***Official Thread for 2020 BSMD applicants***

[grtd2010]

@PathophysiologyFTW

Hello everyone, had a quick question. I was accepted to TAMU S2M with full-tuition undergrad and also to USC (spring admit) with half-tuition. Both schools are willing to transfer my credits, meaning my coursework will be much easier since I have already completed most of my med school pre-reqs (including Org. Chem 1&2) at a 4 year college. USC accepted me to their Keck School of Medicine majors with half tuition, meaning I will be taking undergrad classes at their med school, and the coursework has been said to be very easy. However, i lose assurance and have to pay around $100k total for undergrad compared to <$30k for A&M undergrad total. A&M closer to home, cheaper, and my high school friends are attending. However USC has considerably more prestige and connections, better UG experience, and easier to network with med school staff since I take classes there.

What are your thoughts? Which is the better offer? I am 100% set on becoming a doctor, but I’d like to practice in west coast or northeast.

You can do residency in northeast or west coast to fulfill your desire.

[grtd2010]

@Nvidia20

@rk2017

@ohnjmom

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!

I guess others may have chimed in already. So there can be some repetition.

First, guess you may not have gotten any price breaks from Duke, right? Heard they don’t give much credit for APs either. So that translates to ~300k for 4 years. Will your family be comfortable spending another quarter million on a conservative estimate on med school subsequently or will let your C take loans? You need to ask yourself as a family.

What does your C want to study at Duke? Heard engineering is pretty tough and may be challenging to maintain good gpa while also involving in ECs. What does he/she has preference for, brand name undergrad or medicine as a profession?

On a positive note since he got into Duke in regular decision and not ED, he will have a leg up over most who got in there through ED, legacy etc. Try to find out what percentage does Duke take through ED and that can give a rough idea over what percentage he can out perform over there. You can perhaps find it through their common data sets.

On the other side of your equation, RPI is a rigorous undergrad school with a strong research focus. Will prepare one well for med school. AMC is a well established med school too (don’t fall for that so overblown rankings c#@& here). What someone will turn out of med school depends to a large extent on how one makes the best use of opportunities there. As I was sharing recently here, was recently speaking to someone whose son is an RPI/AMC alumnus who is now in 6th year of residency (out of 7) in neurosurgery at a well known place and has already lined up for a follow-up fellowship in spine surgery at another well known institution.

I would like to echo this great feedback. I personally know three doctors (two are siblings) from this program - (two from RPI/AMC and one from Sienna/AMC). One is an orthopedic doc (residency at Duke, Fellowship - Rush), second - dermatologist in Atlanta, third an ENT doc in NY. We have discussed the program with them in depth when my son was accepted to the program a few years back. We received very favorable feedback. One negative point - I heard recently that the Albany hospital does not have an EHR system in place, so students were not exposed to Epic/Cerner etc. Please do not take my word for it since this is a second hand information. Please confirm.

EHR (Electronic Health Record) systems are currently mandated for medical offices by federal authorities . Please confirm as suggested.

[swordfischer]

Hi everyone,

New to CC, but decided to create an account and post my BSMD results for future applicants. I don’t want to go into too much detail on my stats or my regular, undergrad schools for privacy, but I’ll include a little bit. I’ll also post to the results thread.

Applied to -
BostonU SMED: invited for interview mid-Dec, interviewed late-Jan, accepted!
Brown PLME: accepted!
George Washington: rejected pre-interview mid-Feb
Hofstra: rejected pre-interview mid-Feb
Northwestern: granted application late-Nov, rejected pre-interview late-Feb
Rice: rejected pre-interview early-Feb
URochester REMS: rejected pre-interview mid-Feb

I’m so excited about my two offers from BU SMED and Brown PLME! I’m now at the dreaded stage of comparing the two programs to decide which to join, as well as thinking through finances. It’s a really tough decision, and I honestly have no clue what I’m going to do right now. I have likes and dislikes at both… and they pretty much balance out. If there is anyone on this forum that is a current student at either, or even just wants to offer some kind advice, I’d be interested.

Stats -
1550+ SAT, no essay taken
3 subject tests - Chem, Bio M, and Math 2; all above 770
Taken a total of 20 AP/IB classes throughout high school
Did not take exams for all APs (did take AP World History 9th [5], AP Physics 1 10th [5])
Will take 6 APs this May
Received IB Diploma last year (I was an IB Diploma candidate during 10th and 11th), scored above 39. Special note: my HLs were in NON-STEM subjects (I hated it, but I had to do it because it was what aligned with my schedule)

Essays -
Honestly thought they SUCKED. I hated my CommonApp; thought it was really cheesy. I guess it did the job, though. I discussed some personal circumstances and how I used my experiences to then advocate for others in my situation. Not a “how I overcame” story, because I didn’t overcome it - more that it is an ongoing battle for me personally and for others that I want to help.

For BSMD essays, I explained how personal experiences with healthcare have molded my interest in medicine from a young age. I discussed both things I admired about medicine, but also where I saw shortcomings. I focused on my “why medicine?” statement as being that I want to be apart of much-needed changes in healthcare and to increase equity. My essays were very much from the heart, though reading them back, I realize they are so poorly written, haha! My essays very much had a service-oriented focus, so this might be a reason why BU and Brown accepted me/why Rice, Northwestern, GW, URochester rejected.

My Hofstra essays were straight up garbage, so I’m not surprised I was rejected there. I was really tired of college apps by the time the Hofstra BSMD essays were released online (like mid-Jan).

ECs -
Volunteer (admin position) at my religious center’s Sunday School from 6th-ish to 9th (promoted to VP 9th)
Financal Manager/VP at my religious center’s Sunday School during 10th (now paid)
Vounteer (admin position) at nonprofit health clinic from end-10th to now (promoted to Co-Manager mid-11th)
LINK Crew Leader at my school during 11th and 12th (promoted to Officer over LINK Crew end-11th)
Initiated a school assembly celebrating diversity in 10th, current Director of the planning committee
Member of a club that plans TOLO
At-home responsibilities for caring for grandparents and younger siblings (bathing, feeding, administering meds, etc.) all throughout my life
Volunteered at a couple medical conferences and symposiums here and there, but didn’t include this in my apps
Internship at a prestigious medical school 9 hrs/wk, lab research on a personally relevant topic (both assisting with others’ projects and performing independent projects), started summer before 12th
Internship at a well-known biomedical research organization 6 hrs/wk, assist in clinical research and observational trials for transplant patients, started fall of 12th

I didn’t join any science or STEM-related clubs because honestly it all seemed so pointless. Felt like everyone there was doing it to fluff their resume; absolutely hated the mentality. Even the three “clubs” (LINK, school asembly, TOLO) I were in at school were rather non-traditional. I hated the club feel and wanted to spend my limited time (I am an honor-type student at my school, + IB candidate) doing something I was interested in. So I decided to pursue my own opportunities in the community where I felt like I was positively impacting others. For that reason, I literally had like 2 awards on my apps. One for being an “honor” student at school, the other for getting my IB diploma. (Moral of my story: don’t worry about getting awards, publications, wins, etc. just to boost your college app, you don’t NEED them and it’ll add a lot of stress).

Also note that I don’t have any significant med-related activities until 11th. I remember during this process I was really stressed that other applicants had publications and awards under their belt, whereas most of my extracurriculars focus on community service. You don’t need to be in a lab or volunteering at a hospital from the start of high school to be a successful applicant. Just make sure that your activities fit your narrative (mine is all about community service because that is my passion and focus, this is what I discussed primarily in my essays).

I think that’s everything I have to say. Hope this was helpful!

[srk2017]

@Vicky2019

@srk2017 – Thank you for comments in the Results blog.

His essays were very personal based on real life experiences – his feelings, challenges, lessons learnt from his various leadership experiences etc.
In other essays, he talked about how his medical shadowing and volunteering experiences influenced him to decide why medicine was important to him

His clinical volunteering was in a local hospital during grades, 9-11 and shadowing with family doctor/s.
He spent several weeks during summer in India, Europe shadowing/volunteering with physicians in clinic/hospital as well.

THanks for the response. Most BSMD applicants have similar stats, so experiences and essays make the difference. Without reflecting on those I feel results thread is no use.

[rk2017]

@ohnjmom

@rk2017 thank you very much for valuable suggestions and good point of views. I showed him your comment. He said he’s take those points for consideration. Thank you!

@ohnjmom,

Sure, anytime.
By the way I may not have conveyed properly or even given a wrong impression, my C is not in RPI/AMC program, but elsewhere in another accelerated program and loves it and the med school there (and hence chose to stay put despite high MCAT after sophomore year and gpa and decent medical ECs. And as usual we chose not to interfere or influence)

[srk2017]

@Nvidia20

@rk2017

@ohnjmom

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!

I guess others may have chimed in already. So there can be some repetition.

First, guess you may not have gotten any price breaks from Duke, right? Heard they don’t give much credit for APs either. So that translates to ~300k for 4 years. Will your family be comfortable spending another quarter million on a conservative estimate on med school subsequently or will let your C take loans? You need to ask yourself as a family.

What does your C want to study at Duke? Heard engineering is pretty tough and may be challenging to maintain good gpa while also involving in ECs. What does he/she has preference for, brand name undergrad or medicine as a profession?

On a positive note since he got into Duke in regular decision and not ED, he will have a leg up over most who got in there through ED, legacy etc. Try to find out what percentage does Duke take through ED and that can give a rough idea over what percentage he can out perform over there. You can perhaps find it through their common data sets.

On the other side of your equation, RPI is a rigorous undergrad school with a strong research focus. Will prepare one well for med school. AMC is a well established med school too (don’t fall for that so overblown rankings c#@& here). What someone will turn out of med school depends to a large extent on how one makes the best use of opportunities there. As I was sharing recently here, was recently speaking to someone whose son is an RPI/AMC alumnus who is now in 6th year of residency (out of 7) in neurosurgery at a well known place and has already lined up for a follow-up fellowship in spine surgery at another well known institution.

I would like to echo this great feedback. I personally know three doctors (two are siblings) from this program - (two from RPI/AMC and one from Sienna/AMC). One is an orthopedic doc (residency at Duke, Fellowship - Rush), second - dermatologist in Atlanta, third an ENT doc in NY. We have discussed the program with them in depth when my son was accepted to the program a few years back. We received very favorable feedback. One negative point - I heard recently that the Albany hospital does not have an EHR system in place, so students were not exposed to Epic/Cerner etc. Please do not take my word for it since this is a second hand information. Please confirm.

General consensus here and SDN is every accredited medical with few graduating classes in this country produces good doctors. From every medical school you see candidates getting into every speciality (may not be every year). However There some differences

1. Cost, most BSMD programs are at private school so you are giving up in-state options
2. some likes to be challenged more than others and wants to go to schools where they get to work with renowned faculty and/or researchers.
3. It's easier to get into top tier residency programs from top tier medical schools (check any T10 match list). Again there may not be any financial gains but more like self satisfaction.
4. More and more medical schools are offering merit scholarships, you are giving up that with BSMD route.

[grtd2010]

@srk2017

@Nvidia20

@rk2017

@ohnjmom

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!

I guess others may have chimed in already. So there can be some repetition.

First, guess you may not have gotten any price breaks from Duke, right? Heard they don’t give much credit for APs either. So that translates to ~300k for 4 years. Will your family be comfortable spending another quarter million on a conservative estimate on med school subsequently or will let your C take loans? You need to ask yourself as a family.

What does your C want to study at Duke? Heard engineering is pretty tough and may be challenging to maintain good gpa while also involving in ECs. What does he/she has preference for, brand name undergrad or medicine as a profession?

On a positive note since he got into Duke in regular decision and not ED, he will have a leg up over most who got in there through ED, legacy etc. Try to find out what percentage does Duke take through ED and that can give a rough idea over what percentage he can out perform over there. You can perhaps find it through their common data sets.

On the other side of your equation, RPI is a rigorous undergrad school with a strong research focus. Will prepare one well for med school. AMC is a well established med school too (don’t fall for that so overblown rankings c#@& here). What someone will turn out of med school depends to a large extent on how one makes the best use of opportunities there. As I was sharing recently here, was recently speaking to someone whose son is an RPI/AMC alumnus who is now in 6th year of residency (out of 7) in neurosurgery at a well known place and has already lined up for a follow-up fellowship in spine surgery at another well known institution.

I would like to echo this great feedback. I personally know three doctors (two are siblings) from this program - (two from RPI/AMC and one from Sienna/AMC). One is an orthopedic doc (residency at Duke, Fellowship - Rush), second - dermatologist in Atlanta, third an ENT doc in NY. We have discussed the program with them in depth when my son was accepted to the program a few years back. We received very favorable feedback. One negative point - I heard recently that the Albany hospital does not have an EHR system in place, so students were not exposed to Epic/Cerner etc. Please do not take my word for it since this is a second hand information. Please confirm.

General consensus here and SDN is every accredited medical with few graduating classes in this country produces good doctors. From every medical school you see candidates getting into every speciality (may not be every year). However There some differences

1. Cost, most BSMD programs are at private school so you are giving up in-state options
2. some likes to be challenged more than others and wants to go to schools where they get to work with renowned faculty and/or researchers.
3. It's easier to get into top tier residency programs from top tier medical schools (check any T10 match list). Again there may not be any financial gains but more like self satisfaction.
4. More and more medical schools are offering merit scholarships, you are giving up that with BSMD route.

Why are BS/MD not eligible for merit scholarship at Medical School as other regular medical school applicants during the time they matriculate to Medical School ? What is the source of this information ?

[grtd2010]

@grtd2010

@srk2017

@Nvidia20

@rk2017

@ohnjmom

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!

I guess others may have chimed in already. So there can be some repetition.

First, guess you may not have gotten any price breaks from Duke, right? Heard they don’t give much credit for APs either. So that translates to ~300k for 4 years. Will your family be comfortable spending another quarter million on a conservative estimate on med school subsequently or will let your C take loans? You need to ask yourself as a family.

What does your C want to study at Duke? Heard engineering is pretty tough and may be challenging to maintain good gpa while also involving in ECs. What does he/she has preference for, brand name undergrad or medicine as a profession?

On a positive note since he got into Duke in regular decision and not ED, he will have a leg up over most who got in there through ED, legacy etc. Try to find out what percentage does Duke take through ED and that can give a rough idea over what percentage he can out perform over there. You can perhaps find it through their common data sets.

On the other side of your equation, RPI is a rigorous undergrad school with a strong research focus. Will prepare one well for med school. AMC is a well established med school too (don’t fall for that so overblown rankings c#@& here). What someone will turn out of med school depends to a large extent on how one makes the best use of opportunities there. As I was sharing recently here, was recently speaking to someone whose son is an RPI/AMC alumnus who is now in 6th year of residency (out of 7) in neurosurgery at a well known place and has already lined up for a follow-up fellowship in spine surgery at another well known institution.

I would like to echo this great feedback. I personally know three doctors (two are siblings) from this program - (two from RPI/AMC and one from Sienna/AMC). One is an orthopedic doc (residency at Duke, Fellowship - Rush), second - dermatologist in Atlanta, third an ENT doc in NY. We have discussed the program with them in depth when my son was accepted to the program a few years back. We received very favorable feedback. One negative point - I heard recently that the Albany hospital does not have an EHR system in place, so students were not exposed to Epic/Cerner etc. Please do not take my word for it since this is a second hand information. Please confirm.

General consensus here and SDN is every accredited medical with few graduating classes in this country produces good doctors. From every medical school you see candidates getting into every speciality (may not be every year). However There some differences

1. Cost, most BSMD programs are at private school so you are giving up in-state options
2. some likes to be challenged more than others and wants to go to schools where they get to work with renowned faculty and/or researchers.
3. It's easier to get into top tier residency programs from top tier medical schools (check any T10 match list). Again there may not be any financial gains but more like self satisfaction.
4. More and more medical schools are offering merit scholarships, you are giving up that with BSMD route.

Why are BS/MD not eligible for merit scholarship at Medical School as other regular medical school applicants during the time they matriculate to Medical School ? What is the source of this information ?

Unless you are referring to NYU, UCLA etc here.

[GoldenRock]

@swordfischer

Go with what your gut feelings, BU SMED or Brown PLME. Both are great choices.

As you clearly demonstrated you like to be unique and avoid stereotype and that paid off. That is the point will be useful for future students.

[ROSSX2]

Thank you @rk2017 @NoviceDad @PPofEngrDr @grtd2010 @GoldenRock @srk2017 and many others for the discussions here.

My DD is debating between BU SMED and NU HPME - both great options. Once she makes up her mind she will post her reflections in the other thread. She withdrew other offers this weekend and had declined 2 interviews so hopefully other deserving candidates got in.

Not perfect stats but a great story to tell. My wife and I are not physicians and she busted her behind to get the experiences she had.

[seapdx2002]

Good afternoon all!

We are currently debating between SUNY/Upstate (OOS) and RPI/AMC. We appreciate your input and thanks a lot!

[GoldenRock]

@ohnjmom

Not to add oil to fire. Agree with @rk2017 and it is good point for RPI/AMC. Agree with @grtd2010 great to take UF with free tuition if going via regular route with EAP.
There is nothing special about Duke. But understand each kid have their own way of thinking and looking. If you are financially well support student wish.

I joked with my friend 8-10 years back. His first child went to USC. Second child got a free tuition at USC. But that child wanted to attend Duke. Even though parents felt there is nothing wrong to go with USC (CA resident) but at the same time felt not to discriminate by spending only for first child $250k and not willing to spend for second child. Since my friend is extremely rich, I told him, keep the economy moving! Spend it!!!

[GoldenRock]

@ROSSX2 Go with NU HPME

[GoldenRock]

@seapdx2002 Go with RPI/AMC

[PPofEngrDr]

@ROSSX2

Thank you @rk2017 @NoviceDad @PPofEngrDr @grtd2010 @GoldenRock @srk2017 and many others for the discussions here.

My DD is debating between BU SMED and NU HPME - both great options. Once she makes up her mind she will post her reflections in the other thread. She withdrew other offers this weekend and had declined 2 interviews so hopefully other deserving candidates got in.

Not perfect stats but a great story to tell. My wife and I are not physicians and she busted her behind to get the experiences she had.

@ROSSX2 NU HPME is no brainer, unless BU SMED is providing significant financial support over HPME.

[GoldenRock]

@PathophysiologyFTW

Though I don’t know much about the program you are referring in USC, I am not sure whether it is going to make any difference by taking class at medical college or meeting any professors. In any college still you can reach out to UG professors also and do any research. It is not going to make significant advantage to gain MD admission later at USC.

Even if you are not keen about Texas A&M going for regular route, you have another option UF with free tuition and EAP option.

Is TAMI allows to apply out after UG or you will loose the guaranteed seat?

Just for information, why you decided not to attend UTulsa ECCM?

[srk2017]

@ROSSX2

Thank you @rk2017 @NoviceDad @PPofEngrDr @grtd2010 @GoldenRock @srk2017 and many others for the discussions here.

My DD is debating between BU SMED and NU HPME - both great options. Once she makes up her mind she will post her reflections in the other thread. She withdrew other offers this weekend and had declined 2 interviews so hopefully other deserving candidates got in.

Not perfect stats but a great story to tell. My wife and I are not physicians and she busted her behind to get the experiences she had.

Congrats on having two good choices. Does she have some concerns about NU HPME?

[ROSSX2]

@srk2017 @PPofEngrDr

3.7 at NU vs 3.2 at BU requirement. Not scared but does not know what this entails.

Does anyone know why NU has been increasing requirement from 3.5 to 3.6 and now 3.7.

[PPofEngrDr]

@PathophysiologyFTW TAMU S2M has 2 program options as per https://medicine.tamu.edu/admissions/early-assurance/s2m.html, you are certainly falls into 1st option as freshman. Checking on requirements, GPA and MCAT requirements are very relaxing, also it seems binding so no other option out. Personally don’t like binding programs unless one is 100% sure about their career route and choice. Don’t know much about USC program, so won’t comment. UF seems very viable and reasonable too. How much weight financial going to carry?

[NoviceDad]

@ROSSX2

NU HPME is very doable. NU’s quarter system and mid-term exam structure means students keep studies in the focus and at the same time have fun.

Go HPME.