<p>Did all those Admissions Committees see something that UMDNJ did not? Oh well, moving on to HYP or Dartmouth or Williams. Goodbye seven year medical. I definitely should have applied to more than TCNJ/UMDNJ. I actually might have had a chance at other schools. You live and learn.
Edit: I posted my stats in the Official TCNJ/UMDNJ thread.</p>
<p>Hey mel5140: Congratulations on some great choices, though! Best wishes to you.</p>
<p>do you mind sharing your stats?? Princeton is my first choice for college</p>
<p>What is the point of this post?</p>
<p>I think the point of this message is to show how arbitrary and random it can be to be admitted into a combined degree program. Hey, Mel, did you know that there are sophomore early assurance programs where you get early acceptance into certain medical schools without taking the MCAT? Rutgers New Brunswick has this with NJMS and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Drexel University, I think Lehigh, Georgetown University, and some others. Maybe you should consider this...then again, who knows how competitive and risky this might be. I got into RPI/AMC but I will still consider this because I do not think I will be as happy spending the best years of my life in Troy/Albany as I would be in a large city in New Jersey.</p>
<p>its very arbitrary. Some people get into bs/md programs, rejected from HYP, some don't get in, and get into HYP. They look at different things. The bs/md schools are mainly concerned with the "physician inside of you" whereas HYP and other top schools are looking for a well rounded individual. Union/AMC and Harvard is a really tough decision. It depends what kind of environment you want. I'm in the RPI/AMC program...but Harvard is one school that is tough to turn down, I may recommend that route. With a parent as a physician, it will give you a headstart being a premed. Harvard will be tough as a premed, but its dooable and if you do well there, you can do really really well. </p>
<p>In terms of the second year assurance programs, those are EXTREMELY risky. Sometimes they'll take people, sometimes they won't. Usually they'll take a handful of people from a massive pool and that entire pool will be overqualified boasting GPA's hovering in the 4.0 range. That kind of plan is DEFINITELY not worth the risk. I know many students who have tried that, and its rare to have a person accepted into that. If you work that hard for that early assurance program, might as well wait another year and apply the traditional route. </p>
<p>Happiness comes in very different ways. When you're in HS, you have an image of what college happiness is. It's TOTALLY different when you're actually in college. People with hopes of that collegiate atmosphere and intellectual environment going to schools like carnegie mellon, cornell, UPenn, etc may end up extremely busy, doing homework all the weekdays, occasionally walk around campus. There's the rare collegiate event on a weekend. But most of the time is spent meeting testing deadlines, projects, papers, homework, looking for summer internships, getting the grades. After getting two B's on the ochem test, you only have one chance left and for that A, you need to spend alot of time reading. Some people look for that wild college fun. I went to Troy at first worried. I turned down ivies with good advice, but was hesitant at first. I was worried that I could be having a blast in Philly or Cambridge. But, to my surprise, I've made really good friends, I'm having a blast, doing stuff I really enjoy. Am I really missing out on an intellectual environment. I've learned that its overrated. I have friends at some of the schools that I turned down and they're taking a year off after college, haven't made any amazing contacts or anything. Not every Yale graduate is CEO, a pioneering inventor, a published book author, etc. It depends what kind of environment you want. If you want to have fun and when you do not feel bad because you have to study, the program really helps with that mindset. My friends at ivies work hard, they have to study to keep up with kids just like them. Some have done well going to top medical schools, but for what? They studied alot of their undergrad, went out once in a while. The times I really remember are those random weekday nights that I ditch homework to walk around campus with friends, playing dumb games at midnight, watching a movie randomly on a wed. night before a test. In a program, you remember that these tests are not a big deal. You're overqualified at the undergrad, you can do well without struggling, and you understand that the point of college is to really kill time and do stuff that you won't be able to do EVER. You can always see a good play, a good classical concert in Cambridge. As a future physician, you will have stimulating conversations for the rest of your life...you'll be able to meet people into philosophy and discus the afterlife with them. But when will you be able to run around campus in pitch dark and throw snowballs at your friends. Just an example. Fun happens in unexpected ways. Its hard to understand when you're a senior in high school with the idea of COLLEGE embedded in your head and the pressure of your parents and your friends constantly discussing the topic. Pick what you really feel you'll have fun at it. Things happen for a reason. So talk to physicians, tell them your pros and cons, ask your parents what they truly think...your peers in school are just as clueless as you, so they're opinion will not matter so much. When I was in hs, I got into a few places, but after a competitive HS, I didn't want to do engineering or pure science at a tough school...its hard. Physics at CMU I can tell you is FRIGGIN hard. But some people even at RPI will disagree with me. Its the personal experience. Maybe I lucked out? Or maybe I took my experience as a positive and really enjoyed myself with that attitude. I came to college wanting to have fun and as I'm leaving, I have had an amazing time. If I was at Penn right now for ex, I could be having fun, but I would have another year left and this summer would be really really stressful for me, taking MCATs, applying, going to sleep everynight wondering if I'll be alright or if I have to start planning for an alternative plan after medical school...going abroad (money), getting a job, doing a masters, or going to a med. school I could've gone to a year ago without all this hassle. Maybe I'll get into a great med. school, but so what? I made it. I could've made it to med. school a year ago through a program. Its the same high. Will the med. school be especially stimulating? They're all challenging, they're all new to us, they all have physicians from all over the country. Think long term, not short term. I don't know, my two cents.</p>
<p>Btw, that post is mainly directed to sickofflorida... to the original poster, you're smart getting into HYP. All those amazing schools saw something in you, you will do great in college. Be picky and go to the school that is absolutely perfect. I envy you for having such golden opportunities.</p>
<p>WOW Gangsta...awesome post...really helped put some things into perspective</p>
<p>There is one critical reason that I think will explain all of this. If I am correct, mel5140 is a Peurtirican female. Thus, affirmative action may tipped her into the Ivies. The 7 year program, on the other hand, does not give extra points for being a minority. This is why mel5140 didn't get in.</p>
<p>I agree with "hydrogen3k." My son has been accepted by RPI/Albany, NEOUCOM, and Miami HPM BS/MD programs as well as Cornell and UC Berkeley, but he was rejected by Harvard and Princeton, wait listed by Yale and Brown. Being a Chinese might have affected his chance at so-called HYP. I think the BS/MD combined programs emphasize more on academic achievements and potential, while HYP place more weight on diversity and other extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>most programs know who will get HYP and who will come to ba/md. HYP does 90%/10% over ba/md, that is why ba/md would reject a hyp type kid. most applying (50%) are indian and chinese americans. most of the parents are either md or engineers very few with ivy education. what the want is to sure way to get a $ profession. Many of these ba/md kids would would have great business people or researchers or writers but they decided just lock in early. if you are some what above average then you can get an md some how: us schools, osteopathy, south florida schools. getting a license to practice requires a state approval, u need to get an md then pass uslme exmas plus residency. once you have that you can join a group or open your own. a patient does not case where got your degree or hmo does not care where you got your degree, u can still make 150k per year. us schools will give you chance at fellowships, then again you have to be good during your residency.</p>
<p>if you play the game most play like in India: there are 100 med schools but only about 10 are tough to get in( AIMC in Delhi). those who go aimc have very deiiferent careers than those come from other 90 schools. if u want to be the best you got compete and work hard. 7 year is short cut and like every short cut there are plusses and minuses.</p>
<p>Thats right. BS/MD programs look for future physicians, ivies look for well rounded individuals...different priorities.</p>
<p>I am curious how one looks for a "future physician". A friend of mine who attended U of Chicago undergrad and then Harvard Extension School for his premed courses was accepted to 11 top med schools in the country -Harvard, U Mich, Washington Univ. St Louis, Northwestern, etc. He was a section instructor and tutor in the undergrad science courses at Harvard and scored in the top percentiles on the MCAT. Medical schools heavily recruited him. He discovered in medical school that while he was good in science, he hated patient care. He decided to become a psychiatrist since that appeared the only acceptable option to him of many specialties. Another Harvard grad who is also a friend of mine attended Dartmouth Med. School and dropped out because he hated medicine.</p>
<p>How does one look for a future physician. The example btw of students who dislike patient care is not uncommon. There are many who find out about this, and end up doing something w/ little patient care or research with none. Medical schools look for people who are first of all good at science...by the MCAT or GPA (if they majored in science). They look for people who can interview, reasonably sociable in conversation. Ivies will look for students who are in this club, that club, who did well in school, who can write. Whereas bs/md programs look for people who have shown interest in medicine, reasons for why they want to go into medicine. Some people just know that all they want to do when they grow up is medicine...there's nothing else out there they could think of doing. I can't see myself being a lawyer or doing engineering research all my life. I like reading about hormones and diseases. And bs/md programs try to look for that. Most people who get into these programs, don't drop out for another career...thats rare. There are many PREMEDS that drop out in undergrad because the courses are too difficult, or they can't get the A's, or since they're difficult and annoying, they don't want to do medicine, or they really find something else fascinating. It takes people varying times to figure out what they want to do.</p>
<p>One good thing about the bs/md program is that it keeps you in check and focus. MANY people I know have gone to a top undergrad, majored in an arts subject, worked a few years, and then finally decide and go into medicine in their mid to late 20's. This is fine, but its still tough at that age. Its so much easier to be done w/ med. school in your mid-20's. The program keeps you in check and keeps you interested after talking to people in your year and above who are excited about medical school and everything thats waiting for them.</p>
<p>There is no solid criteria for a future physician, but admissions has a way of doing it. Solid science, people who can talk, people interested in the field...some of the characteristics of a doctor.</p>