URochester REMS-current student

Pre-Med & Medical School Multiple Degree Programs
1

<p>hey everyone,</p>

<p>i'm an undergraduate student in the university of rochester rems program. i know that i got a lot of help from this forum when i was applying to schools, and i noticed that there isn't a thread here for rems. if anyone has any questions (about the timeline, applications, financial aid, the program itself, whatever) i'd be happy to answer questions. </p>

<p>as an overview:</p>

<p>the rochester early medical scholar's program is an 8 year guaranteed program. mcats are not necessary, and you can apply out if you so choose. it offers a lot of flexibility, research opportunities, etc. i honestly think that what deters a lot of people from applying to the program is 1) weather (im from the west coast, so i'll be the first to say it's very different, but it's not actually that big of a deal to me) and 2) that they havent heard about it. i didnt think for a second that id be attending rochester until i visited the campus for interviews and had a great experience, so keep an open mind and ask questions!</p>

2

<p>Can I be the first to ask for your “stats”? :P</p>

3

<p>haha yeah i definitely saw that coming:</p>

<p>tests:
sat–2350
sat ii: math ii, chem, bio m–800
act–35
APs: chem, english lang, calc ab–5
(i also took the classes for english lit, spanish lang, apcs, and stats my senior year, but not the tests)
gpa: 4.47 w, 4.00 unweighted</p>

<p>extracurriculars:
founded, elected pres 3 years of a humanitarian relief club
founding officer, elected president of national honor society
4 years of tennis
drama club member
~600 hours of volunteer work, some at a hospital, some at a health clinic, some totally unrelated to medicine at various parks and rec events and at the local theatre
research for 1 summer and during most of my senior year</p>

<p>i think those were the main things. keep in mind that a lot of people have strong stats, so your real chance to dazzle is your personal statement and then the interviews.</p>

4

<p>Ringaroo, did you apply to other BA/MD programs? If you did and got accepted other than URochester, what made you choose REMS in the end?</p>

5

<p>Isn’t this program extremely small? It’s probably no less competitive than PLME or HPME but at least PLME averages roughly 50 per class. REMS is 10-20 per class, if I’m not mistaken. </p>

<p>The other thing deterring me from applying is that I want Rochester to be a safety for me. I don’t want rejection from REMS to impact my chances of getting into Rochester. I know that can happen for Northwestern/HPME.</p>

6

<p>Earthsong16, only 10 applicants are accepted for REMS, so it’s definitely smaller than PLME and HPME.</p>

7

<p>i did apply to other ba/md programs. when i was applying, case ppsp was my first choice, but after i got into both, it was very clear to me that rems was a much better fit for me. things that stood out to me upon visiting:</p>

<p>-the vibe at rochester is considerably more liberal in terms of academics. case is a great research school, but rochester has many research opportunities (i’m working in a lab this semester, for example) and also encourages students to pursue other interests and passions (public health, policy study, etc). this makes for a fairly diverse set of perspectives just within the rems group, and it feels incredibly non-restrictive. </p>

<p>-the sense of community at rochester (probably in part due to its smaller size) is very strong, and i didn’t sense the same feeling at any other school i visited. my experience may not have been representative of everyone’s, but i was immediately struck by how warm, down to earth, and intelligent everyone in the program was. also, they were all friends with one another–there was literally no competitiveness between them, which is how some other programs were.</p>

<p>-financial aid was fairly generous. it wasn’t the best of all the schools, and i’m lucky to be able to go to rochester, but i was apprehensive about this and it came through. so that shouldn’t deter anyone from applying. it’s a private school with private school tuition, but i know very few people here who have no scholarships or grants.</p>

<p>those are the main factors that struck me, but if there are any specific concerns, i’d be happy to address them.</p>

<p>earthsong16: it is a small program, yes, but it doesn’t hurt to apply. i’m pretty confident that rejection from rems doesn’t affect undergrad decisions. i know several people here who applied to rems, were rejected, but decided to come to the u of r anyway.</p>

8

<p>Do you know any international students at the REMS and what sort of specialties do the REMS students get matched to? Thanks :)</p>

9

<p>i think i only know one international rems student, a few years above me. i’m afraid i can’t really answer your question about specialties, as i’m not friends with any 8th year rems students. i’d expect that their residencies follow the same general pattern as other urmc students. you can check out the match list for several years here: [Match</a> Day 2006 - Alumni - The School of Medicine and Dentistry - University of Rochester Medical Center](<a href=“http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/smd/alumni/events-activities/match-day/match-day-2006/]Match”>http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/smd/alumni/events-activities/match-day/match-day-2006/)</p>

10

<p>thanks for your reply :)</p>

11

<p>ringaroo, I’m going to be a senior this year. I was wondering if you oculd just look over my stats quick and give me some feedback? I’d really appreciate it, thanks :)</p>

<p>act: 33
sat 2: bio e- 790 (i still have to take math 2 and chem)</p>

<p>AP:
10- gov, apush, aplang
11- econ macro and micro, enviromental science, bio, calc bc, psych, euro history
12- i will be taking: physics c, stats, french, art history, chem, human geo</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
DECA, 10, 11, 12 - president (11+12)
Founded biking fundraiser: biked 250 miles and raised over $3000 for cancer research
4 years cross country and track
over 400 hours volunteering at hospital, american cancer society, community
student council: 11+12
NHS, french club, french honor society, TEAMS, HOSA, FBLA</p>

12

<p>Honestly, I’m not very good at reading “stats” so my opinion probably won’t mean a lot. Your extracurriculars look similar to mine, and you’re certainly taking plenty of APs. Maybe work on your SAT/ACT a little more and make sure you put a lot of effort into the essay. Good luck!</p>

13

Hello my name is jessica I dont know if you will answer but i could really use some help with this application process if you are available to help that would be amazing please let me know! thank you

14

@ringaroo, what made you specifically choose the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry over the medical school at Case Western? I’m very curious in knowing your thought process, as if I were in your same position, with your stats, I would have probably chosen Case Western. Or maybe you had some family ties in New York, so it was closer to family?

I think like you mentioned, I think very few students apply overall since they take very few students in total as BS/MD students.