@OldSchoolMD 
No noâŠnot for the instate status⊠D wants us to support her in all aspects as she is the first kid in our family to choose to become a physician and she wants us to witness all her success stories in this journey thatâs it
@NoviceDad Thank you so much.Will definitely keep a list of those schools and neighborhoods if we decide on Pitt.
@grtd2010 â In my opinion, based on the difficulty of being admitted, ALL US medical schools are very good. My comments regarding the lure of the guarantee are really limited to the schoolâs desire to attract high stat kids to a UG they wouldnât otherwise consider.
While itâs true that most of the affiliated med schools are not top 20, and that most of them wouldnât be first choices if the kids could all go wherever they wanted, I am very well aware that the competition for acceptance to US med schools is brutal, and that 60% of applicants end up nowhere every year.
The fact is, no US medical school needs a BS/MD program to attract an abundance of well qualified candidates, but most of our kids would not be attracted to the UGs running the BS/MD programs if they did not offer the BS/MD program. My proof of this â how many, on this board or elsewhere, know of kids who are rejected from the BS/MD program and still go to the UG (not counting Brown or Northwestern, which are both very highly regarded UGs)?
P.S. - I live in the area, and am very familiar with LKSOM!
Has anyone recieved an interview from NJMS after being forwarded from Caldwell?
@whitecane is there a debate between upitt/vcu/umdesi? ? hands down upitt for both UG PG exp⊠your D will breeze through 3.7âŠ
I have heard silence from them after the preliminary interview⊠I am assuming that my application was not forwarded from Caldwell to NJMS, and that I have been rejected 
However, if you know that your application has already been forwarded, I would send them a quick email if it has been more than 2 weeks since it got forwarded
@anthonydavis I too did not hear about being forwarded from Caldwell so I emailed them and found out I was forwarded, hopefully you were as well!
@whitecane
out personal experience with UMKC, we didnât like the school besides all 6 year hoopla. If you are true OOS (not even regional), prepare to shell tons of money for UG. I remember very well that finance office guy walked onto stage with jeans and hanging belt, sorta semi-cowboy impression with one page slide about financial aid, it gave me the impression, irrespective of your financial situation this is just a pure business. Also we felt from student info from stage, more like prepared answers then free flow. Whether one wants to be a good Dr by going their own pace or rush into something that is prone to high burn out. Based on after 2 Q exp with NU UG, I am certain that UMKC wonât be good choice for my son.
PITT GAP and VCU have no experience. However this is my take on any conditional BS/MD based on my S SLU med scholar application exp, ask similar questions to ones personal situation.
- [] If you are required to maintain certain GPA, then why you want to tie yourself to a medical school only? Here answer can vary from affirmative to very negative based on your personal situation. e.g. a student with physician parents wants to grab that opportunity and run, while a first generation student may wants to think twice b4 tied to one SOM. If it is your dream SOM, then go for it, finance become irrelevant in long run.
[] if you are smart enough to maintain higher GPA, you are certainly smart enough to do good on MCAT, then why you stuck with one SOM and presumably high UG cost? Counter argument, if you canât maintain that GPA in conditional BS/MD program, most likely you canât maintain that GPA in other UGs and therefore you are not justifying to be a Dr and therefore go to other career route. My viewpoints for a Dr is not a business rather a blessing to society.
GPA and MCAT is not everything, however it is a foundation for a strong quality Dr.
Also believe that Financial equality at end of SOM <> Quality equality among Drs. I see board certification as minimum requirements, not as best possible outcome.There are so many crap shoot Drs out there just like crap shoot admission process.
Oh, good to know @pun2018 ! Best of luck to you!
@NJDad00 How can 4-6 Temple PPHS help Temple University to raise its profile in general ? May be these 4-6 students can help professors to conduct research, raise overall GPA of the graduating class, raise overall learning experience in a classroom. Temple also provides many full-tuition scholarships to high stats kids. The flagship state university of New Jersey, Rutgers also provides full-tuition scholarships to many high stats kids.
UPitt or an other medical colleges that do not need MCAT - I think it is always better to take MCAT and be prepared for the worse. One of my friendâs son joined BS/MD college leaving ivy league colleges and completed GPA requirements but could not continue in the 8 year program because of some reasons. He could not apply to any other colleges as he did not take MCAT as it is not required. Now he is taking a year off and preparing for MCAT.
I called NJMS a few days ago and they said they are still reviewing applications @pun2018 @anthonydavis
Agree with what you said, I was also thinking on same lines, it beats me how a handful of students with super stats is expected to raise the overall profile of a school with intakes of thousands of students.
On a related note about Rutgers, when I asked my Dâs junior in high school and valedictorian, and also junior to her in her current program as to what would have been his options had he not gotten into this program. To this he listed few schools and other BS/MD programs, but that perhaps Rutgers with full ride may have been on top of that list.
Thanks for the info, @themedgirl1 !
@grtd2010 â you are absolutely correct about 4-6 students not really moving the needle from a mean GPA or SAT standpoint, but for some reason the schools still think it is important to attract these kids.
I think that just having the program does raise a schoolâs profile. I also think they like having these kids on campus, in the classrooms and in the dorms to elevate the experience of the other kids around them. If not, then why bother offering any inducements at all, such as merit scholarships, to attract them? The Ivies and many of the other top ranked schools sure donât!
By the way, my observations were not directed at Temple specifically, but at all of the programs. Also, I donât mean to suggest that the programs are not useful or worthwhile. Iâm just observing that they are really not free lunches, that you give up something for the guarantee, and that they have a motive beyond providing a service to you for offering the guarantee. I also really, really believe that most of the kids who are accepted to these programs are truly spectacular, and that they do not face the same uncertainty in applying to medical school via the regular route that most other applicants face, and that the programs exploit the risk aversion of families that extrapolate the averages to their situation in selling the advantage of the conditional guarantee.
Yes, some kids will need the guarantee to go to medical school, because they will not do so well in the program and would not be a competitive candidate regular route (the BS/MD program in that case then serves as valuable insurance), but I firmly believe most kids who are good enough to make it through the screen to be accepted to a BS/MD program are good enough to make it through a somewhat easier screen later to be accepted to medical school.
âOne of my friendâs son joined BS/MD college leaving ivy league colleges and completed GPA requirements but could not continue in the 8 year program because of some reasons. He could not apply to any other colleges as he did not take MCAT as it is not required. Now he is taking a year off and preparing for MCAT.â
- while thatâs a good point for taking the MCATs, I would think that whatâs missing in the story above (...â because of some reasonsâ) is critical. For programs not requiring MCATs, some may not care if you take them, while a few may state that if you decide to take the MCATs (which wasnât required), it is expected you get above a certain threshold (e.g. CWRU I think had this) and if not, then Iâm not exactly sure if thatâs cause enough to put your medical school seat at risk. One would need to explore this with their program. Of course, if there is any possibility that one would be seeking to go to medical school elsewhere, either voluntarily (student choice) or involuntary (program choice), then they should be expected to and be prepared to take the MCATs.
- if there is concern about test taking abilities (if they feel that they can use more experience with standardized testing, which most of these students probably donât), there are many practice tests one can do on their own or in an organized setting. Itâs the preparation, studying, and mastery of the material thatâs important in the big scheme of things (again, this is in reference to those who are not required to take the MCATs), and the score is just a formality. Keep in mind, MCAT scores are irrelevant when applying to residency (as you mentioned, itâs the USMLE specifically part 1 that matters).
I think there is also a longer game at play here. Some of these brilliant kids will go on to do brilliant things throughout their lives. They will become distinguished alumni and that will impress future applicants. Its not all about raising the immediate the stats. This is another reason why schools are willing to compete for high stat kids in other fields, with free rides and other enticing packages. Some of those kids will rise to be leaders in their respective fields and raise the status of the school.
Also, you canât look at the BSMD programs in isolation. They are part of coordinated efforts to bring in high stat students across the disciplines. This is why you will find significant numbers of high stat students in many low ranking universities. Donât forget that many of todayâs âhotâ colleges used to be low ranking schools. In the very recent past, schools like NYU, Wash U, Boston College, etc. were considered safeties. Todayâs lower ranked schools are looking to make the same transition.
Boston decision date moved to March 23, Admission decisions will be posted on BU portal along with email notification on March 23
@JJ2019 I am not. I am in biochemistry and work at the nearby institutes, and I serve on the interview committee for the Scholar programs.
To clarify: I am an upperclassman, not staff! Sorry if that was unclear.
@Maculata,
Do you know how many were interviewed this year.