@Baovy.phan
IMO, It all depends on viewpoint and personal choice. In past application cycles, there were folks who gave up Ivy and chose BSMD and vice-versa. In addition to prestige, you need to take other factors into consideration such as location, COA, BSMD matriculation conditions, and willing to take risks in the traditional path, etc. There are thousands of premed grads from Ivys, and T20 schools, who end up getting low-ranked MD schools acceptances only, and some handful of lucky ones got into a few prestigious T20s and T5s too. Check out Linkedin for their sample profiles. Honestly, everyone has their own unique journey to MD school. What appears easy for someone (like getting in T20 or T5 MD Schools) might not be easy for others. IMO, you better evaluate whether you want to enjoy your UG and experience UG (during the BSMD path) or just work rigorous 4 years in UG while preparing for your MD school application (during the traditional path). MD school ranking doesnât matter much as long as you plan your career in the non-acadamic medicine area (Example: Not planning teaching in Harvard medical school or T20 medical schools). IMO, you need to pick a path (BSMD vs Ivy/traditional route) that puts you in a comfort zone. On Ivy Day you can post back with choices you have, seniors in this group can chime in with their opinion. Good luck.
My DS got in!
If interested, please check out BS DO thread:
Congratulations 
IMO opinion, I will say a solid yes. My reasons being saving time and money. When it comes to medicine, what you need to practice is your license and board certifications not where you graduated from. And attending any medical school does limit your chances to any residency if you plan it out well. There are lot of things you can do in-between to greatly improve your chances to match match into your residency of choice. I know people who ditched Harvard UG for BSMD and will do it all over
*attending any medical school DOES NOT
Really like your detailed perspective. Just to add that I actually have a mentee how graduated form HU BSMD who currently teaches at Harvard. The name is Oreofe Odejide. Everyone can look her up on LinkedIn
*who graduated
As @cheer2021 indicated, everyone has their unique situation.
There is no right or wrong answer.
I personally know of a kid who let go of 4 BS/MD acceptances to go to an Ivy only to go to an unranked medical school.
And I know of kids who have let go of Ivies or other Top 20 undergrad schools to do BS/MD program.
Few things to remember:
- Just because you went to an Ivy undergrad does NOT mean you will get into âTop 20â medical schools.
- Your lifestyle and earning post-medical school is TOTALLY dependent on your specialty (not where you went to medical or undergrad school).
- Health insurance companies do NOT differentiate healthcare payments based on where you went to college - they pay you for the disease you treat.
IMO, the most important reason why you would not pick BSMD over UG/ivy/T-20 is if you are not sure if you want to be a doctor.
I agree with all others but would like to add another perspective in support of BSMD.
To get into BSMD, kids have to work really hard. The activities and academics are geared towards achievement and being successful and this can be stressful.
If you picked the regular route UG over BSMD, then you need to work even harder to get into med schools You also gave up a near-guaranteed seat so, this step for you was completely optional. The ability for continuous stress differs with each person but this also needs to be considered.
After that medical school or residency is by no means easy. However, this step is mandatory if you want to be a doctor. With BSMD, you have an option to take a break during UG before this step.
BSMD is the shortcut route that requires less effort, perhaps less money, and less time.
Quick question- when does SMED decision come out?
Just to buttress what you have stated. I told my kids that saving 2 years and money is their reward for all the over and above efforts they had to put into high school taking AP classes and dual enrollment and endless stressful ECs and if we take that out of the equation, then it wonât be worth it
This however doesnât take anything away from their great accomplishments if they donât get in but should make them feel comfortable that they gave it a shot
Is it time for results and reflections thread for 2022 BSMD?
Towards the end of March.
March 26 on the MyBU portal
The email that came day before to check portal and make sure everything is there, that email says march 26
Sharing my old (2020) blog post on BS/MD vs Traditional Route.
If you are sure about pursuing Medicine as a career, should you opt for BS/MD programs or pursue the traditional pre-med / Medical route?
At the outset, let me share a statistic: Less than approx. 5% of all medical school students come through the BS/MD route. So clearly, a very small minority of the student population is opting for BS/MD. But do not let that statistic mislead you. Why? Because universities offer <5% seats to their BS/MD programs. If they offer more seats, this percentage would be a lot higher.
The above dilemma becomes more important if you have secured an offer of admission from an Ivy-league level university. We must guard against one important thought-process - âIf you can get an admission to Ivy-league undergrad then you can surely get admission into the âtop-rankedâ medical school.â Most general folks are unfamiliar with the medical school admissions process, so they can get into the above thought process.
And add to that the potential scope of obtaining merit-based scholarships while pursuing the traditional route.
Yes, with good grades, a great MCAT score (>515), a resume complete with research, shadowing, volunteering and other factors, will get you a medical school admission. It may or may not be the same âIvy-league kindâ of schools.
What I am sharing here are some of the RISKS involved in the traditional pre-med / Medical route:
-
Potential to complete your medical school in an accelerated manner: Many BS/MD programs are accelerated 7-year programs. A few are 8-year programs. 6-year programs have become rare after the recent change in the MCAT examination. This means you can save one full year from the long-drawn process (11+ years) to become a medical doctor.
-
Gap year(s): Even if you are from an Ivy League with great MCAT scores, we have numerous number (not outliers) cases where students have had to take a gap year to strengthen their application. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), 63.4% of matriculating students into a medical school had a gap year in 2018 and that percentage has been steadily increasing every year. To me, this represents a VERY HUGE risk as there is approximately 63% chance, you or your child may be hit with a gap year. And yes, if you get admission after a gap year, you will be counted in the ~95% of the matriculants to a medical school via the traditional route.
-
âNon-traditionalâ students: These are students with 2 or more gap years. It appears that âIvy Leagueâ medical schools are matriculating more and more non-traditional students. Nearly 68% of students that matriculated into the University of Pennsylvaniaâs Medical School are non-traditional. At Northwestern University, that percentage is lower but still significant at 23%. This trend is creating extra pressure among students to take additional gap years to keep up with the competition.
-
Low GPA: For the traditional route, the impact of grade deflation or student not being able to cope up with college due to a bad selection of courses or other distractions is very real. FOR BS/MD, most colleges are flexible and supportive of their students. For example, at NU, you can take an extra year in undergrad to pull up your GPA to meet the HPME requirements. You do NOT have that luxury in a traditional route.
-
The Myth that âsince I can into Ivy League undergrad, I can definitely get into âIvy Leagueâ medical schoolâ: This myth has been broken so many times that there are âskeletons of students aspirationsâ lying around.
-
Plan B: Selecting a âproperâ undergrad is important - many kids take biology as their undergrad for both BS/MD and traditional route. If you look at career prospects for biology majors, you will quickly come to a conclusion, they are limited. So it would not have mattered if you did biology major at Princeton or Rutgers. On the other hand, if a student has an interest in mathematics or computer science, doing that minor / double major would open up many options - even if you did that at Rutgers. So, undergrad college + major are both important. In that case, one has to plan for Plan B in the first year of college itself. That means - more work because you may have to load yourself with more coursework to do a meaningful minor or double major. How many parents/ kids are thinking about this?
So, the question of ask â are you comfortable with the risks with the traditional pre-med/ Medical route?
It boils down to that!
Congratulations !!
Congratulations !!!
Is it a good time to email Boston and move application to regular pool? If so, can someone help me with what email, and what should be written in the email?