Thread for BSMD 2020-2021 Applicants (Part 2)

If kid is interested in computational research I would go with Stanford. I would take Harvard or Stanford over any UG or any BSMD. My S didn’t get either for UG, otherwise I would have paid over Vandy full tuition to have that once in life opportunity and no need of loans.

My recommendation is to choose Harvard over Stanford for pre-med. For engineering/computer science, I would recommend Stanford.

Boston area is full of universities. In addition to Harvard and MIT, there are Tufts, BU, UMass, Suffolk, BC, Northeastern all within the same general area.
There are many more in the state like Amherst, Williams, Wellesley, Smith college, Clark, Mt. Holyoke, WPI, Holy cross etc… All these colleges will offer pre-med. In addition to pre-med, the colleges offer other health care related majors such as Pharmacy, Physician Asst. Nursing etc.

Boston has top hospitals like Mass general, Beth Israel, Boston Childrens, Dana Farber, Brigham and Womens, Boston medical center etc… The Longwood medical area itself is huge and has ability to accommodate internships/shadowing/volunteering etc… for all the above and more…

I wouldn’t worry about some healthy competition for a kid like your S.

I listed BU as NMF first choice, and got some grant from BU…not sure if its related though

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Thank you! Congrats to everyone

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Got into BU SMED today!! Did not receive NMF scholarship tho

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Hi, Im still kind of confused trying to find the match rates for UofR school of med - did anyone else find them?

Congratulations on BU SMED !!!

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BU SMED has better reputation obviously but it is not the only measure you should go by. Have you had a chance to visit both the places? Where do you feel more excited to spend the next 7 years? What about the financial aspects unless your family doesn’t have to worry about? Med school is mostly in one’s own hands, what one makes out of it. Remember I was mentioning about this student yesterday in GWU context, s/he chose GWU over BU and few other better known names than GWU.

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Yes there are ample opportunities for every one. As long as one is willing to put in the effort to look out and seek. Have known a SMED student doing research all 3 years of undergrad at BUSM, Dana Faber and one of the Brighams I think. Another had scribe position with an otolaryngologist at Mass Eye and Ear. Another not even from BU, MCPH or something (pharmacy related undergrad) had this opportunity at Harvard Med school for significant time.

Boston beats every where else in terms of the location and opportunities and can be considered the health care capital of the country.

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@SeekingAdvice123 - In that case, REMS is really good. You should feel proud and happy!

Though I have not received my decision for Pitt GAP yet (I gave the interview in the beginning of March and will hear from them mid-April), which one would be considered better, Pitt GAP or BU SMED?

Yeah so nice, the number of acceptances seems to have gone up directly proportional to the number of applicants to the program this time (seems twice from last year as some one said). Will be interesting to see how many will accept considering they seem to have practically eliminated the NMF price breaks.

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For BU SMED Tuition… they say it is ~80,000 a year without scholarship/grants…does that number go up for us BSMD kids considering we have to take those summer courses? I have heard that summer classes are more pricey in most colleges

@ashi2003 - Congratulations on BU SMED acceptance.

IMO, UPitt SOM is really much better than BU SOM. So, definitely Pitt GAP over BU SMED.

You should consider cost, location, weather also before making the final decision

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Actually summer tuition price is half that of fall and spring semester rate. But you will be spending extra on summer housing I guess. Also they used to allow students to take few courses at their respective local community colleges (mostly to satisfy liberal arts/humanities reqs) not sure if still doing so.

The program has in built saving of 1 year tuition and living costs anyway. It is as if you are getting a 20k/year from a 8 year BS/MD program.

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You are better off worrying about that when you have all your acceptances at hand.

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Oh ok, thank you very much!

The same holds true for study abroad programs. Costs are half compared to fall and spring for summer. One SMED student went for two study abroads. One in summer of freshman year to sydney and another in spring of junior year to madrid which got cut short by the pandemic.

@ay2021

Congrats.

Not 100% sure but Yale perhaps supecedes Columbia unless you want to enjoy NYC ( we live close by and D also accepted to Columbia BME).

Harvard and Stanford both are topnotch and perhaps supercede Yale/Colulmbia and either one should be fine although for Engg. Stanford is stronger ( and better weather) whereas liberal arts Harvard and pure science perhaps toss-up.

For tecchies, I would put MIT and Caltech at the same league ( or even better) and Caltech supercedes perhaps ALL ( Big Bang Theory!) because of small size and best global brains.

My D also wants to let JHU BME ( Full Schol) go for Columbia and we wait IVY day- all BMEs. She is waitlisted Caltech. She has NY based MD.

What major?

Unless it is 25k, it is not presidential award. May be something else.

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