yeah, some people think Univ Pitt’s under grade should be easy, but neither pre-med nor GAP.program…My DD study much harder compare with while she was in high school.
GL
ops, how can I recall a message ? sent to wrong group
…
Reg BU, when we were there at the initial BU SMED interview, Dr.Zamansky the program director said to us we keep the GPA 3.2 and MCAT 505, but all over SMED students average around 3.8 and MCAT of around 518.
He said he does not want to put any pressure on SMED kids as he know they would do good anyways.
In last 10yrs only one person was let go due to GPA requirements as per him.
@sajju786 that makes sense if there is a low GPA requirement, its a win-win situation for students and administrators as administrators also don’t have to make hard decisions, hence keeping the attrition rate negligible. Considering prog director words on its face value (have no reason not to believe director), enrollment statistics speaks differently, that means people changes their mind is a major reason from enrolled SMED students to lower enrolled SOM students, kind a dumb for a student who admitted and accepted BS/MD seat and seems unusual behavior for BS/MD students. But if that GPA req become higher, picture would be different. By one analogy 3.2 BU GPA is equivalent to 3.7 at others, by that standard 3.8 SMED average GPA achieved should be 4.25 at others, which doesn’t make sense.
As program director has that confidence on quality of admitted students, they should raise that bar from 3.2 to atleast 3.5 based on proven track record, that is what happening at other programs e.g. NU HPME where they increase from 3.5->3.65>3.7 in just 3 years.
Folks
Except for WashU’s draconian 3.8 GPA and 97 percentile MCAT requirements, most BS/MD programs have “reasonable” asks. Yes, even NU’s 3.7 GPA and UPitts 3.75 GPA is doable.
Let this be one factor in your decision making but consider are you placing too much weightage to this factor?
I would place a student’s subjective assessment of that univ and use that to break a tie between two programs.
Why do some schools (specifically UCONN) require interviews and letters of rec for BSMD students? Is it a formality or is there a purpose for it? Wouldn’t this remove the guarantee of the program?
@uravgperson it is strictly a formality, and does not play any part in matriculation to the medical school.
@sajju786 - That’s interesting to know since I know one girl from TX who couple of years back didn’t meet the GPA requirement and dropped out of BU.
What Dr. Zamansky may have alluded to could have been the average acceptance figures at BU SOM (518/3.83) and may have suggested that some of the smed students also achieving that kind of stats, even though they are not required to. Also they don’t prepare that comprehensively for MCAT as traditional students do. Perhaps couple of months of Summer preparation at most, with most self studying (but still some cracking the 520 mark).
3.8 is a rather high end figure for smeds, not the average, even though the top students of the program tend to be ~4.0. (I keep telling D not to obsess over the grades since she is not required to, and let the fellow pre med students get better grades, she says I am not trying to beat others, but get that kind of grades anyway, what do you want me to do?)
sorry BU doesn’t allow grade distribution. 
If someone is way above the curve in a test(s), it impacts all others, right? The Profs instinctively tend to raise the bar.
Actually the tough Prof I referred to earlier, did warn the batch upfront that he not only compares within the class (exclusive one) but also across previous batches. If he feels the current batch is sub par, he won’t have hesitations in handing out more C range grades.
by that standard all that professor need is a single super par batch that will guarantee C for all future batches.Students are still getting As means that BU hasn’t admitted that super par batch yet.
seems like professor is too smart LOL
@NoviceDad
“you only gain some financial advantage (~ 60K over a lifetime in my quick calc) if you go the traditional route without any gap year over 7yr BS/MD - if you are earning at the lower end of the physician salary range.”
- why would this be if you’re in school for one less year? Or is this comparing two different schools?
Nonfinancially:
- yes, I believe he’s comfortably come to the conclusion to defer on the traditional route given his options.
- I think he realizes that med school prestige more important than undergrad and that BSMD more impressive than most.
- I believe he’s sold in the BSMD route.
Thanks for your input! Much appreciated.
@OldSchoolMD
I assumed you have full scholarship for undergrad and only pay for boarding and lodging. So taking a cost of 15k only for first 4 years. I also assumed 7% discounting.
You can get loans around 5% so I may have over discounted.
Again these were quick back of envelope calc.
@PPofEngrDr
“ I would go with BU. You would have in house Red Sox rivalry for rest of life.”
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. My son already stated that if (and when) coming to BU, he has to stock up on his NY/Yankees wardrobe to ‘not forget his true colors.’? This is what he’s concerned with, not the GPA/MCAT requirements.?
Are there any advantages of 8 year program over 7 year programs with extra one year to build your profile in research or clinical settings during undergrad which can help with residency match later after med school ?
@trustybsms - Research certainly helps if targeting top residency programs. You can do get research experience in medical school also. If 7 year program allows lot of AP/IB credits, you can have time for research.
Has anyone committed to attending Purchase’s BSMD program with Upstate or is still deciding?