<p>Looking at many of the bs/md programs, it seems that many of the rankings of the undergraduate and med school parts of the university are pretty bad (relatively, as in not top 25) besides UCSD, USC and Northwestern. Is there any reason for this?</p>
<p>Please list the top schools with combined programs with their rankings, along with whether they are public or private.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your help!</p>
<p>Why would the best med schools want to accept a bunch of unproven, idealistic high schoolers when they have a very strong college pool to select from?</p>
<p>Don’t mind Norcalguy, he doesn’t know that you don’t answer a question with another question. There are many high school students with high GPAs (yes, although even with AP courses that are equivalent to a college course, the GPA is not exactly like a college GPA), with very top notch extracurriculars and research, very top of their class, as well as high standardized test scores on the SAT as well as the SAT II - which do test certain college introductory courses (i.e. SAT II Chemistry)</p>
<p>As far as rankings which you can see for yourself and search each one individually:</p>
<p>Undergraduate: [Best</a> Colleges - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college]Best”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college)
Medical School: [Best</a> Medical Schools - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools)</p>
<p>Top medical programs although for different reasons: Brown, Northwestern, University of Pittsburgh, Rice U/Baylor College of Medicine, UCLA, Boston University, Case Western Reserve, University of Rochester.</p>
<p>So basically, the best med schools have such a large pool of qualified applicants, they’re less interested in selecting high school students for combined programs?
If you’re hoping to get into a really good med school it would be better to just go the standard route?</p>
<p>Pretty much the more competitive (a.k.a. top-notch) schools get such a high volume of applications as well as good applicants now in the normal 4+4 pool, there is no incentive to offer someone provisional acceptance early on after high school.</p>
<p>There is no 'bad" US Medical school. Most applicants dream to get into ANY one.</p>
<p>Agreed MiamiDAP!!</p>
<p>well, no. the good med schools are ridiculously competitive and applying is worse than applying for undergrad. Ergo, some people work hard as a high schooler to relax, or accelerate, in college. For example, a bs/md lets you study things in fields other than medicine, like music, etc. hope that helped :)</p>
<p>I disagree with MiamiDAP and Oreo45. Just like in anything in life, for medical schools, there are ones that are excellent and ones that are subpar. Is it better to get into an LCME-accredited school (a U.S. Medical school) than none at all? Of course. But to say that there are no bad U.S. medical schools is at best, misleading, at worst, blatantly false.</p>
<p>I just do not agree with you, sorry.</p>
<p>We can agree to disagree oreo45. However, you are speaking as a parent. You are not the actual student attending these type of programs (and no, having a son/daughter who attends a program DOES NOT COUNT). There are some Bachelor/MD programs that work very well, and some that do not. You are only speaking out of a preconceived opinion, and not from personal experience.</p>
<p>If I may weigh in on this discussion:
it is true that there are better medical schools than others based on funding, facilities, and professors, but getting into any US Medical school is quite a challenge and definitely an accomplishment. Medical schools should be rated based on how well their students do and I believe US medical schools on average have about a 90 percent pass rate on the USMLE Step 1. This should tell you something about ANY medical school in the country.</p>
<p>Now if the discussion is not about US Medical schools but about programs then yes, I agree with MD2B that there are some programs that are much better than others. Again, not every school in the country is equal but as a whole they are all on a certain level. As for parents on CC not knowing anything about the process and about schools - that’s just a silly and childish notion.</p>
<p>The combined degree programs are more of a benefit to the undergrad school than the med school.</p>
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<p>Not necessarily. My boyfriend goes to a medical school that still has a BA/MD program. In perusing his school’s match list, the students in the combined degree program (in general, I obviously don’t know all of them) appeared to have matched very well. Which reflects well on the medical school as well as the program.</p>
<p>That’s not figuring in the kids that committed to the program, enrolled in the undergrad, then changed their mind, couldn’t make the requirements, etc. I’m at SLUSOM, where there is a bs/md combination, but not all of the people accepted into the combined program matriculate at the med school. Most of them do however, enroll in the undergrad.</p>
<p>I am not sure how people judge which US Med. school better than another. Yes, there is ranking. However, I personally know few people who got residency at Mayo Clinic (#1 in a world) after very low, close to the bottom rated Med. Schools. Apparently residency like this is not that easy to get, since husband of one of them even quit his very good job to follow his wife to Minnesota. I heard that the residency match is the only important measure of your success at Med. School.</p>
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<p>Yes, the residency match is important. But we also need to keep in mind what someone matches into not necessarily where someone matches.</p>
<p>You might go into “bottom rated” medical school but if the connections you make there give you an edge into the school’s highly competitive derm/integrated plastics/ortho/radonc residency, isn’t it all worth it?</p>
<p>Yes but what is the likelihood that a “bottom rated” medical school has those connections? Most of those bottom rated schools DON’T HAVE a highly competitive derm/integrated plastics/ortho/radonc residency, as that requires FUNDING, which if they did have, they would not be “bottom rated”. Not to mention, if you are hanging your hopes on connections, you will be disappointed as any incoming resident can be replaced by someone with even better stats. The program doesn’t owe the medical school to take its own.</p>
<p>People need to stop searching for the miniscule exceptions to the rule.</p>
<p>Whether you like it or not, the medical school you go to does have an effect as the opportunities available between top schools or high ranked schools compared to “bottom rated” schools are very different. Since not every school offers a Bachelor/MD program, thus limiting your scope of schools, it’s even more important to look at the quality of the school. Not to mention, just bc a school has an integrated plastics program or another competitive specialty, doesn’t mean they are obligated to take you. There are tons of places who can only take a few residents, and end up getting all their residents outside of their school as they want to build up a name too.</p>
<p>Actually, Norcalguy has a point. There may be many high school students with high GPAs, but a high high school GPA is not the same thing as a high undergraduate GPA – especially when you are rarely taking the classes you need to get into medical school as a high school student. High standardized test scores only moderately correlate to first-year grades and have nothing to do with actual performance in college beyond the first year.</p>
<p>Honestly, why would the top medical schools in the country want to choose people from high school – 4 years or more before they know if they’re really going to be excellent medical school material – when they can choose the top students from undergraduate college and the top non-traditional students who have done things liked served in the Peace Corps, served in the military, earned MPH or MBA first, etc.?</p>
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<p>First of all, attaining a spot in any program in fields like integrated plastics/derm/radonc/ortho/uro/etc… etc… is prestigious. I agree that just being a student at that school guarantees nothing. But sometimes you luck into situations. And being a student there allows you to lay the groundwork in terms of connections/research/shadowing. Most of these fields do end up taking internal candidates because they have such limited positions. And they would rather take a chance with people they know than complete strangers.</p>
<p>I personally know people who were perhaps disappointed to end up in a BA/MD program. It ended up being the best decision of their life (despite the “lower” med school ranking) as it gave them an opportunity to really enjoy the undergrad portion, to be able to attend college and medical school with an often close-knit group, and to perhaps break into fields they wouldn’t have had an opportunity to break into at another institution.</p>
<p>As an example, Harvard had 18 kids apply for dermatology this year. Granted, a significant # of them matched. But still, my boyfriend’s med school (Which is a lower ranked school with a BA/MD program) had 3 applicants applied for 3 derm positions.</p>
<p>The school took all 3 from within. One of them was a BA/MD programmer.</p>
<p>Bottom line, go to the place that best suits your interests and forget about rank.</p>