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

@rk2017 Hi, I am still deciding between finally one down Brown and now Upenn vs RPI/AMC. And kind of hard to decide between UPenn vs. RPI/AMC. And you said while back there was a post but could not find it as was looking for it. As want to PM to them and get feedback on this. I really appreciated if you can find it to post it here if you have time if not it is ok. Thanks again for all your help.

@NoviceDad can you please let me know where the data is for Upenn as I am leaning towards Upenn kind of vs. RPI/AMC. Still deciding though.

@ubsmd2020 ā€“ The various members conveyed to you their respective suggestions long back telling you to choose RPI/AMC if interested in the bird at hand and if not to go for the UPenn.

Also all the suggestions provided by the various members to @colllllege1 apply to you as well. See the last 3 pages.

Obviously IVYs are a much better undergraduate.

You should go for UPenn if you like it the best. You will be successful where you are happy. You can be a successful Doctor from UPenn as long as you are persistent and are willing to work hard.

Wish you the very best!

@Vicky2019 Thank you but I was referring to when @rk2017 mention there was a post couple years back with Upenn vs. RPI/AMC and was looking for that post so can pm the person what they think? Yes I agree that If I go to Upenn and take traditional route, it will be hard but I will definetly make through of it may be land in better med school or better chance in residency., but still have kind of doubt about what if I take the RPI/AMC route. So just want that person opinion that choose RPI/AMC vs. Upenn just kind of getting idea as I know everyone perspective is different. But before committing want to make sure.

@ubsmd2020

No problem. This is the link to the post from 2018 thread. From the parent.
Private message him or her and hopefully you will get the contact of the student to get feed back from.
Hope you know how to private message.

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21437285/#Comment_21437285

@ubsmd2020 - ok, I realized that you were asking for links from @rk2017 after I posted.

@ubsmd2020

Hope you will get some feedback from the link above, but I would say if you got a good price break from RPI for undergrad, you can take it without too much hesitation.

RPI is a solid school and will prepare you well for med school. If you donā€™t like it in a year or so, take MCAT after sophomore year by preparing well and hopefully you will get a great score and then decide whether you want to continue there or opt out of the program and go regular route. (Just make sure you get it confirmed from them they wonā€™t withdraw your guarantee from the program just for taking MCAT as some programs seem to do to my surprise). Finish undergrad in 3 years since they give you 32 credits for AP, take a gap year and apply out. Anyway you will be involved in research right from the start as part of the physician scientist program which will come handy if you decide to apply out.

As I mentioned earlier which you may have read, a colleagueā€™s son went to the program, is now in 6th year of residency in neurosurgery and is lined up for a fellowship in spine surgery.

Friendly reminder:

All HS students or their parents - if you felt this forum helped you, please consider giving back by posting your stats/results and perspective in the forum - BS/MD Results - Class of 2020. Thank you!

@ubsmd2020
You have got the link and you can find about RPI/AMC. Ultimately it is your risk-appetite (a measure of risk taking ability) that will drive your decision. Do you like a bird-at-hand vs a better looking bird in future with no guarantees ? Your UG institution does not matter in long run as a MD. One gets paid as a MD based on billing code and it is the same amount for the same billing code even if your MD/UG are from Harvard Medical School/Harvard University. Of course one can argue about the prestige factor.

@ubsmd2020

https://careerservices.upenn.edu/medical-school-admission-statistics/

Reach out to @PathophysiologyFTW - I believe he is running a CC page on Upstate as well as created a group for admitted students

@NoviceDad,
In junior year at his school, the English teachers gave the kids a CV assignment. The students used the CV assignment to provide the teachers info for the recom letters. My S asked for recom letters in the summer and most teachers/administrators e-mailed him what they wrote. We were pleasantly surprised and impressed at what the majority of them wrote.
What I have to say is my son is very lucky that he has teachers who cares for him greatly. Not only they wrote great recom letters, but they also spent many lunches/breaks advising him on his essays and prepared him for interviews.

@gradedu
That is really rare, you and Son are very lucky!
In some schools teachers even get offended if asked what they may be writing and may even ask the students to find someone else.

Did your son attend a private school?

As a public school counselor, I frequently let students review their letters. But I am also given the freedom within my workplace to turn down requests or recommend students find a person who might be better at writing it. Of course there are times I write them about students with whom I have had little interaction because it is required for their applications, but I personally feel that kids like to hear those positive things about themselves. I have about 130 Seniors and write about 40 letters a cycle.

my son heard from his admissions Officer at CWRU and their test optional policy is extended to PPSP.

ā€œ Thank you for the email. As any time, we will continue to review students holistically which means taking into consideration COVID-19 and how it has impacted parts of studentā€™s life, classes, and opportunities. We will be test optional for all applicants for the class of 2021 (including the PPSP candidates) but if you were able to take a test that was strong and represented you well, you can self-report that. If there are activities that you were planning to take part in this summer that have been cancelled, I would recommend writing it in your application in the additional information section. Certainly applications will look different this year, we understand that and will consider that.ā€

I have been accepted to UMKCā€™s 6 year ba/md program as well as RPI/AMC. Can anyone offer any advice on which program to choose? UMKC is 6 years vs 7 years at RPI/AMC but time is not necessarily a big deal to me. I have gotten 30K in financial aid per year at RPI, making undergrad tution 40K, but Iā€™m not sure if I would receive any aid at AMC, so it would be 56K per year without aid for AMC, which is quite a lot more money than what I would pay at UMKC since itā€™s in-state tuition, so about 20K for undergrad and 30K for medical school. In terms of cost, Iā€™m leaning heavily towards UMKC. However, RPI/AMC provides a lot more research opportunities, which can benefit a lot when applying to residency, whereas Iā€™ve heard there is very little time to conduct research at UMKC and it is pretty uncommon, especially during undergrad. I also feel like I would fit in more at the RPI/AMC environment, but Iā€™m not sure how much that matters in the big picture. I have also checked both schoolsā€™ match lists, and they seem pretty similar. Does anyone have any extra information about AMC that would be helpful to know? Iā€™ve found quite a lot of info about UMKC from current students and online forums, but itā€™s been difficult to find anything about
AMC.

@gradedu

I would echo the sentiments shared by @rk2017 and @mom2boys1999
You should consider yourself fortunate.

In our large school district, ā€œcase-loadā€ as school counselors refer here is about 300-350 students over 4 high school years. This means ~85-90 kids per senior year.
Unless you have made efforts to know the counselor and vice-versa, the counselor refers to NAVIANCE to obtain information about you and add 1-2 lines beyond the cookie-cutter LOR.

And I know of many school counselors who have ZERO knowledge of BS/MD programs and competitive nature of such programs.

@mom2boys1999

I believe many colleges will follow suit and that should reduce some stress of current juniors.

@blueshell97

Based on other posts, if RPI allows an option to apply out that is an advantage, though AMC fees is hurting your situation. But if $184k is hardship, stick with UMKC or any other UG for regular MD route.

You can post in pre-med section and see if any response for AMC. Also you can post in the other web site related to medical and see if any one responds. I searched not much except AMC vs NJMS vs Cincy by a BS/MD person.

For UMKC I assume you would have enough details including Roentgen input.

Hello all, junior here interested in applying to BS/MD and/or BS/DO programs. My stats are below and I was wondering how competitive I would be for these programs as well as if you guys have any recommendations for which colleges I can apply to.

GPA: UW (3.86/4) and Weighted (5.3/6)
ACT: 34
13 APā€™s all with a score of 4 or 5

ECs:

50+ Hours of Shadowing
66+ Hours of an Internship
147+ Hours of Volunteering with the Community (non-medical)
Have written a couple articles published in E-Magazines
Piano performances at retirement homes for about 3 years
State Solo and Ensemble
NSHS, NHS, HOSA member
Youth Ambassador for an Interfaith Alliance
President of a local student-led initiative
AP Scholars Award

I was interested in applying to UMKC, WashU, Boston, GWU, FAU, and University of Cincinnatiā€™s BS/MD programs but donā€™t know if I have stats that would qualify or ECā€™s that would help me in those. Any feedback would be sincerely appreciated!!