I recently got into Seton Hall 7 year bm/md… the med school literally just opened so I will literally be part of the 4 or 5th batch graduating from their med school. The program isn’t guaranteed, but guarantees me a spot for an interview. SOM takes 25 % of their own students… and I’ll have a really high chance if I’m part of the 7 year program. Once I’m in the medical school I’m a guaranteed a residency at Hackensack Merdiana Hospital.
Is this worth it? Or should I go to a better undergraduate school 4+4??
Am I risking anything by going to a recently opened med school?
Perhaps others can give you an idea of how likely you are to get medical school interviews with a 3.7 college GPA and top 20% MCAT score.
Also, take note of the total costs of Seton Hall undergraduate + Seton Hall medical school in comparison to your other possible undergraduate and medical school costs.
D just got interviewed with the Hackensack hospital of Seton Hall Som for her residency. She is impressed with the hospital and it’s teaching environment. I do believe it is going to be a very good med school.
Applicants who have a 3.7 GPA and MCAT in the top 20 percentile (510 or higher) have a better than 75% chance of gaining med school acceptance through the normal admission process. (Which is significantly higher than the national average of all applicants which is 40%.)
While all new med schools have growing pains, being in the 4th or 5th class of admitted students means you won’t be the guinea pig and have to suffer through the administration and curricular “mistakes”–that ought to be ironed out by the time you start. And getting your choice of specialty or your choice of residency location is really dependent on you and how well you do in medical school and on your USMLE exams than it does on what medical school you attend. Top students with top scores will do well in the residency Match no matter where they attend med school.
Since the program doesn’t offer a guaranteed admission to the med school (it’s more like an early decision program…), if you have an acceptance to guaranteed admission program, I’d say take that over Seton Hall.
If, after you have visited campus, you’re not in love with school and don’t feel it’s good fit for you, then consider matriculating elsewhere. Fit is important. Unhappy students don’t do well academically or socially. Also, you need to consider that about half of BA/MD students drop out of the program to do something else with their lives. Makes sure Seton Hall offers alternative majors that interest you.
RE; guaranteed residency at Hackensack.This is pretty misleading. There is no real advantaged gained by this guarantee. All US MD students are basically guaranteed a residency somewhere in the US. There are more residency slots than there are US MD grads, so MD grads are in the catbird’s seat–they can pick and choose where they want to to apply for residency.
Hackensack Meridian Hospital (Seton Hall SOM’s teaching hospital) only offers residency training in a limited number of fields: anesthesiology, emergency medicine, general surgery, internal medicine, OB/GYN, pediatrics.
That means if you’re interested in anything else, you’ll need to apply elsewhere anyway.
I got admitted to Seton Hall BS/MD too , I am not really worried about the MCAT since most of the BS/MD do require certain MCAT score and getting 80th percentile is not too demanding score , since if we cannot get at least 80th percentile , then the chances of being successful in MED school is very less .
But I am still a little worried about submitting an application and the interview aspects of the entire process.
My D got accepted to this program too. I am not sure about the program, They accept everyone with that criteria, there is no cap. I visited them last week, they said they offered seats to almost 300 applicants, don’t know how many will accept it.
That’s a lot of students accepted for what appears to be a pretty tough program.
The current class size of the medical schoo itself is 60 students, out of 2100 applications. The class size may grow some, but so will the number of applicants, most likely. http://www.shu.edu/medicine/news/introducing-the-med-school-class-of-2022.cfm
Perhaps best to see what other college options are available. As pointed out above, the required minimums would be good enough for medical school admission somewhere for 75% of the applicants.
First, the good news, D was interviewed at the SH teaching hospital for her residency match and was impressed with the program, however it’s not her first choice.
Second, we came from that area (Bergen and Essex) and are aware of the reputation of Seton Hall. It’s an average school in the area nothing special. Lots of schools are much better, including of course Princeton and Columbia, even NYU.
Thirdly, the bad news, with 300 admission in the bs/md program there will be serious weeding to narrow down the actual SHCOM offers from the program. I estimate that less than 10% of the candidate will get any chance to be admitted. The rest of member of the group will be stuck with a so-so degree and lots of debt/expensive tuition. I’d say if you have a better choice go for that, the program is more or less a general science degree.
Even though the offered 300 applicants, only 40 took the seats last year. They have 40 reserved seats for seton hall. So there is some chance of getting it. But their GPA requirement is high 3.7 and also they need top 80% MCAT score. My D also got guaranteed BS/DO program at LECOM, NYIT And Nova without any MACT. What’s is your suggestion?
My advice, if you can getting a bs/md program, go for it. The second choice will be a good traditional pre-med program and aim for a US med school. I won’t tie myself into a bs/do program and end up in a do program as the end outcome maybe limited. After all, residency and fellowship are the ultimate goal for a successful physician. This advice is from a parent of a Do school graduate.
What we found out is:
DO is heavily biased in top level specialty such as derm, rad, Oto etc. Most of the PD won’t even look at DOs.
DO is biased, not so as top level specialty, such as surg, ob, an etc. Most of the interviews fall into community hospitals which is more DO friendly. Top level University teaching hospitals are off limits to DOs. Maybe if you are the top student with top 1% Step 1&2 will get in, but that is far fewer and in between.
Only the lower level residencies are opened for DO graduates, such as fm, im, peds etc. After all, that is what DOs are trained for.
I would suggest that if your student has an another acceptance that offers guaranteed admission without requiring a MCAT or that requires a lower minimum MCAT, then they should take the other program. LECOM is an old and very successful program with an excellent reputation. Of the programs you’ve mentioned, that’s the one I would recommend.
I am in same suitation like you , I got admitted to seton hall, nyit, LECOM, NOVA , and waiting to hear back from South Alabama and HOWARD. Don’t know what to decide.