<p>Hi,</p>
<p>Like most of you, I'm torn between choosing a top ivy or one of the BA/MD programs.</p>
<p>Right now, I'm leaning towards one of the BA/MD programs but I was wondering, if I attend and learn that it wasn't the right choice and want to transfer out how difficult will it be to transfer into a top ivy like H or Y or schools like stanford?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>Don't know about the transferring, but I'd say that the possibility that medicine might not be for you is the absolute #1 reason why I think that combined programs are not a good idea.</p>
<p>I'm a current medical student, so I know that it is a long road. Most people who come in freshman year as pre-med don't make it to Organic the following fall. (At my big Land Grant University gen chem class had 4 250+ sections, Organic I only had 2, Organic II only had 1) </p>
<p>The biggest thing that will affect your transferring out is how the curriculum is designed. Are you taking MD classes right off the bat along with your BA requirements, or do they give you time to get situated. If you're paying for MD classes from the first semester, even if just an intro to medicine or whatever, it's unlikely that those credits will transfer and you've not only wasted $$$ but also time on a career that you realized isn't for you. The problem is even worse if it takes you 2-3 years to find out that you don't like medicine or you get burned out. Again, lots of time and money for something that you aren't into any more.</p>
<p>Personally, I'd believe that getting your BA/BS any where then going to medical school is the smarter choice. If you're going to an Ivy caliber school then your odds (assuming you do well) are slightly increased to getting into medical school. And if you realize that medicine isn't for you, then you're still going to get a degree from a top college.</p>