@grtd2010 doing internal medicine (which is the most popular specialty from medical school) so my advice is biased towards that
@dblazer To get into an internal medicine residency, one does not have to spend a lot of money for a brand name school. There are more than enough positions available. Just my 2 cents.
@dblazer Thank you for the information. Very helpful as DC gets closer
@grtd2010 Yes it’s ‘easy’ to match into an internal medicine residency spot granted there are no red flags on one’s application. It is, however, very competitive when it comes to matching into a top 20 internal medicine residency, which is helpful for those individuals interested in a career in academic medicine. Brand name is not important for those who are not interested in academic medicine.
@dblazer
For internal medicine, are you trying to get a fellowship after (like crit care, GI, etc.)? I heard if one is trying to get a fellowship after, it’s very, very beneficial to come from a top IM program?
@dblazer For academic medicine, don’t you want to do MD/PhD or just MD is enough?
@GreenPoison I do intend to do a fellowship in one of the more competitive IM sub specialties (which are gastroenterology, cardiology, and hematology/oncology) in which case going to a top program certainly helps. Internal medicine program reputation has a heavy weight when applying for fellowships given the lack of objective measures such as clinical grades/class rank to judge applicants on. Of course there is a spectrum of program (like fellowship spots at community hospitals that are less competitive) and one should be ok applying as an MD grad, but a large number of applicants don’t match
@grtd2010 MD is enough for clinicians/clinical research, but the PhD would be helpful for those interested in basic science and/or significantly more dedicated time for research as opposed to clinical responsibilities
Thank you @dblazer for taking your valuable time in writing all this up. I (and am sure few others) are grateful for that. Academically/professionally you are well beyond the scopes of discussions on this forum, but taking interest in sharing with us, very much appreciated.
Do you think, Drexel BS/MD program is good?
Drexel BS/MD program need GPA 3.6 and MCAT score of 511.
Regular Path require 3.7 GPA and 513 MCAT score, then why people bind with one university with expensive med school with low rank.
If any kid got it in med program then they must be a smart kid. They should go to traditional way with highest scholarship
@dblazer, if the class rank is important, would you say there is a greater chance to achieve a better class rank or AOA status if a student goes to a low/mid-tier medical school vs top one?
@biomeds Possibly, but once you are in medical school, you are with tons of other bright students so there is certainly no guarantee of this. For that reason, I would not really weigh this consideration heavily if I were choosing between medical schools.
For some reason Drexel set a high bar for it’s students (including the minimum in each section of MCAT and also made the program 8 years from this year) whereas even much reputed schools like Penn/Jeff and BU have made it relatively easier for their direct med students.
Similar questions have been raised here in the past regarding some well regarded programs also like Washington and Pittsburg which seem rather demanding from their direct med students. That what are students gaining by attending those and they might as well go regular route.
@kishorl you raise excellent point and something I feel the parents and kids on this board should consider heavily and seriously before committing to the programs especially the ones with high GPA and MCAT requirements to stay in their programs… I feel most of the folks miss out on the stats as to how many kids eventually meet these strict requirements and are left without their guarantee after 3 or 4 years… Examples of such programs are PITT, Washington and in the past Miami where half of the kids could not survive and were left without a seat at the end of 3 years…
A serious question to ask is the Requirement to stay in the program Versus requirement to get into the med school through traditional route and weigh these and the fact is the risk and confining to a particular UG school worth it… I know this is a broader topic and possibly controversial for this thread but feel needs to be considered as these med school programs are much “Smarter” than they are perceived to be and this is a win win for them regardless of what happens in 3/4 years to the kid.
You are comparing apples to oranges. With direct BS/MD program at Drexel, the chance of getting into the Drexel med is 100% with 3.6/511, whereas the chance of getting is about 68% with 3.7/513 via a traditional route according to:
Table A-23: MCAT and GPA Grid for Applicants and Acceptees to U.S. Medical Schools, 2016-2017 through 2017-2018 (aggregated).
It would be very difficult to give up Yale, but my advice is to take UIC GPPA. At UIC one can easily finish the undergraduate program in 3 years and perhaps get a master’s degree in the 4th year at a more “prestigious” university, such as Oxford to strengthen one’s resume and also to explore the world as well. That’s the road that my niece took and presently is an assistant professor in anesthesiology after completing Northwestern anesthesiology residency and fellowship.
@ everyone
Prestige is not everything!
Our son chose not to take MCAT to see if he could apply out from his program. His GPA was above 3.9 while competing in a varsity sports team in a grade-deflator college . He chose friendship over prestige.
@kishorl Drexel BS/MD requirements of 3.6 GPA and MCAT 511 are NOT that high. But it is NOT worth spending (COA ~65k/yr without any merit award) a ton of money. One should seriously consider the traditional route to MD and choose a school with a high scholarship. DD chose Temple PPHS over some guaranteed BS/MD programs. Temple PPHS requires (a minimum GPA 3.6/Science GPA 3.6 and MCAT approx 512) an interview with the medical school.
I’m super conflicted. Do I choose BSMD program near my hometown or dream UG in the city if I am set on medicine? I’m just super anxious about actually getting the grades and MCAT score needed to matriculate into medical school.
I would also like to thank @dblazer for giving valuable information in this forum. For all the parents giving advice, it would be more valuable to current and future applicant and family, if the advisor has substantiial background/authority in this extremely difficult process of BS/MD application. All students are highly achieved. Since this application process is new to some, I hope the advise given here without much experience/actual facts are not going to affect their bright future negatively.
When a student has guaranteed BS/MD ( not EAP), only the applicant and his family will live with the outcome, if they give up the seat, and not make it to to Medical school with Traditional path. COA with any program is individual decision. No one in this forum has authority to say if the program is worth the cost or not, unless directly asked due to someone’s financial situation.
Just a clarification in regards to Drexel BS/MD, the undergrad college does give 22K -25 K/year scholarship to most of the students in the program. As someone in this forum mentioned earlier, even with new change, with the program being labelled EAP, there is no second interview to matriculate to Medschool and no application again. Something to think about.
@path2md @@kishorl The opinions given here are NOT a binding legal advice but just common sense observations and experiences. There is NO obligation to follow any opinion expressed here. Everyone should do their own due diligence and decide for themselves what is best for their individual situation.
Disclaimer for All:
The opinions given here are NOT a binding legal advice but just common sense observations and experiences. There is NO obligation to follow any opinion expressed here. Everyone should do their own due diligence and decide for themselves what is best for their individual situation.