<p>I have recently been accepted to both direct med programs and I am having a hard time deciding which one to attend next fall.</p>
<p>Siena/AMC</p>
<p>Pros:
No MCATS
Summer abroad (volunteering)
Option to study abroad one semester
Cheaper ($27,000/year)
3.5 gpa</p>
<p>Cons:
4 years undergrad
Albany- cold, small town
8-9 hours away from home</p>
<p>Drexel/Drexel</p>
<p>pros:
7 years
Philly!! FUN!!!
3.5 gpa
higher ranked (over Siena)
closer to home (6 hours)</p>
<p>Cons:
Requires MCATs (10+10+9 or minimum 31)
little more expensive ($36,000/year) but evens out since it's 3 years</p>
<p>I'm leaning towards Siena at the moment but I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. </p>
<p>Thank you in advance for your replies.</p>
<p>What is more important to you?</p>
<p>No MCATs
or
Saving a year</p>
<p>Honestly… I wouldn’t mind either. I know that’s not helpful.</p>
<p>Visit the schools. From the looks of it, you don’t even seem to know what you want from a college. See whether or not you can fit in with the student population. Are you more of a city person, or a hamlet type of person. In all honesty, you can’t beat drexel geographically and culturally.</p>
<p>MrI-
I did visit both schools, duh. I had to be interviewed to be admiited to direct program, remember. I wanted an opinion and not a judgement. A little empathy is a good trait in MD. Still appreciate your response as you seem to want to be a helpful person generally. Thanks.</p>
<p>The medical school is located in queens lane, not in university city for drexel undergrad. I am trying to offer an opinion and that is for you to really consider what you want from a college. Siena and Drexel are vastly different schools and when the differences are so great, it comes down to what the applicant desires in a college. If you want to know which school has a better match list and larger community, Drexel wins out. Albany and Sienna are smaller schools if that’s what you’re looking for though.</p>
<p>I’m a bit offended that you immediately assumed that I have no empathy…</p>
<p>My bad if I offended you, not meant to. Just a brotherly dig, since it’s the city of brotherly love vs CAP city…</p>
<p>Here is the response I received from the other board…:
@magna7 @fivestarspk Siena/AMC does not require MCAT and that makes a huge difference. And both Drexel and Albany med school are similar in their ranking so pick Siena/AMC</p>
<p>and @matrix007 said:
@fivestarspk I agree with @Magna7 - Siena/AMC is a better choice than Drexel. Siena is a great college located in a nice part of Albany and AMC has an excellent reputation as teaching college. Current Dean of Brigham Woman and Children’s hospital (Harvard) is a graduate of AMC. (My son did a summer program at Siena couple of years back and he loved the campus, dining and everything there).</p>
<p>That was in case anyone else was in a similar dilemma and didn’t want to read through the 170 pages in that thread…</p>
<p>hehe, as a current Drexel BS/MD student, I’m putting my vote toward Drexel. I think Philly has just so much more to offer than Albany.</p>
<p>It does offer more being in a large city…but it’s hard to ignore the MCAT requirement when I have the option not worry about it at all. Plus with Siena you have an opportunity to study abroad and the summer of service is usually spent in interesting place… (I’ve heard of people going to Nairobi, Peru, India etc).</p>
<p>Ahh, the age old argument of MCAT vs no MCAT BS/MD programs. To be honest, I think people make it a bigger deal than it already is. It’s just a test. Stress and study for it for two months, pass it, and then you’re done. And honestly I didn’t study that hard for it either. I spent maybe three hours max each day studying for the MCAT over the summer. The rest of the time I devoted to watching great TV shows and movies.</p>
<p>It’s really not that bad.</p>
<p>here’s the deal, if you have been accepted into these programs, it is because you should have no problem doing well on the MCAT and getting that 31 won’t be an issue for you. They expect you to be able to get into med school traditionally if they take you into a program. Drexel Med is better than Albany Med and Drexel Undergrad takes over Siena big time. Siena is a very small campus, sort of unpleasant. The social life as Siena is pretty poor I know people there and there is not much to do and it is a SUPER strict school. Drexel’s location is fantastic Philly is an amazing city to be in for your college years and you can study abroad or do a summer away at any school not just Siena. I would pick drexel/drexel. Better choice in my opinion</p>
<p>Im starting to get confused with the purpose of this thread. The OP wanted opinions between both schools, but it seems as though s/he is pretty much set on VCU based on the posts s/he is writing. Both schools have their strengths and weakness and aim to attract people with different backgrounds, personalities, and lifestyles. </p>
<p>If you’re planning on countering every argument for drexel with a statement supporting VCU, then there really is no point to this thread seeing as how your mind is already made up.</p>
<p>And a tangent…you can study abroad easily in Drexel BS/MD programs, you just have to set up an appropriate schedule. </p>
<p>Btw, OP, i’m just pointing this out based on my observations. I’m not trying to be mean or unsympathetic, just so everything is clear…</p>
<p>@MrInformed. Did you mean to post this in another thread. just checking.</p>