@grtd2010 Thanks for your post on Temple. Did you had a chance to discuss with them and get clarity when you went there for interview. Wish Temple web site clearly and categorically states this point. To me then it is a different ball game, like SLU, Toledo and would not like to group them under guaranteed program. It is disappointing, though Temple SOM also interview students now and then why do they wan to interview again? Is it a formality or a genuine filter process. Where they able to share any past results of 2nd year interview. Learning never stops in this complex BS/MD process!
@ninject110 Please see @grtd2010 post 2950. It is an important point when you finalize between Temple and Drexel.
@GoldenRock
From LKSOM website about BSMD Temple
Scholars are eligible to be granted early, conditional acceptance to Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. To be nominated, students must have at least a 3.5 (now 3.6 as per Temple Univ) overall and science GPA at the end of their junior year of college, a strong commitment to service as demonstrated by extensive community and health care experiences, and demonstrated leadership potential. Those who meet the undergraduate requirements of the program will be nominated for consideration during their junior year at Temple and those selected to interview will meet with a member of the Admissions Committee.
The Admissions Committee will offer conditional acceptances to selected students. Students offered a conditional acceptance need to sit for the MCAT exam by the end of May. After a review of the transcript at the end of the junior year and MCAT scores, students who have been conditionally accepted and meet the requirements of the agreement will receive an acceptance for the class that matriculates the following August. Conditionally accepted Health Scholars students will complete an AMCAS application by August 1st after the junior year, indicating a restricted application type of “Combined Bachelors/Medical Degree.”
Can you decipher this please? Does not look like a guaranteed program ?
@Undecided3494, Waitlist for AMC is an eyewash. As an example, for Union/AMC, they send offer letters to 45 candidates and they expect that 30 selected candidates reject the offer and only 15 will join. If 15 join, then they will toss the waiting list into trash can. In case, 40 selected candidates reject the offer, then they go into the waiting list to select 10 more candidates, to make it toa total of 15 candidates.
@grtd2010 It is sad. Would strongly suggest to reach out to Temple (both UG and SOM) and get it clarified and get it in writing before commit. Last year also there were concerns and posts about Temple. But if you look at the FAQ in Temple UG, it does not explicitly state there is an interview when they are listing every other laundry list items.
Does this program guarantee entry to Temple University Lewis Katz School of Medicine (LKSOM)?
The Pre-Med Health Scholar Program provides provisional, not guaranteed, acceptance to LKSOM. Accepted health scholars must still maintain their academic profile, take the MCAT exam, and submit a special application to the medical school during their Junior year of college. Students must have a 3.5 GPA (overall and math/science) at their time of presentation and score 75th percentile overall on the MCAT with no specific section less than a 60th percentile.
@midwestFem Some time it is too premature to conclude anything unless all the facts are known and understood.
In the past students have got acceptance and joined the program. For sure, I know it happened in CWRU. My memory fades on AMC since it always had so much posts and I thought it happened. @Undecided3494 offered whatever known. But if you spend an hour and search this year and last year threads you can find definite answer for AMC wait list from the posts.
@GoldenRock Temple BSMD has the following steps/hurdles to get an acceptance to medical school.
Nomination to LKSOM Medical School Admission Committee at the end of 2nd year based on GPA and medical related ECs (done by Health Advising Team at Temple University)
Interview and Selection by LKSOM for conditional acceptance to SOM
Meet the GPA and MCAT requirement by Aug of Junior year (Currently GPA 3.6 and 75% MCAT/no less than 60% on any section in two attempts only)
If you do not succeed, you are free to go via regular route in senior year.
@grtd2010 Then it is not guaranteed program. It joins the list of SLU and Toledo.
Then why do LKSOM conducts an interview now? Did you or any one discussed this with Temple during visit / interview? Did you go there for 2 interviews, one with Temple UG in Jan and second with LKSOM in Feb?
@GoldenRock There was only one interview at Temple University in Feb 2017 for all invitees. We were given a guided tour of LKSOM on that day by current students, no interviews at LKSOM. All candidates were admitted to Honors program at Temple University.
@grtd2010, in the end everyone has to make a very careful decision when it comes to BS/MD program with no guarantee, except for the terms such as GPA/MCAT. if there is another interview and need for satisfy extracurriculars, it is almost like traditional route!
All of our kids who are applying to these are high achieving and motivated. It feels bad when we are trapped. I have heard of a student who entered Temple program and didn’t make it to Medschool. Heard he didn’t make the cut. He was a Top 1%, extremely bright and well rounded. He later did some other course, still applying for Med school 2 years after graduation. It is just for information, not to discourage your child.
@path2md - some of the kids here have been admitted to UCF, and the medical school interview is in second year. They have high GPA (3.75) and MCAT (512) and they do not have grade deflation. I asked many UCF kids and they all said making high grades is possible if the student works hard, and some of them said they have maintained ~3.8 GPA in freshman/sophomore year too, though requirement is 3.5 GPA freshman, 3.6 sophomore, 3.7 Junior and 3.75 senior year. 4 year program, and interview is in 3rd year beginning, so not sure if they’ll have MCAT results by then. One of them said interview is more of a formality but GPA and MCAT requirements are real. Thoughts on this program?
If anyone that matriculated from UCF UG to medical, it would help us to get your inputs as well. If anyone is currently in UCF and wants to weigh in positively (or with any cons), we would appreciate that as well.
Can you please comment on the below options for combined/accelerated?
USF 7 Year Accelerated full ride for first 3 and potentially 4th (first year of Med School) plus study abroad scholarship. Needs a 3.7 GPA , 515 MCAT score, and interview to get admission to med school. Admission not guaranteed unless the GPA and MCAT are met. Only 1 student has been rejected at interview stage in the last few years. They help apply to other med schools if the score is less than 515. D loved USF and Tampa and the VIP treatment they get at the Honors.
NJIT/NJMS, full ride at NJIT for the first three years. Needs a 3.5 GPA and take MCAT but no minimum score needed. Did not like Newark/NJ and will be reluctant to spend the next 7 years.
@Mom22DDs, If the interview is just a formality and only MUST criteria to meet are GPA and MCAT, it sounds better and reassuring. From talking to current students, if it is really the case that interview is just a formality, it is reasonable option to have. I have no idea about UCF though.
@bay2bay other than some top STATE medical schools like UCSF, UCLA, Michigan, etc, most state medical schools have old average MCAT scores in the range of 30~33.
I would agree with @path2md and treat any program that has the interview clause as same as other UG admissions and then decide based on the UG comparison. In my view one should not let go of a better UG for a potential to be selected pending the interview… 3 to 4 years is a long time and these schools keep this clause for a reason - believe me nothing is a formality…
I know there was some discussions today about BS/DO programs - if one does not want to take risks and try the traditional route, I would then even recommend the BS/DO track versus the BS/MD program with interview – may sound odd, but in my view guarantee is better than a promise, otherwise one always has the option of going through the regular route.
@bay2bay - If I were you, I’d take NJIT/NJMS hands down (my DD is accepted into both as well). USF allows all honors students to pursue the MD, which is a lot of students (~700). From my limited understanding, about ~200 of them are pursuing the path, but only 7 or so matriculate, and this is because of the GPA/MCAT rather than the interviews. So, interview is not a concern for USF in general, but ability to maintain the GPA is as they seem to have high grade deflation, and many courses/labs are taught by Grad/PhD students that grade harshly. You can look up their grade distributions and grades on past semesters on their websites, which will give you a good idea.