IMO, UW-Madison is a great choice and one can apply via regular route MD. 95% of seats in medical schools are filled that way. A very few medical schools provide any merit scholarships. NYU is an exception, free tuition for all medical school students for 4 years. Most big colleges will have some kind of Indian dance clubs/teams like Bollywood etc.
This is what the SLU student said:
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I don’t know entirely what percentage kept the GPA because we don’t know the exact reason people leave the program. There are a couple different reasons people may leave the program - Some people decide the Medical Scholars program isn’t the right path for them and some decide they may not want to be a physician anymore. Then, there are some students who don’t keep the GPA after the freshman year. So people could leave for any of these reasons. As for an approximate number of people that continue with the program in to sophomore year, I think it is a little over half. My year started with around 80 students and I believe we had around 45-50 in our class the next year.
What I will say about the GPA cutoff is that this is something entirely in your control. It can be intimidating to know that some people don’t keep that GPA to stay in the program. However, what is important is not how other people perform, but how you can. It is completely attainable to achieve a 3.65 GPA or higher freshman year. -
Like I said above, I believe there were 80 students in my cohort freshman year (but I know there were 100 in last year’s freshman class). We had around 45-50 come back for sophomore year. I believe we currently have around 35 members in our cohort. My cohort was the one that was applying and interviewing during quarantine/remote learning so that may have impacted who chose to stay in the program.
Freshman year, we take a Medical Scholars section of the freshman seminar. This helps you get oriented to the program and meet other students in the program. We also have a sophomore seminar that helps you with the application process. This is another opportunity to meet people and build relationships. I would say that there is definitely more of a collaborative attitude. SLU doesn’t grade on a curve so it is possible for every person to get an A in a class, if they earn it. There are enough spots for every person at the medical school if each person were to keep the GPA and interview well. So really the competition is with yourself to be the best candidate you can, not with other people in the program. As for common activities, we all share the Medical Scholars classes and the pre-med classes. One of the great parts of the Medical Scholars program is that you get to choose your own extracurricular activities and what you want your college experience to be like. There are some pre-health specific clubs that certainly have more Medical Scholars in them but you can participate in anything you want to! -
I do want to go SLU Medical School! I wouldn’t still be in this program if I didn’t want to! SLU is a great school with a brand new hospital. It is an urban campus that trains physicians to treat every person in the community. Remember you aren’t committed to anything by entering SLU in the Medical Scholars program! I know the thought of only applying and interviewing for one school can be intimidating. However, I would recommend looking at SLU SOM’s 2019 and 2020 match list. This helped me realize that I can go anywhere I want from SLU SOM which helped me be more comfortable applying to only one school.
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I think my best experiences were my interview and my acceptance to SLU SOM. I was able to see all of the things I had accomplished in my previous years and how much I had grown since freshman year. This ties in to the harder experience - the beginning of freshman year. At the beginning of freshman year, you start with a blank slate and have about a year and half to get yourself ready to be an applicant for medical school. This means that you are focused on academics, extracurriculars, and research while also getting used to a new campus and a new city. I felt intimidated by how much I wanted to do, adjusting to a new way of studying, and creating a new life at a new school. However, there are so many resources. The Medical Scholars freshman seminar helps so much. It helped me get familiar with the program and its expectations. Professors’ office hours helped me excel in classes. There are so many resources: free tutoring, free counseling, career services, and student organizations. I mention this experience because it is very common to be overwhelmed in the first weeks of school, no matter where you choose to attend. Tap in to your resources and know that many people feel like that and end up being incredibly successful!
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My final choice was between SLU (in the medical scholars program) and Villanova (traditional pre-med) in Philadelphia. There were a couple different reasons I chose SLU. I loved that the people at SLU genuinely wanted to be there. The community on this campus was unmatched on any of the other college tours I went on. Being a student for three years here, I can attest that the community is very strong! The Medical Scholars program was also a big part of the decision. Traditional medical school application is very competitive. Some people apply and don’t even receive an interview anywhere. More and more people are pursing advanced degrees (master’s and PhD) before applying to medical school. If you keep the 3.65 GPA, you are guaranteed an interview at a great medical school. I knew that this program was an excellent opportunity to achieve my final goal of being a physician and that was a the final deciding factor.
IMO, 3.65 GPA may not be easy to maintain and may be the reason for most attrition during the first year. What are typical courses taken during freshman year. Let me guess - 2 semesters of General Chemistry, 2 semester of Calculus and probably 2 semesters of Biology. All of these may act as a weed out course. Usually Organic Chemistry I & II, Physics I & II are also weed out courses which may be taken in second year. A few C’s in weed out courses will sink the GPA.Not everyone will get A in any of these classes, even though technically it is possible to get every one A. Most weed courses will have a typical bell curve distribution of grades, IMO.
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Thanks. Very interesting.
So, General Chemistry sections have a very regular grade of 2.9something in all sections, including I&II and lab, meaning it’s curved, with no more than 25% getting an A/A-, and a maximum of 38-39% having a “med school worthy” grade. Add 25% with a B/B- who can still hope for med school but started on the wrong, and everyone else having to figure out another goal.
The Sophomore General Biology enrolled 1,700 students; the average is 2.6 for freshmen (who, I guess, skipped something due to AP Bio?) and only 10% freshmen got A’s. Sophomores do a bit better but the average is still below “med school worthy” level.
Compare this with Biocore, the Honors sequence for sophomores (no freshmen allowed), where the average is around 3.5 (3.8 for the seminar where 80% get A’s).
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I think there’s a med school forum on CC. Maybe ask for advice in that forum as well? I think I’ve seen med school advice from “WayOutWestMom”?
Did you apply for Pitt’s GAP program? Tons of research opportunities at Pitt and Presby Hospital is on-campus.
Maybe stating the obvious but Med school is expensive so minimizing undergrad costs is important. Med schools don’t care too much where you went to undergrad. GPA and MCAT scores are heavily weighted. Sometimes being a big fish in a small pond isn’t a bad thing.
I don’t know what % of SLU med scholars are admitted to their med school but I think the average GPA for med schools is around a 3.7. If you can’t maintain a 3.65 at SLU then med school would be a tough admit anyway. If the admit rate is high, having an almost guaranteed spot into med school is huge. My wife is a CRNA and we know many doctors. Like they say…you know what they call someone who graduates last in med school?..Doctor. The key is getting into med school first.
My issue isn’t with maintaining a 3.65, but maintaining it every year. If the requirements were that by jr year students in the program get a 3.65 and they can interview/have a spot, sure. But here it’s maintaining a 3.65 and having to apply to just one med school, without any guarantee (you explicitly have a priority but no guarantee; you’re not allowed to apply to any other med school). I don’t see the benefits.
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I don’t know the best websites for stats but here’s one I noticed. For SLU med school here’s the stats they posted for 2021. If you meet the criteria and are guaranteed an interview you have better than a 50/50 chance of being admitted to their med school. Considering the average acceptance rate for med schools is probably less than 10% and probably 1% at top med schools that’s nothing to sneeze at. Overall, the acceptance rate for any candidate that makes it to the application process is about 40%. Giving yourself more than 50/50 is better than 40%. Just food for thought.
Last year, my son’s classmate turned down Penn for Pitt’s GAP to med school. Can you do research and get clinical time at Pitt or UW…absolutely but you’ll have to compete for spots. At SLU you would pretty much be guaranteed spots for research or clinical time. Also look to see when they let you know if you’ll be accepted to their med school. I think it’s before senior year so that’s also helpful. Again, big fish in small pond.
Good luck.
SLU 2021
Applicants 6949
Interviewed 988
Admitted 569
Enrolled 177
Medical School Average GPA & MCAT, Admissions Statistics and Acceptance Rates (2023) | MedEdits.
Hi! Could you tag that forum in this one? I haven’t seen it yet.
I did apply for Pitt’s GAP Program. I was selected to be in the top 400 finalists, however, I didn’t receive an interview.
So would you recommend Pitt and SLU in my situation then?
You are allowed to apply out I believe. I know people in the program who have not exclusively applied to SLU SOM after their second year as a Medical Scholar. Not sure about the GPA, though.
They would let you know between your second and third year of college. Would you recommend SLU then over Pitt? Or would you recommend both?
I’m far from a Med school expert so I wouldn’t recommend any one over the other but I would add a few things.
The med school forum is below. I would post in there. There are some very knowledgeable people here. There are also plenty of other med school forums that you could post questions.
All the schools you’re looking at are excellent and would prepare you for med school. There’s no wrong choice. Find the best fit for you and not just for the academics. You have to spend 4 years there so make it enjoyable.
I would keep doing what you’re doing…narrow your list to 2-3 schools and then do research into each school and their programs. Talk to other students. Talk to faculty or counselors at each school. The good news is that you have almost two months to do research. Keep notes. Does Pitt’s Honors program get you any special access to research or clinical work?
I attended large, public universities. They can be great but it’s difficult to get individualized attention because there’s so many students. Going through this twice with my kids I pushed either private schools or public schools with good honors programs or programs within their major so they would get attention. There’s something to be said for going to a school where they really want you to attend. At the moment, it seems like SLU and Pitt want you to attend.
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Thanks! Could you send me the specific link to the forum? The forum you linked contains a whole bunch of different threads rather than one specific one. I posted in the BS/MD forum already… not sure if there are any other good ones?
For SLU, if I ended up committing, I was planning on applying to multiple different medical schools and not just SLU SOM, since I have that option. Thoughts on me pursuing this program knowing that? Since SLU Med Scholars isn’t a binding program, I thought I would keep my options open by maintaining a high GPA regardless and attaining the highest MCAT score I can (upon other things)!
UW and Duke can give you better chance to med school admission, provided that you have 3.6 and high MCAT score.
your social life and college team spirit will balance your hard working study at the 2 colleges, trust me.
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We are also communicating on main thread, but for your situation specific.
I would go with Duke (if finance is not in equation), UW, SLU, Pitt order.
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It doesn’t sound like the program is binding but if you’re going to SLU with the intention of applying to other med schools and no intention of going to SLU’s med school I’m not sure that’s the right thing to do. It’s like having the steady boyfriend/girlfriend and always looking to upgrade. You can do it but you won’t get the best experience.
Duke would be great but is it financially doable? Do you parents have $500k or more saved for undergrad and med school?
I don’t know about the other schools but Pitt gets around $1B/year in grants for medical research. Presby hospital is on-campus as are other clinics along with the VA hospital also close. When I was at Pitt many years ago my roommate’s girlfriend was an intern on the transplant team. She traveled all-over the US to harvest organs. Not many 20 year-olds have that experience. She’s an MD now.
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No. We have about $200k saved, but I would have to pay the rest.
I would save that 200K for medical school and go to UG where I find relatively much cheaper. Put that 200K in an high yield fund where you may get 8% interest, which would be another 64K in 4 years. Now you start SOM, upto 66K per year, you are not borrowing a dime, most likely borrow in 4th year that you would be able to pay off using residency earning.
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I wouldn’t spend all of the 200K on undergrad either - not when I had less expensive options that are equally as good for your desired path. Med school is expensive and no one is helped by adding unnecessary debt.
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Yep, that’s what I was thinking too! 
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