Help SBU-LECOM BSDO or Brandeis, UCONN, COLBY?

My son has applied for few BSMDs but offered BSDO in SBU-LECOM. He definitely wants to go in medicine and wondering if he should take the offer. There is no MCAT and also offered 100K+ in scholarships. This will not cost us much and he can come out being a DO without any debts. However place seems remote and in a middle of nowhere.

He is also looking into Premed traditional tracks in Brandeis (15K /year grant) and UCONN (5K/Year) . Even though COLBY is rated high but might not have diversity he is looking for.

Please advice!!
GPA: 3.8(W), SAT:1530, Leader/President of may clubs, Given leadership awards and very active in community, great recommendations!

EVERY smart kid coming out of high school wants to be a doctor. I must’ve read a dozen doctor wannabe posts today. That’s something to kind of take with a grain of salt, because 9.5 times out of 10 they change their mind. NEVER choose a college based on “premed prestige” out of high school. It’s the fastest way to find themselves in a college mismatch and 4 years of misery. The best thing to do is find a diverse affordable college that has a wide variety of majors.

The key term is “affordable.” Rankings are not reliable, bordering on utterly stupid. It’s like comparing an apple and an onion and calling one “better.” And one last thing…If you have to co-sign private loans to pay for tuition, you can’t afford it.

Becoming a DO with no debt is a far better outcome than what a typical pre-med ends up with:

  • Most pre-meds do not apply to medical school after realizing that their GPA or MCAT is too low.
  • Most who do apply to medical school get no admissions (out of 15-25 applications).
  • Most who get admitted get one admission, which may be to a very expensive medical school that will result in substantial debt.

If https://www.sbu.edu/academics/pre-medicine/franciscan-health-care-professions-program/sbu-lecom-dual-admit-program-in-osteopathic-medicine is the program, it requires maintaining a 3.4/3.2 overall/science college GPA with no grade lower than C.

I misread, sorry. Disregard my last post. If he really wants to do medicine, and there’s a BS/DO program he’s ALREADY accepted into…and he doesn’t have to take the MCAT, then AWESOME! DOs have access to the same residency programs as their MD counterparts. Sure he might be sacrificing prestige…but he gets to bypass the most stressful part of being premed…trying to actually get in. If he’s REALLY committed, then go for it. He can change his mind later about medicine, and he’s still in a good school with a ton of other majors.

Thank you coolguy40 and ucbalumnus for your feedback!

my son has 4.0 (UW) and 4.55(W) GPA and 1560 SAT , we are thinking Lecom

Becoming a DO w/o any debt is…awesome. Go for it!