You miss the points. How many schools or programs consider PSAT or NMF as a big deal? Only USC among regular big name undergrads (the prestigious ones) and among the likes of programs like BU SMED only that one, that too only for 3 years of undergrad( feel they should change it seriously). No ivy cares about it, U Chicago gives like peanuts like 2.5k/year and the likes of WashU none.
People deciding to join BS/MD programs, at BU or else where, hardly change their minds because of this award. If price was a concern for this student or his family, he would have joined the reputed state flagship school where he got a full ride - again not based on PSAT or NMF - and would have spent less than 25k for all of undergrad combined (just paying a portion of the room and board).
And even many of the BS/MD programs constantly analyze and adjust their selection criteria for future based on the feed back mechanism of analysis of how students in their programs in the past few years have fared.
By the way, just to avoid any confusion, PSAT scores or NMF status have never been part of the criteria for selections at BU for the SMED program (and doubt if they were at any of the coveted programs). It is the CAS which governs the undergrad portion of the program that automatically awards the price breaks for any student (irrespective of the field of study), provided the students designated BU as top choice on the NMF portal by March 1st (by which time the SMED results won’t come out anyway).
@rk2017, @grtd2010 - Humble request - lets please stop and reflect. We are having a healthy discussion and there is no need to become personal. We are all trying to help the students here and giving back to the college confidential forum. We are all doing good work.
We came from India, worked hard to provide a good life for our kids. Our kids in turn worked hard to get seats in good/selective programs. Lets not bring the kids into these discussions…It’s not fair.
We are all parents and although College Confidential forums have exposed some of us to other students, our experience mostly comes from our own kids. So, naturally we would draw from our kids example. This is natural.
We all know that selection into BSMD programs is cut-throat. These are very selective. Any kids who got into a BSMD program had wonderful stats and worked their butt off to gain Extra curricular as well as medically related experience.
These kids have a long way to go and medical school, residency etc. to cross before they begin their careers… they need to consistently work hard to be successful. Every year, we see this being repeated over and over again.
@melslemonade - Just to clarify - In the past cycle some kids have applied to AMC via multiple feeder schools. So, there is no restriction during the application. However, when the AMC sends out interview notification , they will consider applicants to only one of the feeder schools.
For example: You can apply via RPI to RPI/AMC & Also Union to Union/AMC etc… But, during interview - applicants will be called for one or the other program - not both!
This is similar to a few other programs such as Baylor/Baylor and Rice/Baylor. You can apply from both. But, Baylor COM will consider you only for one during the interview. If I am not wrong, @junebug20 mentioned this in 2020 college confidential forum.
For AMC you CANNOT apply through multiple feeder schools- AMC will administratively withdraw your application.
Choose one feeder school out of the three.
NJMS allows you multiple feeder schools but only 1 interview with NJMS. You can choose among the feeder schools that accepted.
Note : There is always only one interview with medical school.
@rk2017@mom2boys1999 SUNY Upstate Medical Univ does not have in-state preference. We were told about it during the information session. It’s also demonstrated by the class composition of the current batch and the senior batch - representation from CA, PA, Ohio, Texas, NJ, etc…
As of now, you can apply through multiple feeders but will only get 1 interview from Upstate. Also, the Upstate interview is MMI format - 9 short interviews one after the other.
Pre COVID Upstate had an information session every month. Call the Upstate admission office to ask questions. The staff is very courteous and helpful.
For BS/MD programs how important is to take the writing portion on the SAT? What is the weight in lieu of things? To take or not to take? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Take with writing. Take it not just for BS/MD or UG admission. But for your career, irrespective of medicine or any other profession or non-profession you may pursue.
Why: It helps to assess your ability so that you can improve. Writing and oral communication is so vital for success in life.
@GoldenRock, on the flip side of it, should a student (who is not good at writing - knows from previous exam, own knowledge etc), take SAT/ACT without writing? Getting good SAT/ACT composite but less good writing score worse than just getting good SAT/ACT composite? Do BSMD programs look at writing scores (and use to judge a candidate) if they see it (even though they did not ask for it)? For example 2 students - 1st with ACT=35, no writing and 2nd with ACT=35 and writing 6/12, are they both equal?
NMF (National Merit Finalist) is a symbol of distinction and a prestigious achievement in itself and has nothing to do with affordability. The selection criteria based on PSAT score vary for NSF(National Merit Semi-Finalist Status) for different states and it ranks the students within a state. Please do not confuse academic achievement with affordability. One can consider both NMF award and affordability or either one or none when selecting a school.
Baylor COM has a total of four feeders. Two are exclusive to partnered Health Profession HS. The other two are Baylor U and Rice U. An applicant can apply to more than one feeders,but is only offer one interview. Once you’ve been identified as a finalist at a feeder, you’ll be automatically eliminated from being considered for another feeder unless you’re willing to renounce your current finalist status to be eligible to be selected as a finalist for the remaining feeder(s).
It hard to say which one is better and no ONE factor is responsible for a selection or rejection for an interview unless it is required by the program to submit a score with writing portion. Select your list to apply accordingly.
Just curious, what are Health Professions HS in Texas ? In NJ, each county has special county wide public magnet HS for Health Professions and Technology ( two separate schools). D attended a highly ranked public county Health Academy magnet school in NJ. The students at Health Academy school earn dual enrollment credits with Rutgers-Health Professions School for certain courses during 4 years. They do not have a lot of AP courses which are substituted by the health professions related courses taught by health professionals such MDs, PhDs and RNs. @rk2017 D’s HS is in the same county.
There’s one in Houston TX (DeBakey HS) and one in the valley (South Texas). These schools are similar to the ones you just described, minus the part about classes taught by MD & PhD. They do have clinical rotations in a form of preceptorships. If you don’t mind getting locked in at such environrment for four years with very limited extracurriculars, then getting the preceptorships would add to the shadowing hours, not necessarily with MDs. The pool of applicants has been slightly below 30 each year. The odds are pretty high for an applicant to make it through (between 20% and 25%) if he/she has an average level of extracurriculars since most students there are not as well-rounded and therefore highly competitive in the way we know BSMD candidates are. The six admitted to the joint program with Baylor COM from each of these HS are considered disadvantaged to the Baylor U and Rice U programs. At the end of their freshman year, they get to attend a medical bootcamp at Baylor COM for 5 weeks to get them to be more inclined to stay in the program til their matriculation.
Thanks for information. The faculty are MDs, PhDs and RNs at the school in NJ. The students are not going through clinical rotations like a medical school. They are required to do certain hours of volunteering (shadowing, hospital, clinics) after school. They do a year long Capstone project in Medical Innovation course under the guidance a medical professional in the community/local university. They have numerous clubs and no shortage of regular ECs at their school. They have co-ed sports team - soccer, softball, basket ball, tennis etc. They can attend ECs such as musicals, dance and marching band at their home district HS.
Students take extra AP exams on their own via their home school district in the county. Students also have life long EC activities like playing musical instruments piano, violin, classical dance (e.g Bharat Natyam, Kathak ) etc.
They are extremely competitive with regular school students in NJ.