It appears medical related activities more than perfect score, but most applicants seems to show some shadowing/volunteering/research experience.
Different schools look for different things in terms of volunteering and research. Personally I donât think shadowing makes a lot of difference by itself based on how our Ds outcomes (or lack there of).
@texaspg - Any further info on types of volunteering and research and and which schools give value to which? I am trying to minimize the number of apps. I have seen some applying for more than 15 and not sure DS will have time for that. DS has done clinical research and doing genome research now. He didnât do any hospital volunteering since no patient contact is allowed, but he has related club experience (founder). He shadowed few docs over last 2 years.
@srk2017 - Neither of my kids had direct hospital type volunteering experience and I think that was a gap which prevented interview invites. It is quite possible I am speculating since they only applied to a few top programs including instate. OTOH, you can see the results threads for the past two years to see what seems to work at different schools by extrapolation.
Can someone organize the programs in top tier, middle tier, and low tier for me? Iâm trying to figure out which programs I have the best chance of getting in to. Thanks!
Hey can anyone give me insight into whether my stats are good enough to get me into a direct medical program? I am an incoming senior. I know I posted this on the previous yearâs thread but I was wondering if anyone else could give me feedback. Thanks so much!
GPA: unweighted - 4.00 weighted - 5.00 (straight As with always honors or APs)
Class Rank: School does not rank
ACT score: English: 36; Math: 36; Reading: 34; Science: 34 ; Composite: 35
SAT: 1560/1600
SAT Subject Tests: Math 2 - 800, Biology M - 750 (will be retaking), and US History - 760
APâs:
Calc BC: 5 (AB sub: 5)
United States History: 5
Macro Economics: 5
European History: 4
Physics C Mech: 3
Physics C E&M: 2 (i am really bad at physics)
Will be taking AP Psychology, AP Language and Composition, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, and self-studying AP Stats senior year
of LORs: will have 4 (2 from teachers, 1 from counselor, 1 from research mentor)
State: Illinois
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Asian
High School Activities and Leadership
Science Olympiad (11, 12): Founder/President
Math Team (9, 10, 11, 12): won several awards within this
Academic Resource Center Tutoring (10, 11, 12): Senior leader in this, basically I tutor fellow students
Badminton (10, 11, 12): Junior Varsity, 2nd Place in #4 Doubles at Conference (11)
Inducted into National Honors Society (11), World Language Honors Society (11), and Spanish National Honors Society (10)
Interact (10, 11, 12): service club
Advanced Honors Research Program (11, 12): school accepts select students into 2-year independent research program
Bollywood Dance (9,10,11,12): advanced dancer, all-star dancer award twice
Illinois Math and Science Academyâs Rise Research Program (10): Gold Award by Illinois Junior Academy of Science/Semifinalist/State Qualifier
School Magazine: Staff member, NCTE âExcellentâ Award in Student Literary Magazines
Health Experiences
Volunteering at Hospital (111 hours)
Research at lung cancer research lab for two summers (roughly 350 hours)
Careers in Healthcare course at local college
Shadowing physician (not sure how many hours yet)
Volunteering at Hospice (not sure how many hours yet)
Awards
National Merit Semifinalist (i got a PSAT score of 1500/1520 so I am hoping i will be a semifinalist)
AP Scholar with Distinction
Northwestern Universityâs Midwest Academic Talent Search Outstanding Achievement Award
Science Achievement Award in Physics (9,11) and Biology (11) - school level
Class Act - Student of the Semester (recommended by teacher for academic integrity)
@chocolatina1001 - Your stats are great and you have good ECs. My son has similar stats, you will be competing with him 
Any state or national level medals in Science or Math? Any publications from your research?
@srk2017 Haha I am afraid not. Thatâs probably why I am not applying to the higher tier direct meds like Northwestern HPME, Brown PLME, or Boston University.
@chocolatina1001 - I think you should apply to couple of tier ones also.
@srk2017 I probably will apply to Brown PLME as they consider you for undergrad even if you donât get the direct medical program.
Top: Northwestern, Wash U, Rice, U Pitt, Uof Rochester, CWRU, Boston, UAB, U of Miami
Middle: GWU, Penn, RPI-Union/Albany, Conn, Cincinnati, various feeders to NJMS, Stony Brook, Wayne, Virginia Common wealth, U of Houston
Bottom: Various feeders to Drexel, UMKC, NEOMED, Toledo,Sienna/Albany, Hofstra, Temple
Think Twice: St.Louis U, CA North State, etc
Just for illustration. Individual may differ in their view whether x should be in Middle or Bottom etc., Please go thru specific years threads. That will answer almost all your questions. Sure, it is going to take good amount of time to read all the posts. There is no short cut. GL.
hey guys, are there any bs/md programs that require the new sat essay portion for their applications? Or its strictly the math and reading/writing now?
@GoldenRock Thanks so much!
Hey @GoldenRock, curious why you put âThink Twice: St.Louis Uâ for SLUâs Med Scholar program.
I thought it is not a true guaranteed program.
@GoldenRock,@Roentgen
can you please share your thoughts how many BSMD program a typical applicant applies in average , since all of them are just a reach schools. My son is planning around 10. and we are from the east coast.
Do they consider for regular undergrad if he does not get in the program. Does it vary with schools?
Thanks a lot for all your inputs. It means a lot to the next set of applicants.
@GoldenRock, you were tagged above, so you can respond as well.
@chesscrazy, I donât think there really is an average number of Bachelor/MD applications as it varies greatly the reason why people apply to particular combined programs. Often times certain aspects appeal to you as a high schooler thus leading you to apply to that particular program. Much different than the traditional application process for med school thru the AMCAS application in which it is common to know which schools to apply to based on average MCAT/GPAs for that school so people mass apply since the application is electronic.
For example, when I applied, I only really considered 6 year combined Bachelor/MD programs as the time factor was a big deal to me (when youâre 17/18 years old, saving 2 years âfeelsâ like a lot â itâs not, lol). There were more back then than there are now - many have now increased to 7 or the full 8 years, i.e. Miami HPME, Rensselaer/Albany, or have disappeared entirely). 7 years was 1 year saved from the traditional route which I didnât think was a big deal, 8 year programs were no time saved compared to the traditional route so I didnât see any advantage, and the more competitive programs, I didnât feel like I had a chance there, esp. with ones that demanded additional SAT subject exams like Brown & Northwestern HPME.
I would choose combined programs in which your son is completely comfortable with attending and committing to that particular medical school and/or undergrad. Meaning if the ONLY reason you are apply there is SOLELY bc it offers a Bachelor/MD program, it may not be a good idea to apply there, as it can be lacking in other areas esp. if you decide to go the traditional route or go for another profession. A lot of that comfortability youâll have even a better idea after interview day in which you get to see the place, talk with students currently in the program, see how happy they are, etc. I would definitely apply to all the combined ones in your home state, esp. with living in New York. I would stay away from the Sophie Davis program just because theyâve just started their own new med school and thus itâs not a program agreement with more established med schools anymore.
Most schools do still consider you for the regular undergrad if you donât get the Bachelor/MD invite, although you may have to notify them that youâre still interested like Boston University, for example, apparently. You can see a listing of Bachelor/MD programs here: http://www.ivyplanners.com/documents/BS-MD-IvyPlanners.pdf
@chesscrazy, looks like you tagged me, which gave me the notification, and then you untagged me from your original post above :(( j.k. Just didnât want people thinking I was purposefully responding to a post meant for someone else.
Edit: Oops, I see you posted twice with my tag on post #75, nvm.
@roentgen - Although 8 year programs are not saving any years mathematically, many colleges counsel their students to take a year off to pad their resume. So many are doing the 9 or longer route these days.
@texaspg, I remember in the MSAR book released by the AAMC in the Bachelor/MD chapter, there was a 9 year combined program with theUniversity of Cincinnati consisting of an Engineering degree and the MD degree: https://students-residents.aamc.org/choosing-medical-career/article/medical-schools-offering-combined-undergraduatemd-/. I thought it was crazy with the regular way already being 8 years long. I always wondered who would actually do that, but actually makes a lot of sense in retrospect, especially if you realize you hate the day to day life of medicine and have a great degree to fall back on in terms of career.