<p>I am curious to hear from parents whose children were accepted by a combined degree program in a competitive field like physical therapy, pharmacy, or medicine, but chose not to enroll in such a program. Did your child end up pursuing the same path in a more traditional way or change course? Any regrets along the way? </p>
<p>Gathering thoughts on combined degree programs for a sibling :) Would love to hear parents' comments. </p>
<p>Advantages:
- Peace of mind: able to enjoy academics and college life without worrying about graduate school options
- Graduate application process to the above programs is competitive and this is (almost) a guarantee
- Sibling wants to combine academics with a DIII sport, making the "low" GPA requirement in the program an even more attractive option</p>
<p>Disadvantages:
- Difficult to explore other majors/career options; schedule usually set in stone
- Not able to compare (potential) scholarship options for financing graduate education
- Often times locked into a university that may not otherwise have "good" programs in other majors, making the decision risky because of mediocre internal transfer options</p>
<p>Last year my daughter’s friends rejected a med school auto admit program to attend Princeton instead. I think part of her decision was that Princeton was much closer (they live in NJ) and she did not really want to be far from home at this time. I am curious how this will play out in the long run. I think she will continue to want to be a doctor.</p>
<p>DD was pretty sure she wanted to go to med school through most of HS and got into a direct program. She went with the traditional route because she fell victim to the prestige goddess and chose to go with a “prestigious” BS program where she didn’t get a direct med school admission, and her expectation was she could make it to a better ranked med school. In hindsight, it didn’t work out that way, and she ended up in a lower ranked MD program, a year later, and at a lot higher cost. Hopefully the college experience was worth it.</p>
<p>Note that the streamlined MD admission programs still require a high college GPA and MCAT score to remain in the program. What this may mean is that the student still needs to manage his/her GPA like any other pre-med, and score a medical-school-worthy score on the MCAT. However, then s/he need not deal with applications, interviews, etc…</p>
<p>The student will save lots of money (application fees, going to the interviews etc.) if you are already accepted for med school (providing you have the GPA/MCAT score to remain in the program).</p>
<p>Your pros/cons are very much what we went through with 3 of our kids. They all ended up accepting the direct admit, though. For D1 in pharmacy, it was pretty much a no-brainer at the time- admissions were much more difficult than they are now, and finishing in 6 years instead of 8 was a huge cost difference, not only in tuition but in getting a job 2 years sooner. D2 and D3 have gone the route of direct admit PT, and so far have no regrets, although we did say that they could always apply to go elsewhere for PT after they finished up their undergrad if that’s what they wanted. D2 chose to stay in the program, and hopefully she’ll be happy with that. D3 is glad she went direct as she watches a close friend at another school take the GRE, go through all the interviews, apps, etc, and not knowing what she’ll do if she doesn’t get in.</p>
<p>Actually, my son accepted an auto-admit PharmD and changed his mind! He figured out during freshman year that he liked biology far better than chemistry. He decided to pursue bio, instead (yup, he had to take lots of chem, but he got to take even more bio). He hasn’t regretted it. So a wise student might change his mind even if he does go the auto-admit route.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the insight. The strategy sibling is using is to apply to </p>
<ul>
<li>Combined degree programs (~6)</li>
<li>Top-30 colleges that have adequate pre-program resources, strong national reputations to withstand switching majors, and very generous financial aid (~2)</li>
<li>State college(s) with affiliated, but not linked, professional programs to serve as both financial and academic safeties (~2)</li>
</ul>
<p>Sibling is risk averse and is heavily leaning towards combined programs. As this “dream” profession has only been discussed as a possibility for the last 6 months and because sibling’s SAT scores are in range for the top universities, I think it’s worth applying to the top, meet 100% need, universities in case it is no longer a dream profession come next spring. I hope I am not muddying the water with my suggestion.</p>
<p>Did your children use a similar strategy? What are some other things to take into account?</p>
<p>Actually, a few who did the combined BA/BS -> MD programs who ended up being MDs regretted that path because so much work was concentrated in fewer years that they never had much of a chance to catch their breath…much less relax and enjoy their college years. </p>
<p>Not to mention the pressure to maintain a high minimum GPA to remain in the program…even if it’s lower than what was necessary to get in as a non BA/BS -> MD student.</p>
<p>I also knew some Pharmacy majors attending a university where their program is one of the few academically rigorous ones on campus. They’ve all said there was a noticeable difference in academic rigor and levels of motivation of most students from other departments/programs on campus while taking core/distribution courses.</p>