<p>hi need advise on whether a 3.8 gpa student should go to a state school in the direct medical school program</p>
<p>Are you currently at an “ivy” university getting a 3.8 average? (No need to share which…just trying to get a sense of what’s going on.) What year are you? Is there another reason why you want to leave the school you’re at? </p>
<p>Only the student can answer the question. My friend’s brother turned down Harvard for the UMich combined program Came out a bit early and with no debt, and his parents saved a lot of money when he took that deal. An Indian student I knew who did the same with Youngstown University, ended up hating it there, and decided she did not want to be a doctor after all. She had turned down some highly selective schools to do this, and her transfer choices were no where what her straight out of high school ones are. </p>
<p>The question for the student thinking about transfer is how beneficial the 100% accept to the med school is to him. Is he confident of keeping his gpa up in his current college? With a 3.8, it’s looking good, IMO especially if he’s taken O-Chem already and done well there. ZDoes he really like his life at college right now, really enjoying it? That has value, a lot, you know. If he’s pounding salt and not happy there, a change might be an improvement. If this is a great go for him, loves it , why rock the boat? It’s really hard to find ideal situations. My one son had one at his college, and he feels it was truly the time of his life and is hard put to come up with anything to make it better. Now that’s not something one trades easily. </p>
<p>You want medical school. Medical school matters. Ivy league does not matter. The 2-4 program with Penn State/Jeff U will save you at least $100,000. Another thought …transfer to Brown’s 4-4.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>PLME does not accept transfers:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.brown.edu/academics/medical/plme/information-prospective-students/admission#transfer”>http://www.brown.edu/academics/medical/plme/information-prospective-students/admission#transfer</a></p>
<p>p.s. please note, there are many experienced members on the Premed Topics forum.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Are there such programs? (I don’t know of any that accept transfers.) A few med schools, like Tufts Med, offer early Acceptance to undergrads at a few local colleges, but those are extremely limited, and are not transfers. </p>
<p>But the short answer is, No. A great GPA from a top college will open plenty of doors (assuming good MCAT), and even some merit $.</p>
<p>Just one data point: If DS were in OP’s situation, he would never transfer out of the college to a “direct medical school program” at another college.</p>
<p>I believe he explicitly told us in sophomore (after having completed the orgo class) that, if he only came to the college for doing the premed, he would “explode”. The extent to which he agreed to “do premed” most years in college was that he would complete the class work while in college, and nothing more. He gave up a already funded opportunity to do research in the summer after freshman year because he is not sure whether he would be in science major, let alone be a premed (He got that opportunity, called Perspective on Science, at the college admission time.) The grades were never his problem and he just had a hard time in fully committing to this career path for a long time. We really had a hard time to get him into taking that test that bears the same name as my screen name. He waited a long time before he was willing to sit for that test (like 2 years after he had completed all of his required courses, and less than 2 months before submitting his application.) Being a premed was just not of a very high priority in his college years.</p>
<p>He actually said he could do premed work equally well at a state college. But he would never leave his college because he likes his life there.</p>
<p>Every person is different.</p>
<p>yes…my son is at a ivy league school right now with 3.8 science gpa at the end of the second year considering a direct med program in florida…saving is one year in schooling and may be total of 200,000 in fees (including one year fees and difference in fees plus one year of florida brightfutures</p>
<p>he has completed all science classes and is also planning to take mcat in july but has to make the decision in next 3 weeks </p>
<p>I imagine that most people are more like your son, mcat2. When I hear of people going into those combined programs (Brown, BU), I am amazed that a 17/18 year old is ready to commit to a career, let alone one with a many-years-long training path.</p>
<p>Best of luck to your son, indianatheart. He sounds like a great med school candidate.</p>
<p>"hi need advise on whether a 3.8 gpa student should go to a state school in the direct medical school program "
-is student accepted to combined bs/md program? These are normally for the HS kids with HS GPA close to 4.0.
My D. was in combined bs/md program and it is a blessing. It gives a student peace of mind. College GPA=3.8 is average when applying to Medical Schools. Depending on all other factors like MCAT score, medical EC’s and interview, the applicant will be accepted to some number of Medical Schools if he/she applies to the set of them that matches the applicant stats. So, there is always a risk. D. has eliminated this risk attending the bs/md that allowed to apply out. She was going to interviews after having been accepted to one Medical School (what a stress relief!!!). </p>
<p>“the UMich combined program " - When, some 20 years ago? Combined program has been cancelled at UMich very long ago, it did not exist when D. applid to UG. And UMich is also very expansive for OOS.<br>
" he would never transfer out of the college to a “direct medical school program” at another college.” - correct, it is simply not possible, Combined bs/md programs accept only HS kids. There are other programs when you interview in your Sophomore year and with possibility of getting accepted to Medical School without an MCAT. One does not need to transfer for these. D’s friend has done it. These are called MedStar or StarMed, not sure.<br>
On another note, if one is planning for Med. School, choose free option for the UG. Anybody who is accepted to Ivy could find a place that would offer full tuition Merit. You really do not want to spend any money on UG tuition if planning to pay for the Med. School. Do not do it to yourself, Medical School does not care which UG applicant attend anyway.</p>
<p>“College GPA=3.8 is average when applying to Medical Schools” </p>
<p>3.8 is not average when it comes from top universities where almost everyone in these schools are bright. I think med school admissions know this (or should know)… that’s probably why statistics show that there are applicants admitted to med schools with GPA < 3.3. MCAT may be a better indicator.</p>
<p>“my son is at a ivy league school right now with 3.8 science gpa at the end of the second year considering a direct med program in florida…saving is one year in schooling and may be total of 200,000 in fees”</p>
<p>So this is really a financial decision, not a decision based on the likelihood of getting into med school. If he has a 3.8 science GPA at an Ivy, he’s going to do just fine on the MCAT and get into med school two years from now. The question is, is it worth leaving the Ivy in order to potentially save this much money on med school? That’s a question that mainly depends on the family’s financial situation and risk preference.</p>
<p>thanks …for the opinion… he will take the opportunity </p>
<p>If the money situation is real and not ‘maybe’ like you mentioned above then way to go.</p>
<p>Did something change in the financial picture? </p>
<p>besides the financial savings, does your S want to be involved in med research? If so, he is locking himself out of the top research schools…</p>
<p>If he just wants to be a doc, the savings (one year of undergrad plus one semester of Bright Futures), may make it worth it.</p>
<p>The University of Florid Junior Honors Medical Program seven year B.S./M.D. program requires that students perform an individual honors thesis research project.</p>
<p>
Two data points (i.e., two students in DS’s med school class) 1) both are from the same top college 2) both have a GPA higher than 3.8 (I know what the PBK GPA cutoff was in their class year and both were PBK.) 3) both are of the same background. So the 3.8 with such a background from such a school may or may not get in, because the school mostly wants to build a more diversified class. Actually, the GPA average of their incoming class is about 3.8 (maybe 37 MCAT? For some background, it may even need 38, I think) if I remember it correctly.</p>