My DD completed her first semester at Temple with 4.0 GPA. She is pursuing a double major in Pre-med (NeuroScience) and Computer Science. She is very happy there. She has been participating in residential life and cultural activities. She had been competing in Garba/Raas competitions with other university teams around Northeastern USA. She is going to start volunteering at UPenn hospital and participate in research activities at Temple. We meet regularly during the semester.
My DD did not opt for the (3+4) option for BS/MD program as a Temple Health Scholar at the end of the first semester. She wanted to take time to prepare for MCAT. With all the college and AP credits earned, she could finish in 3 years. She is taking Gen Chem now, Organic Chemistry next year and then Biochemistry in the third year. MCAT has 60% material somehow related to Biochemistry (as some say). It would be wise to take MCAT after completing a Biochemistry class. She can pursue a double major in four years. She has a full-tuition scholarship at Temple.
@grtd2010 Yes, BioChem is critical and the sequence of the courses is right. It is wise to take time, prepare and do well in MCAT. That may help in your DD plan to apply for other MD schools, in case if Temple allows to retain the MD seat even if student applies for other schools. Each student does things in their own way. As long as they have not lost their focus and purpose, then it is fine.
Happy to share my experience with the BA/MD process! I am a few years out and in residency now.
I went to the BU smed program and graduated a couple years ago. I was fortunate enough to get the Trustee scholarship at BU (full ride for undergrad), which made the decision to attend easy, and I loved my experience at BU overall. Just about everybody makes it through the undergrad portion on to the medical school.
I would estimate that less than 5% donāt make it because of GPA/MCAT reasons and 1-2 every year donāt make it through because of professional lapses (they take cheating on exams, etc very seriously). I felt like I had a wonderful undergrad experience without any of the stresses involved with pre-med and loved being in the city of Boston (which is pretty student friendly and has lots to do). Plenty of students in my class pursue intramural sports, dance teams, etc so the overall experience is great.
With regards to the residency match, Iām in a competitive residency and most of my classmates matched well (top name institutions, specialties ranging from ENT, Ortho, Internal medicine, radiation oncology, general surgery, etc).
Iām definitely a believer in the BA/MD process - happy to answer any questions students/parents have!
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@theperfectmed1 - Thanks for sharing your experience. last year my son got BU program and even though he liked the program he felt itās not warranted full price given that he got full tuition scholarship at Vanderbilt. Also, his heart was set on different medical schools and decided to go traditional route. We will know in couple of tears if he made a right decision or not!
I did look up BU match results last year and agree that they are very good.
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Here is my DDās first year at Pitt MedGap update:
She enjoys the school friends and closes by environment very much.
She hangs around with most the science related major friends, like pre-med, Gap-dental, Gap-pharmacy majors from Pitt, also very close with few Carnegie mellow students. Since both schools are nearby each other.
The sciences related classes are tough, but still manageable. she heard everyone from Med Gap got into Medical school with no issue, the school will try their best to help each MedGap student because the school already invests so much in those MedGap students.
It seems to me that would be easy for anyone wants to volunteer, research opportunities at Pitt. She currently working with a doctor who wants her to gain clinical knowledge first so that she is joining with current Med/residency student ās to observed study cases weekly to prepare toward her clinical research project next school year.
As a parent, I strongly believe the guaranteed direct med program take off the huge burden from shoulders of students. As she can feel current pre-med studentās pressure.
She also plans to go overseas to fulfill some of her general course requirements in sophomore summer.
I will keep you update later.
Thanks for the great update @caballero. Looking forward to future updates.
@narkor Can you pls share your DD experience with REMS program so far. Thanks
A few students published about their experiences at Rochester, BU, and RPI/Albany that future students might find useful when evaluating programs
Rochester REMS: http://theperfectmed.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-university-of-rochesters-ba-bs-md-program/
BU SMED: http://theperfectmed.com/bu_smed/
RPI/Albany: http://theperfectmed.com/rpi_psp/
Based on the latest updates from this year (2018) from the other thread in CC, the number of applicants for BU SMED crossed 2000 with 1000+ having near perfect scores.
D will be attending a 2 month study abroad during summer after freshman year in Sydney, Australia and will take up an internship there. Grading has been tough but so far she has been topping all the science courses, so it didnāt matter for her.
Thank you @theperfectmed1, for the info, I hope D will be able to follow in your foot steps, I will share this info with her. Unlike you, she did not get any scholarships from BU having come from a grade deflated and highly competitive high school. So we are paying the full price. However that background is helping her top all the science courses with ease whereas other SMED students seem to struggle.
Joining the bandwagon. My son just committed to Northwestern Weinberg UG this morning, so nothing much to share at this point, other then whole application tide we went through.
I am graduating high school this year, and I have received admission to both UMKC 6 year BAMD, and UIC GPPA medicine 7-8 year BSMD.
Researching both of these programs I found that UIC has a better medical school, better match lists, and has more undergraduate opportunities. But UMKC is appealing because it is a 6 year program, however, I am not sure which program will be more stressful. At UIC I will be required to score a 512 on the MCAT and maintain 3.6 GPA. Such requirements are not at UMKC.
I would appreciate any advice on my options. Thank you.
@discover8 - Donāt based your decision on 6 years vs 7 years. I believe UMKC is the only 6 year program left after the new requirements. Also, scoring 512 should be an issue if you are a strong test taker. You need to take USMLE during medical school and scores matter for residency. I donāt know much about UIC but I know UMKC seems to be geared for primary care. Based on your feedback, I would go with UIC. Whatās the cost difference between the two?
@srk2017 Thank you for your feedback! Did you mean that a 512 would not be an issue? Or that it would be? In terms of cost both do not vary by a huge margin, and if I do finish in 7 years then UIC would come out to be less expensive.
@discover8 - If you are a strong test taker, 512 in MCAT should NOT be an issue. All the kids I know got higher than that.
@srk2017
I would like to talk to you personally about Vanderbilt. My son is also joining in the fall. Please let me know how can I contact you
@yk2018 - send your info thru PM.
@srk2017 - How do I PM you
I canāt believe first year is already over! S did well this semester also. Summer he is doing a service abroad program and research so spending 2 days only at home! Fall semester he is taking Organic Chemistry, so fingers crossed 
he also have multiple leadership positions for next year.