I think calling it predatory might be a bit strong… but there would be no logical reason for a school to offer the BA/MD program, if they couldn’t use it to attract stronger (or higher paying) students than those they could attract with the BA or MD individually.
Can’t they apply to other med schools if they want? Or do you mean the BA part of a BA/MD program might not prepare them as well for other med school admissions as they would be prepared at another school where they got in?
Agree.
I think that parents make decisions - and it’s for them to decide in regards to price.
Why could a school not offer a combined BS/MS - it’s really no different. Or 6 year BA/JD
Do I think the costs are insane - yes. Would I pay them - no.
I do think ED is predatory in some ways -but someone offering a terminal degree and clearly stating the requirements to qualify for the next level - I don’t think it’s predatory. Why shouldn’t a business get to decide their terms - including price?
Perhaps USC at $95K is predatory - but that’s not for me to decide. That’s for those who attend.
PS - predatory wasn’t my word but since it was used, I continued with it.
Hmmm, this is of interest: BA/BS+MD Early Assurance Program says that “Please note that acceptance into the College of Medicine is not guaranteed.”.
The OP may want to ask whether it means that acceptance into the medical school is merely contingent on meeting the listed undergraduate requirements relating to GPA, MCAT, service hours, co-ops in health care, etc., or if it is possible that students meeting the listed undergraduate requirements may not be accepted in the medical school.
BA/BS → MD/DO programs may or may not allow applying to other medical schools (those that do not revoke the medical school express lane for those who do apply to other medical schools).
The parents aren’t the ones who will taking out $500K in loans to pay for med school. Those loans belong to the student. (Unless the parents have the cash to pay 100% of cost of med school.)
I think you mean that this who do allow students to apply out DO revoke the conditional acceptance to the program’s med school.
Also at programs that don’t require a MCAT score, just taking the MCAT usually will void the student’s conditional acceptance to the program’s med school.
Whoa! Ok, I changed my mind about the word “predatory.”
But we are talking about a BS/MD - and it’s not the 17/18 year old making that decision.
If you want to talk about med school itself…
Count us amongst the families that agreed in the application list and allowed our kids to choose amongst all acceptances. Perhaps this is what this family did.
Having said that…when we discussed application choices, we didn’t want any ED applications. I’m not sure we would have said yes to a BS/MD application either.
What’s done is done for this student. Now…they have to make an informed choice.
I can see the allure of the BS/MD acceptance. If you haven’t had a kid apply to medical schools, you probably don’t understand why this is appealing.
According to OP, Drexel costs $59K per year. Does this cost include:
These costs can add up even before medical school years.
Here is the Drexel cost of attendance:
On Campus
Cost Fall Winter Spring Total
(Three terms of enrollment)
Tuition $20,014 $20,014 $20,014 $60,042
Fees $790 $790 $790 $2,370
Immunization Fee (one time fee) $50 - - $50
Books $400 $400 $400 $1,200
Computer (admit term) $500 - - $500
Transportation $300 $300 $300 $900
Personal $200 $200 $200 $600
Origination Fee* (annual fee) $20 $20 $20 $60
Housing $3,744 $3,744 $3,744 $11,232
Food $2,288 $2,288 $2,288 $6,864
Total Estimated Cost of Attendance - - -$83,818.
Tuition alone for the year is $60,000. Not sure where the OP got their cost.
I’m guessing that the student received $24,000 in financial aid.
maybe merit scholarships to bring down COA.
My son is currently at Case for MechE. It was initially included in his school list because it checked all the boxes for programs, size, distance from home, etc., but it was not his top pick. After visiting campus, however, he chose Case over two higher ranked schools because he liked the campus (especially the Sears Think Box), and the school promised a good deal of student support (mixed results there). Case also encouraged and facilitated double majors and minors, and my son was unsure of his desired major (he was also interested in BioChem).
University Hospital bisects the campus, and the Cleveland Clinic is less than a half mile from Case down Euclid Ave. In addition to having a strong medical school, Case also has a top 10 nursing program.
Cleveland jokes aside, Case is in a pretty nice part of town, near many of the city’s cultural sites like the Cleveland Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland Botanical Gardens, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. Shopping and restaurants are near the campus, and Little Italy is walkable.
One of my colleagues’ kid went to a highly ranked UCs for premed and she had to take almost 3 years gap years to meet the med school requirements - to get the desired MCAT score, volunteering, clinical experience and research, etc. I don’t know why that many gap years were needed but the kid was quite passionate about getting into med school from what I heard. It was quite intimidating to hear this experience and hence the option of BSMD sounds more appealing. If the COA is going to be similar anyway after the undergrad years, taking chance to reduce the number of years and additional stress of application process sounded better. We plan to email the admission rep/alumni too to check if we can get some clarity beforehand about the requirements, clinical experience options, etc. I’m not saying a 17 year old will be mature enough to foresee the future fully but knowing my daughter, I can see that she enjoys biology and anatomy related topics compared to Engineering or coding or business and doesn’t mind spending hours to study about it. She has been exposed to a variety of topics in Science Olympiad from middle school and always picked Disease Detectives and Anatomy & Physiology as her favorites. Of course, this may not mean that she is ready for a 8 year commitment but at least she won’t have regrets about the area of study. Again, thanks for your detailed messages!!
@ucbalumnus - No. Drexel won’t be in the list if not for BSMD & the merit scholarship. But having said that, my daughter seems to have gotten good reviews from a couple of her senior friends who are currently doing undergrad degrees there.
If you have an MD, I don’t think it matters where it’s from. I’m looking at the practice I go to - and it will have a Tennessee bent as I’m in Tennessee - but one doesn’t need to go to Harvard, etc. to become a doctor (and none have that I see) - and I think the last time people look where their doctor went to undergrad or med school - is never 99% of the time. I look at the insurance plan for in-network and I assume most are the same.
So I see nothing wrong with Drexel. If the student has a bit less stress for med school, great and if med school doesn’t work out, they are a reputable school in many majors. Can the family afford it is a fair question - but it’s certainly not a bad school at all. I mean, one of the doctors from my practice went to Missouri Southern State, a school which accepts everyone and is entirely non competitive. Drexel is top 100 US News - it’s a fine choice for any student (in my opinion).
received a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and later his medical degree from the University of Tennessee-Memphis College of Medicine.
Bachelor’s of Science in Biology at Duke University, where she graduated magna cum laude. She was also included into Phi Beta Kappa. graduated from Vanderbilt University Medical School in 2007.
from the University of Tennessee, Memphis School of Medicine
Bachelor of Science in Biology from Sewanee: The University of the South. She attended medical school in Memphis, Tennessee, at the University of Tennessee, Health Science Center College of Medicine
His Bachelor’s degree in History was received from Haverford College near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, while his medical degree is from University of Vermont College of Medicine,
Center College of Danville, Kentucky, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. After this, he attended medical school at the University of Kentucky
She attended Lipscomb University, and then completed medical school at University of Louisville.
graduated with a BA in Biology from the Honors Program at Missouri Southern State University in 1994. He then graduated from the University of Missouri School of Medicine in 1998
completed medical school at Indiana University School of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine degree from East Tennessee State University
She attended Lipscomb University, and then completed medical school at University of Louisville
and attended the University of Georgia, where she graduated summa cum laude with highest honors with a Bachelor of Science degree in both Biology and Psychology. She completed her medical degree at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, TN, a
Received his undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee. He graduated from the University of Tennessee, College of Medicine
Yes, this is what we did. NO EDs. She did not want to apply for any Ivy. We ignored colleges that would ask for 90K and above. We let her apply to the schools she wanted to go to giving some overall budget, distance, weather, etc (having extended family or friend around the area was a plus). I was not keen on BSMD programs since I thought the requirements were too rigid and the possibility of acceptance was low. I wanted her to focus more on in-state school applications instead of spending time on BSMD essays, interviews, CASPER test, etc. She just applied to this one BSMD program since she really wanted to try this out. Now that she got the acceptance, I’m doing my part in researching what this is about 
That’s right. She got a merit scholarship from these schools and hence the COA is lower.
Yes. From Drexel webpage, I see this info.
Students remain enrolled at the University as full-time students during their co-op terms, but they are not paying tuition during their co-op cycle. In many cases, co-op is a paid, full-time work experience.