Will do. We are still waiting on one more decision before making a choice.
2 Likes
Thank you and congratulations!
Case Western PPSP decisions came out. Son got accepted into the program.
5 Likes
My DS has been accepted into the CASE PPSP program, which is an incredible opportunity for him. Additionally, heās also received offers from Princeton and Yale, which heās very excited about. While both Princetonās and Yaleās financial aid packages are more generous than CWRUās, my son wants to explore all of his options before making a final decision. Heās planning to attend Princetonās Preview Day and Yaleās Bulldog Days events to get a better sense of each campus and program. Our priority is to help him choose the best option for his future.
As a parent, it is not easy to give up the CASE PPSP. Any sugguestions and thoughts to help him make a decision?
4 Likes
Congrats! My son also accepted at CASE PPSP and Pitt GAP. Good day here. He has to decide
Now between other UG option including Emory woodruff scholar(full ride), WashU with scholarship, Cornell, Georgetown.
All good options. Itās up to him to decide at this point.
4 Likes
Princeton is known for grade deflation and Doesnāt have medical school. As I said those who got multiple Ivies and BSMD shouldnāt have any issues repeating thru traditional path. He already experienced medical school application and interview process so already ahead. Think hard before deciding.
4 Likes
Yale is considered one of the best feeders to top medical schools if they are still interested after attending Yale.
I have been talking to parents of someone who was admitted to Harvard HST, Columbia and Yale medical schools as a senior at Yale graduating with a masters in 4 years and probably going to choose Harvard.
Congratulations to your son and family on great admissions.
2 Likes
Named scholarships opens up lot of doors. Just like everyone told us to give up Vandy CV for BAMD, you will hear ābird in handā and lot of failure stories for traditional path. He should decide based on his strengths and goals.
3 Likes
While there are rosy stories everywhere, including at ābottom 10ā 
one has to go with oneās own comfort level and how strongly they feel about going to medicine. I have known this acquaintanceās child joining med school just this year. Yale undergrad neuroscience with 2 gap years doing some free medical service volunteer work and research. Is from west coast and so myself was thinking will land atleast at UCLA kind of med school. Ended up at a relatively unknown small medical school on the east coast.
The practical problem, no matter how confident one may be about oneās own strengths one can never imagine the competition and the class composition from the same undergrad school and the given batch. Especially at places where everyone in the class is supposedly smart and hard working to get there in the first place (the minor league, major league analogy to quote or misquote from @Rali_Jan in an earlier post).
Not many in one batch at the said school may pursue medicine and so one may have a relatively smooth sail (like it happened in our case from HS to BS/MD) and in another batch it may be forbiddingly difficult even for the strongest of the students.
1 Like
Just to add some clarity, by this year I meant medical school entering class of 2022, not 2023, guess for 2023 it is not done deal yet.
And to elaborate on batch vs batch unpredictability, regardless of route, which I touched upon earlier too ā¦ during Cās application cycle few years ago, though had stellar stats in every aspect, SAT/ACT, number of and scores in APs, subject SATs, recommendations, extra curriculars, research etc al, was lagging on the gpa front. Though was in the top 5% of their Uber competitive, grade deflated high school, was no where near the valedictorian range. Fortunately none of the top most kids in their batch was interested or aware of BS/MD pathway that batch. The following year there was a spurt in interest with valedictorian, salutatorian and I am sure some other top most kids applying for and going the BS/MD route.
This unpredictability with respect to oneās batch their interest, competition, composition etc can happen in any route.
3 Likes
Yes, it all comes down to self assessment, coming with a good plan and executing it. Not every can do it and anyone with doubts should opt for bird in hand, nothing wrong with it.
False narrative, You canāt compare 5-20 class size in BSMD vs 120+ traditional path. From Vandy several kids got into T20 medical schools in 2021 and some with multiple admissions.
If someone can get into Yale, they can get into medical school. Which medical school they get into depends on their interests in college, whether they were truly interested in medicine in the first place or if BS/MD was something their parents were pushing for them.
This person who is graduating this year was admitted to several top schools in 2019 and a cousin of ours asked the parent to talk to me. I told the parent that since they were full pay and their kid was interested in medicine, it may not be worth the money to attend Yale since medicine also costs a lot. I told the parent that if the kid changed their mind during college about medicine, Yale offered them the best opportunities for choosing a different career. They were not planning to attend t10 or even t20, and Yale was just a safetynet for any future. Until they called 4 years later early last month, I didnt even know they sent the kid to Yale. The problem with high achievers is that they continue their trend.
For the parents it was a question of whether the cost was worth it as two IT parents with twins at full pay. Now they are stuck with the same question of medicine for one at full pay at a top school or go instate. How do the parents think this will go?
1 Like
We are from west cost and younger one has admissions to REMS , PPSAP and Upitt BS MD.
And we are comparing these with Ivy admissions at Yale and Columbia. Planning to make a trip soon. Kid is 100 percent bent on medicine and we are not able to change his mind.
Any suggestions as Stanford was his choice but not selected as all options are away from home. We are planning to give up REMS for sure very soon so that wait list candidates can move up.
1 Like
There are few who either lost focus due to suddenly freedom in college or went to easier high schools and got admissions due to parent assisted ECs or didnāt plan course load properly or simply lost interest in medicine. I know examples of each case but our BSMD advocates never give reason why the students didnāt end up in medical school or needed gap years! Every year they show up in April and try to scare parents and make them spend ton of money (just like them ) with these stories!
Congratulations!! You have a good problem. Definitely visit all schools before deciding. There is a lot to think about in terms of cost, fit and future plans. I think kids do well when they are convinced about the choice they are making. We can only give them input & pros/cons.
We are visiting both UG and BSMD choices and then see how he feels. He has a full ride with Pitt and good merit $$ with Case.
Do you know about CASE interview requirement in junior year before matriculating to med school. My son said itās a formality interview based on how it was explained during interview process. Will have to talk to them during visit.
1 Like
I am sharing outcomes of few persons that I know in my social circle and went through traditional MD path in last 7-8 years. All these students were smart students (ACT of at least 35 or SAT of at least 1540), most were in top 5 of their high school graduating class, had good family support (no financial pressure) and no known major distractions. These are all Asian ORMs.
(1) Student 1 ā Went to NYU, got MCAT less then 510 after 2 tries. Took gap year and went to DO school.
(2) Student 2 ā Went to UPenn, got MCAT of low 5 teens, took gap year, trying for any medical school during current cycle ā donāt know latest status
(3) Student 3 ā Went to Columbia, Donāt know stats but went to low tier DO program ā no gap year
(4) Student 4 ā Went to Cornell, suspecting GPA issue, did 2-year Masters at another university, took another gap year after masters then this cycle got admitted to a low tier MD program.
(5) Student 5 ā Went to state school, performed well there, MCAT of high 5 teens, no gap year, admitted to mid-tier MD school
(6) Student 6 ā Went to state school, had GPA issues (about 3.5), got MCAT of high 5 teens in second try but did not get any admission after two cycles and a gap year and gave up (for whatever reason, person did not pursue DO).
(7) Student 7 ā Went to state school, performed well there, MCAT of low 5 teens, no gap year, no MD admission, went to DO school
(8) Student 8 ā Went to state school, MCAT of low 500s after 2 try, went to Caribbean
(9) Student 9 ā Went to BSMD program requiring MCAT in mid five teens. Good GPA but could not get required MCAT after 2 try. Going to DO school.
(10) Student 10 ā Went to Stanford after declining very good established BSMD, having GPA issues in first two years and already thinking of taking gap years.
Unfortunately, I donāt know of any perfect stories personally (go to best undergrad, get close to perfect MCAT and admitted to top Med school without gap year) like mentioned by others.
Finally keep in mind, the percentages of students accepted directly from undergrad to MD/DO school keeps declining and now is at 28% per last report.
Obviously, one has to consider personal factors, aspirations, cost, etc. to make decision that is bestā¦Hope this is usefulā¦
7 Likes
Is your kid a named scholar at Columbia?
My younger kid went to Columbia as a named scholar and attends a top med school in Texas but didnt focus on GPA or else might have reached much higher. However, kids there have a lot of things to do and lose focus on academics. Those who do not lose focus end up with comparable admissions to those coming out of Yale. Most of the named scholars at Columbia with my kid focused on GPA and ended up at Hopkins, Stanford, Columbia and other T10.T20 schools.
Columbia is a great school but they have a lot of required CORE classes that add load to premed. OTOH, Yale allows one to complete even a masters in 4 years.
3 Likes
Child has a good vibe for Pitt Med as compared to Case. Pitt Med runs all the show without much engagement and drama from undergrad admissions. Pitt Undergrad definetly is not same tier as Med school.
Yale is a choice and we will decide after visit and we are trying to convince him on Ivy option. Mostly it will be Yale or Pitt Med the way he is proposing us.
No he is not named scholar at Columbia