Hi, every expert here, I leaned a lot from this forum. I guess I come back with same question and dilemma like every year. Very old topic, and no absolute right answer. My son was accepted by RPI/AMC and Duke University. Don’t know which he wants to pick. He wants to study medicine. What do you think? Please give some hint to help us decide. He is an ORM. Thanks!
anyone know when tcnj/njms results post interview will be out?
@starplatinum I think sometime next week. D is waiting for njit.
Are you from NJ? any financial aid from Duke? What are your kid’s stats? How competitive is his HS? what are his goals?
@srk2017, Novicedad, and other seniors
My DS got into Duke, Penn-Waitlisted, and UMich (Hons). And GWU BSMD. We are confused as hell. He likes Duke better than Penn. Not sure if we should go to Duke traditional or stick with GWU and stay safe. We don’t have any financial aid from the traditional schools yet. Kid stats are 4.5/1550/36 from PA public school 550 kids in his class. I would like a good UG exposure for him so Duke/Penn are better bets than GWU. Your advise is appreciated.
Also does anyone know how does the wait listing with Penn works because we have to commit to other schools by May 1st? can we deposit and refuse? Any thoughts on what needs to be done to improve chances of admission there?
Thanks in advance.
Thank you for reply!
We are in NJ. His HS is #40+, not very competitive. He’s valedictorian, not even study that hard. I don’t worry about his academic ability to take MCAT or keep GPA. He wants to study medicine. We can’t get any need-based financial aid from Duke. Duke is a lovely school with tons of resources for him for undergraduate EC. However, we, especially I, discouraged by application process especially with ORM status. He was put on a lot of waitlist, including Harvard. The scare of uncertainty still can’t be over with.
we are also waiting for the same.
Not an expert by any means.
If I were to make a decision for myself, I’ll take the RPI/AMC. This is based on my strengths and weaknesses.
My personal reasoning in no particular order:
I know I want to be a primary care physician.
If you give me a track to focus, I will keep going.
I don’t do well with distractions. (Options in majors/career tracks)
I DO NOT want to be an engineer of any sort.
My personality is not meant to be a businesswoman or marketing exec types.
I’m passionate about community involvement and social determinants of health and well-being.
I don’t mind going to Duke or Harvard or Stanford or Michigan or UCLA. Then again, it won’t kill me if I don’t go to any of the “branded” names simply because I just want to be a primary care physician. Secondly, though my family will cough up the money or take loans for me to go to an expensive school if I “want to”, I’d still want to be reasonable.
I don’t have a dream school.
I have a preference in “place” than college. For eg., I’d consider UC SD or UC SB for the beach! (Hey, don’t question my rationality!)
I can go on…
Coming back to RPI/AMI, yes, it doesn’t have the beach or the beach weather. It will satisfy my career aspiration with relatively less stress. The cold doesn’t bother me. There’s an icerink closeby (Shush!). Are there compromises? Yes…but, life’s like that anyway. Something’s gotta give!
Lastly, if I make a decision, I will not repent or question it later. I’d suck it up and find a silver lining.
Just curious, do you all think that it is harder to make a BS/MD or an ivy school?
what are his SAT IIs/AP/IB scores?
what are his SAT IIs/AP/IB scores? Any academic ECs like Olympiads, Science Fair etc…?
AMC is very expensive ($123,655/yr) and last I checked RPI doesn’t give full tuition or full-ride. so RPI/AMC may be not be cheaper than T20 UG/in-state medical college or In-state UG/In-state medical (top tier- UCs, Michigan etc…).
Another thing I mentioned in the past is more and more new medical grads are opting for physician jobs due to life style choices, domination of major hospital chains so in that sense school/residency prestige helps somewhat.
My personal opinion, BS/MD, from a math perspective. 500-600 vs 23,000.
Cornell and Penn alone take 10,000!
2019 stats:
Brown 8.60% 7.20% 1,970 27,354 20% 38% 3,043 610 1,605 30,397 2,580
Columbia 6.10% 4.80% 1,590 32,877 18.70% 45.40% 3,373 632 1,390 36,250 2,222
Cornell 15.1% 13.70% 5,119 37,340 26.20% 37.50% 4,560 1,196 3,190 41,900 6,315
Dartmouth 10.30% 8.80% 1,637 18,645 26% 43.10% 1,859 483 1,120 20,504 2,120
Harvard 5.30% 3.20% 1,013 31,388 16.50% n/a* 5,919 977 1,660 37,305 1,990
Penn 9.90% 7.90% 2,381 31,778 23.90% 54.40% 5,489 1,316 2,420 37,267 3,697
Princeton 7.00% 4.90% 1,141 23,440 19.90% n/a* 3,850 767 1,310 27,290 1,908
Yale 6.50% 4.70% 1,210 25,544 16.00% n/a* 4,693 753 1,360 30,237 1,963
Columns:
Ivy League Colleges
Overall Accept. Rate
Regular Decision Accept. Rate
Regular Decision Apps Accepted
Regular Decision Apps Received
Early Decision / Action Accept. Rate
% of Class Filled by Early Apps
Early Decision / Action Apps Rcvd
Early Decision / Action Apps Accepted
Expected Number of Students to Enroll
Total Apps Received
Total Apps Accepted
There is no correct answer. People throw various number at you but means nothing. BS/MD programs tend to looks for specific ECs and Ivy schools have holistic process. BS/MD pool is much smaller with similar stats and ECs.
@SpeedSkater - Thanks for your perspective. I really enjoyed reading it…
Congratulations to all HS seniors on their acceptance to various UG’s as well as BS/MD programs. Seems like one of the favorite questions in this forum is top UG or BS/MD
-First of all, it is your student’s choice.
-Second, it is your family’s choice.
I have tried to list down some advantages/disadvantages that came to my mind below -
BS MD advantages:
-Guaranteed place in medical school.
-Freedom to pursue a truly liberal education and not care/worry about taking courses or participating in medical experience for your upcoming medical college application
BS MD disadvantages:
-you’re locked into your medical school
-you go into medical professional when you are relatively young which could lead to some disadvantages (for a few people) - Maybe not mature to handle cranky patients
-Another disadvantage I have heard is that BS/MD students have some difficulty finding spouses who are the same age since
UG advantages:
-This is the best choice to reduce short term risk. With a UG degree from a Top college, you can get a decent job or admission to competitive MS/PhD programs. Doctor or not, you will have a good life
-If you are not sure that medicine is the right choice, this is a great choice.
Top UG disadvantage:
-No guarantee for med school.
Students spend their time getting medically related experience. This impacts their GPA.
-Alternatively, If the students study all the time, they need 1-2 GAP years to gain the medically related experience
-Getting competitive GPA is difficult. Instead of getting AP credit, i have seen students repeat courses (that took as AP) in order to get a good GPA
Inspite of all the work involved and applying to 30+ med schools, you may not get into T10 or even T30 med schools. If you are leaving your BS/MD seat for Top UG, expect surprises down the road. Things may change. You may change. Either way, you will have a good life!
All the best to all the HS Seniors this year. You worked very hard. It is time to relax and recover now 
My C is looking at the following offers:
Combined: UMKC 6 yr, Case PPSP, AMC (Still Under Consideration), Pitt GAP (interview postponed)
BS: CalTech, Northwestern, UPenn, Yale (Waitlist) (and a few other top tier programs)
My C seem to have made up mind on Case PPSP since its a T25 Med and their information session was very impressive, lots of scholarships for undergrad (including a PPSP scholarship).
Other T10 BS programs offer no financial aid because its need based.
Hope it is the right decision.
PPSP will be my choice. I was interviewed and then didn’t make it.
If you have decided on PPSP, kindly think about withdrawing from AMC as they are selecting people from the Under Consideration pool.
Thank you for your advice and suggestions. Exactly the next thing this weekend will be to send notes to other programs so that they can release seats from the waitlist.
Case is a good choice given proximity to Cleveland Clinic. Only disadvantage I hear is the city.
In the past AMC asked those they offered first round to let them know sooner if they are not intending to go there.