Thread for BSMD Applicants 2019

@sunitacarmen D also got the Stonybrook accpetance and no word on BSMD.

@123wz321 Are you an ORM (read Asian including Indian subcontinent ) ? It is very tough competition among ORMS. Your UW GPA as you said may be a factor.

My S still does not get Pitts supplements? Does Pitts still process? Or close out? Anyone here still waits for supplements?

@rjqz18 I do not recall seeing a set deadline for Pitts for usually they email the supplementals within 2 weeks of UG conformation. The interview invites are sent around last week of Jan. When did your S receive Pitts UG confirmation?

Has the Stony Brook bsmd deadline passed?

Did anyone else get information from GW?

@GolenStateDad, My S did not get anything from Pitts yet.

@sunitacarmen @gallentjill @bsmdseekerskg

Re: Stonybrook
You FIRST need to be admitted to their HONORS program.
It is this program which refers your application to the med school for further review.
Medical school invites about ~60 for interviews.

@Cherax
Stonybrook deadline is Jan 15.

Anybody heard anything from TCNJ/NJMS, Rutgers 7 year med programs?

@hopefulbutstress Rutgers phone interviews have been scheduled I believe

@Cherax Thanks. There are multiple feeder schools to NJIT and the feeder schools do the preliminary interview/filter. You mean TCNJ interviews for TCNJ/NJMS are scheduled? Did anyone from TCNJ receive the interview?

I thought that the Rutgers Newark Program starts their phone interviews in February. At least thatā€™s what it says on their website.

Also did anyone else receive any update at all on their file review for the Newark BA/MD?

Let me rephrase. Rutgers has contacted preliminary applicants for a phone interview for Rutgers (Newark BA/MD)/NJMS. The interviews start tomorrow.

@Metsfan7860 Oh wow thatā€™s very cool. And yes I did call and ask them about my situation since I was on waitlist. The person who answered the phone said that i would have to call mr wanyonyi about it (who didnā€™t reply), but the person who responded to my email said that I would just have to apply again like a regular transfer would, so thatā€™s what Iā€™m doing.
But my main concern is, is there really only one transfer student in your entire class? Then, getting in as a transfer must have a really really low chanceā€¦ well, im still going to try because, why not. itā€™s a really good opportunity and plus itā€™s my last chance to try again lol. im pretty sure im going to write three new essays AFTER my first semester and before jan 8 because #finalsweek. they did recommend that I RETAKE a standardized exam (either sat or act) but I simply did not have any time to review and study all over again, so im just going to send the scores that I already had.

Oh and I also wanted to know, how is your schedule like? do you have really early classes, really late classes, if your schedule the same every day, how many classes do you take per semester?

Thanks!

One of my interviewers told me that some students would take the MCAT their senior year summer and consequently become admitted to a BS/MD program through the medical school? Iā€™m not sure exactly how this works but at least with REMS this is possibleā€¦

Iā€™ve been getting a lot of questions from friends about why D is so set on BS/MD program. For her, its that being a doctor is a life dream and she thinks this is her best shot at assuring a place, but others are telling me this is wrongā€¦that a kid who can get into the BSMD will have no trouble getting into med school. I was wondering if any of you want to share why you are choosing this route over the regular path, especially since most of these schools require the MCAT and a certain GPA anyway.

@gallentjill Exactly, I am getting the same questions from my friends too. Now he is changing his mind towards traditional path too. Looks like BSMD is harder than Ivyā€™s to get in. Thx

@gallentjill, @hoop897

There is no right and wrong approach. It all boils down to a number of factors some of them I will try to list (infact have done so earlier in this thread few months ago) but am sure will miss out on some points.

Your childā€™s comfort level of maintaining or even exceeding the current trajectory of academic rigor, extra curriculars, volunteering, reasearch, leadership activities for the next 4 years, the familyā€™s financial conditions now vs future, the fall back options if things were not to work out as expected, the willingness (or lack of) risk taking (bird in hand), the openness to taking a year or few gap years ā€¦

I have known students who were the top cream in their schools like Stuyvesant and TJHSST, who went ahead and opted for the direct route. I am sure they and their parents were confident of making it big in the traditional route, but were more comfortable with this way for their own reasons. Either way one has nothing to lose by giving it a shot in this route. Either you get in, weigh all your options at that point and then decide whether to take it or go traditional. Or you donā€™t get it but will have a good exposure, motivation, focus and headstart as to how to prepare for the next 4 years.

Speaking for my child, the two biggest motivations of taking the direct route:

  1. The quality of undergrad experience. She really loved the freedom and variety of liberal arts education she can explore in the program in a stress free manner and without having to impress others later by taking courses she doesnā€™t necessarily like. And avail the study abroad options, she had been to one so far and will be going for another during the undergrad years.
  2. The med school. Knowing her (and from similar caliber students prior to her who went traditional route), we knew she could make it big, like going to Johns Hopkins med school or similar if she chose traditional route. But she was content with the prestige of the med school she would be attending with this option and so were we as parents.

She also loved the city (location), one of the most popular destinations of students nation and worldwide.

Also as someone pointed out, it may be worth factoring in the fact that 45/50 accepted to Penn State Jefferson program in the latest cycle chose to enroll. Something perhaps most unexpected even for the administrators of that program themselves (who may had been counting on a 50% ā€œyieldā€ i.e. 25 enrollees, as per the trends in the past)

People can say what they want but at the end of the day, getting into ANY US MD school is harder than the majority of top undergrad schools- just look at the acceptance rates. Even supposedly ā€˜bottom-tierā€™ md schools like Drexel have 8% acceptance rates; thatā€™s lower than more than half of the schools in the US News Top 20 Undergrad University rankings.

Furthermore, this idea that just because you can get into a ivy or top school means you can get into med school is inherently wrong. Thereā€™s multitudes of horror stories all over the internet of pre-meds going into Hopkins and getting weeded out- the competition in college is much greater than that of high school.

There are no guarantees that just because you were the top of your high school, you will do well in college. College courses are an entirely different beast, as the pace and grading is much more intense than that of AP or honors high school classes.