<p>@iwannabebrown. If you know you want to be a doctor go for BU. Agree with above comments you don’t know what will happen at Harvard and you may not get grades to get you into any medical school. Saxplayer sounds right about the stats for undergrad but I am not sure, check their web site. Sure is a lot of nonsense statistics thrown around on this thread. As people say 90% of statistics are made up on the spot (joke)</p>
<p>All it takes is ONE bad weekend test prep for an ORGANIC CHEM midterm and the doom of a “C” lurks…and you conveniently decide, as MANY have done before you, that you really do NOT want to go to MED school. 60% of pre-meds “DECIDE”, whatever that means, that they do not want it anymore! Yes indeed…TENACITY, ENDURANCE, and a REFUSE-TO-LOSE mentality is the order of the day and schools like it that way…it makes their job much easier when the cream rises to the top as a function of the natural order of “survival of the fittest” AND at NO expense to them. The NBA loves the college game as it feeds talent to the MOTHER-SHIP. Med schools love ORGANIC CHEM as it serves to rid the prospects of “wanna-bes” and “egos” and at NO expense!</p>
<p>I do disagree that someone going to Harvard will not be able to get into med school after.</p>
<p>They may not get into a top 20 or top 30 med school unless they do well but the Harvard undergrad compensates more than enough if one is forced to go to a lower ranked med school.</p>
<p>If BU undergrad is fullpay, I would tell my kid to take Harvard in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>FWIW, any of the kids who are choosing between BS/MD vs BS, I believe they will get into med school if they choose to do undergrad somewhere and reapply. If they are good enough now, they will be good enough 3 years later since they know what it takes to get admitted and are focused on their goal. The main difference would be whether they change their mind during undergrad to find some other career. The other major tradeoff is cost. Is it worth spending a lot of money for a guaranteed seat vs finding a cheaper alternative for undergrad and applying later.</p>
<p>I know of a student, very smart and diligent (she shadowed me in the clinic), who went to Stanford for her undergraduate and is now a medical student doing an MD degree at Texas Tech University. I also know of another one who went to Brown University for her undergraduate and is now a medical student pursuing a DO degree at University of North Texas Health Sciences Center. It takes someone with a long stamina to be able to keep up with the grades, especially in high ranking universities. Things may, and sometimes do, go wrong, or one’s priorities change.</p>
<p>IMGDAD - I do hear about it but I am not so sure it is a major disadvantage to attend Texas Tech or the DO school. I notice that they land great residencies and tech hospitals end up accepting many foreign grads for residency because none of their students are available. :D</p>
<p>I know a few families who chose to send their kids to tech for undergrad because they were going to be able to get medical admissions after first year (before they changed it this year). I know at least one in a radiology residency and another one who is in med school now and expected to do quite well too.</p>
<p>OTOH, it is a matter of whether the people we are talking about went to Stanford or Brown after rejecting a combined admission. Not every kid going to a top school is equal to one who has been admitted to a BS/MD program. I believe different kids have different drives.</p>
<p>Interesting to see which schools contribute a high percentage of BU med students (143 in regular vs 21 bs/md). They do average 34 MCAT for regular though.</p>
<p><a href=“Admissions | A holistic approach, from admissions to practice | Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine”>Admissions | A holistic approach, from admissions to practice | Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine;
<p>For those considering Drexel BS/MD,
we went to the accepted students day last Saturday and talked with a BS/MD adviser there. She said that the phrase “not guaranteed” is there only for a serious breach of integrity such as academic misconducts or crimes. As long as you keep out of trouble and meet the requirements, you would be admitted to the medical school.</p>
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<p>The part of your post that I put in bold contradicts what you said earlier as Boston University’s School of Medicine is ranked in the top 30. </p>
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<p>Is it possible to get into a better med school than BUSM from Harvard undergrad? Yes, but there is no guarantee. At the same time, there is a chance of not getting into any medical school. In fact, at one of my interviews at one of the nationally unranked BS/MD programs, there was a wall that listed where the med students completed their undergraduate education. Guess what school showed up a few times? Yup, Harvard University.</p>
<p>@IMGDAD There is nothing wrong with the TTUHSCSOM or the UNT COM. I have looked at the match list for Texas Tech, and there is a good diversification of specialties. Keep in mind ~80% of those graduating from US MD schools get their top choice residency.</p>
<p>@asianandproud, Yes, you are correct to point out that there is nothing wrong with going to Tech or UNT COM. The point I was trying to make is that if someone is so prestige conscious about wanting to go to Harvard at the expense of without a guarantee med school to go to (if that person is already committed to medicine) just because it is Harvard, then going to these other schools after Harvard will be a step down for them.</p>
<p>theking - the question really is whether an undergrad experience at BU and Harvard will be the same. If someone believes both are equal, then they are free to choose whichever. I just don’t believe they are but it is applicable only to me.</p>
<p>I don’t believe it is easy to get into in BU MD. If someone goes to Harvard, then they go to whichever medical school they can get into irrespective of the rank. Many that go to Harvard from Texas end up in one of the Texas med schools, in a lot of cases because they are really cheap.</p>
<p>@IMGDAD I see, that makes more sense. When I was interviewing at UTHSCSA-SOM and TAMHSC-COM I met graduates from Rice, Vanderbilt, and other prestigious institutions. One even said that he was selected for Brown PLME and turned it down to go to UPenn, ended up at TAMHSC-COM but seemed very happy about it. But, yeah, there are many graduates of prestigious institutions in the ‘low tier’ Texas medical schools.</p>
<p>@ texaspg- (If BU undergrad is fullpay, I would tell my kid to take Harvard in a heartbeat.) If tuition is the only issue here then you are implying that BU for three years is more expensive than Harvard for 4. Plus applying to Medical school, travel for interviews (opportunity costs re time). Or are you saying BU BS/MD + MONEY = Harvard. Because I do not agree with that equation. IF you want to be a doctor for sure and the cost would not be much different then a pre excepted spot in the Medical School > Harvard in my opinion.</p>
<p>Also, unless Harvard is giving you low tuition it’s not that spectacular. I visited when I was a junior and decided not to even apply. There are people there dumber than a bag of rocks, literally (which is true at any university, but is kind of notable when discussing Harvard). There are also a lot of really bratty rich kids there. Maybe it was just my individual experience. Princeton, on the other hand, I absolutely loved.</p>
<p>Ohioparent - My numbers work differently. med schools in Texas are about 30k per year. So I would still come out much ahead.</p>
<p>30k including room and board^
correct?</p>
<p>I believe tuition runs at 16k and so everything else extra. So it is a matter of all other expenses and how frugal a person is. People buy a condo and sell it off after 4 years.</p>
<p>Yeah tuition is pretty standardized at about 16.5k, but that doesn’t factor in books and a few other non negotiable items.</p>
<p>Is buying a condo and selling it off after 4 years a good thing to do? Maybe not in other states, but the housing market in Texas is relatively strong, so I have mixed feelings.</p>
<p>That’s what many students going to UTH, UT Southwest and Baylor tend to do. Paying 12k rent per year does not sound so appealing if one can get a condo for 100-150k and get their money back 4 years later.</p>
<p>12k for rent for one bedroom or so in Houston seems ridiculous. I live near near Houston in a 2 bedroom almost 1000 sq ft with my dad we used to pay $550/mth but his income went up a little so now we have to pay $636/mth</p>
<p>That is the problem with med center area - they are paying a lot more for convenience because an additional hour spent in commuting is an hour lost from whatever. People are making two or three trips back to school, library etc. each day and every minute counts in a 100+ hr work week.</p>
<p>One of our friends’ kids started at UT Southwest last year. Home is 7 miles but stays in a condo close to school. Incidentally, one of kid’s high school classmates went to Harvard and is a current classmate at Southwest. :p</p>