***Official Thread for 2014 BSMD applicants***

<p>Hey! Just out of curiosity, who’s applying to the VCU program this year? I just got accepted for the UG portion. Anyone else? Looking forward to possibly getting an interview for the medical part! :)</p>

<p>What’s the best BS/MD program in Texas?
Thanks so much @Doctor43!</p>

<p>I can count top three. (Rice/Baylor, UT-PACT, Baylor/Baylor).
If you more focus on UG quality w.r.t. Ivies, Rice/Baylor is the top.
But UT-Pact is 7 year BSMD and Baylor/Baylor could give you best merit-scholarship over 8 years.
These are the schools which I asked my D to apply to.</p>

<p>There is also UHouston UT Houston/UTMB program.</p>

<p>Isn’t UTSW better than Baylor College of Med? Also, does PACT give preference to kids in the Dallas metroplex like how FAME gives preference to those in San Antonio?</p>

<p>Baylor is a world class ELITE Medical center if there ever was one! And Rice is one of the most selective UG programs in USA…both amazing MONEYED institutions!</p>

<p>@DocOfDaFuture, some consider UTSW better than Baylor because UTSW has many Nobel Laureates but I do not think Baylor has any. But Baylor is catching up in terms of NIH funding. The combination of Rice/Baylor is, however, probably stronger than the combination of UTDallas/UTSW. We were told by the Program Director of the PACT program that the program seeks geographical and racial diversity. So, students from the Metroplex are not given any preference. But for diversity, despite the claim, most of the accepted students last year were Asians!</p>

<p>In what aspects is rice/Baylor stronger than utd/utsw</p>

<p>@t14premed, agree with Doctor43 about how Rice/Baylor differs from UTD/UTSW. I would also like to add that the clinical programs at Baylor are stronger, but basic science programs are better at UTSW.</p>

<p>thats really helpful! thanks @IMGDAD and @Doctor43
how is Texas Tech UMSI? it feeds to TTSOM, which is unranked. how good is that med school compared to the rest in texas?</p>

<p>@t14premed, Tech UMSI program is a nice program, although the GPA requirement is high at 3.7 to get into the Med School, but without the need for MCAT. The Step exam results have been consistently above national average. The Med school provides good education but if you go there, you need to do your residency program elsewhere to be sure of being competitive for some of the highly sought after fellowship programs. My son has put in an application but it is likely that eventually he will not be eligible for it since we are most likely going to move out of Texas. The program is only open to Texas residents.</p>

<p>I applied too. I think we have been applying to similar programs. I just visited VCU last weekend and Howard U. At the VCU health seminar, they stated that once you get an interview for GMED it is the interview that takes you over the top.</p>

<p>With average numbers like that for PACT, they must only admit 6-7 students. Remember only Texas residents are eligible to apply. That is ridiculous given their minimum requirements to apply are 27ACT and 3.5GPA. Why even give these low stat kids hope when they only select high stat kids. They should just raise the requirement so we normal folk wont’ bother to apply.</p>

<p>Sweet, well that’s good to know! And yeah I think we are applying to similar programs. Other than this and the Howard one, I’m looking at a couple Drexel joint programs and a few with NJMS. I’m from NJ so the NJMS ones are preferable, hopefully. How about yourself?</p>

<p>I agree with you, rlpak14. It’s also just a waste of money, time, and effort for the applicants. But it helps to make them increase the “competitiveness” of the program when they can claim they accept 4% of applicants or some absurdly low number like that. It makes it seem more attractive.</p>

<p>From WA state. Applied to those bs/md programs that have reasonable average profiles. If they are super high, I passed even if they claim holistic approach to admission. There is no holistic if the average stats are outrageous. I applied to 10 programs.</p>

<p>Hey this is a stupid question but how do I apply for the George Washington University’s seven year program? Their website talks about it, but it doesn’t have any links to apply. This is stupid, I know, but help me please? :P</p>

<p>“With average numbers like that for PACT, they must only admit 6-7 students. Remember only Texas residents are eligible to apply. That is ridiculous given their minimum requirements to apply are 27ACT and 3.5GPA. Why even give these low stat kids hope when they only select high stat kids. They should just raise the requirement so we normal folk wont’ bother to apply.”</p>

<p>UT PACT has 20 seats. They interviewed 40. There are plenty of students applying with high credentials who don’t get called for the interview at all.</p>

<p>I agree with texaspg. My daughter applied last year and she even did shadowing at UTSW and she had research experience and comparable stats. She was not called for interview. Yet, she is now a freshman in the BU SMED program in which there were around 1080 applicants for 24 places. Sometimes you just do not know what members of the selection committee look for. Suffice to say, there is a large element of subjectivity and also luck. Sad to say, but sometimes it depends on the mood of the members of the committee on that particular day when your application is being reviewed. Having said that, if you are put off by the stats and the competitiveness, you will definitely NOT get a place!</p>

<p>yes indeed…a total crapshoot which is why you need to apply to 20 plus programs just to somehow play the numbers game. You cant get accepted without applying…like LOTTO !</p>