@rk2017 Here is Certificate in Genomic Medicine information.
https://bulletin.temple.edu/undergraduate/science-technology/biology/genome-medicine-certificate/
One can choose electives from a wide range of interests - Anthropology, Human Genetics(Biology), Computer Science, Electrical & Computer Engg, Biochemistry, Math and Statistics, Epidemiology, Sociology etc. It is a new world of interdisciplinary learning.
@grtd2010 looks nice option to have for interested students.
This is just my observation and the point trying to convey specifically for students who have gone thru BS/MD application cycle and planning to go for regular MD cycle with no gap years.
Academic should be the last thing to worry including what major and/or minor or double or not. Student must graduate with a major before enrollment. That is it. Ensure at least 3.8 gpa.
MCAT. Should not be a challenge. Make sure they allocate 2 months and take 4-5 full practice exams just before the actual exam (during spring or summer break). Target for 515.
Area where falling short (either due to graduating in 3 or 4 years and not planning gap year) and need to pay attention NOW are: Basically it means only 2 or 3 years to do the following by application time - they all add up to 1000+ hours)
Shadow at least 60-100 hours with 3-8 different specialty (than shadowing with the same 1 or 2 resources).
Clinical Volunteer hours at least 250+ hours with patient interaction.(target 400-500)
Non Clinical volunteer hours at least 100+ hours (target 250)
Research - Great if could do for 4+ semesters; Plus if have a poster or pub. This is not that critical unless student plans MD/PHD or keen on T20-30 research medical schools.
Leadership / unique - Nothing to do with academic or medicine etc. If has any hobby or passion or holding some position in college clubs or groups or even outside college.
Let them do any course or any activity in their college with their interest (and not for admission or as a checklist).
It could be some literature or constitution or origami or newsletter or bicycle club etc.
The challenge later you have to plan is how many and which college to apply. Need to apply at least 20-30. There are lot of myth and luck plays in this.
precisely this is what trying to focus, hence checking with others to get some sense as well for different options and not knowing how they may fit in grand schema.
So to dissect further, 1000 hours is 125 work days, to ~4 full months. For a UG freshman, 2 summers between now and by the time MCAT is taken sometime in 1st half of 2021, provides max time to achieve it and some activities may not be even possible in summer due to their nature. This provides me a good base to start planning now and figure out what son is thinking, playing the role of filling in gaps.
Is there anything from above list that may be potentially push back to 4th year while going through med school applications and interviews?
One doesnât need to major or minor in AI/ML/CS to be able to use all these future and current trends. A semesterâs worth of courses (3-4) should more than suffice for a future medical practitioner to get a good grasp of the concepts of how he/she can leverage these to their benefit. Unless some one wants to get into the gut of the implementations and algorithms, which I doubt if any full time medical professional can afford to unless they are in academics or hospital management. I have known BME undergrads who took up to medicine later and doubt if they even hardly use 10% of what they had learned all those years of undergrad.
IBM I believe is already providing big data driven analytics to doctors over the cloud as service with all the necessary training and knowledge transfers as needed. I am sure more have/will join the fray.
Some kids (my nephews and a friendâs son) think they can both practice medicine and involve in tech industry. Have to see how that goes. My S also wants to involve computational research but not in academic setting.
@rk2017 understand the viewpoint from a physician in field/practice. Also agree that student donât need a full basket of major/minors for that, it would certainly help if student has fond niche doing it and would be stand out among med school applicants (it doesnât mean that every student go after things where they just burn themselves).
UG students, as they go along and learn different skills, may realize that there are plenty other things they can be more effective and developed new interests. Any student who wants to be researcher, scientist those data analytics and modelling skills become necessary and donât think a simple Stat class covers everything.
BME students are finding themselves cornered because BME is geared towards design aspect of medical devices (precisely the reason why my son let go GA Tech and UIUC BME)
As far as IBM Watson, (Amazon, Apple, Google all trying to break into that healthcare market) and other cloud based initiatives will be supplemental to MD knowledge and serve as great resource in terms of vast data sets. At the same time AI, ML may become necessary skills for robotics based surgery, a surgeon with that knowledge is better equipped than a surgeon who uses it as a toy, ofc, with all due respect, it is not for the primary care dr in North Dakota.
It is not true that BME is cornered. In some fields like Orthopedics, having BME background is certainty helpful. But most likely the surgeon is just part of the team, giving suggestions at a high level to the engineers, he canât do more than that even if he had studied BME as an undergrad or any such background, due to the combination of his own profession consuming all his time and lacking hands on experience the way the engineers do. For anything of that nature you need to be involved day in and day out to remain competent.
So we will find out in the years to come whether or how much all this hype is going to help the doctors with prior exposure. For Robotic surgery, prosthetics and such I donât believe having AI/ML background gives any special edge now or in foreseeable future.
lol sounds like popular 10yearchallangeâŠ
@rk2017, @PPofEngrDr True, an academic medicine aspirant may need interdisciplinary knowledge of several research techniques and tools. An internal/family medicine aspirant may NOT need all this. Most CS/Engineering graduates, hardly use 25% of what was taught in school.
Agree with rk2017. I have been performing robotic surgery since 2009. I donât see any advantage in AI/ML background, unless you plan on working directly with industry in developing and designing new instruments or systems.
@RefreshingGel you said before you are a product of NU HPME. Can you please share your experience and activities as UG (specifically research, summer time etc.) before joining Feinberg as medical student? I am a parent whose son is a freshman in Weinberg UG (not HPME but thinking of NUPSP)
@PPofEngrDr ,
I had a great undergraduate HPME experience. After doing well in an intro to psychology course in my sophomore year, I asked the professor if I could work on any research he was doing. He brought me on board and I was performing EEG studies on student volunteers looking at brain waves related to attention. Through the psychology professorâs connections, I was able to participate in a summer undergraduate research opportunity working for a surgery professor at the NU medical school. We were testing new medications for neuropathy on an animal model. We also shadowed the professor on rounds and in the operating room. I developed an interest in a different sub-specialty, but it paid off very well for my traditional (non-HPME) pre-med classmate who worked in the same lab. As a direct result of the summer lab experience, he published a paper as the first author and was later accepted into NU medical school and eventually became a neurosurgeon.
oops wrong thread
@GoldenRock
I am a little confused by your post.
Is this meant for regular pre-med or BS/MD students?
BS/MD students donât have to apply beyond their medical school.
Why would they apply to 20-30 colleges?
Traditional path applicants
A few BSMD program allow to apply outside without loosing your seat. OU medical humanities is one such program. This is a useful guidance for all BSMD candidates who would like to apply outside.
Have few questions on Temple BSMD and your personal experience with the program. Can you please PM me and provide your number? Will not take more than 15 minutes.
Thank you 
@TechGuy70 Did you see my PM ? You need at a minimum number of messages for PM
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I have seen the PM. Thank you very much for responding. Greatly appreciated.