Help Building a Balanced BS/MD + Pre-Med College List (Rising Senior, CA Resident) [3.94 GPA, 35 ACT, <$50-60k]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Note that affiliates to the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine include CSUs in Fullerton, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino. They also include University of Hawaii (WUE tuition) and Tuskegee (full ride).

Note that MD or DO school is typically very expensive. LECOM is $71-80k per year, according to https://lecom.edu/college-of-osteopathic-medicine/com-tuition-and-fees/com-erie-tuition/ , but many medical schools are over $100k per year.

The LECOM programs are described at https://lecom.edu/academics/early-acceptance-program/

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Thank you for your feedback. The student has completed 3 years each of English, Math, Science, and History/Social Science, as well as 3 years of a foreign language (Spanish).

The student is enrolled in a Middle College program where only 12 college credits are allowed per semester. For English and Social Studies, the student was required to take high school-level courses rather than college-level courses, so summer terms were used to fulfill other academic interests and graduation requirements.

Additionally, the student plans to major in Math at the community college and has a wide range of academic interests. Because of this, we sometimes needed to gently guide course selections to ensure the overall balance of the schedule.

In 12th grade, the student will be part of the high school’s College Advantage Program, which allows them to take all of their courses—including English—as fully college-level classes. This will provide an even stronger academic foundation during their senior year.

All of these choices were driven by the student’s own curiosity and enthusiasm for learning. However, I had to set some limits to prevent overcommitment.

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My child has completed hospital volunteering and shadowing primarily with MD physicians. Would it still be acceptable for them to apply to DO schools?

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Don’t see why that would matter when applying to DO (or MD) schools.

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This is very true, very on track, and perhaps the first thing to look for (and worth an upvote by itself). Job #1 is to find one or preferably two very good affordable safeties that are good universities for an undergraduate premed students.

Fortunately there are a very large number of universities that are very good for premed students, and that are also very good for former premed students who decide to do something else.

If you look at students at very good medical schools, or at other biomedical-related graduate programs, you will find that they come from a huge range of undergraduate universities. What a student does it going to be way more important compared to where they do it.

As I understand it, BS/MD programs are all very tough for admissions. Medical experience is an important part of gaining admissions to these programs. I would think of all of them as reaches.

The more traditional route of first getting a bachelor’s degree and then applying to medical schools seems more likely.

As long as medical school remains a realistic option, you should budget for a full 8 years of university, and you should expect the last 4 years to be expensive. I would also recommend avoiding debt for your daughter’s bachelor’s degree if you reasonably can.

Also you have many very good in-state public schools which are very good for premed students, and which are also very good for students who start off thinking premed but who end up doing something else. As one example UC Riverside has a very good medical school. I would look at the school closely, and would be very likely in your situation to include an application as a very good university that is very likely to provide an affordable option. That does not mean that your daughter will go there, but come March or April it is nice to have a very good affordable option in hand.

And the large majority of students who start off intending to be premed do end up doing something else. There are lots and lots of options, some of which are related to medicine (such as biomedical research) and some of which are not. With this in mind…

Doctors sometimes participate in research, and research can also help with medical school admissions. However, another option is to go into medical-related research. One daughter is currently studying for a Phd in a biomedical field, and this is an option that your daughter might want to at least think about. Fortunately the undergraduate classes overlap a lot. However, the type of experience that a student gets while they are an undergraduate student can vary. It is possible for a student to get a bit of experience both ways (medical and research) while an undergraduate student and then decide which way they want to go. It sounds like your daughter already has a good start on this.

A student who is thinking “premed” should be cautious about taking courses at community college unless they are able to get good grades in these classes. These classes will be considered when applying to medical school. On the other hand, with a 3.94 overall GPA, it sounds like your daughter is maintaining very good grades in college courses.

She should expect some premed classes to be tougher when she gets to university.

This should be possible. The most obvious example would be your in-state public universities. The more that you can save the better, whether to use to help pay for an MD or DO program or to help pay for some other graduate program.

And it is important to find schools where your daughter feels comfortable. Visiting a few schools and getting tours and if possible talking to students and professors can be very helpful.

To me it sounds like your daughter is doing very well.

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She should expect some premed classes to be tougher when she gets to university.

→ Could you please provide a more detailed explanation?

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LECOM is an option - but even if you take the guaranteed admission path, it doesn’t mean a student can’t pivot to applying to med school. It’s just another path - that gives better odds if accepted.

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Neither daughter was premed, but both had classes that overlapped a lot with the required premed classes. I have heard quite a few stories.

As one example, my older daughter was pre-vet (she just completed her DVM a few weeks ago). The required premed and pre-vet classes are the same, so she took the full list of required premed classes and knew many premed students. She described organic chemistry as “the most difficult B- that I ever had in my life”. She had to put in a lot of effort to get that B-. Fortunately she had enough A’s in other classes to make up for it. Far more recently she said that on average the classes in her doctorate program were just as tough as organic chemistry.

Someone I know who works in health care (but not a doctor) has told me that organic chemistry was the only C that she ever had in her life.

My younger daughter started freshman year of university with a different unrelated major, but got permission to take freshman year “biology for biology majors” because she was considering this as an alternative major. The class was full of premed students, most of whom were quite academically strong. The first mid-term had a class average in the mid 40’s. I took this as the professor doing the various premed students a favor. This first midterm exam made the point that many (or perhaps most) of the students in the class were either going to up their effort quite a bit or find some career path that did not include going to medical school. This same daughter later told me that parasitology was tougher than organic chemistry (although I do not know whether parasitology was required or something that she took as an elective).

Some students excel in these tough classes, but that does not mean that they find it easy.

Your daughter has done impressively well in high school. To me it looks like she is starting her path towards university pretty much as well prepared and as academically strong as anyone. Getting an MD or a DO (or a DVM or PhD) is still a tough path that requires a lot of hard work and a lot of determination.

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Here are some schools with both BSMD programs and scholarships (I think)

Wayne state

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FIU has tuition and housing for national merit finalists and a 7 year BSMD program: FIU Merit Scholars Program | FIU Admissions
USF has something similar at first glance: 7-Year B.S./M.D. Program
National Merit Scholarship | University of South Florida although admissions isn’t guaranteed in the USF program - only an interview.

I would suggest leaving the standard premed courses (chemistry, organic chemistry, biology, biochem/microbio, etc) for the four year university as medical school admissions committees like to see those taken at a four year university where the standards are perceived as being more rigorous.

Also, if she wants a challenging math experience at undergrad, she should probably try to find a university with a math department that is flexibile regarding placing into advanced math/skipping prerequisites.

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My daughter said that the lab reports she wrote in HS were nothing like what was expected in college. It was quite shocking at first.

Her orgo prof began assigning work during the break, before the class started. I remember her telling me that she did over 100 problems each night…during break in December/January.

This ^ was in addition to all of the daily reading in her anthropology class (hundreds of pages). She learned how to manage this by meeting with her prof. There was still 100 problems a night of orgo.

Not to mention all the volunteering, clubs, research etc. Time management and attending office hours is key- whether you need it or not.

Her intro science classes had 300 students. Doing well includes sitting front and center 100% of the time, keeping up, and attending office hours so that you develop a relationship with your profs.

Being proficient in another language is highly advantageous, but does not come without work. Joining clubs, volunteering, taking classes, working with non-English speaking families etc.

And…for those who are interested in research/being published….you will be working on this at the same time.

Lastly- your daughter sounds very accomplished. Congrats!

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Yes.

But do check because some DO schools actually want you to shadow a DO.

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A couple of cautions–

Not all medical school will accept CC credit for pre-req classes. Not all med school will accept AP/IB credit for pre-reqs. Some med school will accept one or the other (AP/IB or CC) but not both. And a surprising number of med school will accept neither AP/IB or CC credits for pre-reqs.

All med school require or strongly recommend (and in med school speak that = require ) that any AP/IB/CC credits be supplemented with additional UL elective credits equivalent to the AP/IB/CC earned in the same department as the AP/IB/CC credits (IOW, if your d has 2 semesters of bio credits from the CC, she will need to take at least 2 more semesters of UL bio credits at her 4 year university to be considered a strong candidate for med school. Typically this isn’t an issue with bio or chem, but it may be with physics where the UL electives will be higher level physics classes like modern physics, statistical mechanics, thermodynamics or quantum mechanics.)

Also be aware that pre-reqs vary widely by med school. Ranging from no required pre-reqs to 5 or 6 additional pre-reqs beyond the typical. Surprisingly, more med school have requirements for UL humanities coursework than have any math requirementat all.

The only consistent thing about med school pre-reqs are their inconsistency.

Does your daughter have community service with disadvantaged groups? Any advocacy activities? Any leadership roles?

These are also things that med schools (and BA/MD/DO and EA programs) look for in med school candidates.

See: The Premed Competencies for Entering Medical Students | Students & Residents

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there is nothing wrong with taking HS classes in HS!

DE isn’t always considered “better” than AP for admissions purposes (depends on type of DE, topic, level, etc). I realize your school may not even have AP (which may make this moot), but I mean it for evidence that nothing wrong with courses at a HS:)

Good luck! Sounds like a great kid:)

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You might look thru each year’s BSMD/DO thread for applicants and parents, here’s this upcoming cycle’s and 2024-25:

And past BSMD/DO results threads, here’s 2024-25:

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Lecom is probably will not be an option. It does not take students with too many credits completed prior to applying. If you want Lecom, stop Community College and do not get Associate degree in 12th grade. Look up capping of credits at LECOM website. You cannot not “uncount” these credits. Once you have them, you are obligated to report them. Every single college class ever taken should be reported. No exceptions.
LECOM wants all credits be taken at their affiliated schools.

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For premed colleges:
What about St Olaf? Strong academics, supportive advising, merit aid available.
Grinnell has some merit but not sure it’d be within your price point. Really good for premeds.
Lafayette would be a solid choice, too, or perhaps Dickinson or Franklin& Marshall - slightly different vibes at these 3.

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Lot of schools will offer merit based scholarships for BS MD kids, like NJIT, FAU ( national merit ) , UOFSC and many others. Colleges like VCU , penn state , stony brook all should cost less than 60k per year, so apply broadly and once admitted you can decide which school you want to join

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I’m not sure these would allow her to continue her topological data analysis research or something similarly mathematically advanced applied to medicine

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Oh and fun fact: math majors have the highest average MCAT scores and GPA compared to other majors: https://www.aamc.org/media/6061/download.

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