avidog

Hi everyone,
I'm trying to decide between USC's 8 year med program and BU's 7 year med program. Financially, I'd end up paying about the same thing for either one, so that's not much of an issue. While I have heard a lot about the BU med program, I'm not as informed about USC's (I had to leave early on the interview day to catch a flight). By the way, i'm an east-coaster, so I love USC's weather, but the distance... Anyway, if you can tell me where you'd go if you were wearing my shoes and why, I'd be much obliged. Also, does anyone know about USC's residency placements??

az1698

I would take usc. Would you post your stats?

cecesunshine

look around on all the other bacc/md vs ... threads. theres a TON of info on all of them. in short though, i would pick usc b/c of weather, great resources in LA, a more fun college experience, just about everything in general.

and resident placements are awesome. the two tour guides we had at keck got interviews at johns hopkins, university of washington, ucla, washu, a crapload of other great places, so definitely NO worries there

and i'll be there! you'll get to meet me! thats totally gonna change your view, right

ppenguin757

UM, and me, too. Because we're cool like that!

johnstoops

noooo come to BU! cuz I'm gonna be there :P. Actually, the decision was easy for me because there was a 100k differential. If I had got the same scholarship money at both programs, I would truly be torn since their are advantages and disadvantages to both programs, as I said in the BU forum already.

ppenguin757

Look at the weather:

Boston:
-Average Nov. Temp.: 52 degrees
-Avergae Dec. Temp.: 42 degrees
-Average Jan. Temp.: 36 degrees
-Average Feb. Temp.: 39 degrees

Los Angeles:
-Average Nov. Temp.: 73 degrees
-Avergae Dec. Temp.: 69 degrees
-Average Jan. Temp.: 68 degrees
-Average Feb. Temp.: 70 degrees

*Average high temperatures as reported by weather.com.

ppenguin757

And take it from someone with separation anxiety:

I'm actually scared to go to college. No, not scared. PETRIFIED. I don't want to leave home. But every single person that I know at USC has assured me that Welcome Week is the best thing ever and that it's a great transition. So the distance may not be as bad as you think.

ppenguin757

AND (sorry to keep posting), USC's residency placements are linked on page 3, here:

How Would You Rank the Medical Programs?

avidog

hi everyone,
I appreciate all of your input so far. I'm moving closer to a decision...I think? At times like these, sometimes I wonder if it would just have been easier to have gotten rejected! Hey ppenguin- do you know if USC accepts AP credits from bacc/md students? If so, how many?
Thanks again everyone! And if any of you have any more information about either school that may tip me in favor of one or the other, pray tell! May 1st is fast approaching.

xcrunner18

For USC: USC ARR : Articulation : Advanced Placement Exams

They accept some AP's for placement, but, using an AP will require you to take higher level classes.

EraserXIV

from the looks of it there only seems to be pro-usc sentiment

johnstoops

ok fineee I'll rush to defend BU :].... If the money differential did not exist for me, here would be some reasons I would put in favor of BU when debating what program to go to.

1) 7 years instead of 8. Ok fine if the saved year doesn't matter to you, then extend the BU program to 8 and get a MBA or MPH while you're at it. Sounds like a sweet deal.

2) Medical Science major at BU vs. whatever at USC. All 6 med students who went through the bacc/md program at USC had a BA in Biology. Why? They said a BA in biology is USC pre-med reqs + 1 class...so might as well. At BU you major in Medical Science instead + can minor in something totally different and still have time left over for a couple electives.

3) The third year in undergrad. I mean seriously. You can A) Study abroad.....B)Start taking modular medical courses....or C)Take other random undergrad courses. At USC, you can't take med courses early and if you study abroad for a long time, you'll have to either not minor in something else cuz you won't have time or cut back somewhere else along the way.

4) Boston is the awesomest city ever for college students. 250,000 students in Boston in Cambridge. You have anything you wanna do. It simply is paradise for college kids. At USC, the campus is GORGEOUS, but you need a car or a friend with a car if you wanna do anything outside BU. Boston public transportation is awesome and everything is right at your fingertips.

5) The program is one of the nation's oldest continuous programs, along with the Northwestern one. It has been running since the 1960s if I remember correctly.

6) You have Harvard and everything else right there. Go do some research there, volunteer, etc. and the SMED program has a good reputation, you will get opportunities if you want them.

7)The smed community seems to be really cool! A lot of smeds room together (but you don't have to if you're not into that) and usually make a very good group of friends. Of course, I will branch out and meet other people too, but it just seems like it would be fun to hang out with fellow smeds and live around them too.

8) Celtics, Patriots, Red Sox.

I'll post more if I think of anything more specific. This was all just off the top of my head.

ppenguin757

*Rushes to counter-defend USC*

1) 8 years instead of 7. You get a greater breadth of college experience and you get the full time. You're not going to be rushed at all or feel like you have to take classes of the summer.

2) Yes, most of the Bacc/MDs get a BA in Biology, but the majority of them also pick up a BA (or BS) in something else and still have room to explore the many unique classes (Film, Communications, etc.). I'm getting my BA in Biological Sciences and Broadcast Journalism--something the BU program would not have let me done.

3) Wrong. At USC you CAN study abroad and everything still works out fine. Every single major at USC has some kind of compatible study abroad program. In addition, the Keck School does have limited classes available to upperclassmen at USC, but it's based on enrollment at the medical school, I believe.

4) LA is a better city. It's the "capital" of the West Coast; there is not an opportunity that you can find in Boston that you can't in LA. In fact, you can probably find even more. And the weather is 10 times nicer.

5) Boo on history, who cares about it?

6) You have UCLA, UCSF, UCSD, Berkeley, etc. all sharing resources with USC. The whole California school system is at your fingertips. Not to mention the title of "Bacc/MD" gets your foot in the door before any other premed at USC when it comes to research or other opportunities.

7) The Bacc/MD community is AWESOME. I've heard everyone is really supportive and always in contact with one another. We even have a class together on Fridays from 2-4 on how to be a doctor where we get to hear from really cool lecturers and do awesome stuff.

8) TROJANS, Dodgers (but still, GO CUBS), Lakers. Honestly, if we're going to go into the realm of sports, no one beats USC. At BU, you have...hockey? Please.

FIGHT ON.

ppenguin757

And AP credits are only given to fulfill "elective credit" (for a 3, 4 or 5 on any test) except Bio, Chem, and Physics B or C, all of which fulfill GE Category III (which you'll have to take, anyway) and AP Euro fulfills GE Category I.

johnstoops

1) You can extend the program to 8 if you want. So, that's a non-issue. + getting a MBA or MPH during those years in addition to MD + BA/BS is pretty sweet.
2)All the bacc/md students MINORED in other things (Business, Spanish, etc.) from what I remember. Not major, but I may be wrong, I'm sure some major too. If you extend BU program to 8....or even just not study abroad for whole year for undergrad 3rd year....you can major in something else there as well.
3) I guess. but still modular medical courses are a built in part of the smed program.
4)You win on the weather. As a Californian, I am going to definitely miss that. BUT are you seriously gonna say you can just walk out of USC and go do something cool? Did you walk around in the area surrounding USC? uhhhh. The problem with LA (esp. for a college kid) is that it's way to spread out. Boston, everything is right there. Boston IS a college city.
5) Okay bacc/md has a great reputation by now as well so might not matter quite as much...but still an interesting tidbit huh? Northwestern and BU are the oldest. Hey Stanford is a great school, but that's why Stanford isn't Ivy. Not old. but whatever, Stanford is still held in high regards...ok whatever anyways
6) The UC system does not compare to MIT, Harvard and all the ensuing research opportunities. UCs don't have enough resources to provide adequate counseling and opportunities to their own students compared to privates. They are the best public schools....but they are still public schools. Boston is the heart of intellectualism and education in America. That last part is not an opinion, it's a fact.
7) I'm sure bacc/MD has a great community as well....but smeds take a LOT more of the same classes, etc. One USC bacc/md student at med school was talking about how she doesn't totally remember which people were bacc/mds and which weren't at med school now. soooooo.....
8) The Celtics are winning this whole thing in Game 7 this year. Admit it, you know it to be true :]. Yeah USC football is pretty cool though, uhhhh guess I'll go watch some hockey games haha, who knows, I may come to love it.

The reqs for BU are so little that you really don't need AP credits to get ahead .