H.S. to Med. School Guides

MD2B2012
Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:50:30 +0000

Johnstoops, I don’t think you’re understanding why I am criticizing MiamiDAP.

First off this thread by BERN1943 was created to help high schoolers find any H.S. to Med School guides that may be out there for those who are thinking about going to medical school unconventionally through a Bachelor/MD program.

Since there are resources that are scattered everywhere it’s obviously best if they are all in one place whether it’s Chapter 10 of the MSAR put out by the AAMC, googling to find lists of Bachelor/MD programs, or books that give listings and ideas on how to make your application appealing to the admissions committee, as well as CC. Was it really necessary for MiamiDAP to say, “We did not use mentioned resources”? Good for him if he didn’t use it, but OTHER people can use them if they so wish to find out more information for themselves. As always then he has to relate it back to his “D”.

Also a lot of the information that MiamiDAP gives is just plain wrong.

“What has worked for applicants in a past, might not work currently.” ---- How does he know that personally? The application form doesn’t even change that much if at all.

“We also discovered that having connections sometime overwrites other stats and qualifications. D. did not have any, but some kids with MD parent(s), have.” — Once again as oreo45 said, it sounds like just mere paranoia if not sour grapes. Parents can overexaggerate and boast as well. Having an MD parent doesn’t guarantee anything nor does knowing faculty. This isn’t undergraduate admissions. They want students who they know can complete both the BA/BS and MD.

“Also, number of spots have been dropping since some programs are cancelled becuase of latest economic developments.” – this is a lie too, as how would a BA/MD program be more expensive from the school’s standpoint? In general, you pay undergrad tuition for the undergrad part and medical school tuition for the medical school part. The only difference is psychologic comfort for the student. The truth is the reason why many of these programs are discontinued are bc students in the program end up not doing as well as their 4+4 counterparts in classes or on boards and end up LEAVING the program - which is actually what costs the school in lost revenue. That’s the real answer - the economy has NOTHING to do with it.

Some Bachelor/MD programs are great, some are definitely not so great, that’s why people ask which ones are good and which ones are bad. All people can offer are their personal experiences. Yet when someone asks on a thread which are bad medical schools, MiamiDAP says NONE of the medical schools are bad. The reasons CCers want to know whether a medical school is bad or not from other CCers and those in it, is to decide for themselves whether to enter the combined early program early on and commit from an early starting point to a medical school or do the 4+4 route and see what they are able to get. Most of the people who apply for combined programs are high achievers with high standardized exam scores, GPA, rank, spectacular CVs and thus would be able to get into top-notch med schools anyways. In many of these programs, once you enter and go through a couple years, it’s very difficult to get out later and enter the normal route again without having to redo requirements.

To say as if somehow all medical schools in the U.S. are not bad is a lie, as many CCers who are ACTUALLY in these programs have attested to - many of them regretted entering their specific program and wishing they had done the 4+4 route. Someone shouldn’t end up settling for a school relying on advice from MiamiDAP that “there are no bad medical schools” - as that is false. What’s worse is he repeats the same misinformation again and again, which doesn’t make it true.

Yet, at the same time he’s saying that there are no bad medical schools, his “D” is wanting to apply out of her own medical school to another (she’s at UCinncinati - and not even a great medical school at that) - so you don’t think someone would take his advice should probably take it with a huge grain of salt?