<p>If I most definitely want to be a doctor, and my credentials are near-perfect, do you think I have a better chance at Harvard/Princeton, or a combined BA/MD program. </p>
<p>I don't feel like listing stats right know; i just want an idea of how competitive these programs are.</p>
<p>yes, some programs are very competitive like brown, usc, northwestern, rice, cal tech. and bu. almost ivy league like conditions in some cases.
however, if you are certain ur credentials are strong, I would suggest applying to both top schools and ba/md programs. might as well take a chance.</p>
<p>I'd say that the hardest programs to get into are right between HYPC and the "lower Ivys" in terms of selectivity. However, a number of programs are easier to get into than the Ivys.</p>
<p>The programs that have selectivity approximately equal to a pure academic admit to Harvard or Princeton are Rice/Baylor, Northwestern, Wash U, and perhaps Case. Basically, these are programs that are associated with medical schools that you would consider if you went to Harvard or Princeton and did well. Cal Tech is as selective as Harvard and Princeton even if you are not applying to a joint program. The Brown program is much larger than the others, and admission is slightly more selective than Brown itself.</p>
<p>^Case definitely shouldn't be on that list. Definitely not. What's funny about Case is it's a provisional program...so over-hyped.</p>
<p>Case PPSP-medicine stats for 2007: 800 applied, 15 accepted = 1.875% acceptence rate indicates much higher selectivity than any Ivy. It is not overrated. To be connected to Cleveland Clinic is a great asset. In general, CASE is catering to pre-meds and engineering majors. Good place to be even if you are not part of PPSP.</p>
<p>Basically, BA/MD programs are not as hard to get into as Harvard, Yale, or Princeton, but some can be a bit harder than Cornell or Darthmouth. I'd say most though are either Cornell level or lower. What I mean by this is the stats you need to get in, not percentage accepted or what not. If you can clearly get into Cornell or Darthmouth, I'd say you have a pretty good shot at at least some BA/MD. If you are borderline for Cornell/Darthmouth, there still might be some programs out there you could try to get into but obviously not that many. You can try for Drexel, for one.</p>
<p>In some ways, getting in at BS/MD programs is similar in difficulty to getting in lower Ivys.</p>
<p>I say that because you can have stellar stats and yet get rejected from an Ivy if you do not have ECs that make you a 'holistic' candidate.</p>
<p>Similarly, in BS/MD programs, you could have stellar stats but get rejected because your ECs did not show a medical focus, thus at these programs having multiple ECs that are medically related work in your favor.</p>
<p>Between these two tracks, assuming stellar stats, the decision is based on your EC profile.</p>
<p>If you have played Bach in a few concerts, you have a better chance at Ivy but not really in BS/MD. If you have an EMT certificate, you got a better chance at BS/MD track but not particularly at Ivy.</p>
<p>So, in terms of degree of difficulty, they are similar.</p>
<p>It depends, some BS/MD programs are harder to get into, and sometimes it depends on what state you live in. For instance, if you are applying to NEOUCOM (or whatever it is), but are out of state...thats certainly hard because they accept only 2 or so out of state applicants a year. If they accept any that is. So a person accepted into that, would likely also have been accepted at Harvard or Yale.</p>
<p>You can't just say that one is harder than the other, it is all on a case by case basis.</p>
<p>It depends on school.
Case is pretty hard (great med school, cleveland clinic)
HPME, Caltech (anyone know what the med school is called?), Rice/Baylor, and Wash U are extremely difficult, at least as hard as ivies if not harder
Brown and Boston U and USCal are less difficult, mostly becuase they're med schools are that great
I don't know about OOS, but anyone in Ohio can get into NEUCOM pretty easily. It's a really crappy med school, not on any rankings at all, but they give tons of money for both undergrad and med school, and you are done in 6 years.</p>
<p>I'd say WashU/Northwestern/RiceBaylor are very comparable to HYP. There's no conclusive evidence to show which one is harder. Few years ago, HPME's average scores were 1535 (out of 1600) on SAT and 2350 on 3 SAT IIs. They were higher than HYP's but test score is just one of the many factors, as we all know. These 3 schools are already comparable to lower Ivies in terms of regular admission and it's not like there such a big difference between the lower Ivies and HYP (I've seen people getting accepted by Priceton but rejected by Penn/Cornell). You are splitting hairs if you try to insert another level in between.</p>
<p>I would not call NEOUCOM crappy med school, and it is extremely hard to get into OOS - they accept no more than 5 OOS out of 105 spots total. It is not very difficult to get into if you are Ohio resident. I personally know people who got into Mayo Clinic (one of the top in a world) after NEOUCOM. However, NEOUCOM is accelerated, very intense with tiny breaks (no summer off), you have to start few days after your HS graduation and carry over 20 credit hours. It is not for everybody.</p>