<p>My D really wanted to get into an elite private school, and had great grades and exra-curriculars to back it up, but got rejected by the IVYs. She is really disappointed and knows that she wants to be a doctor . She has the following acceptances:
1) regents scholarship at UC Berkeley pre-med(in state: cheapest option and preferential choice of classes and research opportunities due to regents) ; needs to compete for med school in 4 years)
2) north western undergrad( expensive); needs to compete for med school in 4 years)
3) BS/MD 7 year accelerated medical program at boston university( assured medical seat so long as you fulfill the minimal academic requirements)this will eliminate the need to reapply for medical school after undergrad years and shaves a year off
She however does not know what to choose. She really wants to chose form the first two as she does not feel that the undergraduate experience will be lacking at BU, and both the BU undergrad and med school are not ranked very high by the USnews .
She is very focused and feels she can try to get into a better medical school if she attends a better undergrad college and being able t work with higher caliber professors. However she is afraid to throw away the security of a guaranteed medical school admission.
Will appreciate any advice, what would you do.</p>
<p>You don’t mention the cost of BU for UG.</p>
<p>Of course, huge difference in cost. 56 K for 7 years( no scholarship!)
however , one would have to incur that for 4 years anyway wherever you go to med school(the regular route)
The additional cost for the first three years, is it worth it for the guaranteed admission?</p>
<p>I would say, if affordability is not an issue and the matriculation requirements of BU program are reasonable, I would advise my kid to take it (I did. Alas it didn’t go too far :))</p>
<p>Every year, about 8-9% of applicants with 38+ MCAT and 3.8+ GPA end up not getting admitted into any medical school. Not knowing anything more about those cases, one has to be respectful of the vagaries of the ways of admission into medical schools.</p>
<p>Guaranteed medical admit is hard to pass up these days. But, if your daughter does well at Northwestern or Berkeley, I’m sure she’ll be afforded with many med school options. Where does she want to be? I think that is the biggest question.</p>
<p>1.) Are you absolutely sure that Berkeley is the cheapest option?
1b.) By how much?
2.) I am not a fan of guaranteed programs in general, but Boston University is a fine school on its own merits and it’s worth considering in that respect.</p>
<p>IF your DD chooses Cal, simply be prepared to stay on this forum and SDN :eek: to make sure you are fully informed. I was not really impressed with the advising DD got at Cal, but her experience there was very good, a solid B+/A-. She would have enjoyed a private school with it’s smaller classes and closer relationships to professors and, likely, better advising, or at least more personalization in the advising, but she also learned to succeed in the huge pond. She learned about playing the game and dealing with the system whilst still being yourself and that is all helpful now.</p>
<p>"feels she can try to get into a better medical school if she attends a better undergrad college "
- Not correct. Most important when applying to Med. School: college GPA, MCAT score, EC’s, personal growth. Name of UG school is at lower leve of importance.
BTW, UC Berkeley is the most represented UG in my D’s Med. School class (she is a third year Med. Student). D. was also accepted to Northwestern Med. School but choose to attend somewhere else. D. has graduated from state public UG. She was in bs/md, but her program was NOT accelerated, so she had full college experience and in addition she was allowed to apply out and still retain her spot in the program. This was a huge benefit as taking MCAT and going to interviews knowing that you are basically already in Medical School removes lots of stress.</p>
<p>This is a tough one; ordinarily I’d recommend taking the BU offer, but unless I read the post incorrectly, your daughter doesn’t want to go to BU. Not sure how you’ll get around this. All that said, BU has a good reputation and turning down guaranteed medical school admission for a student who knows she wants to be a physician is a calculated risk, at best. The whole application process-the cost, the interviews, the travel, the stress waiting for responses-is something that is well worth skipping.</p>
<p>Is there a minimum MCAT score required for that guaranteed spot? I have seen many posts on SDN over the years either with kids not getting that minimum MCAT or deciding to apply widely, especially after an excellent MCAT.</p>
<p>BU’s program requires that the student get a 3.20 GPA and 30 MCAT to remain eligible to enter the medical school. There is also this:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[Seven-Year</a> Liberal Arts/Medical Education Program » Academics | Boston University](<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/academics/cas/programs/seven-year-liberal-arts-medical-education-program/]Seven-Year”>http://www.bu.edu/academics/cas/programs/seven-year-liberal-arts-medical-education-program/)</p>
<p>^These stats are not that difficult to achieve for most pre-meds and more so for a type of student who was accepted to bs/md. Keep in mind that kids in the combined bs/md programs are very high caliber students who not only have sufficient background to do exceptionally well in college but also have great work ethic and study skills and usually are involved in school outside of academics. They are on their successful path if they just stick to what they used to do to accomplish the goal of getting into combined bs/md.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1484178-if-you-high-school-please-read-before-posting.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1484178-if-you-high-school-please-read-before-posting.html</a></p>
<p>when I saw “med school are not ranked very high by the USnews”, I covered my eyes. BU will not even give your D a look, 4 yrs from now, if she choose to apply traditionally. Very popular school for its location, very reputable med school in NE. Although that 56k/yr is a bit of a killer. I agree with another poster about checking the quality of pre-med advising, or you have to learn the rope, or come to CC for excellent advising.</p>
<p>I still say that your D’s personal preference is the most important choosing between these schools. Personally being in the combined bs/md played very positive role in my D’s journey, but her case was very different from many others, being a very rare when bs/md participant applied out. Basically D. had the best out of bs/md and regular route paths. However, she still pointing out to me on a numerous occasions that the personal fit between student and the UG is the most important to allow the personal growth along with academic preparation and various pre-med opportunities. She see this defficiency in some other Medical students coming from the very top UGs in the country. Do not overlook the whole picture and do not undermind the personal preferences.</p>