<p>Hi everyone,
I have a quick question. I am applying to various BS/MD programs throughout the US, and I was wondering, lets say I get into the program for Florida Atlantic University. The the med school for FAU is fairly new, and their undergraduate isnt that great either. Am i better off going to a "bad" BS/MD program (like fau), or should I just do 4 yrs undergrade and take the traditional route?</p>
<p>I know i probably wont get into top notch BS/MD programs, so this is why i was wondering whether or not i should go to the ones im accepted to, even if they're "bad" colleges. Like they only require a 1350 sat :/ which is really low.. </p>
<p>Every time I hear someone say that, I feel like groaning. Yes, they call him doctor, but he isn’t going to be doing anything other than primary care. A better medical school might make it easier for you to get more competitive residencies and might prepare you better for board exams. If you’re smart enough, though, you can succeed no matter where you go.</p>
<p>You are better off at the one that accepts you. When you have several that have actually accepted you, then you choose. Right now there is none, too early to think about options.</p>
<p>@NG14916 Not true. My mom is a pretty highly regarded doctor in her field at a really good hospital, and complains about colleagues (both at her workplace and around the country) that she knows who went to really bad med schools and now are well-known and well-paid. She doesn’t care when they are good doctors, only when they are bad. </p>
<p>But she herself went to a BS/MD program that wasn’t spectacular. She got offers from a lot of top colleges (full ride at Northwestern, Haverford, etc), but because she knew she wanted to be a doctor, she went with the BS/MD program (the first one she was accepted to) because it guaranteed med school for her. And she was able to shine at the fairly low-ranked program and was matched to her first choice of residency-- Johns Hopkins, largely considered to be the best. So it can actually be beneficial to be the big fish in a small pond at a lower-ranked BS/MD program.</p>
<p>Did you not read my entire post? I said that if you are smart enough you can succeed anywhere. Either way, though, going to a good school can give you an advantage. Being “the big fish in a small pond” isn’t going to help at all since you’re competing against everyone else in the country, not just everyone from your school. They standardize the process as much as they can for that reason. Your mom did well because she was good, not because she stood out.</p>
<p>Actually, it helped her a lot to be a “big fish in a small pond.” She was able to be valedictorian, which would not have happened had she gone to one of the higher ranked BS/MD programs. Also she was able to get absolutely incredible recommendations from professors and administrators at the school (I believe one even came from like the president of the college or something) because not only had they been able to get to know her well in a “smaller pond” but she also stood out as one of the brightest/most motivated students the college had seen in a while, which they all praised her to the high heavens for in their letters of recommendation.</p>
<p>Plus, she actually does interviews/admissions for a medical school now, so a lot of what I’m saying is her advice that comes from her everyday life. Believe me, she knows what they look for for candidates for med school and residency, because now she’s on the other side of it and is one of the people helping to decide who they choose. When she really wants a candidate to be a resident, she “courts” them (her words, not mine. lol) and keeps in contact with them and tries to woo them. A lot of times, she says she prefers seeing those who ranked at the top of their class in lesser schools than those ranked in the middle/lower at good schools.</p>
<p>Alright, I believe you, though I don’t think that should be anyone’s approach to this. I think people should try to do as well as they can, not just try to look better than those around them. Also, there’s no point in going to a medical school you aren’t satisfied with if you’re going to be working your butt off there. This guy can still try for a better school by going through the traditional route. The fact that he’s asking people on the internet for reassurance shows that he’s not satisfied with this school. Sure, he might change his mind once he goes, but why run the risk?</p>
<p>It’s becoming much harder to get in the normal route. I agree fully that you should try to get into the best gpa/mcat you can so that you can get into the best medical school you can, but it will be harder.</p>
<p>With that said, I would take the BS/MD route, get the best GPA I could, get the best MCAT I could, and apply out if I thought I was competitive enough. Otherwise, stick with the guaranteed acceptance that you already have. It would be a win-win situation in this case.</p>
<p>P.S. that’s what I’m actually doing my BS/MD program.</p>
<p>So I think born2dance94 has a point. And so does XelbMS. It’s getting really hard to get into medical schools, and I know many extremely bright kids that didn’t get into med school. From what I’m hearing, I should just take the BS/MD program at FAU or basically wherever I get accepted to. It’ll look good if I was the valedictorian of my class, regardless of what school I go to. Plus this is what born2dance94’s mom did haha. It worked for her. </p>
<p>The best combo is to be in bs/md that allows you to apply out and apply out still retaining your spot. this was my D’s way. worked very well, she had much more relaxing time taking MCAT, applying and going thru interviews than other applicants and she could afford to be very selective where she apply and apply to very few. She ended up going to Med. School outside of her bs/md. In addition, her bs/md was not accelerated allowing her to have normal college experience just like everybody else with minor, sorority, trip abroad, summers off…etc.</p>
<p>Cinci. But she was not in Cinci UG, she had choices of 5 of them 4 years ago. They scaled it down, leaving only Cinci for UG. I am not familiar with Cinci pre-med. D’s UG was a great fit for her, she is still visiting it frequently.</p>
<p>I am an older, and now retired Physician, that was the first graduate of the UMKC SOM. I came into the SOM with a PhD in Pharmacology and, therefore not into the 6 year program. The Docent system allows for such flexibility to learn and grow during the BA/MD track. I read about things that are so unimportant to success; i.e. summers off, weather etc. Upon graduation I took a residency and fellowship in California (LA/OC area) that allowed me the advantage of a large population base/referral centers and contact with numerous helpful and bright Physicians. I had no problems with match selections and got what I wanted. My main point is get the MD degree, study very hard and network. You can succeed in any environment–including places with less than stellar research programs–and, have no doubt, the rankings of medical schools are mainly about research not clinical teaching. JB</p>