but isn’t Boston a pretty highly ranked Medical school already?
2017 BU ranking:
29 Research
40 Primary
For everyone that is trying to decide, good luck with your choices. I am summarizing my opinion based on my son’s experience from last year. It is better to go to BS/MD route if are determined to become a physician and if you can get into anyone of the following programs
Best: Rice/Baylor, Case PPSP, NorthWestern, REMS, UPITT, Brown PLME
Better: Boston SMED, PSU/Jefferson, UAB, GWU, UMiami
Good: SBU/GWU, TCNJ, VCU, RPI/Albany, Union/Albany, Wayne State BS/MD
Please note that all things considered it is better to minimize the overall cost. 7 year programs are good since it allows you to work one year early and payoff the debt sooner. In looking at the 2016 residency match data there are some clues available. For surgery based specialities it is good to target case PPSP, for general track any of the program will get you there, for ER track Wayne State, for dermatology U of Miami, for academic track any school in the best category is good. For residency placements there are other factors such as AOA, LOR, USMLE Step 1 scores, research, publications etc. It is better to keep TOP 5 medical specialities choice in mind while selecting your program. Although it is too early to think about residency placements, it is good to have some idea now so that it will help you to narrow down your choices. Always think of the location since it is important to do research for residency placements. Boston, Cleveland, Washington D.C, Houston, Philadelphia, New Jersey are all good locations with abundant resources.
All the applicants in this forum will eventually get into medicine field but the question is the timing and anxiety. Today medical schools are looking to fill in with mature applicants. If you choose to go in a traditional route, you have to start all over again by rebuilding your credentials, you also have to take some time off after graduation and do additional volunteering activities for 1-2 years before you are admitted to the school of your choice. If you apply time value for money, these years may or may not be worth to you. Finally where you do undergrad does not matter in the BS/MD route. No one is going to ask you where you went for undergrad. It is for your own satisfaction that you want to attend the right school.
Hope this helps. Please PM me for additional questions.
“Every kid who I know who has given up a combined admission for a top undergrad program or scholarship has gone onto much higher ranked medical school over the past 9 years.”
This would be a great study but i dont know how one can do this…or obtainb this data
.the only study maybe close to this compares people who went into bs/md route PSU/Jeff to student who went into Jefferson MEd School (now known as SK med) regular way done by Clara Callahan, Md Dean of Admission
See her article via interent
One consideration: BU is over 500K for 7 years.
Most people who were accepted to bu like myself also got the presidential scholarship for nmf so total cost undergrad is 50k a year for 3 years.
This is same cost as doing four years at 38k a year so the cost for most SMED actually is pretty reasonable.
Well said. The fact that you are also one year ahead in your earning schedule and you are in a great location are good factors for considering BU SMED.
BS/MD Admission Notification as of 04/02/2016 as of 8 am PDT.
- UAB - 2/2
- RPI / AMC - 2/29 (Rolling admission)
- Union / AMC - 2/29 (Rolling admission)
- Sienna / AMC - 3/5 (Rolling admission)
- Temple/Temple - 3/3 (10 offers from 32 interviewed)
- PSU/Jefferson - 3/4
- Augusta U/Medical College of Georgia - 3/6
- Cincinnati - 3/7
- St.Louis Univ SLU - 3/7
- UR REMS - 3/7
- VCU - 3/8
- UConn SPIM - 3/10 (Postal mail)
- NEOMED - 3/15/ Email. Also will get postal mail from NEOMED and one of the 3 UG schools.
- Northwestern U HPME - 3/18 Decisions came out
- Boston Univ SMED - 3/19 - Portal update
- Univ of Houston - 3/21
- California North State - 3/22 (Rolling since Jan end)
- UMKC - 3/23
- Hofstra - 3/24
- UTSA FAME - 3/25
- Brooklyn SUNY - 3/26 - Acceptance came on 3/2 - 15 accepted among 90 interviewed
- Villanova/Drexel - 3/26 (acceptance and rejections came out)
- Texas Tech UMSI - posted by someone on 3/27 but don't know the actual date the results came
- UTD PACT - posted by someone on 3/27 but heard results came on 3/10
- Lehigh / Drexel - 3/28 Acceptance via postal mail
- Rosemont / Drexel - 3/28
- Rosemont / Drexel - 3/28
- Univ of Oklahoma - 3/28 - Acceptance Email
- Miami HPME - 3/29 - 19 students offered admission
- GW BA/MD - 3/29 - Acceptances are out on the portal.
- Sophie Davis - 3/29 - Acceptance and Rejection notification
- Drexel / Drexel - 3/30 - Both acceptance / rejection - In portal under Next Steps once you click on view status link
- Brown PLME - 3/31 - Acceptances on portal
- UIC GPPA - 4/1 - Acceptances on Portal
- Case PPSP - 4/1 - Acceptance and rejection emails sent
- NJIT / NJMS - 4/1 - Phone call for accepted students
- Stony Brook BS/MD - 4/2
- Monmouth / Drexel - 4/3 (Did this come out on 3/28 also?)
@tunetheday - congratulations on your scholarship.
The above comment is very clear about not receiving any scholarship.
@mysnkisck - Why not everyone aim for 6 year programs if getting there one year earlier has such a high value?
@texaspg - Yes. I know applicants who have skipped Boston SMED, Case PPSP and multiple BS/MD programs to pursue PSU/Jefferson when it used to be a 6 year program. Currently all good programs fall into the 7 or 8 year category. For selective applicants choosing NEOMED or UKMC continues to be an option when they don’t get into other programs.
I think accelerated 6-year and 7-year programs can be too intense; and do not leave the students enough time to fully explore the undergrad college experience. My DD was accepted into the Oklahoma University MHSP 8-year BA/MD program. Because of her NMF status she gets 5 years of tuition free. Because of high school AP courses she will receive 33 semester hours of college credit. Technically she can start as a sophomore. If she took full loads of classes each semester, she could conceivably graduate in 3 years and get 2 years of OOS med school tuition for free. Instead, she will probably just take 12 semester hours of classes each semester so she can concentrate on hopefully getting all “As” while still enjoying her college experience. “Boomer Sooner!”
@RayznHELL Does OU medical school allow early start? Baylor does not for their combined programs.
For anyone wondering, GW admissions recently sent information about their BA/MD program in the acceptance letter. The Dean of Undergraduate Admissions stated that they accepted 14 students out of 1100 applicants for the 2015 application cycle. Also, for any accepted students who follow this thread, please check out the “GW BA/MD Class of 2019/2023” FB page!
@texaspg Since we decided that the 8-year BA/MD route was best for our D we did not ask the OU Med School whether she could start early.
And jefferson medical school is now 79 k per year for tuition alone
So this will be 400 plus for four yrs in Philly
Nothing is getting cheaper
yes! i loved penn state / jefferson but it’s so expensive!
Most combined programs are stingy about merit scholarships (or don’t offer full rides/tuition) as they know that for the sake of safety people will pay.
If one is sure of performing well (which one should be as even the combined programs demand certain level of performance and ECs) the good state schools are not a bad choice (like UMD, Pitt, UDel etc) as they offer decent money and high performers from there go to high to mid tier med schools. And you will save money during undergraduate years. Of course the angst related to getting into the Med School will be there. Like they said there are no free lunches 
@bearchichi I think 79k is closer to the total cost of attendance but nevertheless it is still very expensive.
@sonpat Received TCNJ/NJMS acceptance to 7yr BS/MD this morning via phone call.