<p>So I just found out that I got off the waitlist for UMKC. I was also accepted to Drexel/Drexel 7 year BS/MD. Which one should I choose? Both are one of the lowest ranked med schools.</p>
<p>UMKC
6 years
No MCAT
Terrible med school. Not even ranked.
Summers required.
350k total (I'm regional)
Courseload is difficult. Taking 22 credit hours seems kinda tough.
Match isn't very good. Lots of people stay in UMKC, and most people go into primary. Although I few get into radiology and anesthesiology. </p>
<p>Drexel
7 years
required to get 31 on MCAT
No summers required.
380k total (Drexel's med school is ridiculously expensive)
Not the best med school either. I checked and it's #89 currently.
Courseload is easier probably.
Better match. Lots of people got into Ortho.</p>
<p>Can you transfer to another med school from Drexel? Or is it a binding program. I believe UMKC is binding (and it is integrated in such a way that you would have a difficult time transferring if you wanted to.)</p>
<p>Do you have any other good options the regular pre-med route? Although I am a big fan of BS-MD programs, I question the quality of both these programs. And I don’t think they are worth the money.</p>
<p>You could check the space available list that was posted by someone else. </p>
<p>I know someone who has 2 kids at Xavier College in Lousianna (LA) (not Ohio). She wishes that her other child at UCLA had gone to Xavier instead, because Xavier really grooms students for medical school, and in her opinion has been a much better option than UCLA. They have a much cheaper price tag, great merit scholarships, and great success at getting students into medical schools. It is a historically black college, but many other races have discovered it. They claim to have produced the most black students accepted to medical school of any undergraduate school in the country. They still have openings. </p>
<p>If you went to Xavier (LA) for a year, you could apply to transfer somewhere else later. Or you might choose to stay and apply to their combined BS-MD program with Tulane University Medical School.</p>
<p>Yeah, what schools did you get in the regular route? Drexel’s an ok program but IIRC you had good numbers. Not sure why the user above is specifically promoting Xavier but you could’ve gotten into better schools.</p>
<p>That being said, you should also consider your regular undergraduate options. Achieving the MCAT requirement is not particularly hard if the program was not accelerated, but the fact that you have to complete your undergraduate in three years complicates the matter.</p>
<p>I got into regular for Northwestern and USC. But that’s out of the question now, since May 1st is the deposit day, and I already deposited at Drexel. But now UMKC is a possiblity. </p>
<p>mamatata, why would I want to go to Tulane med school? It’s on the same tier as Drexel.</p>
<p>And wow, I feel really insulted when you said that I need to go to some random no name school in Louisiana. Why should I give up my spot at Drexel? Why should I apply to BS/MD program if I already got into one?</p>
<p>UMKC is not even ranked, and Drexel Medical School is ranked #89. You’ll have to ask people who were in the program exactly how good it is subjectively.</p>
<p>It’s too bad that you didn’t choose Northwestern’s regular undergrad by May 1. You could have then tried to enter their medical school through their Undergraduate Premedical Scholars Program: [NUPSP</a> Homepage](<a href=“http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/nupsp/]NUPSP”>http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/nupsp/). Or even if you didn’t make it in that program, and did the normal 4+4 instead, your undergraduate education including the premed requirements would still be pretty good.</p>
<p>I would stick with Drexel and hopefully you’ll end up liking it or there is a good way to be able to apply out of the program without losing your spot (or you may want to take your chances, even if you do give up your spot) by keeping up your GPA, studying for the MCAT, and buffing up your CV. Philadelphia has many medical schools in the area besides Drexel: Temple, Thomas Jefferson, and UPenn, so if you can’t find research in something you want at Drexel, you can always get involved at those other places.</p>
<p>Fianchetto. I certainly didn’t mean to insult you. I happen to know someone who went to the combined medical program at Drexel (although many years ago) and didn’t like it. I have done very close research of medical programs, and attended a BS-MD program myself. I know the dean of the school of medicine at Tulane, and he’s great. I was relating the experience of a trusted friend who has 2 kids in premed at Xavier, and 1 kid in pre-med at UCLA. And Xavier has been a far superior experience. I don’t consider Xavier a no-name, and I certainly didn’t mean to insult you. (Or are you feeling sensitive that it is a historically black college.) Of course you don’t need to go there! I only suggested Xavier, because it is an option that still has openings, and from my friends experience, probably has great merit aid still. Then you wouldn’t have a huge debt over your head. So I never meant to insult you. So please don’t take offense!</p>
<p>I don’t care how good Xavier is. Premed is tough everywhere you go. Reason why UCLA might be tough is because there’s a large majority of premed students there. Therefore competition is stiff. Same goes with Northwestern, where many people don’t make it. And that’s especially true at USC, where 30% enters as premeds. It could be Harvard and I still won’t care. </p>
<p>I’m leaning towards Drexel. Philly has a bunch of opportunities, and I don’t think Drexel Med is as bad as everyone thinks it is. Of course, I know it’s not great, but I will try to get the most out of it as I can.</p>
<p>Stick with Drexel. Drexel match list is decent. GPA and MCAT requirements are not a major problem at Drexel. Last year everyone met the GPA requirement, but one person did not meet the MCAT requirement. That person only took Organic Chem in college and no other science classes in college- used AP credit for Bio, Chem and Physics and was a non science major. </p>
<p>Anyone who can not keep a 3.5 GPA is probably a slacker and not Med School material.</p>
<p>Drexel my not be the greatest Med School, but it is a lot, lot, lot better than UMKC. If you do well enough at Drexel, you should be able to get a residency in any specialty.</p>
<p>I would be insulted at the Xavier suggestion too. mamatata basically advised the OP to apply now to Xavier as a better option. It’s insensitive to suggest that since I know fianchetto frequented CC often this cycle and applied to and interviewed at several BS/MD programs. To suggest that to someone after several months’ (actually, years’) worth of hard work and now holding a spot at one program, yeah, I can see how that rubs them the wrong way. Don’t forget many BS/MD matriculants are also taking a cut in prestige to attend somewhere with a guarantee, and you’re advising them to go somewhere with neither name (Xavier has a fairly regional reputation) nor medical school guarantee. </p>
<p>I agree with sticking with Drexel. I don’t think Drexel BS/MD is a particularly good program but it is the lesser of two evils here. It’s not as bad as mamatata is implying it to be, as I know a couple kids in the program right now.</p>
<p>Tulane, like a few other schools, didn’t submit enough info to US News for them to consider TU for ranking. Post-Katrina I’m not sure if they’ve taken the time to get the info to them any of the last few years. The medical school, which is downtown, sustained the majority of the damage that the university sustained. Prior to the storm they were a Top 50 med school.</p>
<p>Even in 2006 and 2007, Tulane was a top 50 med school. So I wouldn’t say it’s no-name although I think you were referring to Xavier (which does have a fairly good regional reputation). And I doubt anyone was trying to insult you. Best of luck! You’ll do fine by sticking with Drexel.</p>
<p>Just curious, can someone tell me why Drexel is always rated the lowest when compared to other schools? For example, when making a Temple vs. Jefferson vs. Drexel comparison, people always, I mean ALWAYS, rank them as Jefferson>Temple>Drexel. Is there something inherently evil about Drexel? I looked at the admissions standards and all three schools’ MCAT and GPA average are comparable. I know Drexel was Hahnemann formerly and was bought by Drexel after it went bankrupt, but I don’t see how that would impact the school’s reputation. And I looked at Drexel’s match list and quite a few match into competitive specialties such as anesthesiology, radiology, orthopaedics, urology, and opthamology. </p>
<p>So I guess what I’m trying to say is, what is so bad about Drexel? It’s seems like no other med school get as much hate as Drexel (well, except for UMKC). What about med schools such as Creighton, Loyola, Loma Linda, Tulane, George Washington, Albany, and Rosalind Franklin? These schools have comparable admissions standards but seem to be much more prestigious than Drexel. I just want to be prepared to deal with it when I enter med school.</p>