<p>Anyone get into BA/MD accelerated program?</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted: CAS & 7-Year Accelerated Medical Program</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2300 (CR 740, M 800, W 760, Essay 12) one sitting
[</em>] ACT (breakdown): 35 (E 35, M 36, R 34, Sci 35, Essay 10, Eng&Writing 33) one sitting
[<em>] SAT II: Bio M 800, Chem 800, Physics 800, Math II 800, Chinese 800
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 (96.xx out of 100.00)
[<em>] Weighted GPA: 101.67 (out of 100.00)
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/837
[<em>] AP (place score in parentheses): Biology (5), BC Calc (5), AB subscore (5), APUSH (5), Eng Lang (5), World (5)
[</em>] IB (place score in parentheses): none
[<em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP Gov’t, AP Macroecon, AP Microecon, AP Eng Lit, AP Chemistry, AP Comp Sci A
[</em>] Number of other RD applicants in your school: I think like 5 or so, but they’re all rank 30 and below with lower objective stats.
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):[/ul][/li]Science Olympiad medals (9 regionals, 2 states), Rochester University Bausch & Lomb Honorary Science Award, NYC Metro Math Fair Bronze Medal, USABO semi-finalist, USNCO semi-finalist, 14th ranked fastest Rubik’s Speedcuber in New York State</p>
<p>Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Science Olympiad (Engineering & Biology Group Leader), Columbia University Medical Center research internship (helped publish a scientific paper), Rubik’s Cube Club at school (founder & president), Calculus Challenge Team (2nd in country last year), Calculus Tutoring (all tutees got a 5), Jazz Band (lead alto saxophone & president), Webmaster of SciOly and Sci Dept website.
[</em>] Job/Work Experience:
[li] Volunteer/Community service:[/ul][/li]Columbia University internship for one year (Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics professional laboratory work)
Surgical Center (observed and helped with >200 surgeries)
Library
Senior Center</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Writing (Write a brief description and Rate Quality on 1-10 Scale; 10 as Best):[ul]
[<em>] Essays (Include Subjects):[list]
[li] Common App: Rubik’s cube & how it impacted my personality and way I approach and solve problems; original & creative; 10+[/li][</em>] How I Became Interested: Read a medical school professor’s paper, talked with students; 8
[<em>] Supplement: Ideology about what college is supposed to be about, Quantitative Biology major, start Rubik’s cube club; 7
[</em>] Why I Want to be a Doctor: Establish intimate relations with patients and personalize care - contrary to what is being done now; 9
[<em>] Other:[/ul]
[li] Teacher Recommendation #1: 5 pages. SHE LOVES ME. from AP Bio teacher <3. basically tells almost everything about me through my activities (likes and dislikes, sense of humor, maturity (O_O), etc.) 10+[/li][</em>] Teacher Recommendation #2: 1 page. AP World teacher, like a mom to me. Rec is pretty run-of-the-mill, though. 7?
[<em>] Counselor Rec: Saw afterwards, sort of a laundry list. 5
[</em>] Additional Rec: Wrote it myself and got AP English teacher to sign it. Attests to outstanding writing talent and insight to reading literature (mostly true). 9
[<em>] Interview: Had to drive up to boston for SMED interview. It was pretty in-depth. Both the MD and PhD I interviewed with really read my essays and knew about what I did in lots of detail. Fun stuff.
[</em>] Art Supplement:[/list]
NO. there are more than enough people out there more talented than I am at violin, piano, and alto sax, combined. I am in jazz band though :)</p>
<p>Other[ul]
[<em>] Date Submitted App: 3-4 days before deadline? O_O
[</em>] State (if domestic applicant): NY (NEW YORK CITY HOLLAHHH!)
[<em>] Country (if international applicant):
[</em>] School Type: LARGE PUBLIC (4000+ students)
[<em>] Ethnicity: Asian (■■■)
[</em>] Gender: Male
[<em>] Income Bracket: not important here.
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):[/ul]
Rubik’s cube - 15 second solves; sent a video of a 13.76-sec solve on a CD with my counselor’s rec and transcript and such. Hope they had fun with it 
Great essay writing (?) I’ve been told I have a way with words, apparently HAHAHAS.</p>
<p>Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: grades (spanish aside), rank, SAT IIs (I BEASTED ALL OF THEM YO!), Rubik’s cube! >:) MUAHAHAHA
[</em>] Weaknesses: Asian, public school isn’t magnet or specialized (quite the opposite actually…), but doesn’t downright suck, either. It’s pretty moderate in terms of grades and smartness of people in general.
[<em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Rubik’s cube? O_O I don’t know how many applicants have sub-15 averages -shrugs- SAT II grades were definitely a plus (haven’t seen another CCer with 5 800s yet :p)
[</em>] What would you have done differently?:[/ul]
not much, really. maybe I should’ve paid more attention in my Spanish classes so my grades wouldn’t have been too terrible there HAHAHAS. might’ve gotten valedictorian too LOL :p</p>
<p>Other Factors:
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations, etc:
I’m probably still going to Yale through EA but at least I have another option open for myself now :)</p>
<p>My daughter was accepted, but no money. May have to decline.</p>
<p>I got in too but without much FinAid. I will be attending regardless since becoming a physician is without a doubt my dream.</p>
<p>I have declined BU, RPI/AMC. It is just waste of money. It is not worth accumulating over 300K in loans. The health care field is swiftly changing and physician’s salary will be a target. The U.S. doctors make the highest amount of money when compared to any other developed nation. Be smart when you sign the loan papers. You can not get rid off the student loans even under BK.</p>
<p>Look at these stories and decide on your loans over 300K.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/924689-college-debt-student-stories.html?highlight=substantial+debt[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/924689-college-debt-student-stories.html?highlight=substantial+debt</a></p>
<p>[UPDATED:</a> Share Your Story – Majoring In Debt](<a href=“UPDATED: Share Your Story -- Majoring In Debt | HuffPost College”>UPDATED: Share Your Story -- Majoring In Debt | HuffPost College)</p>
<p>Any final impression/decision after the BU SMED Orientation weekend?</p>
<p>Positives reiterated by speakers/panelists:
Med Sch seat guaranteed with doable GPA 3.2 and MCAT 30.
Flexibility in course work (minor etc)
Semesters overseas
3rd year modules
No obvious cut-throat attitude
Impressive results of 2011 Match, despite Basic Sciences being Pass/Fail - Opth, ENT, Urology, Derm, Neurosurg, Ortho, Rad Onc, Rad. Not just Boston programs as expected.
Awesome program director and Med Sch dean.</p>
<p>Negatives:
$65,000/year X 7 = $455,000
And imagine the accrued interest, or stock market earning.
Seems (almost) nobody received scholarship this year.
Medical School application numbers have started to decline.
Many new medical schools have/are slated to open.
Obamacare, socialized medicine, decreased reimbursement, loss of independence, lack of tort reform (>40,000 new hungry law school graduates per year.)
Are the golden years of medicine a distant past? Is this the right time to enter medicine?What are your options besides BU and why have you or have you not chosen BU over other schools?
For us, in the runnings remain USC (big money), Stanford (a little money), BU (none) and Case (some money).<br>
We feel that the lack of any scholarship will make BU unaffordable for many, which is a real shame.
All opinions welcome.</p>
<p>BU - Program is too expensive.
I would consider other alternatives.</p>
<p>@golfblackhole</p>
<p>I agree with all the positives and negatives. Considering I too received no scholarships, the total price of BU is pretty daunting, but that open house pretty much reinforced my decision to stick to the program anyways. I sent my deposit in and committed the night I got back home. Ultimately my decision came down to BU vs. NEOUCOM, and I picked BU for the school’s location and the program’s length, flexibility, and overall opportunities, including the ability to study abroad with a wide variety of potential destinations. I also have to admit, the awesome program director/dean impressed me :)</p>
<p>Congratulations on your decision. BU offers much better opportunities.
NEOUCOM just doesn’t compare. BU has built a reputation. NEOUCOM has not.</p>
<p>How can people even consider this program if they don’t receive solid merit aid/financial aid (not loans, but instead grant money)? Total COA is essentially half a million dollars after all that interest adds up…</p>
<p>Could more of the people accepted post their stats. thanks!</p>