Thank you so much ? thank you for also giving us your suggestions and thoughts through this journey , I wish I had stumbled into this forum sooner . Thanks again
Hi @junebug20 - I heard back from Baylor2 yesterday. I was accepted. If anybody else got in, letās talk! Find me on reddit to message me (same username). Wanting to meet the others and maybe find a roommate?
@kush22 - Thank you for sharing your Dās stats and your perspective. It will be very helpful for not only prospective students but to the current ones.
BS MD is just one path to becoming a Doctor. 95% of the students become Doctors via traditional path. With her intelligence and with hard-work, she could get qualified for a top medical school. Wish your D the very best!
Since you so kindly shared your stats I spent some time on the reflection -
Reflection:
In the past years students who didnāt get into BSMD never shared their stats/perspective. This was a Black Box. What we didnāt know, we didnāt factor that into our preparation and therefore couldnāt use that to come up with our strategy.
A solid strategy from day one of high school should be key for a successful application. Kids should plan carefully and pretty much tailor their application based on their interest. Being ambivalent seems to come with a higher cost.
Admission officers seem to be not giving enough weight to the stats (high GPA, test scores, APs). They seem to be looking at some subset of the stats- just enough to prove intelligence.
Out of the 10 APās, I guess one was a 5 in English. So, we can assume her writing skills/essays must be good as well. The variable as you mentioned in your perspective is the content that she thought was important to share. How do we know what Admission officers are looking for?
I feel the essays and interview are soft-skills and like you said are the key to success.
What medical ECs you pick, the things you do outside of school must be very important since this is what kids will talk about in their Essays and Interview.
FAU is not guaranteed. It says so on this website: http://www.science.fau.edu/student_services/pre_health/med_direct.php. You must interview with College of Medicine. Perhaps this is more of a formality? During the interview day, however, I was told that there have been students rejected because they did not pass the interview.
Congratulations @fp2028 on your acceptance to Baylor2.
Thank you @Vicky2019 . This process is so nerve-racking so I am glad that I am done with it.
For all who shared - Thank you for sharing your stats/perspectives in the BS MD results forum. This is most useful. I hope all the others who benefitted from this forum will keep posting their stats/perspectives.
Senior members @srk2017 @rk2017 @NoviceDad @grtd2010 @GoldenRock @PPofEngrDr & any other interested members - Please add/update on anything else you might think of.
Based on the stats /perspectives shared by many students/parents in BS MD results forum, I have summarized the findings -
- BS/MD acceptance is a crapshoot ā Strategy is very important for applications
- Soft factors (essays, interviews) are very important. These are difficult to prep for because we donāt know what to say to impress the admission officers/interviewers
- Medical ECs are more important than regular ECs. These provide material for essays and interviews as well.
- Stats such as GPA, Test scores, APs are all important but used for screening only and donāt guarantee a seat to BSMD
- colleges seem to be ok with only some of these (perfect GPA, SAT/ACT, SAT subject tests, more than 10 Aps (5 or 4)). Enough only to prove the kid is intelligent.
- Non-medical ECs such as varsity sports, Robotics etc. take up a lot of time. Kids need to strategize, pick and choose their ECs carefully at the beginning of the high school.
- Earlier Admission guidance (via CC or any other) could be important for coming up with a strategy, college list. Many people have quoted benefit and wished they look at CC earlier.
- Competition for BS MD is cut-throat (there are way too many qualified candidates). If interested in BSMD ā apply widely
- There are two major ways of becoming a Doctor - 95% of the students apply to medical school via Undergrad route and only 5% via BSMD
Appreciate feedback from all members. I look forward to hearing your perspective.
Hi! How is MIT for pre-med? I got into MIT and Hofstra BS/MD and waitlist for some others and am not sure which one to choose. I heard that MIT is really hard for pre-med. Can anyone provide some insight?
@fp2028 Congratulations on your acceptance!
It looks like the various web pages of FAU are not aligned.
Even the link you shared mentions multiple different interviews:
-
āan interview with the selection committee.ā - this is at the high school stage
-
āGuaranteed Pre-Health Committee Interview and recommendation letterā
-
āInterview with College of Medicine Admissions Committeeā
-
āAll students will be interviewed by the Pipeline Committee to assess their personal readiness to start medical school.ā
Further it mentions assessment by College of Medicine post-interview but does not indicate which interview - there are 3 interview possibilities once you join.
Further it indicates āAs alternatives to promotion to the College of Medicine, the committee may, at its discretion, require the student to take additional year of undergraduate or graduate preparation or to dismiss the student from the program.ā
So it looks like the interview MAY not be a formality.
But it is confusing the way they mentioned interviews on the page.
I suggest you call / email Ms Monica at FAU and ask her about the process. Best to follow their guidance.
Also speak to the students in the program.
Note: FAU is a relatively newer program and they may still be working out the quirks in their process.
Congratulations @fp2028
Congratulations! on your acceptance MIT.
Why donāt you want to become engineer? I would choose MIT to become an engineer.
My next question is - Why do you want to be a Doctor? Are you ambivalent or passionate? DO you need time to think about itā¦
It is definitely possible to go to Top UG and become a Doctor. In my personal opinion, it will require a lot of hard work. MIT is not known to be generous with GPAās. Medical school has high requirement for GPA and everything else. you would need strong medical ECās - research, volunteering, shadowing etc.
My nephew didnāt consider BS/MD programs because he had no clue about becoming doctor until after he met some seniors who were premeds in Swarthmore during the accepted students visit day.
He got into MIT & Dartmouth as well but decided to go to Swarthmore instead as a premed. Now he is in a T15 med school. His reasons for not going to MIT were the aboveā¦
Its your choice ultimately. Choose a college where you will be truly happy.
Wish you the very best.
If you are not so sure about medicine then consider MIT or any other UG offers you have. As long as you make a decision knowingly (your strengths & weakness, desire & determination, some known perceived data about any schools, with or without gap years, pursue a non-medicine career), there is nothing wrong in going with MIT (obviously a fabulous school for engineering / applied science).
Though n=1, my contactās C went to MIT (published a paper in Nature) no gap year and doing MD in UCSF. Risk vs Reward, if there is a will there is a way. GL.
It seems all four interviews are conducted at different stages of bsmd program and these hurdles need to be cleared before matriculation to medical school.
- āan interview with the selection committee.ā - this is at the high school stage
During bsmd selection, one has this interview. - āGuaranteed Pre-Health Committee Interview and recommendation letterā
This interview is for getting the committee Letter of Recommendation. - āInterview with College of Medicine Admissions Committeeā
This is the interview with College of Medicine probably during Junior year of UG. - āAll students will be interviewed by the Pipeline Committee to assess their personal readiness to start medical school.ā
This is before actual matriculation to medical school.
One might as well choose regular MD route and apply to many schools IMO.
Congratulations on acceptances at MIT and Hofstra.
If you have not done so, I suggest you read the student blogs on being pre-med at MIT.
These blogs are written by students and lay out their perspectives which is what you want to get.
The following two are among my favorites but you will find others if you search the website:
https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/pre-med-mit/
https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/premed/
(Hope the links work)
Read them and get a perspective for yourself. Do you think this may be something that would appeal to you?
āāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāā
Hofstra medical school and Northwell system is a very good mediCal school option.
However, Hofstra undergrad is probably on the opposite spectrum than MIT in terms of rigor and offers a different experience, which some say, may not be optimal for smart kids. Can you live with that?
āāāāāāāā-āāāāā-
On a side note:
One of keynote speakers at Penn/Jefferson PMM interview day shared that he gave up MIT to come to Penn/Jeff. Also shows his acceptance letters. Brilliant speaker.
He wanted to do medicine and felt Penn/Jeff BSMD was the path for him.
Can you maintain a GPA >= 3.8 at MIT ? If you are confident, then choose MIT and pursue premed. What will be your major if you decide to join at MIT ? An Engineering or applied sciences ? How risk-averse are you ? If you are risk-averse, take the bird-at-hand āHoftraā bsmd.
@colllllege1 My child is narrowing choices now. I think 3 schools are of note ā RPI, a beloved state school, & Hofstraās dual degree PA program. But MIT & med school?! Tough choice. Iām worried Hofstra might not be academically challenging enough during undergrad. Feel free to reach out to me if you want to chat.
Thanks for your detailed response. I saw your subsequent post summarizing for BSMD applicants.
Hereās my gripe (or observation). My D knew from a very young age that she wants to be a doctor since one of the parents is a physician. So there was no lack of strategy, we even had a counselor guiding us from freshman year. We did enough Medical ECs and few outside of that to balance it out and also bcos thatās what she wanted to do. I am not being a debbi downer, but pointing out that despite all of of that BSMD path didnāt work out for whatever reason. Now, few years later looking back we may think this was the best thing that happened to her. Also I am happy we tried this path so there are no regrets either. This was the first chance to pursue medicine, but there are still more chances to pursue, itās not one and done so thank god for that. I also think every year there are many many qualified students competing for the few spots and every year itās an unknown what the AO are looking for.
thanks
Kudos to you for acknowledging and some of us prefer to look for easy path. Your D had made a perfect UG choice and certain that she would thrive there. Good luck with journey and donāt forget to post progress in experience thread in coming years.
Thank you; and I agree with all you have said. I had 2 summers of research in a renowned lab, 2 publications, my own capstone project with a self constructed meta-analysis, a start up, and music composing as an an additional EC in addition to awards, leadership, medical ECs, volunteering etc. Last 4 years in high school were tireless, completely occupied in ensuring GPA remains high, I get straight As throughout, and standardized scores are perfect. Despite all this, I have realized it is a crap shoot because we are truly competing with cream of the crop across the country. IMO, having one ivy and a couple BSMD options, with one more pending, I can clearly see that BSMD is lot harder than an ivy admission. Schools that you think are slam dunk reject you; and schools where you think interviews didnt go well accept you. Go figure!