If possible ,first go visit the college (if not then try to), talk with seniors (thru Instagram, college groups/forums etc.,) . See whether you will fit in that environment (college, faculty, location, weather, their residence opportunities etc.,) . If you can’t visit… search the net on these colleges.
You also got to see the “Cost factor” ($$s) as some are private (or cost more) vs others.
Only you (and your family) can find the match as it’s tough to gauge your preference by 3rd person (unless they know you personally)
If you search internet, you can see …folks hate all colleges (for some reasons of their own). The only thing it’s worth to look is … Is the environment safe (not edge case scenarios as those happens in all college… from Harvard to Mom N Pop college)
I know students who joined “top 5” and hated it … was pushed by an enthusiastic parent who wants their kids to be in Top institution
You may also see/hear stories about students dropping out (if they are NOT happy) or struggling with other issues (due to environment) so got to be careful.
My rule of thumb…
I) does my student/kid fit in the environment or will they be happy in 4/8 years living/studying there.
2) does it fit my wallet (less important for few but maybe not for others)
3) Is that institution being there for a while (meaning if they have graduated say
20+ years successfully then they must be doing something good with the
program else their license would have been revoked )
Usain Bolt ran 100m in less 9 Sec but he can’t run 400M in less than 36 Sec… meaning …this is a long process…so the kids have to decide/pace their way…so it’s their wish/happiness which will decide results/success.
If money and location is not a factor go for program which has best medical school ranking.
Undergrad matters but is not as important as medical school.
AMC doesn’t participate in rankings so unranked. Don’t purely go by ranks. Some say only T20-30 matters to some extent and after that ranks don’t matter much.
When did your C interview with NJMS? How long did it take TCNJ to send you rejection email after the interview? I thought they send rejections after all the interviews are completed with NJMS.
Logging in here after a really long time and skimming through messages. Couple of questions that wanted to answer. For those debating about which one to choose among multiple acceptances, do make sure you visit all the places and assess where you or your child will be most comfortable in spending next 7 or 8 years.
Those debating RPI/AMC vs other programs, does the acceleration at the former appeal to you? How much are you (or child) really into research bent of mind? If so, it will be a great place. Between RPI/AMC and Penn State I would prefer the latter.
And to repeat myself, med school is about medical student not about some rankings on a flimsy website which has been shunned by most medical schools these days. For example I have known people going to RPI/AMC, unranked by that site, doing extremely well (than those going to Stanford for undergrad). So it is all in your hands.
Don’t go by the propaganda that you should go to top so and so ranked undergrad then you will get into some top so and so medical school. I have again known so many students falling into the same trap, and not being able to get into med school even 2 or 3 years after graduation. Do your own due diligence, evaluate your comfort levels, financial and family situations and do what you think will be the best. Believe your gut and not the case studies of this or that person here who may flaunt about their or their childrens’ successes following this or that route.
Our plan is to visit these colleges in April and make a better informed decision. Though there is cost difference between RPI/AMC Vs Penn State (60K - 80K), in the long run it will not be a factor is the belief.
I want to understand are there factors about the school and program (outside of geo location, proximity etc.) that we should consider prior to making the decision. We come from non-medical background and don’t want to miss something obvious. Also, knowing the child I don’t worry about MCAT requirement in Penn State. GPA is similar.
I see that both colleges are comparable and research focussed which I think he will enjoy. To the naked eye AMC appeals to me more (not the child, he is neutral) about uniqueness in the research opportunity (right /wrong is a ?; all you need is 1). At the same time, I was happy to see the camaraderie during the SKMC interview. I also see him enjoying the Penn State experience.
Last, residency… he is keeping an open-mind and wants to experience medical school. With that said does one of the school give a leg-up or leg-down for certain residencies?
Hope this clarifies what I am looking for. As always thank you for the wealth of information.
You have 2 great choices, can’t go wrong with either. But the reason I said Penn State, it will give more broad based experience in student life, like sports, research and an academic power house, prime location of med school etc. Also depending on how many AP/IB/DE your child has completed, can finish the undergrad at Penn St in 2 years and can do either full fledged research for a year (no or nominal tuition I believe but confirm) or do a study abroad or something. I have known of a student doing masters at study abroad in Europe and returning back to the program. MCAT never an issue (the said student scored 525 taking in the summer right after sophomore year and before heading for study abroad). But if he really likes RPI he should go with that.
SKMC has some darn good residency programs like Ophthalmology for example, but that is way out in the future unless he already knows he will want to go into a specific field.
Thank you. We haven’t done the coursework mapping, but he has few AP’s which will help. Also, I heard about the 2 -2.5 years of undergrad and study abroad.
I thought AMC was a broader program compared to SKMC. At least AMC claims awareness to drug trials and process to bring new drugs to market etc.
Finally, I heard of Ophthalmology and Orthopedics for SKMC. Didn’t see any call outs for AMC.
I believe you need to come up with a list of factors that are relevant to you.
Among these, there may be 2-3 factors for which you may feel strongly and see how these factors are similar or different among these programs.
Some factors to consider (in no particular order)
Additional requirements to get into medical school that you do not control (e.g. interviews)
Length of the program (7 vs 8 years)
Total cost across both undergrad + medical school (net of any scholarship money)
Total debt you plan to take to fund your total cost
Undergrad quality/experience - both academic and non-academic. Factor in the major you plan to pursue
Location
Campus safety
Match list trends
Your subject feel of the colleges - do you feel you can spend the next 3/4 or 7/8 years in that environment
And any other factor that may be important to you.
Welcome back @rk2017 do you recommend any ranking sites or all rankings are bad? You know schools are opting out of rankings because of expected Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action not because schools suddenly realized USNWR is a flimsy site . If I remember correctly you were quoting another site which showed BU favorably.
Also, do you know any traditional path success stories or only 100 percent failure stories? Do you know why they failed? We have these debates over the years. Do you know BSMD kids are taking gap years (including at least one in your D’s class) to be competitive for competitive specialities like Derm. Please don’t call others opinions as propaganda despite all the examples given here over the years!
Again, each kid’s strengths, weaknesses, career goals should be assessed and whether it’s worth to spend ton of money. Don’t go by constant failure drumbeats by some here. Less than 5% MDs are thru BSMD, not because they couldn’t get in.
Competitive residencies require lot of research and publications and some are taking gap years. Match lists won’t tell you whether they took gap years or not. Taking gap years in medical school is a new trend!
RPI/AMC combination feels like a rural combination. A big undergrad setting in a rural area is not a bad thing but it is preferable to be in big city for medical school due to the huge differences in patient populations as a learning tool if one is privileged enough to be able to choose a medical school.
A second advantage to being in a city comes in year 4 when students want to get rotations in other medical schools. There are several in Philly area where they can request rotations without having to go to different locations.
Good check list. Match should be reviewed for last 3,4 years since it’s personal choice and also people tend to give preference to where they want to settle or where their significant other/partner is or wants to go.
I agree one year match list is skewed as some batches have different speciality preferences. I would say minimum 5 years match list should be considered.
In five years if you do not see a speciality match from school which you are interested then that it is a red flag and May be not a right medical school for you
You are right no one knows about gap years in the match.
RPI/AMC was the first admission for my son in 2017 but he immediately said he is not going because Troy looks like a ghost town and he didn’t want to spend three years there without any social activity outside of school. As soon as he got another admission he withdrew immediately to help out others.
Think trying to decide school based on residency is way too early. 1. Students will get to know, as and when they learn theory and do rotations. That is going to happen only in MD school and not now. (you can not use the vegetables in the paper to cook for today’s meal). 2. Gap year can be noticed, though may not know the number of applicants but number of matched. 3. NRMP tables have so much data to do analysis. 4. MD Seniors for residency matching is just one group though majority. But the other groups are gaining strength in leaps and bounds, MD Grads, DO Seniors, DO Grad, US IMG, Non-US IMG. So just because you are doing in MD in Hopkins or Harvard or Stanford means nothing except you may get opportunity to pursue during your MD. But unless student spends significant efforts to make his application shine it is not a panacea. Depends on specialty. It is not that all students want to do specialty which are very competitive. Ex: Anesthesiology only 75% (1199) filled by MD Seniors, DO Seniors 245, MD Grad 20, DO Grad 15, IMG 58, Non-US IMG 69. Look at numbers for non MD Seniors even for a specialty which has lot of seats 1609. Look at Radiology-Diagnostics which has only 143 seats or Thoracic Surgery which has only 49 seats. Know 2 folks did not match this year from decent Texas school. Hard to keep up with the pace doing MD and also to strengthen your application. Some times students take gap year after MD if they are particular about certain specialty. Where as many students know what is important in their life (to balance life and career and earning power) and decide. But remember don’t look only at money since none of us can take anything when we leave which is for sure.
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do you recommend any ranking sites or all rankings are bad? You know schools are opting out of rankings because of expected Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action not because schools suddenly realized USNWR is a flimsy site 
. If I remember correctly you were quoting another site which showed BU favorably.