What are the lower tier programs

Pre-Med & Medical School Multiple Degree Programs
1

Hi everyone,

D is considering applying for a few of these programs if she can bring her ACT score up to a 34 from 33. We would probably want to limit it to no more than 6 and possibly less. Reading all of the stats here, I feel that she might have a chance if we look to the lower tier programs. Can you suggest which ones are possible? We are in NY, but not a minority and D is not committed to primary care, so Sophie Davis is out.

I was thinking:
Brooklyn
Hofstra
Drew/NJMS
Union

Temple and Drexel seem to take so few people

Thoughts?

Thanks!

2

Aim for a ACT 35 or SAT 1550+.

If you are ORM like I am, I guess at some point, it’s kind of expected to have top test scores.

3

@greenpoison Actually, she is aiming for as high as she can get. I only meant that unless it rises to t least 34 we probably won’t apply. Daughter is white NY suburban so I guess that makes her NRM (normally represented major?)

4

@gallentjill

If you’re daughter is white that should change a lot of things.

Pretty much everyone I saw at my interviews (all Northeast schools) were 70% South Asian, 20% East Asian, and 10% white.

I didn’t see a single URM, so in this case, I feel like being white could be a huge benefit.

Personally for a NY resident, I would recommend applying to:

Siena
Hofstra
Brooklyn
SUNY
Temple(DK too much about this program, didn’t apply)
Drexel

I wouldn’t recommend applying to Drew, since so few people end up getting in

5

@greenpoison Thanks! What do you know about Union’s program? Too much of a reach? Also, and forgive me if this is a stupid question, but how do the schools know everyone’s race? Is it a question on the common app?

6

Yes, it is technically a optional question on the common app. However, if you have a stereotypical South or East Asian last name, you might as well just fill it, since they can probably deduce what race you are. If you’re white, you might as well just fill it out.

Union is pretty competitive… I would recommend Siena over it if your test scores aren’t as high, since Siena seems to focus on service dedication more than any other factor.

7

Sophie Davis no longer requires you to do primary care. You can choose to specialize without paying fines. But on the other hand, at SD, you can no longer pay the 5 years of inexpensive CUNY tuition at City College then have the opportunity to finish medical school at NYU, Downstate, NYMC and even Dartmouth as they used to. Now they have CUNY school of medicine and pay medical school tuition (like Downstate) from years 4-7.

SD tends to prefer minorities but we are aware of quite a lot of kids accepted to SD who are white.

I agree with @GreenPoison that Whites seem to be the “URM” when it comes to BSMD. Lol. So it might be an advantage.

I recommend you apply to Union, Siena, Brooklyn, Sophie-Davis. I don’t know about programs outside NY state, so can’t advise you on them.

Union prefers students who’ve had plenty of leadership roles. RPI likes meaningful research preferably with publications. If you have those experiences, then those two programs may not be that much of a reach with ACT of 34. Either way, you graduate from Albany Medical College whether you go through Siena, RPI or Union.

Hofstra tends to heavily favor high test scores in choosing whom to interview, though it is not a high tier program. They also like to choose kids from many different states, so being from NY may not favor you.

Good luck!

8

Yeah I agree with @TTV2018 . Hofstra really seems to like geographical diversity. Out of all my interviews, Hofstra by far had the most diverse (people from Texas, Seattle, Virginia, NC etc.). IDK about how much Hofstra emphasizes test scores and stats, but I heard from kids at AMC that RPI really looks for high GPA’s

9

@gallentjill

For the purpose of medical school admissions, UiM (Underrepresented in Medical Professions) are usually consider to be: Puerto Rican, Mexican American, Native American or African American. Everybody else is ORM.

10

@wayoutwestmom That is what I assumed. Thanks!

11

https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/urm/.

In case if the above link does not show correctly, I copied the text from their site below.

Officially only URM is defined and google search for ORM does not lead to any meaningful place. The point which is not clear nor officially defined is related to ORM. Is there any thing like that? In other words, after sorting the pile of URM, the rest is considered equally based on the general admission criteria or the guideline of " relative to their numbers in the general population" is applied for other racial and ethnic groups, for example like Asians. Other words, is there only 2 piles or 3 piles get created of the applicant pool?

AAMC Web Site Info:
Underrepresented in Medicine Definition

On March 19, 2004, the AAMC Executive Committee adopted a clarification to its definition of “underrepresented in medicine” following the Supreme Court’s decision in Grutter.

The AAMC definition of underrepresented in medicine is:

“Underrepresented in medicine means those racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in the medical profession relative to their numbers in the general population.”

Adopted by the AAMC’s Executive Council on June 26, 2003, the definition helps medical schools accomplish three important objectives:

a shift in focus from a fixed aggregation of four racial and ethnic groups to a continually evolving underlying reality. The definition accommodates including and removing underrepresented groups on the basis of changing demographics of society and the profession,
a shift in focus from a national perspective to a regional or local perspective on underrepresentation, and
stimulate data collection and reporting on the broad range of racial and ethnic self-descriptions.
Before June 26, 2003, the AAMC used the term “underrepresented minority (URM),” which consisted of Blacks, Mexican-Americans, Native Americans (that is, American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians), and mainland Puerto Ricans. The AAMC remains committed to ensuring access to medical education and medicine-related careers for individuals from these four historically underrepresented racial/ethnic groups.

12

In case it wasn’t clear, when I said, “I agree with @GreenPoison that Whites seem to be the “URM” when it comes to BSMD.” It was a joke. As there doesn’t seem to be that many of them applying for bsmd compared to Asians, considering the actual % of both ethnicities in general population. Subjective observation only, of course.

13

@gallentjill If your D really wants to get into at least one combined BS/MD program, you should apply for at least 10 programs even with an ACT score of 33 as long as she has solid/relevant healthcare/community experience(s), programs like Stony Brook, NJMS, Penn State/Jefferson, and Boston (if you plan to take SAT2 Math/Chem). You are not considered as URM for regular college or medical school admission, but you are ‘de-facto URM’ when applying for BS/MD program as there are so few non-Asian student applicants in the BS/MD pool. GL.

14

Thanks everyone. Do you know if you need to show demonstrated interest in the BS/MD programs before applying. For example, do we need to visit Union to show how much we like the college or can we wait to see if we are interviewed first?

15

@gallentjill You don’t have to visit to show your demonstrated interest for these BS/MD programs.