Another suggestion. Make sure that school that your are looking for is a good fit. You do not want to end up in BSMD program in a college where you will feel miserable for 4 years. If school is not fit remove it no matter of BSMD.
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I hope the OP will consider the excellent advice of the posts so far. Itās fairly typical on CC to encourage students with expensive post-grad plans to consider those costs when discussing their undergrad budget. If saving on undergrad will result in less med school debt, that is an important family discussion that many students donāt consider. If paying full for undergrad plus med school is within your familyās budget, just let us know it isnāt a consideration.
OP, you have an excellent GPA when considered in the context of your class rank. That is an important point which should be emphasized in your applications. You also have very good ECs. I canāt chance you for the BSMDs as the acceptance rates are just too low to chance anyone, but I do think you will have great options for your undergrad.
I am a bit confused by your application list and I donāt agree with your categorizationsā¦
Why UCs, which will be $75k per year plus travel, when you have excellent NC options at in-state prices? Iād drop the California schools absent additional information. If you want to go outside NC there are arguably better options (Iām not knocking CA schools, which are excellent and nicely priced for in-state students).
IMO you could drop a couple NC āsafetiesā and keep NCS and one other. I like UofSC as another safety/likely and you have an excellent chance for honors and merit.
I believe the California schools and FL are reaches. All the BSMDs are extreme reaches (for everyoneā¦look at the admit rates).
As suggested by another poster, would you consider BSDOs? While still reaches, they are a bit easier admits. However, I believe DO programs are focused more on primary care, peds, etc. and exclude access to some more specialized practices. That is worth researching, as well as following momofsearchengineās excellent advice to read the fine print of all BS/MD/DO programs.
Let us know your thoughts after reading these posts and talking to your parents. 
I have no doubt youāll have multiple options next spring with a thoughtful application approach.
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I keep reading this. I have no idea if true. .
I just had an experience with a DO Urologist.
This person may be the exception.
He graduated magna cum laude from Bethel University in Minnesota for his undergraduate degree. From there he attended Midwestern University/CCOM where he graduated with honors, finishing within the top 2% of his class.
Iām not sure either, my dermatologist is a DO as well.
Hi, thank you so much for your response. I havenāt learned much about BS/DO programs but I am interested in learning more about them now. As of why I am also applying to California schools is because most of my family lives near LA and I have always loved the UCLA and Cal State campus, so I wanted to apply. Hearing this I will definitely look more into BS/DO programs.
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Technically DOs can choose any specialty. The problem is training of DO and MD are a bit focused differently as I undestand.
It is statistically more difficult for DO to become neurosurgeons etc. My understanding that DOs will need somehow look for ways to get some training in areas necessary to get to specialist residencies. That is why generally it is not recommended to look for DO if you want to get to highly competitive specialty.
There is some old perspective from people that DO are lesser doctors. It is not true. Also DO and MD share residency for many years now (merged in 2020).
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Op- you sound terrific.
I know that right now you want to become a physician. Which is fantastic. But keep a sliver of an open mind- just a sliver- that you might decide you love something more down the road.
The labs of most of the research facilities in the US are filled with people (PhDās, Masterās in Epidemiology or Biostatistics) who once thought they wanted to become physicians. They are moving the science of healthcare forward every single day- not patient by patient, but cell by cell, or or other interventions. The CDC, HRSA, and other federal agencies are filled with people who once thought they wanted to become physicians (and some of them are) but decided to get a Masterās in Public Health, or an MBA and are helping to heal people millions at a time. Small disruptive startups and big, public corporations are working on surgical devices and implants and wearables and various robotic limbs-- and many of the people doing this creative work are mechanical engineers or computer scientists or mathematicians or psychologists, not MDās.
Donāt lock yourself into a career-- being a doctor- if you havenāt yet explored the hundreds of other very cool healthcare roles that are out there.
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Thank you!! I will keep this in mind. I have always loved to become a physician as most of my family are physicians and I love the art of medicine, which is why I am so determined to become a doctor, but I will explore other careers too!
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A downside of applying to Brown PLME in ED is that you can be denied for PLME but accepted to Brownā¦and you are bound to attend Brown then.
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Cal State Long Beach woudl be a waste of your tuition dollars when you have an excellent ā and much better ā choice in State.
Also, not a fan of paying OOS tuition to attend another stateās public unless you can receive a discount (aka merit money). Save the money for professional school. Other than weather, UCLA offers you nothing more than you will find at Carolina. UC will expect you to pay sticker price.
If you are NMSF, apply early to USC for thier tuition discount.
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Even if you are not national merit, you should apply EA to UOSC and UNC. Chances are better with UOSC , if SAT score is improved for getting more merit and honors admission
Baylor , Augusta, Tulane has very little chance as the number of seats are single digit and it takes too much time,
UCONN and Augusta has in state preference, they have much lower chance
Rochester and PENN state are highly competitive , may be they will select 1 student from NC , and the stats will be 4.0 UW and 1600 SAT ā¦
This is not to discourage , but just what we learnt from the previous year while applying
NJIT/Rutgers/TCNJ , VCU has more seats ,
Overall BS MD admissions has very low acceptance rates. As others suggested BS DO has better admission rate
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Have you been to CSULB? I would do some research into the school and its culture. It seems to be an outlier compared to your other schools of interest.
If your family can afford OOS UC tuition, you might look at UCI. Have you looked at the Claremont Colleges?
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Or 7 or 8 years when you add undergrad and the med school years together. You want to be at a place where you feel happy and comfortable. Happy kids do better than unhappy ones.
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There is a poster on this site who actually relocated to NC from CA @katwkittens One of her kids is a doctor who trained in NCā¦Iām pretty sure.
Hoping she sees this tag and can give some insight.
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The mission of many DO schools is to provide primary care folks in the region of the country in which they are located. But itās not impossible to enter a more specialized field. Just takes more legwork on the part of the student. In particular, they need to be willing to seek out elective rotations in their fields of interest.
@WayOutWestMom can elaborate more
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Thanks for clarifying.
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Some specialties are super competitive for everyoneādermatology, neurosurgery, vascular surgery, plastic & reconstructive surgery., ENT, ophthalmology, urology, orthopedics, interventional radiology.
There simply arenāt many positions in these specialties which also have a long training period. Match rates are in the 60-70 percent rangeāand thatās for qualified applicants who have the appropriate research w/ publications, very high USMLE scores, clinical experiences in the specialty, strong LORs from preceptors in the specialty AND program fit.
Because most osteopathic medical schools do not have a home hospital program nor an associated university, DO students have a much harder time getting the expected experiences needed to make a strong application to the the highly competitive specialties.
Prior to the match unification in 2020, osteopathic and allopathic medical grads applied for and matched into separate programs in all specialties. There were derm/ortho/uro/ophthalmology/ENT/etc programs that only accepted osteopathic grads.
Now all programs are open to all students.
Because most (but not all!) MD schools offer their students better access to specialty-specific research, clinical rotations in the super competitive specialties, better access to mentors in the super competitive specialties, etc, MD students are more likely to have all the expected qualities that program directors in these fields are looking for.
DO medical schools also expect students to arrange many of their own rotations, particularly in competitive specialties that are not among the basic clinical rotations required by state medical boards. (IM, peds, ob/gyn, surgery, psych, FM and, in some states, neurology.) Not having a home hospital with residency programs in the competitive specialty puts DO med students at a disadvantage in getting the clinical rotation exposure to those specialties. (No program director will take an application seriously if the student hasnāt completed a sub-I rotation in the specialty. Some specialties require 2+ LORs from clinical instructors in the specialty at different programs sites. So applicants in these field need 2 sub-Is, not just one. Two away rotations to arrange while trying to fit in all the other required M4 coursework AND residency interviews AND researchāthatās a lot. .)
The reason why osteopathic med grads are more closely associated with primary care fields are complex and multi-factorialāand much more than I can go into here.
But, yes, overall DOs are more likely to match into less competitive, non-surgical specialties. (The non-surgical is the important part hereā¦since DOs get less exposure to surgery than MD students do.)
If anyone wants to take a deep dive into the dataā
Start Here: https://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Main-Match-Results-by-State-Specialty-and-App-Type-2024.pdf
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My daughter had her AP Research teacher as her 2nd rec (along with her APUSH/APSEM teacher) and it was totally fine. She was a very similar student and got in everywhere she applied. Most NC schools only take 1 LOR anyway.
You will be fine. My kid had her AP Sem and AP Research teachers as her LOR (no STEM teacher at all) and she got into both NC State and UNC. Higher GPA, lower class rank, higher test scores.