Hi,
My take, SUNY Downstate is the right way to go. When you are studying medicine I believe you should be in a city where you get to see disease and different type of patients. Being in NY will give you abundant rotation, community service opportunities. On top of it, the medical college is stressful, you don’t want to be in a place where you cannot do anything other than just going for a walk when you wanted a break. But at the sametime, you are looking for a more research oriented school SUNY Upstate is the right option. Syracuse is middle of nowhere, getting in and out is difficult unless you are from that area and you are used to the location and closer to home.
These are just my opinions based on the research I did for my son, not intended to hurt anyone. Visit all places and go by your intuition, many times that works out. Good luck!
In our school district, all kids take either French or Spanish in middle school, which count as HS credits. My D completed her 4 credits in Spanish in her HS sophomore year but some may continue to take advance classes. I’m not sure if “4 years of language for her to get ivy league…” is correct since I think they will want more than what you just stated above.
@PAdude - thank you very much for the great input.
My DD will be taking marching band/concert band all 4 years. She is a district level flutist in middle School.
Marching band and concert band takes around 2 out 8 courses per year and
8 courses out of 32 course selections all through her high school, and she has to take mandatory courses too.
With that said she can’t take more than 10 AP courses,with just 2 year of languages
If not we have to take only 8 AP courses with spanish1, Spanish 2, Spanish 3 honors and Spanish 4 honors.
Taking just 8 AP courses and 4 years of languages with good GPA,SAT,ACT scores, doctor shadowing, research oppurtunities, volunteering at hospitals, marching band experience, honor band programs, science Olympiad middle school mentoring, science Olympiad competitions could still help in getting into BSMD programs?
Did any current bsmd students took marching band in their HS?
Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
@futuremedico I really appreciate your input. This is exactly what I am looking for. Different views , things that we did not think of due to inexperience that will help make a decision. Thank you!
Upstate is the only ACS certified Level I Trauma Center in the region, serving 1.7 million people and 28 referral hospitals.
@futuremedico what are we missing? The above makes Upstate Medical an ideal location for clinical exp. Also as others and you mentioned Upstate has good research.
@Zephyr212,
There are multiple Trauma centers within Brooklyn itself, not everything need to be available in the affiliated Hospital. Rotations at various hospitals will give you that exposure. If you are in a city, that is the advantage. I have seen folks from Upstate spread around many places to get that exposure. But if you are in Downstate, you stay in the New York city to complete all our rotations. If you are research interested student, your focus is different. If you are starting practice immediately, rotations and exposure to various diseases, various treatment methods and how they differ from hospital to a clinic, etc, are the most important things which we get in New York city. SUNY downstate students compete with Harvard and Yale for residencies. Just my 2 cents!
I got the SLU admission today in the mail. Do a sell on SLU provided you also have another guaranteed admission elsewhere, say a low tiered one Temple or VCU or Sophie Davis (Please don’t get offended for calling these schools “low tier”).
@Memamom Some of the science APs may also take more than 1 class period because of lab (at least in our HS), so you likely have to choose. Does your HS allow independent study on marching & concert bands? i.e. your D can take lesson/practice on her own, & participate in school/district performance, so she can save the spot for another class.
Marching/concert band may have zero impact on one’s chances for a BS/MD interview invitation. It will count as another non-medically related EC. My D did not do flute/piano/marching band/concert band etc as ECs.
FYI, Temple BS/MD requires an interview during spring of junior year, provided you have met other requirements( GPA, minimum grade, MCAT both total and each section). It is not a guaranteed program by definition. Temple has a very good reputation as a medical school regardless of what you may classify it.
You just broke the peace by invoking the ranking discussion…
BTW LKSOM and VCU Med are ranked higher than SLU Med. While Temple may not sound guranteed, almost 100% from PPHS matriculate to LKSOM.
Temple PPHS is classified as non-guaranteed on this discussion board even though Temple PPHS candidates feel differently. D is interviewing with LKSOM this month as Temple PPHS. D has met all the requirements for GPA, minimum grade, total MCAT and each sub-section score.
S got accepted to SUNY Upstate this afternoon. He smiles ear to ear and is so happy! Thanks guys for all the help.
Hope you all will get in at least one school. You ALL deserve a spot somewhere.
I think parents should give their children free hand in deciding what interests them in HS extra curriculars or what language to choose. Let not the utility for this future career (who knows what it will be?) or for that college or program admissions be the drivers.
We let C choose French over Spanish even after completing a year of S at the beginning of middle school. Likewise didn’t bother with C’s decision to go for marching band instead of tennis or swimming that we ended up spending money on classes for and wished would be pursued in HS.
Regarding Marching band, it is not treated on par with a sport and is usually big teams activity. So usually not given similar consideration as a sport (even team based ones).
C was in MB and their school was state level champions all 4 years. Also invited to and competed at inter state levels in their category. Not sure how much it actually counted in overall admissions. But I think it did contribute to a wholesome holistic impression leading to selection in C’s top choice accelerated BA/MD program.
anyone else got stony brook interview? We haven’t received anything yet, may be they only sent email to the selected candidates.
General info post.
If you trying to find some one who got accepted in any program and want to know the handle name.
Go to every individual ‘results thread year’ and open. At the bottom click the search with any string like UPitt or GAP or MHSP or whatever.
From 2016 there are results thread or even before.
Results thread normally have few pages and you can locate someone who got accepted in a particular program which are trying to locate.
Anyone have NJMS interview? I have it very soon. Any tips or advice? Anything I should know specifically about before the interview.
ok how about W&J/Temple BSMD do they have interview
Just be yourself and don’t get shaken if the interviewer happens to some old personality making comments like it is too early for someone of your age to know that medicine is right choice as a career or gets nasty even in other ways. Be comfortable elaborating about all your activities last few years that helped you come to the conclusion about your career choice even as a youngster, on your own (meaning not influenced).
Good luck!