Hi guys i’m looking for advice generally and ecs so i can get into a bs/md program.
NYC Asian Highschool Freshmen
88 gpa 89 W
(hs doesn’t offer honors only aps)
1290 SAT
Expected to start in Spring semester: St Jude Fundraising Club
Hand To Hunger Club
(2 fundraising clubs)
DE anatomy and physiology 1
College algebra
(HS won’t give grade, only credits)
Virtual medical shadowing volunteering
8 hrs
virtual shadowing hours: 12 hrs
i do a bunch of random volunteering maybe 25 hours in total.
I’m also applying to a bunch of medical/research programs
ik i’m slacking but does anyone have any recommendations on what i can do to help show my medical interest?
president of those 2 clubs btw
The first thing that comes to mind: Why do you want to apply to BS/MD programs? Why not take the more traditional route of first getting your bachelor’s degree, and then applying to medical schools?
Did you already take the SAT as a freshman in high school or are you guessing at a possible eventual score? If you took the SAT as a freshman and already got 1290, that is very good and suggests that you are likely to get a significantly higher score in two or three years.
There is one other thing that comes to mind. Here I am making a bit of an analogy to my daughter’s path to become a DVM (a veterinary doctor – her patients are at this point mostly large animals). When applying to DVM programs, she did very well. It seemed like her undergraduate GPA and her test scores were good enough, but her experience in veterinary situations what was really made the difference. Basically they want to know that you can handle the academics and that you can also handle the patient contact (and medical emergencies and blood and guts and annoying humans and so on) and that you are really going to want to do it.
To me this implies that for admissions to BS/MD programs quite a bit of medical shadowing experience would be needed. However, you have quite a bit of time to do this and of course the more traditional route of first getting a bachelor’s degree is also possible.
I think that this is a good alternative to consider, and an area where a bit of experience could be valuable. (Edit: Just to clarify, it is possible and reasonably common to get this experience after you start university).
Of the many students who start freshman year of university thinking “premed”, only a tiny fraction end up in medical school. There are lots and lots of other possible career paths. Biomedical research is one alternative path. There are many, many other options as well.
Of course your freshman year of university is still nearly four years away.
At this point it looks like you are doing well, and that you should try a bit of this and a bit of that before making up your mind on what path you want to take in life. You have a lot of time and we all pretty much figure this out as we go along.
1 Like
Have you checked the stats for students admitted to these type of programs ?
Being a little blunt. Those programs are extremely competitive. You will need to improve you GPA significantly and your SAT score. Look at the stats of those programs. You will need shadowing and some patient contact hours. In high school my son volunteered at a hospice which helped him get into an early admission DVM program. You will need to get very involved in anything medical you can in hs. Plus show leadership. For example president of clubs is good, my son was a lead councelor at a month long sleep away camp. The number one thing is to work on GPA and experience.
1 Like
virtual shadowing hours: 12 hrs
Virtual shadowing is useless and not well regarded by admission committees for medical schools. If you want to be taken seriously, you must have in-person shadowing, including at least one day with a primary care physician. (Why primary care? Because the majority of med students will end up in primary care. If you don’t want to do primary care–don’t go to medical school.)
St Jude Fundraising Club
Hand To Hunger Club
(2 fundraising clubs)
Fundraising-- again not what medical schools are looking for in potential applicants. BA/MD and MD admissions expect students to have face-to-face, in-person interactions in activities that directly help alleviate the mental or physical suffering of others. Think soup kitchen, food pantry, homeless shelters, Habitat for Humanity, etc.
DE anatomy and physiology 1
Be aware than any and all DE classes must be reported to medical schools when you apply and will be included in calculating your GPA/sGPA–even if your eventual college does not accept the transfer credits.
I’m also applying to a bunch of medical/research programs
High school applicants really aren’t expected to have research, but they are expected to have in-person shadowing and in-person clinical exposure to patients in healthcare settings. (Hospitals, clinics, rehab hospitals/facilities, hospice, nursing homes, group homes, etc.)
2 Likes
If you are currently a HS freshman, I would suggest you put medical school options off the table for a bit.
Why did you take the SAT during your HS freshman year?
As noted, you will need to bring both your SAT score and your GPA UP considerably to be considered for BS/MD programs. So my suggestion…work on your grades, and prep for the SAT and take during your JUNIOR year of high school.
The ECs you should be considering are noted above, but without a decent GPA and SAT (or ACT) score, your application likely won’t be considered for BS MD programs even with the best list of ECs.
1 Like