There are some folks who try to focus on match lists of different schools while comparing them. These are far-fetched speculations derived from any such comparisons. Any one can match to any residency from any medial school. One has to work out a plan and execute it. It may require you to take a gap year during medical school to boost your chances. Let the student go through clinical rotations first and decide for themselves what specialty they are interested in for their entire medical career. It is NOT for others to speculate what should be their specialty, particularly as a senior in high school, IMO.
PLME have no plans of being scrapped in the near future. However, they are increasing spots at the medical school for traditional applicants. AMS used to be 100% PLME, then down to 50% 10 years ago, and currently around 30%.
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@ghermione - definitely apply test optional since their posts on test averages have been very high.
Also apply broadly (12-15) BSMDâs and to regular undergrads (3-5). All the best!!!
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@ramen2020 - This is very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
I remember reading that PLME applicants were not required to commit (ED) to both AMS and UG schools during the earlier days (before 10 years). They could opt out if they didnât get into AMS.
From what Iâve heard, there were quite a few people in the past who would drop AMS for Harvard or another T10 medical school instead, which isnât surprising bc all the opportunities that they give PLME students definitely make them a much more competitive applicant compared to traditional premeds. Admin made PLME binding to stop losing students and have more certainty on class size.
On average one or two kids still drop out a year though, but mostly to pursue quant etc⊠canât blame them with the 500k starting salary right out of school haha
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Hello, I am planning to apply to a few BSMD programs this year, such as Howard and Sophie Davis, and I was wondering if anyone could tell me the chances of getting in and what I should improve on. For context, I am a junior out of state graduating a year early.
*To explain why I am graduating a year early, in short, I was 4 years accelerated in my math classes, allowing me to finish those credits and my other credits quicker than most.
GRADES/CLASSES:
Unweighted GPA:3.93
weighted GPA: 4.22
Number of AP/advanced classes:
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school didnât offer or weigh honors classes differently, so advanced classes were essentially our honors.
Taken: AP bio(5), AP calc ab(5), AP human geo(5), AP micro(4) & macro(4), Advanced English 9 & 10
Taking: AP gov, AP Physics 1, AP lang, AP world, advanced chemistryWas awarded AP scholar with distinction, academic excellence award 2 years in a row
Extracurriculars:
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7 years of cello ( member of our schoolâs philharmonic orchestra)
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6 years in school science Olympiad team
-attended national tournament in 2019
-won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in multiple events at state throughout my years -
Euro Challenge (economics tournament where we present solutions to economic problems in the Euro area as a team)(went to semi-finals and placed within the top 20 teams in the nation)
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Currently in the process of starting up a company with the same teammates from the economics competition. I will soon participate in competitions to earn funding.
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Member and co-leader of schoolâs MSA club ( Muslim Student Association)
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Dreamcatchers ( volunteering to help hospices patients)(50 volunteer hours)
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Youth group leader: 250+ hours of volunteering for over 8 months. taught children, about religion, self-acceptance, and how to be productive members of society. I also helped organize a few volunteer events. Most notably, I assisted in a fundraiser that raised roughly $15,000 for the betterment of the program. (won volunteer of the year as well)
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Founder and team captain of schoolâs science bowl team
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Volunteered at an urgent care for 150+ hours in an underserved community
Employment/internships:
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Sterilization Tech at a dental office: Similar to a paid internship, 200+ hours of service
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Math tutoring: helped tutor a multitude of students, subjects ranging from simple addition to helping out calc bc students
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Jewelry store (worked at a family jewelry store in New York every summer)
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Shadowed internal medicine physician in person for 2 months
Letter of Rec:
Physician I shadowed
Youth program founder
boss at math tutoring( who is a Ph.D. math professor)
Ap bio teacher
school counselor
It seems PMM curriculum has 3 Physics and 2 Biochemistry classes during first three years. Usually, most medical schools only need 2 Physics classes and 1 Biochemistry class. Interestingly, there is a required class in Nutrition, often a subject ignored by most pre-meds.
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I see, didnât know about other programs. Thanks for sharing.
@Mohamed3 - Overall, your profile is really good. your GPA is good but # of AP courses are on the lower side, especially on the science side. A few more APâs such as AP chemistry, AP Physics C Mechanics and AP Physics and also English AP courses (composition, literature) would help round out your profile. Make sure your GPA remains high ~3.95 uw
In the ECâs side - your profile has a lot of good things going on such as youth program, physician shadowing, paid internship, math tutoring, fundraiser. Your work experience is amazing! However, your medical ECâs are on the lower side.
You could go for clinical research volunteering. Also, you could add some research. Many competitive research programs are open to high school juniors. You will only become eligible to apply to these now. You still have time to apply. These would be due in January 2023 and would require application similar to college application. (with LORs)
However, BSMD application pool are very competitive. Most students will have excellent profiles. Since you are just a junior, what is the reason for you to graduate early? You can
Would you consider graduating one year later? If you spend improving your profile for one more year, you could apply to more competitive BSMD programs for sure! Also, with a stronger high school academics, your undergrad will be a breeze and allow you to have a high GPA as required by most BSMD or pre-med programs
Good Luck!
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Does going test-optional hurt your application?, or they wonât consider it when making the decision?
I took my older daughter (and whole family) on an east coast college tour in 2010 summer. Brown was going to stop PLME students from applying out and they said anyone taking MCAT would be required to apply back to med school as an open seat student. Essentially they were requiring PLME students not to attempt MCAT if I remember correctly.
I have a niece who went to Brown as a regular student over Penn saying it is too much pressure to be a student at Penn and is currently at Yale Med. So it is possible for even regular Brown students to make it into T10 med schools despite being allowed to do a lot of pass/fail classes.
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Personally, we need good Doctors to treat us. As long as the Doctors are open to treating diverse group of patients, that should be good enough for me.
My question is - why is diverse group of doctors so important? What drives this requirement?
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Completely agree! I think the two most important reasons that come to mind are âperceptionâ and âpoliticalâ!
Otherwise it should not matter!! As long as every physician treats everyone without discrimination! The proponents of diversity argue that the diverse group of professionals understand the patientâs situations and culture better and can help their communities better.
But in my view, you nailed it. It comes down to perception amd political!
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@NoviceDad can you please DM me. I am not able to message you.
Thank you!!
I think there are two agendas here. One has been declared that they want doctors who know the needs of the group of patients they serve, but the other is a hidden agenda that has nothing to do with patients. The hidden agenda is about social upward mobility.
There are some BSMD or EAP programs that are for primary care. An example is the Partnership in Primary Care at TX A&M. There are also med schools that specialize in primary care. U of Houston med school partners with HCA to educate and train physicians to fill primary care needs. However, once these doctors graduate, will they go on to serve the underserved areas in the middle of nowhere or in the middle of a low socioeconomic area where there is nothing but desolation even though itâs in a large metro area? There are some government support scholarships to help boost the fields of primary care, and I hope they are tied to where the physicians work for some period of time after graduation. Otherwise, who is going to prevent those primary care physicians to choose to work where the surroundings suit their lifestyle and the incomes suit their pockets? After all, primary care is an expansive field with a lot of specialties: emergency medicine, ob-gyn, surgery, etc
Texas has a program that produces a lot of successful early-acceptance candidates to TX medical schools. Itâs called the Joint Admission Medical Program. Each year BCM and other TX med schools host internships that are basically intensive mini-medical programs for them. When BCM acquired the TAMU facilities in Temple, TX, there were some discussions at the summer BCM internships. All JAMP participants wanted to know if they would be grandfathered from being sent to Temple. Now, the rumor mills are saying that the reason why Rice discontinued its RMS is because BCM wanted to steer the feeder programs toward primary care. I donât know if this is true, but if BCM is well-meaning and wants to train the next generation of primary care physicians, it would be great that their feeder programs state that clearly in their mission statements instead of leaving it to matriculation time via random assignments.
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I am okay with trying to increase diversity among doctors. Patients may feel more comfortable with doctors with similar backgrounds and shared experiences.
I am not okay with lowering standards or acceptance criteria to make it happen.
After all, medical education is a graduate-level program in the US.
Many diverse candidates get the diversity/adversity factor considered while being admitted to undergrad.
Undergrad experience is supposed to level the playing field.
If undergrad did not level the playing field, then nothing ever will.
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Done
Hi! My private counselor said that most BS/MD programs do not consider students who have an associateâs degree. But my school and college counselors told me that I would be considered a first-time freshman applicant with transfer credit even if I get a degree. Which is correct? I thought people who have associateâs degrees can still apply to BS/MD programs even though their credits might not transfer. TIA
makes sense @NoviceDad