I have been debating between Penn State and FAU’s direct med programs. FAU is a fairly new program, but they have had a 100% residency match for the last three years. Penn State is very renowned and seems like a great program as well though. Does anyone have any insights into the programs or can give me any data to help me decide? Thanks!
Sorry, I renamed the Hofstra Bsmd group on facebook, search Hofstra BS/MD 2018
@studious27 Look at the overall cost including MD. MD cost is very high between IS and OOS. What is ur home state?
Depends on individual, I will go with PSU than FAU since FAU you need to clear an interview before getting accepted for MD, that is risk.
Well, the college application process has officially ended for me! I received my last decision in the mail today, and I have decided where I’ll be spending the next few years of my life! I posted my stats in the results thread, if anyone is interested:
Good luck to everyone! It’s been a fun year!
@GoldenRock thanks! I am actually not taking cost into consideration. When I went for the FAU interview they didn’t mention doing another interview for MD, but I can definitely email them and ask.
@TheElusiveGod Congrats to your achievements! PMM is such a great program and JMC is in such a great location!
@PPofEngrDr Northwestern is a great university and I was in no way to discount the great opportunities your child will receive in there, and I was just laying out the potential obstacles many pre-meds will have to overcome in those top notch colleges. Several kids I know from NW had succeeded in entering top medical schools, hard work and discipline had carried them a long way. Best wish to your child!
@dadofd Thank you!
I’m going to apply next year to the Gppa program, can you share your stats please?@priyaluvbooks
Drexel BS/MD Accepted!!
@owcollegeappbsmd congrats!
I was accepted to Sophie Davis, so now it’s either that or Rice. I really like Rice, but my mom is so happy I got into Sophie Davis, despite me not wanting to go there at all. This is going to be tough
Congratulations on both :-bd. You should be fine either way. Just ensure if Sophie Davis is geared towards a certain goal like primary care education or something and your options later on and if you are fine with that before making up your mind one way or the other. Good luck!
does anyone know if NJMS decisions come out for all feeder schools on the same day? Also, if you’re not accepted, do they tell you?
@TheElusiveGod Thank you for your kind words.
Yes, CMU-CS was her first choice among non-BS/MD programs. She is super happy she got in but I believe she is set on doing BS/MD path to medicine. For her, it is going to boil down to a decision between NW-HPME and Penn/Jeff.
All the very best to you for Penn/Jeff. It is an excellent program.
@owcollegeappbsmd
Congratulations!
@Metsfan7860
Some thoughts - hoping it will provide you with some more data points about RICE (that you may or may not already know) as you consider your choices:
RICE - traditional route to MD:
As per the website, about 130 kids applied to MED programs from RICE.
The number they indicated during our visit was 190 students in current batch who are studying for MED school. They also indicated 90% of them get into MED school. Our student tour guide is in one of them and had an early assurance acceptance at Mt. Sinai. She is pursuing a major in a non-bio/non-chem/non-biomed track. So, you get the flexibility of pursuing any major at RICE.
Having said all these, I thought 190 seemed a low number of students pursuing pre-MED. Maybe that means less folks around you doing pre-MED stuff and giving MCAT. Does that mean less support? As per our tour guide, RICE provides “all the support” you need and cited availability of research facilities and opportunities. She was very enthusiastic about how many options she had seemed to indicate there were significantly less students compared to research opportunities available.
In-Campus housing for students is good - in fact it is way way better than Case Western.
RICE has a very good brand reputation and is considered a prestigious university (better than many Ivies) by the Oil & Gas industry - the main industry/employer of Houston.
Another factor at RICE is that most TX medical schools have low in-state fees. Baylor is <20K/year. A lot of students end up becoming residents of Houston / TX to qualify for in-state medical fees.
Houston is a fantastic city but is NOT NYC. Plus you MAY need a car if you plan to travel outside of the campus area. Houston is a big sprawl with very limited public transport. Yes, there is METRO train service from downtown to NRG stadium via RICE but beyond that there is pretty much nothing else.
Cost of living is significantly lower than NYC.
Hope this helps.
@Metsfan7860
Pardon some typos in the post.
@NoviceDad Thank you very much for the information. What do you mean by MED programs vs. MED school?
About only 190 doing premed, last year, only ~1,045 students enrolled at Rice, so I dont think that it’s hard to a little under 20% of students wanting to go to Med school.
If I were to go to Rice, my Dad said that he would want to get me an apartment close by and try and find other guys to live with me. He thinks that living in dorms would be distracting, and knowing myself, I agree that an apartment would be better for me. I would also get a car for transportation.
I may end up not knowing where I’m going until the last week of April.
@aikon17 No clear ‘winner’ between BU and Rochester when it comes to residency placement according to the match lists. Both are fairly solid. Your decision should be based on other factors.
@studious27 if you have the choice between going to a well-known medical school (Jefferson) versus a relatively unknown one (FAU), go to the well-known one. I don’t think this one is a tossup.
@NoviceDad Great post on Rice!
@Metsfan7860 I would like to add more points on @NoviceDad post:
– Rice is a very heavly pre-med college. Even though every year there are only about 130 students applying for medical schools, there are about 90% of incoming freshmen expressing interest (more or less) in going into medical schools. This information was given in PPT during the first freshmen pre-heath meeting last year. However, since most high schoolers only have certain potential career paths in mind before more opportunities are opened to them in college, most of them would want to get into medical school at the beginning, but change their mind after the first two years in college. Rice students only need to declare major at the end of sophomore.
– Rice pre-med and general education are superb, but pre-meds all work pretty hard; competition and attrition would naturally happen during week-out courses.
– Rice does not have Greek life, but has college system and students in each college are very close. Freshmen are required to live on campus.
– If you work hard, you would have very good opportunities to get into medical school from Rice.