I was hoping I could ask someone with a more informed perspective to chance me on some of the BS/MD programs I intend on applying to. I hope my post fits within the guidelines - I have never used College Confidential before.
Stats:
SAT: 1550 (Superscored) - 1530 (Single)
GPA: 4.0 (Unweighted), 4.85 (Weighted)
Ranking:
I attend a boarding school in North Carolina named NCSSM. They don’t do ranking but I think that its a pretty prestigious school (not to toot my own horn).
Race, Gender: White, male
APs:
Calculus BC - 5
AP Physics 1 - 5
World History - 4
American History - 4
AP Physics 2 - 4
(I plan on taking these APs next year):
AP Statistics
AP Chemistry
SAT II:
Math 2 - 800
I didn’t get the opportunity to take the Physics or Chemistry subject tests because of schools shutting down and what not.
ECs:
Summer Research (~350 hrs) - I did some research at a local university on pharmacology over the summer. It will continue into this coming school year and I expect to finish with about (500 hrs)
11th Grade School-Sponsored Research (~70 hrs) - I worked at another local university doing some biophysics research. I presented a project and abstract at my school’s research fair.
Volunteering at Hospital (~50 hrs) - I volunteered at a couple local hospitals during 9th and 10th grade for a total of around 50 hours
Volunteering at Therapy Program (~100 hrs) - All throughout high school I volunteered at a therapy program for children with special needs
School Scientific Journal Editor - I am a physics editor for my school’s scientific journal that publishes the students’ research results.
Swimming - I was on the NCSSM swim team for the 2019-2020 school year
(I’ve done some math competitions throughout my time in high school and got top 10 in state once. I also think that I will qualify for the National Merit Semifinalist as my score is above the expected cutoff by quite a bit for my state. I have lastly held a few leadership positions throughout the years. I was the president and founder of my previous school’s chess club)
BS/MDs of Interest:
Guaranteed Admission Program - Virginia Commonwealth University
Guaranteed Admissions Program - University of Pittsburgh
Rochester Early Medical Scholars (REMS)
Connections Dual Admissions (BS/MD) Program - University of Cincinnati
NJMS Accelerated BS/MD Program
Do you guys think I have a shot at any of these? Maybe I should shoot for something lower? I’m quite intimidated by the requirements for BS/MDs but I know I want to be a doctor no matter what.
I’m not generally a fan of BS/MD programs. Yes, it’s good to have a guaranteed path to medical school. The reality is that only a small fraction of high school kids with medical ambitions actually decide medicine. College is a maturation process, and you find hidden passions as you explore your talents. I would recommend against going to any school solely on the purpose of being a doctor out of high school. Chances are, you’ll regret it. If you have the top grades and the passion after giving yourself time to explore your talents, you should be able to get in the traditional way.
@jollyroger - Your GPA, SAT scores, High school difficulty, and ECs (including medical ECs) seem good enough to be a BSMD applicant.
FYI;
You have a fair shot but point to note - Calibre of BSMD students for all of the available programs is very high and each program gives importance to different criteria. This is the reason, students in the past cycles have known to submit 18+ applications. Out of these some should be BSMD and others will be undergrad.
You only mentioned 5 BSMD programs. This is definitely on the low end…
Some questions to reflect on -
Why only 5? and Why these?
Do you want to go for BSMD only if you get into these programs?
Are you more interested in T20 Undergrad institutions only but want to give BSMDs a chance?
Some choice you should think of depending on what is more important to you-
@jollyroger , I think you have a good shot for BSMD. Apply for more top end BSMD also. If you are from Ohio, you have great chance to be admitted to U of Cincinnati.
Your stat looks very impressive and a very good chance to get in one of the 5 mentioned schools. Try to add few more schools like NJIT, NorthWestern HPME program etc. Good Luck…