There are three high rise buildings with controlled access garage parking 5 mins from the med school: the view, Manhattan, and metro. Most students find either a sublet there or find a condo to buy there if you are really into that kind of thing.
You can find a nice two bedroom for $1200 at those places or a one bedroom for around $800-$900 if you’re lucky and not too picky.
Lots of people also filter into Union hill. Which is literally a 2 mins drive from the med school. One bedroom places there are super expensive at $1000 but nice two bedroom apartments are around $1600.
People also live in and around the KC plaza (which is the nicer areas of the city). Rent for two bedrooms there usually starts around $1800 and can go up to $2600 real quick with new buildings popping up with fancy amenities like wine coolers in the kitchen and private wine cellars and 24-7 concierge services.
Don’t worry the efflux of sixth years leaving at the end of may and early June will give you lots of options. Just don’t put it off till July. Than you’re in trouble.
So there’s a variety of options in and around KC. I believe they’ve reverted back to allowing BA/MD students to move out of the dorms after the Spring semester (vs. after the Summer semester - although all of your classes in the Year 2 summer will still be on the UMKC Volker undergrad campus). I would check just to make sure what current policy is.
In the Spring, you can get the “Apartments for Rent” book that you’ll find everywhere on campus and start hunting for apartments, as well as finding potential roommates in your class, so you can visit the place, see how it looks like, see exactly how much you’ll be paying, as there will be a lot of hidden fees/charges that won’t appear in the advertisement, etc. Definitely after summer campus for sure, you probably don’t want to be living at the dorm, if you can help it. You could probably get away with it in the Fall of Year 2 also, since your only off campus responsibility is Docent, but you’ll probably want more quiet study time during Year 2, when your classes are a bit harder. In Spring of Year 2, none of your courses will be on the UMKC Volker campus.
That being said, I know med students who became Dorm RAs during Year 2 (so room/board was free for them), so it’s not unheard of. Also, on-campus living alone tends to be more expensive overall, if you calculate it out as rent over 12 months. If you live at the dorms, you are required to buy a relatively expensive meal plan.
Some people buy a home and rent it out to roommates – that doesn’t happen very often, as most people in the class won’t have enough capital on hand to buy a house - not to mention the hassle of upkeep and repairs, property taxes, utility bills, eventually selling it back when you graduate hopefully to at least end up even, the housing market when you do sell it, etc. Some people also buy or usually rent a townhome or condo. Most students, though, are just going to rent apartments either living with roommates or by themselves. There were a few people whose families lived very close in Kansas City, so financially, they saved a lot in terms of rent, etc. by just living with parents – most people won’t be in this situation.
Most people aren’t going to be living in places like Overland Park, Mission, Lenexa, Shawnee, Shawnee Mission, etc. These are places that are very nice, but are way too far away when you take into account the traffic going into the city during the week. You don’t want to spend a long time on the road driving in order to make it to class lecture on time, or much more importantly, to get to your clerkship early enough so you can see and evaluate patients including those newly admitted overnight, have notes written in time before presenting on rounds with the attending, etc.
A lot of where you want to live will rely on commuting distance - I know some people lived at Longfellow Heights on Harrison Street because of how close it was to the med school (I’ve heard good and bad regarding perceived safety), so you could easily go home for a break in-between classes when all courses move to the Hill with HSF in Year 2 Spring. Union Hill is another popular place that is close enough but far enough, although tend to be higher in price just because it’s closer to Hospital Hill. Some people found places in Kansas City, KS which is closer to KU Med but also relatively close to UMKC Hospital Hill. I believe UMKC just recently built their own apartment complex at Hospital Hill in 2014, just very recently - http://info.umkc.edu/housing/housing/hospital-hill/, so I have no idea how much med students like living there. And of course there are always new finds, which one person finds it and has a good experience, which then many more people check it out as a possibility.
Other things to take into consideration – not feel like you’re “living at school” by being too close, maybe not feel like you’re “living” around med students (or at least the same med students) and get some break (although there are +s/-s for both scenarios), price (of course), amenities, how much you’ll save/lose on commuting time and gas with driving distance and if you have to drive home unexpectedly to get something, being close to grocery stores, etc.
Hey I’m looking to apply to the B.A. / M.D. program and was wondering if you can judge my stats and tell me if I would be able to qualify for an interview
Scores/GPA:
-GPA: Unweighted: 3.75
Weighted: 3.9
-SAT score: 1590* (Taken in Morocco and retaking on October 3rd in the U.S.)
Critical reading: 600
Math: 480
Writing: 510
Classes:
(I went to two different high schools, because I spent one year abroad so some classes will be marked with a star * to show that this was outside of the United States)
United States: Portland High School, Maine
Morocco: The American School of Tangier
-Honors English 9, 10
-Honors History 9,10
-Honors Algebra 1, Honors Geometry
-Honors Earth Science, Honors Biology
-Latin 1, 2 and 3*(Latin 3 was done independently abroad and I am dual enrolled so I get college credit)
-Ancient Greek
-English 11*
-International Relations*
-Algebra 2*
-Physics*
-Novice Arabic*
Community Service:
-Maine Medical Center Volunteer (48 hours)
-Tri for a Cure Volunteer
-Lyseth Elementary School Summer Fair (2 years)
-Setting up a science lab*
-More to come
Clubs/Activities/Sports:
-Robotics Club
-Film Club
-Flag Football*
-Lacrosse (2 years)
Honors:
- Corona Olivae certificate (National Medusa Mythology Exam)
- Maine Medical Center certificate of completion
- I also am applying to the National Honors Society
Extra Information:
I spent a year abroad in Tangier, Morocco with my family. There I attended the American School of Tangier and made new friends and learned many new things and learned a lot about different cultures. I think this will really diversify me and help me stand out as a candidate for an interview.
Also I will likely have a president of a University write one of my letters of recommendation, if that helps me at all.
I hope someone can help me I really want to know my chances about getting an interview.
@Regginald, to be honest a 1080 out of the 1600 points, since the Writing section is not considered, is quite low for BS/MD programs. You can see the averages here, which give somewhat of an idea: http://med.umkc.edu/bamd/admission-requirements-eligiblity/. It’s even more strict in terms of academics when it comes to out-of-state students, in terms of acceptances. You also don’t have much in terms of health care volunteering extracurricular activities and shadowing to show you know what the field encompasses. While you would likely classify as a URM (underrepresented minority) in medicine, your standardized test score would give an admissions officer pause about giving a BS/MD acceptance, especially one which runs 6 years long with no breaks.
I would definitely try to improve a lot on the SAT score, as well as get more healthcare oriented type activities.
I will add the following two things to what @Roentgen said above.
- If you can you should also take the ACT especially if you are considering UMKC. They really prefer that over the SAT. They will accept the SAT per their website but they convert it to an equivalent ACT score to judge candidates on the same level.
- Would you be applying this coming application cycle? Just trying to gauge how much time you have to modify your application.
Yup, @Blugrn6, is correct, @Regginald, if you can take the ACT and can do much better on it, then take that. Usually SATs are only allowed for out-of-state students applying, as you seem to be, since certain areas of the country, tend to take the ACT by default and certain areas of the country tend to mainly take the SAT. I believe in the Midwest, it’s mainly the ACT that is taken, vs. where you’re from in Maine on the NE coast, as well as on the West Coast and parts of the South, the SAT is usually taken: http://www.studypoint.com/ed/sat-and-act-test/
First of all thank you so much @Roentgen and @Blugrn6 for your help and advice. I am continuing to try an improve my application and create as much appeal as possible for this program. Your suggestions of raising my SAT score and taking the ACT are great ideas I am not the best standardized test taker in the world but am working everyday to try and improve my SAT score. Along with my score @Roentgen you also recommended getting more health care experience. I forgot to mention that in the summer of 2014 I was at Babson College for NYLF Careers in Medicine program, which lasted 2 weeks. I learned all about medicine talked to doctors and saw a live surgery. I also am planning to shadow my Oral Surgeon and another doctor. My volunteer and involvement in clubs is also something that I wish to improve. This fall I will try to enroll into as many clubs as possible and create the best application that I can for myself. Along with clubs I also just got my first job and started working yesterday and am excited to show that I am a responsible person. I also read on the website that you can apply early on October 15th, and expect a reply by December. I am really looking into that because it shows that I am interested in the program. Would this help me stand out because I see that not too many people have mentioned it in this thread. I really thank you guys so much for helping me and hope you can continue to do so. Hope to hear from you guys soon!
@Regginald, I think the early notification deadline overall, probably does not give as huge of a leg up as people think it does in terms of actually receiving an interview for the BA/MD program. The Early Notification deadline is October 15th and the ultimate application deadline is November 1st, so about 2 weeks difference. The difference between the two is WHEN you’re notified of having received an interview, so it’s more a processing issue that your application gets a 2 week head start. Since it’s not that huge of a difference – 2 weeks is nothing in any application cycle, I would aim for the application to be submitted by the October 15th date, so at least you have the added benefit of knowing by December, assuming your standardized test scores are back by then.
You can see the BA/MD application from this past application cycle, 2014-2015, posted by @bladerz1, posted here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18620976/#Comment_18620976, so you can see what they ask for, and what the essays were which will probably stay the same for this year, which you can work on over your summer, or what is left of it.
The Early Notification allows you to hear back in December on whether you got an interview or not, even though all interviews are given out in December and January — so I’m guessing January is when all the people who turned it by November 1st hear whether they got an interview of not. We never had this in my time (it was one deadline in November), so this is something relatively new (at least for me).
@regginald, I think the NYLF Careers in Medicine program, based on what I’ve googled is an excellent thing to put on your application in terms of healthcare oriented experiences. It also helps you explore the many careers available in medicine as well, all of which are important. UMKC usually looks at healthcare extracurriculars a lot more to assess that you’re dedicated to medicine, and specifically to being a physician. I also think it’s easy to get involved in quick physician shadowing in private practices in your community, or at community health centers that treat the indigent, etc.
That being said, definitely improve on your standardized test taking skills if you feel that is one of your weaknesses. It’s not the ONLY ability necessary to become a doctor, but you’ll be taking a lot of standardized exams in the physician pathway, regardless of whether it’s a BA/MD or the traditional 4 + 4 pathway of college and medical school.
As far as your enrollment in clubs, stick to the things you like and be involved in them. Don’t just go for everything, as admissions officers tend to look for experiences in which you make a good contribution and take a leadership role in. You’re limited on the application as to how many experiences you can put down, so you want to put down things in which you have a substantive role. It’s easier to do that when you actually like the club or organization that you’re a part of.
@Regginald I agree, I think you should try to turn the application in by October 15th.
What I don’t understand though is why this early deadline thing even exists. Must be that students are not turning them in early enough and the school has to deal with a bunch of late applicants.
Because when I applied, I got notified for an interview in December. So not sure what changed in the last couple years. Maybe the younger applicants who just got accepted can help us out because idk if this was a rule last year.
Second, I would imagine that most BA/MD students are super Type A and would turn their application in by October 15th. Not going to really give you much advantage other than knowing a few weeks before everyone else that you got an interview. All interviews take place in a 3-4 day span in February with 1-2 make up days in March for those who were delayed due to bad weather. That’s why I’m really confused, because they don’t even put you in a different category.
You should still do it though, because I agree at the very least it shows interest in the program and speeds up the processing of your application.
I agree with @Roentgen about what to put on your application. This applies to almost all applications you will fill out in most of your life. People look for quality, not quantity when it comes to EC involvement. Being a part of something and sticking to it long enough to get a leadership position shows commitment and passion to that cause. Have a bunch of different things on there just to fill up space indicates that you just did to fill your application, you don’t really care about it. Not saying that this is your case…I would say that you should stick to the organizations that you a part of now and instead of adding more, devote extra time to those to get a leadership position in them.
Thank you so much guys you’re insight and knowledge is so great for someone like me who is trying hard to succeed at being a doctor. My dad told me today that he can connect me with a Neuroscience Professor, and have him give me lab experience. Along with the lab he also told me that the Professor would be willing to write me letters of recommendation and anything else that I needed help on. I don’t know if it would be relevant to my application because of how little he knows about me and also that I would have a university president write one for me. What do you guys think?
Along with the lab I’ve yet to get in touch with my Oral Surgeon, but am hoping to do so the day of my surgery. He is a Oral Surgeon with degrees in Anesthesia, Medicine, and dentistry if that makes him more of an asset than a normal doctor.
Also with the clubs you guys make a good point and I hope to be apart of clubs that interest me. Should I certify myself in CPR and First Aid at my local Red Cross? It’s something that I’ve wanted to do but haven’t done and am wondering if that could boost my application up a slight amount.
Thanks
In all honesty, doing basic science (lab) research in high school won’t give you a huge leg up with respect to getting into the UMKC BA/MD program. I realize high school applicants probably try to do this reflexively now due to a perceived idea that it is one of the boxes that you just have to check off to get into med school in the first place, but that sentiment is very much misplaced. UMKC is just not a highly strong research-oriented type of school, and definitely not in lab research. The med school’s goal is to put out clinically practicing physicians who serve the community, with an extra emphasis in the curriculum in primary care — as demonstrated by Years 1 & 2 Docent (in which you work with physicians in Internal Med, Family Med, and Pediatrics), the 2 month Docent Rotation (a.k.a. Internal Medicine) done each year in Years 4-6, and 1/2 day Internal Medicine clinic each week in Years 3-6, and the 2 Family Medicine rotations you do - one in Year 4 and one in Year 5. So the application and recruiting process is slanted towards that.
It doesn’t mean UMKC does no research at all. They do it in very select, specific, and narrow specialties/areas, but they don’t do research in large amounts across many different specialty areas. You can see what research is currently done here: http://med.umkc.edu/research/. But if you were to participate in any research, and you definitely don’t have to at this stage, clinical research would be better.
You want letters of recommendation from people who know you very well and can speak well to your personal characteristics. I believe the letter of recommendation form is similar to this (although it will be emailed to them to fill out online to submit now): https://www.umkc.edu/admissions/docs/2009MedApplication.pdf (See page 15 and 16 - Reference Form)
I think learning First Aid and BCLS are perfectly fine things to add and is a good start, but I also recommend increased physician shadowing (something that you can easily rack up hours and complete), participating in blood drives, cancer drives, etc. This might give you some good ideas: https://www.volunteermatch.org/. The more immersion in healthcare type settings, the better.
So just as background, I’ll be starting junior year later this month and neither of my parents are in the medical profession, so I’m really thankful you are helping those of us who don’t directly know doctors we can ask. I’m Asian, but no pressure to become a doctor specifically, even though they’d be really proud if I did become a physician. I have several questions about the UMKC BA/MD program and about med school/medicine in general.
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How is the diversity like in terms of the UMKC medical school when it comes to their students?
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Did you feel like the AP/Honors science courses and/or the rigor of your high school prepared you somewhat for better handling the workload of the program?
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Do you think students that have parents who are doctors are at an advantage when it comes to handling medical school or getting through it, whether at UMKC or otherwise?
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Since you were talking to @Regginald on the topic of healthcare extracurriculars, I noticed that people applying to BS/MD programs, when they put down their entire CVs for their chances on getting into certain other BS/MD programs, that a lot of things they put down as healthcare volunteering experiences, aren’t necessarily working in the hospital related - things you would do as a med student, resident, etc. I know a lot of this is just because of competitiveness to get into these type of programs, but if you’re actually wanting to know whether becoming a physician, specifically, is right for you, what type of things should I be doing or should I just do like everyone else and just continue padding my CV? Are there certain specialties that I should or should not shadow to get an accurate view of clinical medicine? Are there things I should maybe ask with those who I am shadowing so that I have a better idea what it’s like to do this for a living?
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I know some of the cliche reasons that are often listed as to why you shouldn’t become a physician or go to medical school that everyone always says. But in your experience, which ones do you think are in fact really bad reasons or people you knew in your class, who may have left the UMKC program entirely due to reasons they eventually saw were bad or maybe stayed in the program but ended up regretting? Med school and medicine is obviously really tough in many ways, so just wondering what aspects I need to be comfortable with to know that medicine is right for me.
Also @blugrn6, you said that a lot of people who enter the BA/MD program at UMKC tend to like science a lot, so they’re ok with a shorter length, fast program, not as much of a traditional college experience. Do you feel like liking science a lot is enough to know whether medicine is right for you, in terms of becoming a physician?
- Not really sure, it varies from class to class. The med school does not have a race quota if that's what you are getting at.
- No, high school course load, even AP classes is nothing compared to college and medical school courses. I mean I never in my years in the program ever thought: "thank god for AP courses, otherwise I would have been screwed". It does not make a big difference in your life except for getting you lots of credit hours to skip out on certain courses.
- I don't think if you come from a physician family that you will be at an advantage. I think only advantage I see, especially for UMKC students who come from doctor families is that you actually know what you are getting yourself into because you're seen your parents live a life of medicine. Other than that, there really is not advantage to coming from a family of doctors. You don't magically know more things just because your parents are doctors...you still have to go through the same stuff everyone else does.
- I agree, most students just pad the CVs with volunteering experiences that are not related to actual medicine. I can speak for myself because I have done both. You're not going to get much of a view of medicine if you pass magazines around to patients or take them their meal cards for the day (i've done both). For me it came when I shadowed my aunt while she was on rounds, while she was on call, seeing a surgery. Do those things when you are shadowing your doctors. See if you like rounding, see if you like being in the OR and seeing someone being cut open, see if you like seeing patients in clinic. If you like that stuff than you more likely to make the right decision about going to medical school.
- People who regret coming to medical school:
- doing it to please their parents or fulfilling some obligation they felt from their family
- thinking that doctors make a lavish living and just coming in for financial gain (don't get me wrong, doctors make more than a comfortable living, but it does not come w/out a price of great responsibility and lots of hard work)
- not knowing how much work doctors do behind the scenes (paperwork after clinic, dealing with difficult patients, keeping up with new literature, taking re-certification exams every 10 years to stay board certified, etc)
- I did say lots of BA/MD students love science. I mean we are all science nerds and at some fundamental level have a natural curiosity of have human anatomy and physiology works. THAT IS NOT ENOUGH TO BECOME A DOCTOR. Being a physician takes a lot more. Again, use your shadowing experiences to see whether you like being a doctor. Imagine yourself in that role and ask yourself: "Do I want to do this every single day?"
This is what I see as mistakes that students make all the time. You shadow people to put it on your CV and not really to see if you like something. Putting something on your CV is never really a reason to do anything. Shadow someone to see if you like it.
I think these are things that someone should do before they decide on medicine as a teenager (since you will be one entering UMKC as a 6 year student):
- go see a surgery, see how the surgeon part and the anesthesia parts work
- go see rounds at a hospital (see what kinds of decisions they make each day)
- go shadow a resident if you can and if possible take call with them (you need to see what it is that doctors do and not the public perception they have)
- go shadow a doctor in the clinic setting
- go shadow a day in the Emergency Room.
Doing five of these things will give you enough idea whether you like medicine or not. When you are shadowing these people ask yourself, do I see myself doing this everyday for the rest of my life. Do I want to do this everyday?
If you have any doubt about whether you want to do it or not…BA/MD is NOT for you.
Nothing wrong with taking time in college to figure it out and than apply to medical school.
I’ve said it time and time again, 2 years is NOTHING when it comes to deciding what you want to do for the REST OF YOUR LIFE.
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Good diversity. I like it. I can go into more detail if you want me to.
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I went to a pretty competitive OOS high school where science courses were comparable/slightly harder than the 1st year classes in the program. However, the general consensus was that high school courses were considerably easier.
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Nah. Well, minimally. I have a physician parent so I came in with a very slight leg-up on basic knowledge of stuff like diabetes, hypertension, and how healthcare generally works. This discrepancy if you can even call it that closes up pretty fast though.
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Shadow a shit ton if you’re unsure about the idea of medicine. Following a family physician or internist would give you a good general idea. As far as questions for your shadow doctor person, “what are your favorite and least favorite parts of your career?” would be pretty valuable.
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A bad reason for attending this program is to make your parents/others happy. For all other reasons, including things like money and prestige, I believe that people can go into this profession with these as primary motivators and be happy with their decision, to be honest. As long as they’re aware that these are not as they used to be of course.
For your question about whether liking science is enough reason alone to decide to go into medicine: absolutely not.
Happy to answer any questions!
So @smores98, I’ll try to answer each of your questions. I’ll probably repeat some of what @blugrn6 and @dogopril said, as well as give my own opinions on your questions.
So you didn’t really specify what type of diversity in terms of the class (https://sph.unc.edu/files/2013/07/define_diversity.pdf) – race, gender, geography, socioeconomic, etc. so I’ll try to address a few of them:
Race
One of the articles previously posted about the UMKC BA/MD program stated, http://kcur.org/post/med-school-express: “Asian students make up almost 40 percent of the student population at UMKC’s medical school. That’s close to twice the national average at other medical schools.” Now that article was back in September of 2006, so that percentage now is quite outdated. I would say that the figure now is probably > 50%, maybe even > 60%, especially since UMKC takes many students from outside of Missouri, due to the added regional category since 2007, and now that MD-only students that enter at Year 2 Spring are allowed to be from outside of Missouri, as well.
In terms of the number of students who are of underrepresented races in medicine (https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/urm/) at UMKC’s med school – African-American, Hispanic, Native American, etc. I would say UMKC is much more on the lower end of the spectrum compared to most other traditional 4 year medical schools, even with the offer of a non-need based Chancellor’s Historically Underrepresented Minority Award, which allows regional and out-of-state URM students to pay in-state tuition for all 6 years.
Gender
I couldn’t find any listed gender stats, but in my time, the higher percentage of the class was female and it has been that way for a quite a while. I would say about 60% female and 40% male, just like the university: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/umkc-2518. If you’re that interested, you can buy a USNews Compass subscription to get the exact numbers: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/university-of-missouri-kansas-city-04058.
Geography
Missouri – Most students come from either Kansas City (or in the surrounding KC Metro area) or St. Louis (or the surrounding suburbs). Those from St. Louis tend to come from quite very well-to-do enclaves - Town & Country, Ladue, Frontenac, Wildwood, Creve Coeur, Chesterfield, but not all. Not surprisingly many in those areas tend to come from very well to do private high schools – Villa Duchesne, Visitation, St. Pius X, MICDS, SLU High School, De Smet, Ursuline, John Burroughs, etc., although just as many do come from public high schools - Parkway West, Ladue, Lindbergh, etc. Same for those in KC – The Barstow School, Pembroke Hill, etc. There are people who come from rural areas of the state as well, although it seems to be less overall than what it used to be in my time.
Regional – most come from Illinois, Kansas and Oklahoma, maybe a Nebraska every once in a blue moon.
Out-of-state – mostly came from California, Florida, Arizona, Texas, Michigan, very rarely from the NE but I think that’s changed recently, just due to more people knowing about and applying to BS/MD programs, in general. When I entered the program, it was in-state (90%) and out-of-state (10%) only. It’s probably more like 60% in-state and 40% regional + out-of-state, now.
Economics
Missouri – like I said most come from KC or mostly St. Louis, although you will have some students from rural areas of Missouri attending as well. That being said, a sizable amount tend to be more from the upper middle class to the very affluent and privileged, although probably not a majority.
Non-Missouri residents — definitely tend to be much more of the affluent, usually more from physician parent families but not always, but much more of the top 1-5% of all income earners, especially these days with tuition coming in at a whopping $60,000 for out-of-staters. Quite a few, honestly, do have cash on hand to pay tuition in full, or will buy a house in Kansas City in an attempt to get in-state tuition, although how successful this is I think varies.
So I took pretty much every AP science course that was offered at my school that I felt was applicable to premed requirements/engineering - Biology, Physics B & C, Chem, etc., since I thought I would be doing the traditional premed route anyways. I attended a regular public school OOS which pretty much offered every AP course in the book, and did better than some of my BA/MD classmates who had gone to private high schools, so private vs. public isn’t always a good marker in terms of rigor. It’s definitely not necessary to have taken every AP science course to be successful in this program. I think I did have a slightly better foundation coming in, since most BA/MD students do not take General Biology I and II at UMKC, and for many BA/MD students their last real Biology course was in 10th grade of high school, but I don’t think it made a huge difference, although psychologically it may have helped in terms of transitioning to Year 1.
That being said, I think for me, AP courses more served to establish better study skills than I would normally have had, in terms of processing and digesting science information, as well as helping getting used to an increased volume of information. Like @blugrn6 mentioned, I don’t think AP courses can truly prepare you for the amount of information that comes at you in medical school basic science courses, starting with Biochem, but it’s a good start, and it’s not really the purpose of those classes anyways. AP courses are meant to be replicative (in theory) of introductory college courses so General Bio, General Chem, General Physics, etc. But I know people who got into great specialties without having taken all AP science courses. In terms of the program, the AP Chem test can lighten up a lot of hours, and if you decide to do the Chem BA degree, AP Physics as well.
Some people I knew took a high school-level/Honors-level Anatomy & Physiology course, so Year 1 Anatomy may have been easier initially going in in terms of familiarity, but I don’t think it gives you this huge advantage especially after the Year 1 Fall semester is over.
I think it depends what you mean by advantage. If you mean by getting a particular residency spot or residency specialty, it depends. If his/her parent works in an academic medical center hospital, it definitely might at that hospital. Connections matter in medicine - including nepotism, both in other professions and in life - although it may not be the only factor that clinches his/her getting that spot. If his/her parent works in a private practice w/no academic medical center affiliation, probably not as much. I think having a parent who is a physician, can allow you to see whether it’s really the right career for you since you see and maybe hear the positives and the very real negatives on a daily basis. The pendulum can also swing in the other direction in which you’re probably less likely to quit the program due to family pressure, if you decided to become a physician because your parent was. But in terms of actually being able to handle coursework and clerkships, probably no huge advantage overall, or not enough to make a huge difference. Neither of my parents were physicians and I did perfectly fine and even if I did have parents who were physicians, it wouldn’t have made UMKC’s curriculum any easier to handle, although financially it probably would have been much less of a risk. So I guess in that sense, it might be easier in terms of no financial stress about debt of any kind on graduating if they were to pay your entire tuition.
Part of the problem with applying for medical school is that high schoolers don’t always get to do much in terms of doing activities that are realistic to what the third year of medical school (Year 5 at UMKC), residency, and life as an attending will be like. So like you said they do more peripheral activities to build up a CV – i.e. EMT/ambulance work, fundraising for cancer marathons, working a blood bank, volunteering and playing games with nursing home residents, volunteering at some outpatient clinic of their family doctor, lab research, etc. This is like this in all professional fields where education tends to become more inefficient and bloated in terms of the application process, so you’re almost forced to fill in stuff, just to not have anything blank, and my case was no different - I did those things also. That’s fine if your goal is just playing the admissions game to get into med school and just checking off the right boxes to appeal to admissions committees, but it’s not really the right strategy if you want to know whether it’s really worth becoming a physician or you want to see how clinical medicine is like on a day-to-day basis. Especially with the ACA (Obamacare) being implemented, which will effect how you practice, it’s even more important to know what you’re getting into, and the real sacrifices you’ll be making in becoming a physician - and not just financially and hours spent studying.
So as mentioned before by @blugrn6, I think shadowing physicians at an academic medical center on an inpatient basis, with residents is probably the gold standard - but that can be VERY difficult to get for many reasons. And I’m not talking about coming in at 8 or 9 and then busting out at 5. I’m talking really coming in when they come early in the morning and leaving to go home when they do. For example, shadowing an Internal Medicine resident/attending on call in a call room, during rounds, etc. and doing it for several weeks if not a month like during the summer. I realize this is harder to do, but you only know what it is like when you’re closer to the action. The farther out you are from the action, the less likely you are to know what it’s really like in clinical medicine and so you’re taking a huge risk. I would do it in specialties like Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Pediatrics, or Surgery, in terms of figuring out what it is like. As @dogopril mentioned, ask questions. Ask the person what they feel the positives and negatives of medicine and their specialty are, what in medicine frustrates them – autonomy, reimbursement issues (which then affect your salary down the line), etc. so you can match up what you think the positives are and whether you’re ok with the negatives. If you don’t know the significance of the negatives just yet, again, ask.
You also get to figure out whether the “culture” of medicine is right for you and fits your personality, or does something else more fit you – Dentistry, Pharmacy, Optometry, etc.? Can you handle the sights, sounds, and yes, even smells of a hospital? Can you handle some of the inherent sleep deprivation that occurs in medicine? How does the ER doctor interact with the IM or Surgery resident/attending they’re admitting to or for an ER consult? How do generalists and specialists interact with each other when they call each other? Or residents with their attendings? How are the patients who are very sick in hospitals? Are you able to handle and cope with patient interactions that aren’t the best - i.e. angry patient or angry patient families who are frustrated?
I also think that you get to see whether you can emotionally cope with certain situations. For example, an ICU situation, where a patient is receiving intensive care, with family visiting, who may not make it. Seeing a Code Blue situation and the frenzy of it while it’s happening. Seeing a trauma coming in where residents and/or attendings hopping in trying desperately to save someone’s life. Or telling a cancer patient and/or their family that their family member doesn’t have long to live. Seeing these situations gives you a better reality.
It doesn’t make you a bad person if you don’t like those situations but these are scenarios in medicine that are very grave. People are coming to you at their most vulnerable time and not at their best, and as a physician you have to be physically, emotionally, and mentally able to cope, sometimes not always with not great sleep. You get a large taste of this in the third year of med school or Year 5 of the program, but it’s a little late then to realize you don’t like that stuff, and that’s why solely liking science, even if it’s science that relates to the human body, isn’t enough on its own to justify becoming a physician. A lot of your work environment will be something you don’t get a direct say in, if you work for a hospital.
Figure the things above as to whether you can handle it or not, is just as important, and better sooner rather than later.
Realize also that medicine is changing in that it’s becoming more of a team sport save for a few select specialties. If you’re someone who wants to be the lone individual doctor seeing patients on your own, maybe in a private practice, that might not be very realistic in medicine in the future.