<p>Suppose that 1/2 of Duke BME class apply to med school, and 1/3 of the Duke BME class go to a med school. The acceptance rate is then 67%, which is not that high. So I suspect that the % of Duke BMEs applying to med schools may be lower than 50% if what you said is true.</p>
<p>I think most students choose the BME major because of its perceived benenit of being a good “backup plan.” Everything else is secondary. I believe also, at least at a strong BME programs like those at JHU, Duke and likely UC San Diego, the proportion of more competitive students may be higher. If you have what it takes, go for it. But do not rely on it giving you an edge. Actually, for an applicant who would like to attend A medical school rather than a top research one, the competition in these 3 programs may be more fierce just because of the student composition in them – and what you learn there may not be more useful (when you get to a med school) than what you may learn in most other academic majors because of its math/physics/engineering inclined courses in BME, IMHO.</p>
<p>I heard at many med schools, if the professors try to present materials in a typical undergraduate science/engineering way, it is a big turn off for most preclinical med school students – as they think it is a waste of their time and efforts when their focus is exclusively on either boards test or the clinical training. An exception may be for those MD/PhD students as they may have the need to learn that in a deeper level. A BME major graduate once posted on SDN that in almost two years of his time in med school, he had seen a formula whose understanding requires a very basic calculus background (like what you may have learned in a high school AP Calc class) exactly once.</p>