As decision time looms this weekend, a person I have been advising is leaning heavily to enrolling in the USF Honors program with the intention to pursue their 7 year program with a path to enroll in year 3 Morsani. That requires minimum GPA and MCAT scores, along with research and community service targets. Having read some about the nature of USF’s program, it seems a lot of folks come in planning to pursue the 7 year med track, but over 90% wash out, and beyond that there is some very concerning remarks that suggest studying biology or biomed there is would be a mistake - ostensibly from the standpoint of all the eggs in one basket.
Would appreciate any insights into this program, the prospects for USF grads getting into med schools (MD, not OD) after normal 4 year undergrad course of study, as well as the overall quality of the “honors” experience for out of state students who will receive the post-benequisto (full cost, no stipend) NFM scholarship.
Some of the other alternatives being considered are the LECOM DO preferential admission at [other small college], as well as one where sudents are allowed to be admitted to Albany Med as sophomores without taking the MCAT but they MUST commit to Albany Med if accepted, are not allowed to take the MCAT as juniors, etc. etc. And the final options are traditional 4 year path of undergrad premed at a small T30 or at an In-State Flagship mega-school (this option is ATM last in the running due to cost / culture concerns respectively).