@jjung111
Referring @NoviceDad post below, I am thinking soon they might take down the working link you mentioned too. I guess this is like indigestible news to the aspiring students preparing to apply for BU 7 year BSMD program in this fall. Waiting for their official news on their website on this.
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Thank you rk2017 !! Really appreciate that insight and commiseration. I agree with you completely regarding EAP routes and how hard that can be as well. Itâs good to know that other posterâs experience with her/his child. Thatâs good to know as well. My daughter may still apply to BU as an undergrad but heavily leaning more on the other BSMD programs. Thank you again!
Yes, itâs only a matter of time now! 
Sure, all the best in future endeavors for your daughter and family. Also should have stated in the earlier post, regardless of the outcome, stressing over the EAP program from day one in the college is bound to degrade the quality of student life during those memorable and enjoyable days of oneâs life.
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Totally agreed.
There are many ways to achieve Diversity Goals - scrapping BS/MD programs just because it attracts more Asian-origin Americans is not the way.
No one is stopping other Americans from applying.
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I do not know, but that question has been on my mind since I heard this news.
Thank you, NoviceDad
âŠand a majority of these âAsian-origin Americansâ were born on America soil.
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While we are on the subject of EAPâs, anyone have any insights into the St. Louis University SLU BSMD program? I heard it was more of a pathway program. I was wondering if there were any insights out there on how hard it is to stay on the pathway-- such as is it really hard to maintain their 3.65 GPA requirement?
Donât know enough about this particular program, but 3.65 is like bare minimum expectation for ORM (asian) candidates these days if they were to aspire for medicine anyway. As mentioned by self earlier in the thread, in our state there are students having just graduated with 0.25 gpa points above that mark and still not making it to any med school this year. So by that level of competition, 3.65 should be a steal. But do the students in that program also have to go through interview and if so, is it it a formality or can they still get filtered away there too? Something you need to find out.
The drawback can be, if for some reason the student changes the course after a year or two, either because of gpa or change of mind or whatever, s/he will come out with a degree from a not so well known institution and possibly with not many solid alternate major offerings like business etc. Or may have to transfer out to elsewhere by end of sophomore year.
You may also want to search last 2 yearâs threads with key words like SLU, the name of the program, St Louis etc to see what are the takes of people on it.
Thank you so much for your thoughts rk2017. Yes, as part of the BSMD program at SLU, you have to reinterview. These are the requirements:
Program requirements:
3.65 cumulative GPA at the end of each academic year
3.65 math and science GPA at the end of each academic year
Take the MCAT (minimum score: 505)
Must take all math and english classes required for graduation by the end of sophomore year.
Interview with medical school at the end of sophomore year.
So, I guess it really is a pathway program. But you are right also that one must maintain a very high GPA if one was going through the regular route to med school anyways, esp for ORM which we are. I was just wondering if SLU is a âgrade-deflatedâ school where itâs hard to maintain your high GPA, but thatâs probably hard to find out.
@jjung111
What is âreinterviewâ? SLU School of Medicine program doesnât interview the candidates as part of the admission application process for intake into the program. There is only one interview that is with SLU School of Medicine at the end of sophomore year, as you listed.
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Oh, got it! My bad. I didnât realize you didnât have to interview the first time. Thanks.
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Yes, unfortunately there are couple of them (I would recommend you search colleges forum here and if you see a pattern⊠just move them little down. thatâs all you can do and hope they respond better). You can see multiple folks talk about college responses (not responding, not answering etc.)
Also I wonât sweat too much that their BSMD is closed (personally) ⊠their BS program is still GREAT and your D may still like it and have good option to do MD there (or other places around there)
Like @blueeee said⊠itâs so silly (IMO) like with the # of shortages in physicians here (and the freakin pandemic and new crap coming frequently) , they want to make it more tougher⊠duhâŠ
@texaspg I think you hit the point⊠I believe many colleges may struggle to fit the diversity cube ( IMO itâs crazy⊠all Asian Americans⊠are Americans duh⊠so whatâs next ⊠make Basketball diverse, Baseball and NHL⊠sorry for the digress but we donât make rules so live with it)
Good luck
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I think there could be another theory too⊠which is prevalent here in west coast⊠we have many colleges that have huge demand for their MD courses, so they donât want an extra pathway (like Stanford, USC and University of Washington etc.)
That could also be a reason ⊠who knows.
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Yes, thank you Rali_Jan ; I am finding the CC forum is a wealth of information.
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Stanford or UCSD? 
I dont make the rules. An Indian professor at UTMB used to tell us that the GPA/MCAT numbers are much higher to be selected for interviews for ORMs because there are a lot of them applying and they can only take so many per year.
Schools like BU are in a tough spot. Many dont treat the school like an Ivy league school willing to attend even if they dont get into combined(think Brown). OTOH, many applying to combined are only even applying because of the program and not because of the school. They are in a great location with students from many other top undergrad schools applying to them locally or regionally who they have to ignore because they filled up 20% of the class already.
https://www.bumc.bu.edu/busm/admissions/typical-interview-day/
Check out their class profile that says 517 MCAT and 3.72 GPA while the requirements are only 3.5 and 511 for their combined students. Is the average lower because of the combined students or is it excluding the combined students? Check out the number of people with a masters degree. How many BS/MD students would have been part of the 31+? Check out the 59% women number - is it skewed because of an overrepresented group in combined? I dont know the answers (I am almost sure about the masters but nothing else) but someone has evaluated all these to see if they can change the profile of the medical school starting in 4 years and want to take it up the medical school rankings or position the school differently. It is all about medical schools taking ownership and saying undergrad schools need to get their best students by their own prestige and not based on leveraging the medical school seats (essentially preselling medical seats) to get the best high school students to show up.
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@Rali_Jan Texas Asian population is 4 or 5% but all our medical schools have 30 to 40% Asian students. A lot more of them are being screened out because they can only take so many ORMs and essentially the averages dont apply to be called for an interview. I tell kids I advise that they need to fit the 75%ile or higher numbers from the published numbers for the school. This rule pretty much applies to all med schools across the nation.
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