Here are his personal reflections and message to next year’s applicants:
My first regret was not to take the PSAT as seriously as I should have. Since I got near perfect on my PSAT-10, which was the same test the 11th graders took that year for PSAT/NMSQT, I thought I would just ace the PSAT. It turned out, a year later, I missed the cut-off, not by much, but enough to not make NMSF. That made me ineligible for quite a bit of competitive scholarships even though I have a near-perfect SAT score.
My second regret was to take the mock interviews my mom offered lightly. I should have had a great delivery as an answer to the infamous “Tell me about yourself” question for every single interview. Every competitive scholarship and BSMD interviews I had, I always had that question. Lucky for me, the Baylor COM interview was my last. By then, I must have had it down somewhat to get me to an offer from them.
My third wish for a redo would be to take my “why medicine essay” to another level to show more maturity. After all, I’m only a 17 yo HS student. I basically tweaked them to fit around the UG and med schools I applied to. I should have spent more time to find the uniqueness of each program instead of writing about the things that most of these programs offer, and point out how I would be a great fit. I recycled almost the same essay only to change out the school/program names and their mascots. I was just trying to save myself some work. I thought that was a clever trick, but I guess that didn’t impress them, based on the number of invites I got for interviews (ha ha)
Hindsight I still think that it’s better for me to be rejected pre-interview than to have invested a lot of money and time going on interview trips that aren’t fruitful. The BSMD trips and scholarship trips cost us around 2K resulting in a rejection from Texas Tech UMSI, a finalist status for the Baylor COM interview, and a STEM full-tuition scholarship. It’s a great investment in a decent ROI in comparison to the cost of applying through the traditional route. To our family, the bottom-line cost is important - why I kept hoping to get a chance with NJMS through NJIT, but I got caught up in the last batch of NJMS review when COVID-19 broke in late Feb and didn’t quite make it to the interview phase!
A note to people who want to pursue Baylor COM via its two feeder programs at Baylor and Rice: Baylor COM has a policy that they only grant you one interview. That means that if you got the finalist status with Baylor U, Baylor COM will eliminate your name from its finalist consideration for the Rice Baylor program, even if Rice sends your file to Baylor COM for finalist selection. You don’t get a say in picking the UG feeder school to be a finalist for. Baylor U finalists traditionally have their interviews before the Rice U finalists. Baylor COM does not offer people a choice of feeder program, unlike NJMS. I suppose it’s because Baylor COM doesn’t want people to flip between UG since there are only six per UG program. Unless you have a low asset, the income guideline for free tuition/free ride at Rice is just an advertisement. High stats people get rewarded more handsomely with Baylor (if you are OK with being in Waco, Texas for four years)
Knowing BSMD applications could be a crapshoot, I played safe and applied to Pitt for its GAP Physician Assistant program, thinking that if I don’t get in a BSMD program, I can still learn and practice medicine as a PA. However, even with a decent scholarship from Pitt, it still would cost me too much as an OOS (around 250K for six years). So, I’m back, making my wish for Baylor COM while blowing on dandelions. The notification came and I was waitlisted. After May 1, if you don’t commit to your feeder school, you’ll no longer be on Baylor COM’s WL. Having been told that historically there had never been more than 2 people getting off the waitlist, I was ready to move on to my #1 non-BSMD choice. Yet, not even a week later, I got a pleasant surprise from Baylor COM: I got off the waitlist. I guess all of the dandelion blowings must have sent a good vibe into the universe on my behalf. Thank you, whoever turned down Baylor COM’s offer! Whoever that was/were made their decision very quickly. I didn’t expect the WL to move at all until after May 1 or very close to it. So, I am an example of HOPE for those who are wishing to get off your favorite BSMD WL.
People who come next cycle and after - Do the best you can. BSMD is not the only way to med school. Thinking like that should take the pressure off a bit and enable you to show off your real personalities. Also, this cycle (HS 2019-2020) is not typical. Pitt postponed all GAP Medicine interviews to the fall. That poses a dilemma to the GAP candidates: should they commit to Pitt or go somewhere else and transfer to Pitt only after GAP acceptance? The latter choice would nullify any UG Pitt scholarships. In other BSMD programs, there were candidates who had been asked to move their interviews from in-person to online. They definitely have a disadvantage to those who have in-person interviews. It’s harder to make a personal connection in a short 30-min interview without the handshake/fistbump and direct eye contact. For you, this summer probably won’t have a lot of volunteer and/or research work due to COVID-19. But it is what it is. Don’t despair. Just do the best you can under the circumstances. Do good things to benefit others - while keeping your social distance to stay safe - to fill your summer agenda. You’ll be surprised how you spend this summer will enter the conversations during your interviews next year. Also, use the time you have this summer to start on your UG and BSMD essays. Think of “Why medicine.” Not only you will be writing about it but you’ll also be asked about it A LOT over the course of next year. Also, look for the uniqueness of the UG/med school of each BSMD program and be able to rattle right off what you like about it and why you would be a good fit for them. Good luck to all of you! You’ll do great!