I am an international student looking to do med school in the US. I am looking to apply to a Penn dual degree program and I was wondering which program will give me the best chances applying to med school?
@bloodstrike11 getting into a top medical school in the US is very difficult to begin with, but it is even more difficult for international students, since US med schools tend to have rigid quotas on the number of non-US students they accept. For med school the main things you need to have is a really good GPA, strong MCAT scores and also good research experience helps a lot. As an international student your GPA and scores need to be near perfect to have a good chance at a top US med school. Both M&T and LSM are truly amazing and unique programs but they are also extremely rigorous so keep that in mind given your pre-med plans. Out of the two I would probably suggest LSM. Biology is probably a bit easier than most engineering degrees so you have a higher chance of a better GPA. LSM is also about half the size of M&T so there is even more individualized attention. Also LSM is super good with providing its students with life sciences summer research positions which could further bolster your med school application.
Also Penn in general is very good at providing its undergrads with top research opportunities, since the med school is right on campus and it is one of the very best in the country and Penn undergrads have great access to research opportunities there.
Hope this answers your questions.
You seem very well informed. What do you think of Vagelos Molecular Life Science Program? Is that totally impossible to get into? Is that good for pre-Med? Thanks.
@ViolaMom12 it is definitely hard to get into, as is the case with any Penn dual degree/coordinated program it is substantially harder to get into than the rest of Penn, but impossible is too strong a word imo haha. i knew a lot of MLS kids who were pre-med during my time at Penn (graduated within the last 5 years). MLS is for sure super super rigorous.
For MLS vs LSM:
You can handily do Pre-Med from either (MLS slightly more geared towards it i guess because of the submatriculation aspect) but if you are NOT considering business then do MLS. LSM is only for people interested in possibly doing/ combining both and it might be harder to fit in all those premed requirements.
M&T kids rarely go down pre-med route and i’d think its very hard to fit in the premed requirements on top of your engineering+business dual degree courses.
This is late haha but I would definitely recommend going the LSM route. I was accepted to LSM last year even though I did not choose to attend, it is an absolutely exceptional program with great mentors/connections to big pharma/biotech and the unique capstone course at the end. FYI a LARGE amount of LSM are actually premed/MD PHD and there are a lot of resources to help you go that path (one of the upperclassman was one of the few people in the US that got a perfect score on his MCAT). I have a couple friends doing M&T and I can’t say the same for that dual program. I feel like LSM provides the perfect balance of courseload (it isn’t much harder than the normal Penn student) while leaving lots of room for extracirriculars and internships (which they HOOK you up with) and providing a close-knit group/community and lots of good connections for the future.
@FishyBears out of curiosity which school did u end up choosing instead of Penn LSM?
@Penn95 Stanford 
Well one is centered on bio. Oh wait medicine is centered on bio. Oh wait that means this is a no brainer. Just like the kids in Huntsman. Maybe if you use half of your brain, you could end up at such a program.
@wucylu and maybe you could be nicer…at least if you are gonna be this snarky then make sure you have your facts straight… you do not have to major in something bio-related as a pre-med to get into med school. Plus OP could do a bioengineering or biomedical science major as an M&T student.
Vagelos is a very difficult program fyi – I think it has something like a 30-40% withdrawal rate within the first rate. And, although a number of graduates do end up going to med school, it’s frowned upon by the directors of the program — the program is designed to equip you for PhD programs. That being said, it would be impressive on your med school application resume.
Here’s the info on graduates of the program by the way: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/biochem/graduates.html