What is the opinion of these programs:
MY D got into all of these:
UCF BMS, VCU Gmed, UMKC, Drew/Rutgers, Union/AMC, WashJeff/Temple.
@neurochic - Need more info to give an opinion, especially costs and any career goals (like branching out to administration or research or public health etcâŠ)
@neurochic Send her to Union/AMC with my D! Just kidding. @srk2017 is right. We need more info.
Hello - have been reading the comments over the past month and have really appreciated the guidance and thoughts. Wanted to ask the experts on their views of Hofstraâs program vs Brooklynâs. Hofstra seems more up and coming and better funded vs Brooklynâs essentially free for NY residents. Can anyone speak to the respective quality of the programs, to an untrained eye, the match list seems fairly similar.
On another note - someone mentioned to us that their child did not go to a BAMD program because they felt they could not get into a specialty like urology coming from anything but a top medical school. Can anyone speak to the veracity of this statement.
Thank you for all the help and congrats to everyone accepted into a program.
thanks for sharing UCSD profile. Not sure if I am reading correctly or not, but donât see 10 were bsmd out of 13 on that PDF. Can you elaborate further please.
Of the 134 total, 110 were med students admittees, of which 10 were medscholars. So effectively stats are for 100 who entered the medschool from the traditional route.
@BSMDQuest - Welcome to the group and be ready to hear contrasting opinion (especially from me) 
Going to BSMD wonât prevent someone from getting a speciality residency. It all depends on how they do in the med school (USMLE scores) as well as how they do with with specific rotation (LORs). Also, some of the specializations are fellowships so depends on residency performance. I know FMGs (Foreign Medical Graduates) who did residency in community hospital but got fellowship in Top 10 med school.
@neurochic Drexel BA-BS/MD acceptance decision was emailed out on Monday, March 25th.
@srk2017 thanks - I guess the heart of the question is this, and I know there was some talk about this before - IF the medical school doesnât matter than what is being ranked, from a practical perspective take two kids, one at UCLA and one at AMC/Hofstra/SUNY etc., same board scores, lets say similar experience, what if anything does the UCLA graduate have over the other one
@sunitacarmen oh I see you meant 10 PRIME-HEq aka med-scholars out of 134 total medicine class, not from 13 Asian Indian.
Welp, thatâs it for me. Congrats to everyone who got into a program! Iâm sure you all (whether you got in or not, whether youâre going to a program or not) will do wonderful things in the future (and now)!
@BSMDQuest - UCLA may give better research experience (but not always true since competition is fierce esp from grad students) and UCLA LORs may carry more weight given the faculty reputation.
@sunitacarmen UCSD med scholars program used to take 12 students but was discontinued in 2017. so looks like 2 dropped our or went to some other program.
@bsmdquest Congrats on having a great choice to make! I wonât comment too much on the âhighâ vs. âLowâ ranked med school question, except to say that it seems to make the most difference for someone looking to go into research or academic medicine - not that much for someone looking to go into private practice.
With regard to Brooklyn vs. Hofstra, personally, I would take Brooklyn. Its a tough call. Hofstra is an excellent med school that is quickly moving up in rankings. Brooklyn/SUNY is far less expensive. The other downside to Hofstra, in my daughterâs opinion is that they only allow 1 try at the MCAT. Brooklyn allows three. She has no fears about getting a good GPA, but the possibility of having a bad day on the MCAT and then losing your seat in the program was very worrisome to her. If you are an excellent test taker, that might not be as much of a concern for you.
@gallentjill thanksâŠthatâs our underlying fear on Hofstra as well in terms of being at risk to a bad test day, we know somebody who went Duke undergrad and is not at Hofstra, choosing it over SUNY, but that obviously is post regular graduation, the undergraduate experience seems similar at the two schools. Our other consideration to the decision is what research and work opportunities are available during the undergraduate years, we donât have a great answer to that yet.
@gallentjill - I agree, that Hofstra rule is stupid. I donât think you can repeat USMLE and may be the school is aiming for high USMLE scores and donât want to have those who have test anxiety.
not that we have this option, but would you answer change if NJMS was thrown into the mix?
@srk2017 My wild guess with Hofstra is that they will be slowly phasing out this program. (I have no evidence for this, just a gut feeling). The program made sense when the med school was brand new, but it is quickly rising in reputation and ranking. At this point, it only serves to help the undergrad attract a few high stat students and I donât know if that will be enough to keep it going. They used to allow more than one try on the MCAT.
EDIT: You can retake USMLE if you fail, but you canât retake it to raise your score.
how common is retaking the MCAT exam (for regular admission candidates), is it like SAT/ACT where it is generally accepted for students to take more than once?
@BSMDQuest
Just to clarify: have you heard back from NJMS?