<p>I heard most doctors need to mature and gain more experience (the regular pathways of 4 yr BR then 4 yr MD). While others thinks that getting into a BS.MD program will guarentee admission to med school and you don't have to take the MCAT (which alot of people stress over). Thank you for your opinions! </p>
<p>As another question, which accelerated medical program would/could I be accepted into?</p>
<p>GPA: 3.61
SAT (expected): 2100
I did alot of volunteering at the hospital. I currently work. I'm in science olympiad and math league 4 years straight. I attend National Student Leadership Conference (NSLC). </p>
<p>If at all possible you should get into a combined college/med school program. </p>
<p>The advantages are significant. </p>
<p>First you don’t have to have the trauma and expense of applying to med school. You can enjoy your college classes as there is not the “grade pressure” that you have when you apply after four years of college. Other advantages: 6 years is a lot cheaper than 8 years.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about maturity. Medical school is just part of the process. Residency training can be 3-10 years after Med School (many residency specialty programs have been increasing the total length of their problems recently). You will have lots of time to mature.</p>
<p>The disadvantages are that you have to stay at one place for your education. (If you don’t like the school this can be a problem).</p>
<p>That said, I am not sure that a GPA of 3.6 will get it done. Perhaps with very high SAT/ACT.</p>
<p>Most BS/MD program are very rigorous and very hard to get into. Some people said if you are accepted into a medicine program, you can be accepted to the IvyLeague as well.</p>
<p>I think you can try University of Miami or Drexel University. They are “easy”. But I suggest you go to a 4 year college first. Then apply to med school, because you probably don’t want to stay at Miami or Drexel…</p>
<p>You’ll have more lean way as well. If you decide not to become a doctor, majoring in Biology, Natural Sciences, or Biochem will give you lots of other opportunities. If you drop out of a BS/MD program, you are basically a goner. I’m a John Hopkins student and I have a lot of friends who are going to medschool. Let me tell you. Do the regular pathways (4+4). It’ll be worthwhile, trust me.</p>
<p>I think you have greater potential going to let’s say, Penn State university park. It’s chemistry department is #1. Yes, it’s #1 in the national ranking. Go there, do well. MCAT will be easy if you just take the science courses that Penn State. It’s a good premed school. Gets you prepared really well for med school.</p>
<p>Hello soramay6. I am a current Harvard graduates going into residency. I’ve heard Pennsylvania State University main campus is a really great premed school as well. Basically take ANY science major and you will be set.
I am a natural sciences major (I study animals, insects, etc.) and all the course I take are required for med school. I don’t know if Penn State offer that major, but I would suggest it. </p>
<p>Another thing. I have a few classmates who did the BS/MD program, and I can easily see that they are NOT prepared. Only some few exceptions. My one friend had to retake a few courses, end up doing 8 years anyway.
College life is a great experience. Don’t let the coursework and exams overwhelm you when going to a BS/MD program. It will “suck the life” out of you. I suggest you go through the regular process. Your undergraduate college don’t have to be a good school. Some even went to community college! As long as you did well in undergrad, you will be fine when applying to medschool. </p>
<p>If you go 4+4, consider going to a school that has its medical and research facilities close to or on its undergrad campus. It greatly facilitates the ease of doing the extra things that round out your med school applications: research, shadowing, volunteering. Schools like this include Penn, Case, Pitt, Ohio State, etc…typically schools in more urban settings to contrast Penn State whose medical center is 100 miles from the undergrad campus. PSU is not well known for most biosciences (outside of agriculture) if that area is of interest to you, not that you have to major in that, and not that there aren’t individual labs there that do good work; it would be more than sufficient there for pre-med. Really, you can major in anything so really almost any school will be good if it fits what you like as long as you take care of the necessary prerequisites, maintain a great GPA, and have strong MCATs.</p>
<p>On the contrary to HarvardStudent6, I think you can be just as mature and ready to go into medicine by going through a bs/md programs. Keep in mind that most medical students in most countries go to med school straight out of high school…medical school is considered undergraduate studies in those places, so don’t worry about thinking somehow that you need to be older to be mature enough to handle it. Also, I think, again this might vary from bs/md program to program, but generally you would have a much better and wholesome college experience knowing you are in a bs/md program and you are guaranteed a spot in medical school. It simply takes most if not all of the associated stress and pressure of getting into medical school away.</p>
<p>I know tons of people who have gone through bs/md programs and they do just as well as any other medical graduate, and indeed some programs show stats that the bs/md students at some schools in fact fare better than traditional medical students in terms of Board scores and whatnot. But of course, that will vary from school to school a lot, and the average would be that they fare the same.</p>
<p>All that being said, you definitely want to look into schools with great pre-med programs and track records and apply to them. Your stats and ECs also may not be competitive enough for the majority of bs/md programs, so you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket and only apply to bs/md programs.</p>
<p>I want to be a radiologist and I was wondering if a BS/MD program would be good for me to take or not. I am about to enter my senior year in high school, so I need to start making decisions rather soon. Also, what are some good schools that have this program(in Indiana).
Thank You!</p>