good morning everyone and beware of lots of fear mongering in public forum. Numbers are not fishy, interpretations are. We can’t use word martriculants rate to treat it as acceptance rate, which is generally defines difficulties of admission. tbh comparison with BS/MD, need similar data, number of BS/MD applications, number of applicants, total enrollment that is more or less BS/MD capacity, ~1200. Nobody suggests any medical school admission/route is a slam dunk. Total BS/MD seats are ~1200 vs ~21K traditional route,
If you are good enough to be in that 1200, you are certainly good enough to be in 21K. However those 1200 opportunities may not be best for you and one of those 21K is better for you personally. Keep options open and weigh them in once all outcomes are known in coming months.
Agree with @PAdude earlier comments #1639.
Thanks to all moms and dads sharing your thoughts and experiences here. Whether you are for or against BS/MD, the fact that we are here in this forum shows that we are all interested in the BS/MD route. I wish I had a choice at this point which way I should go. Let’s wait until March and April to get your help to make some decisions, hopefully I would have some choices by then. If I don’t get in any, then my chance of getting in BSMD is 0%, which happened to a few of my friends before. Wish everyone good luck in the New Year!
@NoviceDad thanks for your feedback. Like most things there is subtle nuance when looking at numbers in these things… Speaking generally yes your " training" meaning residency/fellowship are what matter most, at least to fellow physicians. But why? Well, because one it is where you really develop your hands on craft and the thing you really do day to day. However, and here is the nuance , if you were selected into a prestigious training program (residency) we infer that you got there because in all the steps prior to that, high school, college, med school, internship etc you continuously we’re top notch. We trust in the weed out process. In fact I would ask you to look at the bios of well regarded physicians in your own area. I suspect you will not see their undergrad listed in there education profile. Why? Because by the time your in practice that is like ancient history. I attended Hopkins undergrad , I’m proud of that, but I don’t list it in my bio. I do list med school, residency etc… This said however that undergrad experience served to launch to med school then to a solid training program etc… So in a long-winded way I’m making the point that it all builds on the previous. This my initial point always put yourself in the best most challenging place you can…it will be rewarded.
To the comment that 15% of JHU med class is from JHU undergrad. I got sense that person thought that was a small amount. That is a huge amount. A even bigger question is what percentage of the JHU med school is from top 10 undergrad schools? I think you would be surprised to see that is a high number. There is truth in that Harvard med likes Yale or Princeton kids or Yale med prefers Harvard etc…yes true but when you look at that class in each and realize that almost 60% of the class in either place is made kids from HYPS or similar undergrad then you start to realize that it does in fact matter.
Next does medical school impact acceptance to residency…short answer …yes. Now absolutely you must do well on your USMLE etc…but don’t you think kids who get high SAT score and then get high MCAT scores also get high USMLE scores? (Hint they are great test takers) Is there the exception to this? Yes occasionally always the exception to the rule but I’m speaking in the majority here. So yes top med school because high MCAT and likely top residency because high USMLE plus prestige of med school pedigree. Now what about the " kids" who went to X-state med school but are training at Duke let’s say…well two points : first and foremost they are smart kids who made the absolute most of their situation, they are likely highly motivated and hence rewarded! Kudos to them they deserve it! But a second point also is what are they training in? What residency type? Orthopedic surgery or Internal medicine? That matters when one makes these assumptions. High target residencies like Seem, Ortho, optho, anesthesia etc are highly competitive. You need high scores which, many have, as well as any other advantage you may get i.e. prior pedigree, previous school reputation etc… Now residencies in internal medicine at places like NYU, Hopkins, Harvard etc while still very competitive are much easier to get in. In fact a high number of available internal medicine residencies in the US go unfilled each cycle, hence being fill at lower tier programs by foreign medical grads or carribean schools etc… Now internal med is a great path (I’m biased I chose this…haha) as it can be practiced alone or it is the stepping stone to fellowship in s subspecialty such as cardiology, pulm, infection disease etc…
So I would say be certain that you really understand what you “think” you may want to do within medicine and then understand these nuances as you choose your path moving forward.
Having realized I have written a small book here…and I apologize for any typos as I’m on my phone…I hope this is helpful to some and I want to offer one other very important point…maybe most important in my opinion…I see a lot of stats about percentages /acceptances etc being thrown around…all valid data I’m sure…but one thing I am very confident about is this of a young person wants to persue medicine they will 100% eventually realize that dream if they are capable of same. If you are 100% committed to it you will eventually find yourself in medical school. The path may be straight forward it may be convoluted it may involve gap years it may involve more time in a different field initially but it will happen. The people who don’t get in simply at some point say they are done with the process, it’s to long, the extra schooling too expensive etc…and for them maybe unfortunately they really aren’t meant for this…it’s a rewarding and great profession but it’s not the end all be all…being a great person , friend and parent is the end all be all in life in my opinion.
In full disclosure of my opinion and backing my opinion on pushing yourself to your highest level, I have a senior, a son who is in this process. He is in the BSMD mix as well. He has also been accepted to Harvard early action. We will get zero financial aid. Yes that’s 300k out of my pocket for Harvard. He has received FULL scholarships thus far to UPitt Honors , Temple Honors, University South Carolina Honors and I’m sure more to come. I feel he will be very competitive for the BS MD at UPitt, Temple, Case Western, and VCU to which he applied. To many of these he would go to undergrad completely free. That said I am strongly encouraging him to go to Harvard. I will say I would have him look closely at Pitt as it’s med school is Top 15 and it is online with my above belief but the others, although free to attend I feel he has big things in him. It’s a 300k bet on my part but why would I second guess someone who to this point has been the best version of himself I could imagine? If I was going to bet 300k on something/someone I can’t think of a better choice. I offer this just to in a way show my conviction to my comments above.
I hope this is useful and I wish the best to all these great students…they will be fine…and they better be because we will all likely need them in a few decades to be great physician to care for us as we get older.
@PAdude Congratulations to your DS for Harvard acceptance, and thank you so much for your advice! I would say go Harvard! At this point, I would suggest he might withdraw some of the Lower tier BS/MD programs that are not on top of his list, saving some time and effort in interviews, and making room for other kids in this forum? Of course it’s his decision. Thank you:)
Let’s take a hypothetical case of School X:
total applications = let’s say = 10,000
total medical seats = let’s say = 150
What would you say is the matriculation rate at this School X?
Thanks for your response @NoviceDad ! Happy new year to you too!
I was talking to a parent who’s daughter is in residency now. She graduated ina regular track , took 1 year gap year and then did her medical. I am not sure how updated he is about the present process but he strongly recommends SAT than ACT. He said most of the East Coast schools give more preference to SAT than ACT and he suggests my daughter to try SAT again. She only got 1510 in SAT and got 35 in ACT. Any opinion on this @NoviceDad , @rk2017, @GoldenRock , @grtd2010 and @PPofEngrDr ?
ACT=35 is good enough.
Submit ACT scores along with your application.
I do not see a need to re-take SAT.
Thanks @PAdude
So would leave Harvard if end goal is medicine.
You cannot go wrong with NU HPME
If surgery is the end goal you cannot go wrong with Pitt
Thank you @NoviceDad ! Any advice on how important it’s to have EMT training to be competitive?
@PAdude : In my words, education is the competition between “Dads” . So your child got the lead from a specialist physician with disclosed UG in JHU 
For myself , ANY opportunities for a better education , career path without imposing financial distress on the family/child is more of priority
Thanks for your input , though difficult to implement with constraints. As you have little problem to make up the Harvard tuition, the decision is there already I can see your child going to Harvard med school .
I may have mis worded earlier, but by undergrad population I believe the director meant both recent batch and alumni taking gap year(s). Especially since JHU pushes the students there to do so. So if we split the 15% between the two categories, it would be less than 10% each.
I did not follow up on what some one else asked with questions like what percentage of your incoming med class from “top 10 undergrad” and such. Not sure if they would reveal that even if asked. Without that info anything else would be theories and speculation.
Also going to a so called top med school is not an end in itself. The students have to compete with other top caliber students there to stand out for top residencies of their choice. Likewise going to a not so fancy med school doesn’t put one down. Better to shine at a non fancy med school than be a mediocre at a fancy place. As mentioned I personally know students from ordinary med schools going to residencies like Opthalmology, radiology, oncology and internal medicine at H, Y and UPenn.
I and spouse are not physicians but there were about 4 or 5 physicians active in last cycle thread whose impressions were on similar lines with respect to undergrad, med school and residencies. Couple of theirs’ kids even went to BS/MD programs too last cycle leaving fancied undergrad selections. If interested, parents here can leisurely comb through tonnes of messages in the last cycles (2019 & even 2018 if you have time) to get their takes before final decision making process.
@mygrad2021 , @NoviceDad : As long as you are not an ORM in NJ/NY, scores are good . If ORM, this unlikley land you an interview. Just my opinions so far. Med schools take only 1 student from whatever chosen high school , so only top “1” matters here. If your child can take stress, give another shot. My child has a 50 point jump .
NJIT /TCNJ feeder school to NJM , SAT score of acceptance is 1540 , and most students do use SAT here.
Thanks @orm2020 ! Are you saying NJIT and TCNJ give more preference to SAT than ACT? My daughter has 35 ACT score so didn’t retake ACT again.
Hi @PAdude. You wrote above that your child already received Pitt Honors. When did Pitt notified students as we are still waiting for a decision. Thanks.
@mygrad2021 : Since majority NJ students are submitting SAT scores , ACT scores implied that you are not scoring “very” well in SAT . If you go to TCNJ, only SAT scores quoted since 90% BSMD are from NJ.
DS has tried to improve in all test scores, so it is at least above average 
ACT 36 may help to stand out over the crowd, ACT 35 is average…
You probably need the SAT subject tests too.
Because its acceptance and yield rate is unknown it is naive to calculate solely based on number of applications and seats. That is the reason why low tier SOMs gets so many applications, not because they are good or difficult to get in SOMs, but rather low tiers. Unlike UG, average SOM applicant applies to upward of 30 to have a fair shot and desired SOM. @Riversider said nicely earlier that "“you must settle for any BS-MD you can get in” is toxic.
I had heard similar SAT vs ACT. Believe East coast schools in general are more SAT oriented and mid-west are more ACT. Part of reason is that states in those areas are contracted either one or the other and so more kids likely to take those exams vs other. Eventhough not involved with SAT, believe 35 ACT is very good score. Remember it is not 35, but where you stand among 35s makes difference in school admissions.
@NoviceDad, @rk2017 : I am reading last year threads to get more insights in case " DS do gets the chance to settle in ANY BSMD" It does help to DREAM a bit during this nerve wrecking time.
Your opinions help to clarify many questions ! So I want to share it with other parents here 