My daughter got acceptance into NYIT’s 7 year BS/DO program with a presidential scholarship. We are trying to compare it with her UNC Chapel Hill acceptance.
NYIT
Tuition after scholarship with room, meal, transportation etc.: 35K for first three years and 80k for medical year per year
Prestigious -not so much for the college undergrad
GPA needed for entering their DO: 3.5
MCAT needed for entering their DO: 507-509 (2021 was 508, waiting for 2022 median results which she has to meet)
Research: not really needed to enter medical school
Clinical experience/volunteer - not really needed to enter medical school
Distance from home: 11 hrs
UNC Chapel Hill
Tuition with room, meal, etc.: 26K
Prestige -YES
GPA needed for Asians entering MD: probably 3.8-3.9 to be safe
MCAT: 518 and above to be safe for Asians
Research: Got into accelerated research program
Clinical experience/volunteer - Being an Asian, She has to do maybe 2000 hrs to impress the medical school.
Distance from home: 2:15 hrs
UNC is a great school to say no to, but with grade deflation and all the extra work to do, it looks to us NYIT is a better option.
I know plenty of Asians who got into medical school with lower GPA, MCAT, far less volunteer hours, etc. Please don’t decide based on myths. If you’re certain you want medicine, don’t care about the prestige of the med school, and don’t want a competitive specialty, take the joint program. Otherwise, UNC. There are many other lucrative paths beside medicine and UNC would give you more options to explore those. As in-state, I would risk it and go to UNC.
BS/DO is one way to increase the chances of med school acceptance. You’re right that Asians need higher MCAT and GPA. She will probably need 3.8 GPA and MCAT > 515 to be competitive for MD programs. Slightly lower for DO programs.
See table A-18 below from AAMC.
Prestige doesn’t really matter much when it comes to med school admissions. How confident are you that she can hit the GPA target at UNC-CH?
11 hours from home is not a meaningful metric irl: aside from (possibly) 1 drive up to take her off to school, there are lots of cheap 1 hour flights between RDU & NYC.
Prestige of undergrad doesn’t matter once you have the D.O. after your name
Your assumptions about the extra-high bar for Asians in GPA / MCAT / Experience seem to be driving your anxiety. You might find looking at some current stats reassuring. In the 21-22 cohort, for example, the stats for caucasian and asian students were effectively identical (avg GPA 3.78/3.79; total MCAT 514/512).
Of course, missing from all of this is what your daughter actually wants…
eta: from the AAMC file @sgopal2 linked to (slightly different #s): MCAT- 508 v 507; GPA 3.63 v. 3.66). So yes, Asians and Caucasians (who together make up 2/3 of the applicants) need higher stats than the 1/3 of applicants who are hispanic, black, pacific islander, and so on.
Note that the file I linked had two separate tables: applicants vs matriculants. As expected, the average stats were higher for matriculated students vs applicants.
Posting the AAMC charts showing applicants and matriculants by Race, with average GPAs and MCAT. Asian matriculants’ MCAT score average is higher than all other races, GPAs similar to white matriculants.
Good point in terms of admissions, @sgopal2 - I was more focused on the OP’s anxiety that the stats for an Asian student were meaningfully higher than for anybody else. The same parity between Asians and “White” exists with matriculants as well (3.79/3.78 and 514.5 v 512.7).
We are in the same dilemma. My daughter was accepted out of state to UNC and absolutely loved the school. No merit aid. We are trying to finalize between UNC, U Pitt ( in state) and USF ( free ride plus early assurance to BS/MD with hight MCAT score( 516- 518).
A bit different - USF and Pitt are both well known commodities.
The thing with med school is most who go in pre med will change their mind. Having a degree from USF or PItt, in this case are both fine. UNC is “ranked higher” but rank doesn’t = guaranteed success and USF and Pitt are beyond reputable.
NYIT is a lesser known commodity.
So not exactly the same.
Me - I’d be at NYIT - if I 100% knew, without a doubt, I’m going to med school.
I think people think that to they get exposed to other things - and then change their mind.
Yes - extremely fine school. In fact, the fastest growing school in the rankings…or at least it was.
It’s Florida’s third school. And it’s a fantastic school…suburban - in Tampa but 8 or 10 miles Northeast. When I travel to Tampa for work, I stay across the street.
Very reputable.
I assume you knew this or you wouldn’t have applied there…
US News ranks it 103 and Niche gives its academics an A.
Very fine school.
Many a kid going to a UNC level school will one day work for a USF kid.
I wanted to delve a little more about prestige. If the OP’s daughter is 100% sure on medicine, then the NYIT BS/DO program sounds like a good deal. She will be given a relatively straightforward path towards getting a medical license and residency training.
However if she decides not to go into medicine, then going a more well known place helps. How much does it help? Depends on the field. In some fields like high finance and consulting the pedigree of the applicant really matters. Ivy league or T20 schools at a minimum, plus a good GPA. In other fields like CS it doesn’t matter – a degree isn’t even required. Just having the coding skills.
In this case if she drops out of pre-med, is a degree from UNC better than NYIT? I think its difficult to say. If she stays in a STEM field like engineering, CS, math then NYIT will be quite comparable to UNC.
