6 years is brutal. One option is take 7 year and do 1 gap year after MS3 medical school and do research at a top school. Dartmouth premed May be better than Duke.
ā Some lucky ones made their way to T20 MD schools, but all rest ended up going to other MD schools irrespective of rankings. ā is a silly statement. My son is a Vandy graduate. It all depends on your academic background and how focused you are. If you went to an easy school and got 4.0 GPA and expect to do same at Vandy without putting extra effort you will screw up GPA and end up at lower tier medical school.
Kids I know got multiple T20s and some with scholarships
Step 2 scores are still numeric score so
Will be more emphasis on step 2 scores now
@mygrad2021ās D is in the hofstra 4+4 program. Take their inputs seriously.
If your D is 100% sure about medicine, take NJIT/NJMS.
NJMS is a solid medical school with a high reputation among program directors for the clinical experience they provide. Med students from NJMS have matched at Stanford, NYU, Mount Sinai, Tufts, etc., for neurology/ neuro-surgery.
Avoid WashU - grade deflated school where maintaining >3.85 GPA will be a boatload of effort.
NW is a quarter system school, resulting in most students taking a gap year - mainly because the quarter ends mid-June, and students always feel they do not have time to put in a proper application. While it is NOT grade deflated, it will require effort to get a >3.85 GPA.
For Vandy, please reach out to @srk2017 as his DS graduated from Vandy.
2 Likes
@MarchMom99 - Dartmouth has an Early assurance program for pre-meds. Check that out. This is very competitive but if you end up joining, why not try it. Dartmouth also has IVY tag!
Yes I did will confirm again the exact requirements for Hofstra 4+4 going to attend there admitted students meet and campus tours coming week.
If there are students on here who are planning on going to Drexel BS/MD should we create a chat thread? I would love to talk and have a space where we could ask questions and talk with each other.
hey @NoviceDad can you please DM me? I had a few questions- Thanks!
There is always worth the experience and connections by going to HYPSM. Yale is a great school. As long as you consider Yale is only a milestone in your journey and not the final destination, you will be fine. By this, I mean you need to work hard and focus on your med school prep.
1 Like
PPSP is awesome. Congratulations! If you get into UPitt, then UPitt or PPSP based on which one you like. You wonāt go wrong!
2 Likes
I would take Drexel over NYIT as it is an MD program.
Perception wise having an MD degree gives an edge during residency matches.
1 Like
You canāt really go wrong with either NJIT/NJMS and Vandy. With each option, you gain something and lose something. NJMS has less risk for Medicine. Vandy can give you better options if you are able to do really well there.
2 Likes
Vandy has sent its undergrad students to 144 medical schools in the past 4 years.
Remember with hard work, one can go to T20, but one also has to be aware that you may NOT get into a T20 school even after hard work. That risk is higher if you are Asian-American.
Yes, committed students, they will get into a med school with or without gap years. Just do not assume you will get into a T20 medical school just because you went to a T20 undergrad.
Take UPenn as an example: The medical school taking >5 students from Penn undergrad are Penn, SKMC, Case Western, Temple, Columbia, Hackensack, Hopkins, NYU, and Emory. There are also students going to schools like Geisinger. As you can see these are more than the T20 schools. Also, 65% of Penn students take 1-2 gaps years and 10% take more than 3 gap years.
So keep this aspect in mind - just because you went to a T20 undergrad does not mean you will get into T20 medical school - yes, even after hard work and maintaining your GPA/MCAT.
6 Likes
SRK2017 and I may be providing contrarian vibes here because we have kids who did did what we are talking about. You need to believe that your kid can achieve and not assume it is a one time fluke and things will change in 4 years.
My daughter got into Stanford, MIT, Caltech, and few other top 10 schools 10 years ago, attended stanford, interviewed at 6 T10 schools, admitted to 4, attended one with with a full tuition ride (we paid in full for undergrad). She gave up Caltech/UC San Diego combined (no longer exists) to take the traditional route. She had several classmates who gave up Northwestern HPME back then and several seniors too. I know one of them ended up at Harvard med and a senior stayed back for stanford med.
SRKās son gave up multiple BS/MDs, took a very prestigious scholarship at Vandy and had multiple T10 admissions and attends one. They are 5 years apart.
If your child is one of those that hit the lottery and got into a highly ranked school, trust your kid if they want to choose the traditional route. If they have the confidence in themselves, you should too. They will be forced to do well knowing what they gave up, assuming they will still want to do medicine. If they have a scholarship to a top 20 school, take it. There are so many kids I know who resent their parents for not letting them choose and forcing them through BS/MD route when they had great admissions like Stanford, Yale and Harvard. One of them finished an entire undergrad, didnt enroll in medicine and started over at an Ivy doing another undergrad because they didnt get to attend one of the HYPS schools.
Dont nudge them, gently or otherwise. Let them choose and if they choose BS/MD, you didnt have anything to do with it and it is their decision. I know a harvard cardiologist whose parents had to let him make the decision of stanford vs HPME, they had to leave the country and they gave him 2 checks and left (back then it was not online). He chose HPME and has never looked back. The parents desperately wanted him to do HPME but still let him pick.
6 Likes
Very few of the top 20 schools have merit scholarships. Getting one of those usually means they consider you one of their top applicants. You are expected to be at the top of their graduating class.
You are still expected to do very well to get into medical schools. having the scholarship listed on your resumes adds value if you have everything else going for you on your app.
1 Like
Well saidā¦ thatās what i have been saying loud 
Itās always individualistic situation.
We hear questions (post/DM) but with little/no details on why/what the issue is.
I would recommend folks do, 1 pager on āFor/Againstā for each so it will solve or atleast give you questions on the issues
Imagine going to counseling (for problem) but decides not to tell him/herā¦ how in the world will you solve the problem 
ā¦
Good uck
1 Like
Anyone has any opinions on Seton Hall BSMD.Please share
We also have cases where kids chose an Ivy giving up multiple BS/MD not getting into equivalent medical school later on.
An example: A kid who had a 3.9 GPA and 37 on MCAT (old score), typical ECs, research/publications, and applied to 17 medical schools - spread over Top 20, Next 60, and the rest. Got interviews from just 3 interviews. Went to an unranked medical school.
I have many such cases to cite.
There are outlier kids for whom nothing seems impossible but most students will fall under a normal distribution.
Parents and students both need to be aware of these risks.
And YES students should decide - it is their life and they need to bear the impact of that decision - one way or another.
8 Likes
Hi everyone, for those who got accepted into a BS/MD or BD/DO program does your acceptance letter or agreement state that the medical school reserves the right to make final determination on acceptance after the undergrad years?
1 Like