is PSU done notifying about interviews? i haven’t received any response and am starting to get a bit worried 
@fhgeogng Here is the reason for the uneasiness with SLU. Few snippets from their web site.
https://www.slu.edu/scholars/pre-med-scholars/overview.php
The program provides early application privileges but does not guarantee acceptance to the School of Medicine.
Sophomore year: Interview with SLU School of Medicine at the end of sophomore year.
To me it appears like early assurance program and not BS/MD program. There are many better schools if some one interested in early assurance program like Uof Florida and others.
Though it is understood every BS/MD program is conditionally guaranteed, those conditions should be related to maintaining some GPA and/or scoring some MCAT score. These are quantitative aspects and student has almost full control on these aspects. Unlike interview which is a subjective aspect and students do not have full control. The interview should be done by the medical school rep now before entering college, in order to consider a program as BS/MD program.
@GoldenRock - is there any stats on the MD matriculation rate from these pathway programs?
DD has admission to USF Honors college, which says they guarantee interview with medical college if students maintains 3.7 GPA and meets MCAT Score. She was excited at first, but when she looked up their grade distribution for their first year mandatory classes (Bio, Chen, Organic Chem), she saw that they hand out as low as 10% As on these classes, which means many going to USF hoping for BSMD will get hit on GPA and not even have decent GPA to apply through regular BS MD route. Looks like only 7 of total applicants (200?) finally meet those requirements. So, no BSMD and shut out from regular path too for all others - scary.
Looks like there are more such pathway programs. Any stats on success rate in these interview-guaranteed programs and ability to maintain GPA?
Early Assurance Programs are worth pondering… As we wait for BS/MD interview responses DS has been admitted to Georgetown. It has an excellent med school and it would be great to get into that Early Assurance Program. However admittance isn’t decided until the end of their sophomore year and it is hard to figure out what his chances are of being admitted to their Early Assurance Program as there is not a lot information available on the admittance rates etc… into that program. Any insights would be welcome… @Roentgen or @GoldenRock?
One of my friend and current student told me, Toledo is a 5 year bioeng program (4+1 year co-op) with an option of acceleration. However, they do not require MCAT scores during Med School interview process. Need to maintain GPA of 3.5 and mentor under med school is a requirement. I think this is way better than SLU.
@brucewayne1998, do you have any info on the acceptance rate of Toledo Bioengineering to Medschool, if the students meet the criteria? Also, is your friend happy with their Bioengineering program? If he is not Bioengineering major, could he give insight as to the quality of their Bioengineering? Thank you very much! It would help a lot.
@path2md, please check your inbox.
@brucewayne1998 Though MCAT score is not needed for interview, MCAT is needed to get admitted to MD program eventually. Toledo the interview (for their own medical school) takes place during sophomore year and it is given that students are not yet ready to take MCAT. That program is a structured and you need to take courses in the order they laid out in the 4-5 years plan. If you decide to apply elsewhere then you will loose that Toledo program. It is too complicated and unorthodox program, at least personally to me.
@Mom22DDs @what???!! I did not do much research on these programs and hence don’t have too many details. There are many schools which offer these baits and it is better to research and talk to that office before committing to that school for UG. Top of my head, UofF, USF, Tulane, TCNJ, Drexel and many more.
In case if student did not get any BS/MD program, it is best to focus on good school of choice based on indidivual situation. There are very few medical schools have a program, which allows students from any UG college to apply for early assurance to their medical school at end of sophomore years and that is a better option to consider. Forgot the name of one medical school I came across, it is in New York state.
Also to your other point regarding GPA, it is a transition for HS students in to college. Most of the school (private or public) the class size is huge (300) for courses related to generic courses like OChem, Chem, Physics (pre-med courses). So 10% getting A in that school is very good. As I understand from pre-med topics thread, they are called weeders. Boston Univ student recently posted with all his hard work, all that students can get in a Chem course is C.
Did anyone who got the interview call for Boston receive an email after they called you? I was called last Wednesday, and the guy said he’d send me an email with details, but I have yet to receive anything.
@GoldenRock, Thanks for the clarification.
I think it is Mount Sinai, NY who offer early assurance.
This site has a list of early assurance programs. Go to the bottom of the page under “Combined BA/BS/MD Programs for Undergraduate Applicants”. May not be a complete list since noticed U of California Riverside is not listed and they do offer early assurance program.
@Salvadortrail I got my honors admission to temple sometime in early december, and I applied on Nov 1. I believe you do need to be accepted into the honors program before you are called to interview, but I wouldn’t worry about it too much as they do take a while to get back to you (but it would probably be before next month). Good luck!
@kybron - My DS received email same day from the guy who called. Check spam folders and if you don’t have it, call him on Monday. When is your interview, 1/20 or 01/26?
I’m having trouble logging into my vcu honors college portal… it was working the other day but now it says invalid info. Anyone else having this problem?
Any interview tips? It’s been hard trying to find resources specific to BS/MD interviews. Are they similar to med school interviews?
@ccuser18 This link has some good interview tips: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/multiple-degree-programs/1724486-bs-md-interviews-past-experiences-and-advice.html
Good luck all!
I am re-posting @Roentgen post since few posts here asking info related to interview. As most of you know there are few programs still use regular interview format and some use MMI format. Also the links have details in general about medicine related topics. Though his posts are related to UMKC, most of them should be useful for any BS/MD programs.
Interview Dress Code:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19165700#Comment_19165700
Multiple Mini-Interview:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19165704/#Comment_19165704
Traditional Interview Questions:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19250052/#Comment_19250052
Medical Ethics:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19258778/#Comment_19258778
US Healthcare System:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19258782/#Comment_19258782
Obamacare:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19258785/#Comment_19258785
Practicing at Home:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19268121/#Comment_19268121
I have my interview for University of Cincinnati Connections Dual Admission Program coming up. It is MMI. Does anyone here have any prior experience with the interview?
@anon9268 thanks for the reply. I just received email from temple on admission but it doesn’t say anything about honors in the email. Did you receive both the admission and honors admission at the same time?
@Salvadortrail I got into Temple on Nov 5 (like five days after I submitted my app), and then I heard back from the honors program on around Dec 10. So you find out about general admission first, and then honors. I’m sure you will hear from them soon!