<p>So, I have wanted to go to medical school since I was six and I have dreamed of Ivy League since I was eight. I visited the campuses, and I absolutely love MIT and Yale. However, I have also heard of some universities (such as University of Pittsburgh, Case Western, etc) that offer guaranteed placement into their medical schools, through a very competitive program that only accepts few students. Then there are also schools that shortens the total amount of school to 6 or 7 years, but you sacrifice your summers. You don’t have to take the MCAT and you get guaranteed placement into their medical schools. But they don’t have the prestige of Ivy League (nor the necessary financial aid), but with Ivy League, it isn’t guaranteed that I will be accepted into a medical school later, yet I can really see myself thriving there. </p>
<p>So my question is: should I pursue a school that guarantees placement into their medical school, or should I pursue the school that feels right for me and apply to medical school later?</p>
<p>MIT isn’t even in the Ivy League. Prestige of the school doesn’t matter for Med School. This is really moot until you are accepted into the programs, they are very competitive with very few spots.</p>
<p>OP- Ivy league will give you better UG experience but no guarantee to MD, where as BS/MD programs will give you a “lesser” UG experience but guaranteed MD. You need to decide what is more important to you, how much risk are you willing to take, will you be happy with your plan B… you decide!</p>
<p>yesdee,
Do you an experience that you based the statement:
“OP- Ivy league will give you better UG experience but no guarantee to MD, where as BS/MD programs will give you a “lesser” UG experience but guaranteed MD. You need to decide what is more important to you, how much risk are you willing to take”
I am asking because it is NOT supported at all by my D’s experience. She was in combined bs/md program and currently is third year Med. Student outside of her program (she was the only one in her program who applied out because she did not like the location of the Med. School in the program). Being in the program has helped my D. a lot (according to her). She decided to apply to several bs/md after graduating #1 from the private HS.</p>
<p>Read the fine print on the streamlined medical school programs. Often, you must maintain a medical-school-worthy GPA and score high enough on the MCAT to stay in the medical school track, although doing so would allow skipping the application and interview process with the additional uncertainty there (but note that some programs do not allow applying to others unless you give up the place in the program). Also note the cost of both the undergraduate school and medical school.</p>
<p>I assume yesdee is referring to accelerated programs and the concept that most of the combined programs are at schools where those students could easily have gone to top tier UGs and then top tier med schools.</p>
<p>Brown is really the only program that gives you an essentiality guaranteed med school acceptance (the requirement is graduating with a 3.0 GPA with some, not all pre-med coursework required, no MCAT) but if you’re strong enough to get into PLME, you’ll probably be able to swing an acceptance to a higher ranked med school than Brown’s (and certainly to A med school if 8 years in PVD is not your thing or you want to go to med school where half your class wasn’t from your UG). Northwestern is the only top med school with a combined program but I don’t know how loose their requirements are to retain your med school spot.</p>
<p>^Exactly, every program is very different, you got to know your personal goals for the UG, Med. school. The goals should be for acacemics as well as non-academics. The UG should math your goals and personality and as a bonus to be very cheap of even free (for you, mostly because of Merit, if you have stats to apply to combined bs/md, assumption is that you have stats to receive substantial Merit). Rank and wahtever others are saying and considerations for Med. School are pretty irrelevent when choosing your UG (except for one consideration - to be a cheap as possible). If you are unhappy at the place for 4 years, there is a good chance that your grades will suffer significantly. You (not your friends, not anybody here on CC) should feel at home to insure success. If such a place happens to have a combined bs/md, here is your winner.</p>
<p>Everybody who is accepted to any bs/md (well, close to everybody), would be accepted to some/few Ivy/Elite. Having great UG experience and the stats / ECs to be accepted to top tier Med. School does not require an applicant to graduate from the Ivy / Elite UG, it requires certain personality traits and work habits that most (all) of the bs/md participants possess…</p>
<p>Does Harvard experience better than Howard BS/MD?</p>
<p>Comparing two specific schools doesn’t answer the OP question. How does that answer OP question which route to go? You are comparing two specific schools. OP wants to understand the difference between top schools and BS/MD program in general.</p>
<p>Except very few (NW, Brown, WUSt) all BS/MD schools are mid tier schools. The difference between top schools and mid tier is well evident!</p>
<p>Multiple Degree Forum is a good place to look around.</p>
<p>There are very few truly combined BS/MD programs involving top 20 med schools. Northwestern at 18 may be one (not sure of those details)? WUSTL does not really count because you still must have a 3.8, excellent MCAT and go thru med school interview process to be admitted to the med school, which make it very likely you could get in to many others.</p>
<p>Look carefully at the BS/MD programs, all may not be as it seems - they are discussed in detail on the other forum. Some are more appropriate by state of residence (Caltech/UCSD #15). No reputable program is shorter than 8 years, and you want a very reputable program to be able to get a good residency.</p>
<p>If you can get in to HYP/S or the top LACs the med school admission rates are 90% or greater. That’s almost a guarantee, but the apps and interviews take time. If that comes with FA, all the better.</p>
<p>You may also get a full merit ride at many UGs. </p>
<p>So consider applying to a few well regarded BS/MDs and see what happens, and apply to a range of others too.</p>
<p>“If you can get in to HYP/S or the top LACs the med school admission rates are 90% or greater.”
…of those who get thru their respective committee…maybe?
No place, none, even bs/md can gaurantee a spot in Med. School. Still have to have high college GPA (the least). But considering that “cut” in some programs is 3.45 - 3.5 with either no MCAT or very low MCAT (having 25 on first diagnostic procatice test is pretty reasonable, some bs/md programs might require 24, D’s preogram required only 27), the combined programs are mucu more guarantee than any Ivy / Elite, HYP/S, whatever. I believe that D. had the best of each, she had a guarantee being in bs/md, but she also could apply out and retain her spot, which she did because…she did not like the location of the Med. School in her program. Who knows, she might be back there for residency, as it happens to be in our state and very highly ranked for her specialty. D’s choice was also much easier becuase she never considered the Elite UGs, she just wanted to be at the place where she felt “at home” and this approach has worked handsomely. Even now while at Med. School, she keep saying, the place does not determine future, the student does.</p>
<p>False. No school has an admit rate that high – none. </p>
<p>(And those schools that claim a high rate can only do so because they stop their own students from applying by refusing to write a recommendation. Heck, some LACs even limit the lower-stat students from even enrolling in the premed prereqs, which makes it impossible for them to even apply to health professional schools…)</p>
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<p>George Washington (rank = 57) has a 7 year combined program. Is it not “reputable”?</p>
<p>This subject has been beaten to death many a time. Even though the scars from the previous battles haven’t faded yet, I will throw in my $0.02 (yet again :D) in the form of some random nuggets of advice to OP.</p>
<p>[ol]
[<em>] Traditional route to medical schools, though rewarding, is long, arduous and potentially treacherous. If you are lucky enough to get into a top BS/MD program (Rice/Baylor, UCSD, HPME etc.) it makes every sense to consider it seriously.
[</em>] Be very wary of the strings attached to the BS/MD programs. High MCAT/GPA requirements and low matriculations rates take whatever little “advantage” there is in the accelerated/assured programs.
[<em>] Don’t believe a word a college student says about “UG experience”, especially if it is given as reason why you should go to a given school.
[</em>] Never pay any attention to the astronomical medical school acceptance rates touted by college admission evangelists.
[/ol]</p>
<p>^Agree with above, but only at 75%. Understand and agree with points 1,2,4. Do not understand point 3 (this was the MOST important point of my D. choosing her UG after being accepted to 3 bs/md programs, none top - which was NOT important to her.) Choosing UG based on what was perceived as the best future “UG experience” has been proven to be the right way in her case. Actually, her “UG experience” went well beyond planned/expected, she has no regrets, dispite of going to her original #2. She truly believes that total “UG experience”, academic, EC’s and others that result in personal growth is the most important. However, I am not forcing anybody to believe in what I am saying, you do not have to it is just one example of the many successful paths that are out there for a future Med. Student, just got to choose yours.</p>