU! I am part of the BU SMED program, Class of 2019 (seven-year program).</p>
<p>Reflection: First of all, my friends all thought I was insane for applying to so many schools. If you are set on attending a BS/MD program, which I was at first, it is worthwhile to apply widely. But that being said, I’m glad I applied to a bunch of regular undergrad schools in addition to the programs, because I changed my mind a LOT throughout senior year and I’m so glad I kept my options open. I strongly suggest applying to regular undergrads too even if you think you’re set on a BS/MD program now, because that may change. I wish I had visited more schools the summer before and narrowed down my list, because then I would have had fewer apps to do! I even ended up declining some interviews because I realized I didnt really want to go to those schools. Overall, as I visited schools for interviews, I started getting a clearer picture of what I wanted- and what I didnt want- in a school, and Im so glad with how it all turned out. As my results started coming back, I seriously considered going the regular 4+4 route instead of a BS/MD program, but after visiting the three schools I narrowed it down to (BU SMED, and two regular undergrads), I knew I would be happy at BU SMED and that is where I will be for the next seven years :)</p>
<p>Advice to Class of 2013: I think I had a pretty solid transcript (all As and A+s) throughout high school, and this along with my good essays, activities and scores helped me get interviews. I had a significant amount of medical-ish activities (shadowing, volunteering, interning, etc), but I think my non-medical activities distinguished me from all the other typical Indian pre-med applicants. I was very big on art and I think talking about my desire to pursue that in college made me unique during my interviews? My best advice for interviews, cliché as it sounds, it to be yourself. Of course, you need a compelling reason as to why you want to pursue medicine, but you need to show your interviewers that you can benefit from a combined program, and that youll use your potentially-easier course load to do something productive rather than just bum around and party during your undergrad years. I talked about getting involved in journalism and art, and pursuing those as a major or minor, and I think (I hope!) I was able to talk about them passionately and convincingly enough during my interviews. </p>
<p>If you get a chance, start writing your essays over the summer, because you will be swamped with college apps first semester of senior year. Med programs have much earlier deadlines (some as early as November 15th), and some strange requirements (specific SAT IIs, specific teacher recommendations, specific forms teachers have to fill out, mailing instructions, etc.), so you really need to be on top of things. I suggest submitting your apps at least 2 weeks in advance, so you can call them and make sure everything is in properly and on time. </p>
<p>Ive attended a bunch of interviews this year, (BU, Northwestern, Case Western, TCNJ/NJMS, NJIT/NJMS, Drexel, UConn), and Im willing to give advice/ share my experiences for any of them. You are welcome to message me or post to the BS/MD interview thread and I will try my best respond asap. Also, use your resources!!! There is SO much info available on college confidential. Dont be ashamed to stalk the older threads to find information- thats what I did! 
The interview notification threads will give you a good idea of when to expect to hear back from each program, and program-specific threads (google them!) have even more specific advice. </p>
<p>Wow, this was a long post I hope it helps some future applicants though! Im so glad my college application process is over now and I am beyond thrilled to spend my next 7 years in Boston! Good luck to all!</p>
<p>Now that the interview / application process is over and our teenager is done with the selection i feel obliged to thank the people that have unknowingly helped us through this whole process.
As a parent we have stood by our teenager through this tough application/interview process and lend moral and other support during this difficult period. there were many ups and downs but eventually the decision and selection has been made and we are now going to step back and let our teenager make the most of it in the new environment/ city / etc.
DECISION : BU 7 YR ACCELERATED MEDICAL PROGRAM.
REFLECTION: i want to thank college confidential for this opportunity to gain unlimited information (needs some scouting though) that has helped tremendously in preparation and expectation and finally selection of a program.
In general every body on c.c. has been knowingly or un knowingly helpful to all , but here is a list of people who took extra time to , in my opinion help other people navigate through this application maze.
FERREDOXIN: Your energy and enthusiasm is infectious , your caring and selfless efforts to help other people show through: keep it up.
NEOEVOLUTION: your stash of information on the various programs is invaluable , it helped us make a decision.
SOCALSUN,VOILOUR, NG1914,MRJOHNSMITH: very helpful thank you
BIGBDAWG: Your posts last year and the effort to take time to post this year has been very helpful in making a decision.
Parents like GOLFBLACKHOLE, TRT , MIDHELPER, and prior posts from MiamiDap were also very helpful from a parents point of view.
There is much other information from many other people of c.c.that we have gained from, but obviously it not possible to mention them all, so if I missed you please accept my sincere thanks.
I wish everybody luck and will post my experiences as a parent for the applicants of 2012/2013 at a later date.
Cheers!</p>
<p>dblazer - Please post your stats.</p>
<p>^Sorry, I was waiting on PIT GAP results, but I guess I can post now </p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2370 (770 W)
SAT II:770 Bio M; 770 Chem; 790 Math II</p>
<p>Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.95 (1 B+)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):5/~300. Sent in a bad midyear report to normal UG schools (I don’t believe programs look at them).
AP (place score in parenthesis):Most Rigorous Courseload Possible (9 APs before senior year, almost all 5s)</p>
<p>Senior Year Course Load: 6 APs
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):Siemens Competition Semifinalist, AMC 12 School Winner (AIME Qualifier), NMSF, AP Scholar with Distinction, Regional Science Fair Awards, FBLA State Finalist</p>
<p>Subjective:
School Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):Math Club (Co-Founder & Pres), Marching Band (Section Leader)Debate Team (VP), Interact Club (Board Member), Asian Culture Club (Treasurer), JV/Varsity Tennis other insignificant clubs. Have done these for at least 3 years.</p>
<p>Volunteer/Community service:~400 Total Hospital Volunteering, ~50 Temple Volunteering
Summer Activities:Congressional Internship, Breast Cancer Research, EMT Certification/Volunteering
Essays: Why doctor essay was very generic, just talked about my experiences (doing research, EMt work, volunteering and how that lead to my decision).</p>
<p>Teacher Recommendation:Would say average good, not the best student in teaching career good.
Counselor Rec:Probably pretty decent
Additional Rec:Sent in Research Mentor Rec which was decent</p>
<p>Other
State (if domestic applicant):PA
School Type:Public, Somewhat Competitive (Sends a few kids to ivy-caliber schools)
Ethnicity:Asian (Indian)
Gender:Male</p>
<p>Med Program Results
Lehigh/Villanova/Drexel/Drexel Med -->Interviewed–>Accepted
UMiami/Miller School of Medicine ---->Interviewed—>Rejected (23/~80 accepted)
GWU/GWU Med ---->Rejected pre-interview
RPI Albany ----->Interviewed —>Accepted
Boston U/Boston U Med —>Interviewed—>Rejected (I believe ~40/100 accepted)
PSU/Jefferson—>Interviewed —> Accepted
Case Western PPSP —>Interview “Alternate” —>Rejected pre-interview
TCNJ/NJIT/UMDNJ —> First & Second Interview —> Accepted NJIT/NJMS, Rejected TCNJ
Northwestern HPME —> Rejected pre-interview
Rochester REMS —>Rejected pre-interview
Temple Med Scholars —>Interviewed—>Accepted
Slu Med Scholars —> Accepted
Brown PLME —> Rejected, Waitlist at UG
UMKC —> Interviewed —> Waitlisted
Pitt GAP —>Interviewed → Probably Rejected (only about 8/36 interviewed chosen) </p>
<p>What did I learn? I suck at interviews.
Decision: PSU/Jeff</p>
<p>Normal Undergrad: Dartmouth (Accepted), Duke (Accepted), UChicago (Accepted), Brown (Waitlist), Columbia (Waitlist), Penn(Waitlist), JHU(Waitlist), Northwestern (Waitlist), Cornell (Rejected)</p>
<p>Advice/Reflection: My choice program was by far my top choice to begin with so I’m happy with where I’ll be headed.</p>
<p>How to get in: The easier and mid-tier programs are somewhat formulaic for getting interviews as I’ve seen. Main requirements for sure are academics, so the SAT is quite important. On the low end, 2100 is probably the minimum that would be considered while anything 2300/2350+ is very good. Top 5%, 3.9+ gpa is good for most programs (tough programs would want Top 1-2%). Once those reqs. are met, it’s down to medical experience for the low/mid-tier programs. This includes shadowing, research, hospital volunteering, EMT, or any other health-related internships or groups. School activities probably aren’t very much considered. Essays and recs, though considered, I feel are overshadowed by the other stuff. What I’ve also learned is that once one gets to the interview stage, it’s all about the interview for the mid-tier programs. Note, it’s not comparable to top college admissions because they look for different things. But one does not have to be ivy/top college caliber to get an interview. Also, for the tougher programs like HPME, I feel the essays and non-medical ecs play a much larger role.</p>
<p>Interviews: Once you’ve made it this far, whether one gets in or not is very dependent on how the interview goes. For preparation, It’s not a bad idea to bring a resume which can help the interviewer out (and can lead the interviewer to view you in a favorable light before talking to you if it’s particularly impressive) and/or research abstracts. The questions themselves will mostly be about why medicine and experiences. One should be prepared for questions like, tell me about yourself, why medicine, questions about each of your experiences, some ethical question, health care’s biggest problem, why BS/MD and even something like what do you do for fun comes up a lot. With each experience think about how it relates to your desire to practice medicine. I must say though, there is a ton of variation in how the interview goes based on the person interviewing. Some will latch on to your resume/credentials, others don’t want to see any of it. The questions and the direction of the interview really varies from interviewer to interviewer (some are totally against their school’s program) and who you’re matched up with is something that you can’t control, but one can be prepared for prepping (keeping in mind that you want to showcase yourself as a passionate/compassionate individual). Idk why I did so poorly though.</p>
<p>In terms of my thoughts on some programs, I would def. put PSU/Jeff as my top followed by BU, Miami, NJ, RPI, Drexel, etc. had I gotten in. They seemed to have some of the happiest students and I liked how the program group was pretty tight. Impressed with Jeff Med and PSU is a great place for UG. BU, the med school is nice, but on the lunch I went, students didn’t seem happy with BU. Program student complained about it being tough and that BU’s grade deflation makes it tough. Someone else I talked to said their program student didn’t really like BU even though the city is nice and advised him to take an ivy over the program. Campus was also too urban for my preference so though I went in liking it, I left somewhat lukewarm. Miami kids seemed moderately happy with the program though relatively few matriculate so there wasn’t a tight group of HPM kids like I saw with PSU/Jeff. Albany, Drexel programs are alright, but I would put them a step lower than the previously mentioned ones. </p>
<p>That was long, but I want to be informational b/c I know I relied a lot on cc while preparing/applying for these programs. Juniors, spend the summer wisely (research, shadowing, volunteering) and even start working on your “Why Medicine” essay. The deadlines for these programs are pretty early (a few months before the UG schools) so be prepared with dates and make sure you have recs, application material organized. And of course, feel free to pm me if there are any questions anyone has. I’ll be starting the PSU/Jeff program in the summer so any questions about the program in particular would be welcomed down the road. I wish everyone luck.</p>
<p>SAT I (breakdown): 2380 (M:800 R:780 W:800)
SAT II: 790 Bio, 800 Math II, 800 Chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.99
Weighted GPA: 4.382
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/299
AP (place score in parentheses): 5- Biology, 4- Chemistry, 5- European History, 4- Physics C: Mechanics, 5- United States History, 5- Calculus BC, 5- Lang & Comp, 5- Psychology
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics II, AP Spanish, AP Literature, AP Computer Science, AP Statistics, AP U.S. Government, AP Macroeconomics
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Siemens Semifinalist, National AP Scholar, NMF, Rensselaer Medal Award</p>
<p>Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Mu Alpha Theta (President), Debate (President), Marching Band (Section Leader), Asian Student Union (Vice President), Tennis (Varsity), NHS (Fundraising Committee Chair), Science Olympiad (Member), Biochemistry Research (Co-Published, Summer), Congressional Internship (150 hours, Summer), Physician Shadowing (~100 hours)</p>
<p>Volunteer/Community service: Hospital Volunteering (400+ hours), EMT Volunteering, Hindu Temple (100 hrs)</p>
<p>Essays (Include Subjects): Average (Probs. Weakest part of application)
Teacher Recommendation #1: Math teacher, generic good formed club w/ her sponsorship.
Teacher Recommendation #2: Science Teacher, generic good
Counselor Rec: Probs. okay, can’t see it being amazing
Additional Rec: Sent research mentor rec which I think was pretty solid as well as an excellent Principal Recommendation</p>
<p>Date Submitted App: Nov. 1st
State (if domestic applicant): PA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian (Indian)
Gender: M
Income Bracket: 100k-200k lol
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None</p>
<p>Normal Undergrad: Accepted Duke (LL), University of Chicago, Cornell, University of Pennsylvania (LSM, dual-degree); Waitlisted Princeton, Brown, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern; Rejected Harvard.</p>
<p>Boston University - INTERVIEW & SELECTED FOR PROGRAM
Drexel/Drexel – INTERVIEW & SELECTED FOR PROGRAM
NJIT/NJMS – INTERVIEW & SELECTED FOR PROGRAM
RPI/AMC – INTERVIEW & SELECTED FOR PROGRAM
UMiami – INTERVIEW & SELECTED FOR PROGRAM
Slu Med Scholars —> SELECTED FOR PROGRAM
Temple Med Scholars —> INTERVIEW & SELECTED FOR PROGRAM
Northwestern – No interview, waitlisted at undergrad
Case Western – No interview
Brown – alumni interview, not selected
GW/GW – No interview & waitlisted at UG (lol)
Penn State – Interview & not selected
UMKC —> Interviewed & Waitlisted (OOS)
Pitt GAP —>Interviewed & Not Selected </p>
<p>Where will I be going: University of Pennsylvania, Life Sciences and Management Class of 2016!</p>
<p>Reflection: For the most part I only received acceptances from the middle and lower tier programs. The reason I chose to not go to a program is that I didn’t get in to my top choice program- Penn State/Jeff- and I didn’t like any other program nearly as much. I know I’ll be happy at Penn and may or may not pursue pre-med depending on how difficult the dual-degree is. But I would like to share my experience on how to get in to these programs (can only speak for the middle tier programs): The formula for admission is quite straightforward: get decent grades w/ rigorous and science-focused course load (3.9+/Top 5%), decent scores (2200+ SAT), and medical extracurricular (shadowing, research, hospital volunteering). That alone would give you a solid chance at getting an interview. Stuff like club leadership, recs and essays are considered, but my sense was that they played a relatively minor role in admissions, but of course participate in things you like and definitely go for leadership when you can. I agree w/ dblazer that for top tier programs (Brown, Northwestern, Rice/Baylor, Case PPSM, Rochester REMS, etc.) those other factors such as essays and leadership are very important, but for the lower tier ones, not as much. For the middle tier programs, you do not need to distinguish yourself in any way. It’s so formulaic that all you have to do is do well in school and pursue the right EC’s. </p>
<p>Interview Stage: Based on my experience, I am now completely sure that admissions mean it when they say that the interview is a blank slate, all or nothing sort of deal. Even if you are the far more qualified candidate (on paper) a bad interview will get you out and a good interview for a weaker candidate will get him/her in. Prepare a lot for the interview and know what to expect. For example, try to develop a story for “why medicine”, and make sure to keep talking about all of the critical experiences you’ve had. Also, make sure to show interest in each of the schools whether you are or not. It’s been my experience that it’s very easy to feign interest or passion during an interview. As dblazer mentioned, the interviewer you get really does influence how well you do. Some interviewers were very preoccupied and impressed w/ the resume and others would push them away. Universally, it seemed like the resume ones are the ones who were more helpful for getting me in hehe. The way admissions normally work is that all the interviewers committee and come to agreements, so interviewing well can for sure be the deciding factor. </p>
<p>Congratulations to all of the amazing bs/md acceptances the current class got, and good luck to future generations of bs/md applicants. At any point, please feel free to private message me or ask me any questions about any part of this bs/md application/interviewing/deciding process, I’d be very happy to help.</p>
<p>Breaker746</p>
<p>when did you hear about pitt gap?</p>
<p>(Probably on the same day as breaker) Got a rejection e-mail on April 12th, mid-day…so it might be good news if you haven’t heard back yet.</p>
<p>Dblazer,</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>No e-mail yet.</p>
<p>If anyone is deciding between programs now is the time to go to the student doctor network to read about medical students attending specific medical schools, quality of life at each, obtaining apartments, clinical work etc. How hard it is to get into a certain medical school when not in a combined. Good luck. </p>
<p>[Pre-Medical</a> Allopathic [ MD ] - Student Doctor Network Forums](<a href=“Pre-Medical (MD) | Student Doctor Network”>Pre-Medical (MD) | Student Doctor Network)</p>
<p>Anyone deciding between Lehigh and Villinova for BS/MD program ?
Which one is better in terms of support and curriculum ?</p>
<p>Please post your findings</p>
<p>I’m bumping this so all the future applicants see it and hopefully post less stats questions. How do we request a sticky on this? This thread is great but no one ever sees it.</p>
<p>BUMP!!! Also, I suppose I should update my results post- I sent an update letter to Case and got of the “alternate” list for PPSP (the 8 year med program). I have decided to attend :)</p>
<p>Oh in that case I met you at the BU open house. I think we’re Facebook friends from the SMED group.</p>
<p>I saw all of yr profiles. Wow. Amazing. Congrats. You all have achieved great things which are still dream to me. I am a 10th grader. Also working towards the 7/8 Combined BS/MD program. One curious question. Looks like each of you got many (5-10) interviews. How to manage.
- Do u travel to colleges? OR local interviews
- Do you have flexibility to choose date/time if we are not free on the 1st choices?
- Do you get paid for travel costs?
- Do your High Schools excuse for this time-off. And do yr teachers take special class for you specially, to cover those missing days?
- Will you not get distracted with this chaos from Nov till May of your senior year? How do you cope up with these?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>1) Some undergrads use alumni interviews in the area. If you make it to the medical school interviews, you will need to travel to that school.
2) Some of them offer a few dates to pick from, assign a date and let you change it if it conflicts, and some only have a single interview date for everyone.
3) Nope.
4) It’s up to your school if they’ll excuse these absences. Ask beforehand, and remember you’ll likely need notes from the college or interviewer to get excused if allowed. Teachers won’t repeat a lesson for you, unless they’re really nice or something.
5) You’ll need to balance school with the application/interview process. After the first half of senior year, grades reported to colleges won’t be seen before admission decisions, so you can relax the second half of senior year academically as long as your grades don’t crash.</p>
<p>How many places should I apply too? Ive been told more than 15(undergrad+bs/md) is too many but Im seeing like 20+ (undergrad+bs/md)!!! I know there is no magical number, but how does one apply to so many while maintaining high quality applications?</p>
<p>I applied to 23 total, the combined programs are very competitive and applying to 10-15 isn’t a bad idea IMO. Check out <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/multiple-degree-programs/1341190-medical-program-application-guide-rough-draft-please-comment.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/multiple-degree-programs/1341190-medical-program-application-guide-rough-draft-please-comment.html</a> (shameless self-promotion) The essays and applications overlap, so that the more apps you do, the less time each takes.</p>
<p>How many SAT II’s are typically required when applying to these programs? Do the schools also specify which SAT II’s must be taken? My son has taken the SAT II’s in physics, chemistry and Math II. Will that suffice for these programs?</p>
<p>Some specifically want Bio, otherwise he’s probably fine. You need to check each program though, I think some want a history/English one too.</p>