<p>I'm an aspiring doctor in high school, sophomore, with a 4.0 GPA and mostly A's in my classes, meaning that I generally have good grades. Im taking honors classes, and i hope to start some AP courses next year. I recently learned about the BS/MD route instead of the traditional "pre-med, apply to med" route. My one concern though is I understand that only a few Medical Schools are in this program, and the top medical schools, like Harvard or John Hopkins are not. Does how prestigious the medical school attached to the BS/MD program affect my chances of getting into a good residency program after I get my MD? </p>
<p>For example, if I were to get into a BS/MD program with an average medical school, vs just taking the traditional route and get a chance to get into a very good med school like Harvard, John Hopkins, or Stanford, which route should I take? I'm trying to way the benefits of an apparently more stress-free life of the BS/MD route, or should I forego the guaranteed med school for a chance to get into a top med school? Will graduating from a prestigious Med school (Harvard, stanford, WashU) greatly affect what kind of residency i will get, and ultimately my future in medicine, or will an average med school have the same results as a prestigious med school?</p>
<p>Thanks for asking, and let me know if somethings are unclear. Also, Im just talking about BS/MD programs in general, so if there are maybe specific programs that are in fact just as good as say a Harvard med school diploma, please let me know.</p>
<p>You can start in bs/md and then apply out.
My D. did just that. I personally do NOT think at all that bs/md is overrated. But my opinion is based on my D’s experirence and other’s people opinions (like Icarus), apparently are based on thier personal experiences. Programs are vastly different from each other. While my D. was very satsified with hers and gained great advantages for being in a program, apparently Icarus has an opposite experience.</p>
<p>*Quote:
Does how prestigious the medical school attached to the BS/MD program affect my chances of getting into a good residency program after I get my MD?</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>No. Since ALL US MD schools are excellent, going to SOM A or SOM B doesn’t make a difference when it comes to residency matching.</p>
<p>“average med school”.</p>
<p>US MD schools are not like undergrad schools. The use of the term “average med school” is misleading because it suggests that some of our US MD schools are just “so so”. Every US MD school is excellent.</p>
<p>M2CK is right on her underlying point (“The use of the term “average med school” is misleading”), but I think school brand does make SOME difference in residency matching.</p>
<p>Yep, it’s what’s above. The name of the school matters but after many other things. It’s not the superstars who benefit/are held back by their schools name but as you start to get lower down the list, the brand of the school can be the extra push/extra ding that changes the course of your app.</p>
<p>"Will graduating from a prestigious Med school (Harvard, stanford, WashU) "</p>
<p>Lots of these elite schools’ undergrads go to their instate low cost med schools because 1. they have 2-4% admit rates, 2. They are quite expensive to attend, 3. The residency is not determined by the school you attend but how well you do in medical school.</p>
<p>So the final consensus seems to be that the type of med school will have minimal affect on my residency chances or future career as a doctor. So if I were locked in about my choice to be a doctor, and I’m certain that’s my life’s calling etc etc, then it would be more " stress free", for lack of better term, if I went with the BS/MD route, right? I am completely torn between setting my goal for a safer and more secure route (BS/MD) vs following what my parents have drilled into my head about always aiming for the top schools, in this case the elite med schools. I’m worried that if I go for the traditional, i might not make the cut for med school, and apparently the stress is a lot more, vs going for the BS/MD route, but in turn not have any chance at all of making an elite med school. But of course, there’s always the chance that I might not even get into the BS/MD program. So I guess another question I have is how selective is the BS/MD program?</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies, u guys are really helpful.</p>
<p>BS/MD programs are very selective, both academically and for medical ECs, they need to see that you know what being a physician entails and will not change your mind.</p>
<p>You really need to do more research on BS/MD programs as they are not all the same. Some let you do regular apps to other med schools, others don’t. Some are more ‘relaxed’ in the sense of not having to take the MCAT, others require it, and some (eg. WUSTL) require a high score.</p>
<p>p.s. see the Multiple Degree Programs forum for more information about these programs.</p>
<p>It is not that easy to get into BS/MD programs. Kids aiming for them are doing all kinds of ECs in high school to make themselves presentable but many are still disappointed with their admission results. </p>
<p>BS/MD, or BS, MD - they are all very hard to get to. You need to plan very well to get to medical school and it is a lot of hard work.</p>
<p>Maybe someone can share which schools have the “better/best” residency programs for the various specialties.</p>
<p>from what I’ve seen (and I may be wrong), it seems that there are many rather “ordinary sounding SOMs” (ordinary sounding to a lay person), that have outstanding residency programs for various specialties.</p>
<p>One of the SOMs that accepted my son posts its matching results. I’m no judge of the quality of the matches, but it seems (to me) that there are some impressive matches. </p>
<p>What’s the deal? If you’re attending Not-Top-SOM and you’re at the top of your class and you have high scores and recs, you’re more likely to get matched into the better/best residencies?</p>
<p>“What’s the deal? If you’re attending Not-Top-SOM and you’re at the top of your class and you have high scores and recs, you’re more likely to get matched into the better/best residencies?”</p>
<p>M2CK - Here is a document someone did to help premeds at Stanford. Pay close attention to myth 17 now that you have crossed the med school entrance threshold!</p>
<p>From Stanford …and I’m guessing it knows what it’s talking about…</p>
<p>Myth # 17.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS WHERE I GET INTO MEDICAL SCHOOL.
False. The most ‘important thing’ in applying for residency is how well you do in medical school, specifically in your third year of medical school, not which school you went to.</p>
<p>M2CK: The way I understand it is that there are competitive and not so competitive specialties as well as competitive and not so competitive programs within those specialties. Additionally, many residents end up practicing in or near the town where they did their residency, and those who choose to go into academic medicine may even be hired as asst profs at the school where they did residency. There might be spouses or families whose preferences/jobs come into play. There may be special interests (eg health policy or research) that come into play. So, at the end of the day, it’s pretty stinkin tough to interpret a match list because 1) you don’t know what the applicants were looking for and 2) you probably don’t understand how competitive various programs and various specialties are. </p>
<p>One example that comes to mind is a friend of mine who plans to rank a (phenomenal) state program higher than a (phenomenal) elite program because the state program is much more well known for the type of research he is interested in. I can think of another friend who last year ranked the same (phenomenal) elite program higher than a similar state program because he just loved his away rotation at the elite program and thinks the city is wonderful. They’re both going into the same specialty, and the specialty isn’t particularly competitive. But as you can see, trying to interpret the results of their match would be nearly impossible for an outsider.</p>
<p>Which is why I think premeds who rely on match lists to decide where to apply are misguided–because a) who knows if they’ll go into that desired specialty anyway and b) they probably don’t know anything about the lists they’re trying to interpret.</p>
<p>I don’t think the prestige of the med school matters at all. I heard 95% of med school graduates get into residency and for those who don’t there’s a scramble system so even if you get completely screwed you’ll still get into residency, just not the one that you would like to get into.</p>
<p>That particular guy actually gives a lot of wrongheaded advice on other points, but he’s correct on this particular point. It is MORE important to excel IN medical school than to go to a top-tier program.</p>
<p>That is not the same as saying that medical school “brand” doesn’t matter at all.</p>
<p>My D. has several friends (currently Medical students) who have at least one parent MD. The MD parents usually are sending theit kids who have inspiration for medicine into local (no ranked, low ranked…) UG and then to the local (low ranked) Med. School. The reasons are that physiciaan parent does not believe that name of UG / Med. school has much influence on the future MD and also they do nto want kids to be burdened with loans. I have talked to some of these parents. My own D. is at the very expansive Med. School, because she went to UG on full tuition Merit award ans saved us lots of money. If this is helpful, I am glad, if not, then, please, ignore. But this reflects my experience.</p>
<p>*My D. has several friends (currently Medical students) who have at least one parent MD. The MD parents usually are sending theit kids who have inspiration for medicine into local (no ranked, low ranked…) UG and then to the local (low ranked) Med. School. The reasons are that physiciaan parent does not believe that name of UG / Med. school has much influence on the future MD and also they do nto want kids to be burdened with loans. *</p>
<p>We’ve found a similar experience here. My kids attended private K-12, which was attending by many doctors’ children. However, for undergrad, most of these kids went to their state flagship or other better public. Those with the interest have been accepted to med school. The parents “did the math” and would rather pay for med school then a pricey undergrad.</p>