BU, Rice, or Union?!

Pre-Med & Medical School Multiple Degree Programs
1

<p>BU SMED vs. Rice (normal route not prog) vs. Union LiM</p>

<p>These are the three that I've narrowed it down to so far and here are the Pros and Cons that i see:</p>

<p>BU SMED
Pros: 7 year accelerated; Boston; Guaranteed Admission
Cons: Guarantee contingent on 30 MCAT and 3.5 GPA; still have to pay about $30k after finaid; BU is 56 for undergrad and 34 for med</p>

<p>Rice
Pros: Great campus and housing; really happy and friendly people; Rice is #17 for undergrad; full ride!
Cons: Not in the program so no guarantee; would have to take MCAT and focus on subjective side of application for med school</p>

<p>Union LiM
Pros: MBA; campus is decent; people are fairly friendly, full ride!
Cons: Schenectady; AMC is rank 100 med school or so; Union is ranked fairly low</p>

2

<p>BU SMED for sure!</p>

3

<p>i dont get how BU smed it so good. A 30 MCAT will give u the same amount of stress as normal pre-med route at Rice. The whole point of these programs is to make is less stress so people get to pursue other passions and thus become better doctors, instead of book worms. </p>

<p>Btw, how did u get a full ride at union??? No loans or anything??</p>

4

<p>If you definitely want to go to med school, go to BU. If any bit uncertain, Rice.</p>

<p>Union is offering MBA. Why do that if you’d prefer to go to med school?</p>

5

<p>I would choose between BU’s 7 year program and Rice University.</p>

<p>Boston University 7 year Liberal Arts/MD program</p>

<ol>
<li>You are in Boston - an academic mecca and a fun place to live</li>
<li>You have IMMENSE opportunities available to get involved in scholarly, academic research at places like Mass General, Brigham and Women’s, Beth Israel, and NEMC and their affiliated medical schools - BU, Tufts, and Harvard.</li>
<li>BU’s Medical School for the first 2 years of basic sciences is strict “Pass” or “Fail” grading only: [Curriculum</a> Directories](<a href=“http://services.aamc.org/currdir/section1/grading1.cfm]Curriculum”>http://services.aamc.org/currdir/section1/grading1.cfm)</li>
</ol>

<p>I have to ask, how will you take the MCAT and be able to get a 30 in August of only your sophomore (2nd) year of schooling? [Special</a> Programs - BU 2009-10 Undergraduate Bulletin](<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/bulletins/und/item14.html#anchor05]Special”>http://www.bu.edu/bulletins/und/item14.html#anchor05). I would think you’d at least need to take it in August of your junior year to have any chance of getting at least a 10 on each section. Will you have completed at least Gen Bio I/II w/labs, Gen Chem I/II w/labs, Org Chem I/II w/labs, and Gen Physics I/II w/labs by the fall of your 2nd year?</p>

<p>The GPA requirement according to the link is 3.2, not 3.5, by the way.</p>

<p>Is that 30K figure that you would have to pay, even after financial aid, for this year alone?</p>

<p>Rice</p>

<p>1) Houston has the world renowned Texas Medical Center - with places like MD Anderson Cancer Center (#1 Cancer institution) and Baylor College of Medicine (which is ranked higher than BU’s medical school) and other institutions which you can take part in important research
2) Rice is now building it’s own biomedical research institution: [Rice</a> University | News & Media](<a href=“http://www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=9153]Rice”>http://www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=9153)
3) You have a FULL ride (is this tuition only or tuition and living?)
4) An excellent top-tier undergraduate institution (ranked higher than BU’s undergrad)
5) Very nice weather all year round
6) You can select the major of your choice
7) You get your summers off (do you get that with the BU program?)</p>

6

<p>I’d choose Rice =]. Although you are not guarenteed a spot in the medical school, you have a full ride for undergrad, and if you got a full ride to Rice, I believe you can handle studying for the MCATs and get into med school and in the end, saving money!</p>

7

<p>I agree with points made by:</p>

<p>youwillsee1 (“A 30 MCAT will give u the same amount of stress as normal pre-med route at Rice. The whole point of these programs is to make is less stress so people get to pursue other passions and thus become better doctors, instead of book worms” - very well stated)</p>

<p>less so with limabeans (“If you definitely want to go to med school, go to BU. If any bit uncertain, Rice.” - although I disagree a little - just bc you want to go to medical school doesn’t mean BU is the right place for you - look up my very first post on my story)</p>

<p>and teamfrangela92 (“you have a full ride for undergrad, and if you got a full ride to Rice, I believe you can handle studying for the MCATs and get into med school and in the end, saving money!”)</p>

<p>It really comes down to how much confidence you have in yourself. Where it says in the link - “It is expected that students will achieve a combined score of at least 30 on the three numerically scored sections of the MCAT.” Does that mean you HAVE to get a 30 in order to continue to the medical school? Or is it just “expected”?</p>

<p>In looking at the curriculum from the above BU link, personally, I don’t see how one can achieve a 30 on the MCAT in the August of your sophomore year of the program. But even if that’s a typo and you’re taking the MCAT in the junior year (the year before you would start at BUSM), you don’t know beforehand how many questions you can miss and cruise thru in order to get a 30. You’d have to study for the MCAT and take it as if you were a traditional premed anyways, so either way in the end you’re still studying hard to fight for a medical school spot. I’m seeing less and less of the “guarantee” in this program, that most combined programs give to you.</p>

<p>Even if you were to have a spectacular undergraduate GPA at BU, a knockout CV, and even if you were to do spectacular on the MCAT, “Students may not apply to other medical schools and remain in the program” - so you can’t hold your spot and apply out at the same time. Yet, you say if you don’t get at least a 30 on the MCAT, they can stop your plans of going to their med school.</p>

<p>At least with Rice, you have a full ride at a much much higher ranked undergraduate institution (that’s a gigantic load off your shoulders) and more decisions left for you to make yourself on your own terms (when YOU wish to take the MCAT, activities, research, etc.) Get actual good MCAT prep books EARLY ON from Day 1 that you need for the MCAT and use them with those specific classes. I’d go with Rice.</p>

8

<p>Wow you guys! this is making my choice so much more difficult =[</p>

<p>aaronlhuang “BU SMED for sure!” - That was my first instinct too but now I’m hesitant!!</p>

<p>youwillsee1 “Btw, how did u get a full ride at union???” - Yea no loans, bro…just scholarships and grants</p>

<p>limabeans and MD2B2012 - Yea I think I’ve narrowed it down to BU and Rice due to the even lower (by rank) prestige and education at Union/AMC </p>

<p>teamfrangela92 - I’d like to think so too!! But I don’t know =[ I mean it’s one thing to study for the MCAT but while taking classes like OChem, maintaining a high GPA, doing research with professors, leading service/community organizations, and adjusting to college lifestyle?! I just think it might be a bit less stressful at BU without worrying about the subjective side including interviews and application process of getting into medical school. </p>

<p>The way I see it, nowadays, people who are applying via the 4+4 would kill to have any little factor to make them shine and stand out for the Med School AdCom, so wouldn’t a guaranteed admission be something to pull the trigger on? Or is BUSM that low of a school that being guaranteed admission is not that impressive?</p>

<p>The way I understand it you only have to take the MCAT at BU before your junior year. So you could take it in April of your sophomore year. Furthermore, they take the highest MCAT score, so if you do need to take it twice, they will not average it like PSU/JMC does I believe. </p>

<p>MD2B2012 “much higher ranked undergraduate institution (that’s a gigantic load off your shoulders) and more decisions left for you to make yourself on your own terms (when YOU wish to take the MCAT, activities, research, etc.)” - Do you really think coming from Rice gives you that much more of a push? I mean looking as a high schooler with some different perspectives, I have seen that being valedictorian, no matter what the difficulty of your high school was, gives you more of a boost than coming from a tough high school. Also, even though you do have more time/leniency for scheduling the MCAT and other things at Rice, is the stress of doing all of those and applying to med school (essays, recs, etc.) worth it?</p>

9

<p>Even if you were to take the MCAT in April of your sophomore year, realize that you still haven’t completed General Biology II and Organic Chemistry II (as you’re still enrolled in them), after which your final exams in those classes would be in May. It would make much more sense if you were taking the MCAT after you’d have finished the premed requirements.</p>

<p>By the way, the MCAT is now offered about 26 times a year (as it is now computerized), so BU’s rule for when you have to take the MCAT may have changed (since recently before it was only offered twice a year - August and April): [2010</a> Registration Deadline and Score Release Schedule - MCAT - AAMC](<a href=“http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/reserving/deadlineandscorerelease.htm]2010”>http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/reserving/deadlineandscorerelease.htm)</p>

<p>MCAT
Physical Sciences (out of 15) — General Chemistry and Physics
Biological Sciences (out of 15) — Biology and Organic Chemistry
Verbal Reasoning (out of 15)
Writing Sample (graded as a letter from J through T)</p>

<p>Average MCAT scores at specific medical schools:
[Average</a> MCAT Scores for Top Medical Schools](<a href=“http://www.eduers.com/mcat/Average_MCAT_Scores.htm]Average”>http://www.eduers.com/mcat/Average_MCAT_Scores.htm)
[US</a> Medical Schools: MCAT Scores and GPA](<a href=“http://mcattestscores.com/usmedicalschoolsmcatscoresGPA.html]US”>US Medical Schools: MCAT Scores and GPA)</p>

<p>It would be a shame if you got less than a 30 on the MCAT to where 1) you could no longer continue in the program and 2) prepare and take the MCAT once again, continue to pay undergraduate tuition at BU for another 2 years for your Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree after which you may get into a better or crappier med school than BU or no med school at all — all because you were forced to take the MCAT during your sophomore year when you couldn’t be fully prepared since you were still in classes. You’ll just have to contact and ask people in the program how easy or stressful it was to get a 30 considering they were still in required classes (although take with a grain of salt, as different people have different study habits so ask more than 1 person).</p>

<p>Realize that in a normal 4+4:</p>

<p>Freshman Year - General Biology I/II with labs & General Chemistry I/II with labs
Sophomore Year - Organic Chemistry I/II with labs & General Physics I/II with labs
Junior Year - take the MCAT</p>

<p>and then you take the MCAT AFTER you’ve finished those courses.</p>

<p>For college admissions, not everyone has control of where they go to high school (with most kids going to public school) and colleges don’t have time to wade through each and every high school and its complexities.</p>

<p>For medical school admissions, you do have a lot more decision making on where to go to college and in this ball game there is a lot more at stake here for the admissions committee (to let you enroll to become a medical doctor), so a 4.0 GPA at an easy low tier school isn’t as impressive, unless that person also has a stellar MCAT which is a standardized yard stick on which to measure against other applicants. That’s why for many of the top medical schools, depending on what undergrad you went to, they’ll multiply your GPA by a difficulty factor: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/771954-post2.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/771954-post2.html&lt;/a&gt; (they obviously won’t tell you what that factor is or if your school qualifies - but since Rice is #17 in the nation, it would obviously qualify)</p>

<p>Another consideration - how burned out are you from high school? If you’re highly burned out then maybe BU’s program is the way to go although on the flip side of the coin, of course, entering a compressed program like BU’s may make it worse, </p>

<p>If you took a lot of AP courses esp. the sciences courses you may be exhausted and burned out. AP Biology (equivalent to Gen Bio), AP Chemistry (equivalent to Gen Chem), AP Physics B or C (equivalent to Gen Physics) - although if you took the above science AP classes then taking the MCAT when you have to may not be as big of a problem to achieve a 30.</p>

10

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</p>

<p>Union’s is a BS/MD/MBA program. So I’d change that statement… if you definitely want to go to med school, go to Union’s program because it has the easiest requirements. IIRC Union’s program requires a 3.5 gpa with no MCAT.</p>

11

<p>If you go to Rice and become a Texas resident followed by medical school in Texas you will save more than 200k vs BU. Check out the tuition and fees for in state at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Southwestern.</p>

12

<p>BU smed for sure if its doable financially! You will be prepared for the MCAT by then because you will have taken all of your science courses by then. And you can re-take the MCAT if you don’t meet the requirement but most everyone does. Just fyi, the requirement for people who got in a few years ago was a 28 and the average smed score last year on the MCAT was a 33…basically, you’re smart enough to no have any problem hitting the 30 if you even put in a month or 2 of studying tops before you take the MCAT.</p>

<p>And BUSM has an amazing match list and Boston in general is great from both an academic and social standpoint.</p>