<p>The Search feature is a great asset:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1531987-national-academy-future-physicians-medical-scientists-award-excellence.html?highlight=physicians[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1531987-national-academy-future-physicians-medical-scientists-award-excellence.html?highlight=physicians</a></p>
<p>This program probably found me through either the SAT or PSAT (so much for CollegeBoard’s non-profit Student Search Service). I got the letter in the mail sometime this week, and while I’m no stranger to college mail, this one caught my attention by how heavy it was. I usually throw this stuff in the trash but I opened it out of curiosity.</p>
<p>The first thing I saw was a shiny certificate with a shiny official-looking seal, a caduceus wreathed in laurels. Interesting. Was I getting an award? Apparently yes, for the cost of 2K, I could take a jet to Washington DC and receive a similar shiny certificate, with a shiny label saying “Future Medical Leader”. </p>
<p>Not trusting anything so shiny, I put aside the certificate and picked up a boring piece of paper titled “Information for Students & Their Parents”. Let’s go through this thing line by line.</p>
<p>Selection: I doubt my teachers selected me, it was probably SSS. </p>
<p>College Credit: “Scholars … will be eligible to receive 1 transferable college credit at additional cost upon satisfactory completion of the program and additional course work.” …No.</p>
<p>Proof of GPA: This is just kind of insulting. I’ve maintained a 4.0 throughout middle school and freshman year, and currently have a 4.25. In addition, since this program found me through SSS, they technically don’t even know what my GPA is. For all they know, I have a >2000 SAT but a 2.0 GPA. This is a pretty serious flaw.</p>
<p>Med School Tuition: Ohh, sounds too good to be true. Unfortunately that’s exactly what I think is going to happen. It says nothing about what kind of academic challenge. Upon reading the Terms and Conditions it says more about how it’s a “merit-based academic challenge”, which is basically saying the same thing. It’s too vague and from what I can see, sounds easily riggable. They could just have a test with extremely specific questions, then have some lucky lucky parents pay them off in order to give their child the answers. Until more details are known, this scholarship just sounds too fishy.</p>
<p>Travel, Housing, Meals: 1K for three days, and it doesn’t even cover expenses?</p>
<p>Concierge Package: Translation: “Give us one more thousand, and we’ll cover most of the above, except for airplane tickets.”</p>
<p>Gaining Admission: This is the first year of the program, and there is no valid evidence that supports their claim. Doesn’t hold water.</p>
<p>Letters of Participation: Considering the above, I doubt this will be useful.</p>
<p>Press Release: “get maximum recognition for your achievements”… okay, this pretty much does it. It all adds up. 3.5 minimum GPA, absurdly high prices, and press releases. This is no non-profit organization, it’s a scam. They probably targeted those in the 3.5-4.0 GPA range, probably from middle to high income families, willing to shell out the money for the marginally small chance that their child can ride on this program into med school. I’ve seen claims online that only 2000-3000 students were invited, which seems pretty small considering they let people with 3.5 GPA in, which leads me to believe that they excluded people that either wouldn’t afford it, or just don’t have the time for it. Aka, people who don’t need it.</p>
<p>Financial Assistance: I probably wouldn’t get any if I tried.</p>
<p>About: “accepts no public money … self-funded through proceeds from events and conferences.” Nowhere in there does it say they’re certified non-profit - which leads to the conclusion that they are for-profit.</p>
<p>Questions?: Won’t be having any.</p>
<p>In conclusion, I won’t be going to this program. It doesn’t mean I’m any less motivated to become a doctor, I just don’t believe it’s worth my 2K to go to a program that I will probably gain very little benefit from. The drawbacks just outweigh the pros. That’s not to say the pros aren’t amazing - I’d love to meet Angela Zhang and Jake Andraka - but I’d rather meet them at the national level of a science competition or in the same university, rather than at an for-profit event they were probably paid to speak for.</p>
<p>In addition, I won’t be attending this event out of principle. Since it is for-profit, this event relies on the participation of students to keep afloat. I refuse to give my money to an organization that would slap on the title “future medical leader” to anyone who put down “Premed” as their preferred major with a 3.5 GPA. It is not only insulting to those with higher GPAs, it’s also misleading and provides false comfort to those who buy into the future medical leader thing. By attending this conference, I would be saying, “I’m okay with being scammed. Take my money and send me more college mail.” If you are a parent or child who has received this invitation, I strongly urge that you don’t attend (unless you seriously think you have a stab at that 200K scholarship). If everyone threw these scams in the trash, we’d have more, better, legitimate non-profit organizations sending us mail.</p>
<p>That isn’t to say that going to the program will make you or your child less legitimate of a student, it just means you’ll be free of two thousand dollars and you get a nice, shiny certificate. For all I know it could be a great experience and those speakers could really change your life. But for now, I think I’ll probably wait at least a year more to see how this program does. My view is on the less-than-optimistic side, but congrats to those invited, and let’s just see where this goes.</p>
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<p>For any evaluation of whether to attend or how the program was, be very wary of first time posters bearing rosy opinions. On this thread as on most others I’ve seen of this kind, they are memberships started by company shills (post deleted for TOS volation). And their favorite ploy is to use a sock puppet to ask an innocent, “What do people think about this program?” question, then they step in with glowing comments.</p>
<p>I got the same package too. I was very skeptical at first, but I gave them a call and took a thorough look at their website. I think I’m going to go because this is an incredible opportunity to listen and meet with a ton of the top doctors and medical scientists in the world. I want to go to top medical schools and the deans of Georgetown’s and Dartmouth’s medical schools will there. I’m hopeful that I can learn from them and also maybe get a foot in the door.
I know there is a price tag on all of this, but there seems to be a lot of students fundraising for it on gofundme. I think i’m going to make an account today. I’ll let you all know how the event goes and tell you if it’s worth it for another year.</p>
<p>If you must PAY for it it is not a scholarship.</p>
<p>Normally, this type of program is organized by an organization. Right? But the only skeptical thing is that their web address doesn’t end with the familiar “.org”. In fact, it ends with “.com” which means it is a “company” (Please correct me if I am wrong). The point isn’t whether I got the fact right. The point is that it isn’t an organization and even if they claim to be, why would it have a “.com”? Please, do not make your decision based on this observation. If you want to go, then go for it! I was also invited and I am very excited to be given this opportunity–I want to see the surgery!!! All I’m saying is that I don’t like the price tag and the fact that it isn’t the so-called “organization”.</p>
<p>I also got that letter from them, and it does say that they found you through College Board (a.k.a. SAT’s). Also, I personally will not take part of this program because it is basically buying myself an award that the are not even sure a I should get it because they do not know my GPA.</p>
<p>I received a letter a few days ago saying that my AP Chem teacher (specifically stating his name) nominated me in order to receive a $985 scholarship (for the tuition of the event) and represent my school at “The Congress.” Today I received another letter (probably the official one that everyone receives) with all the general info about the event and the enrollment form. Since I live relatively close to D.C. (In MD), I wouldn’t need the “overnight upgrade” that they offer. I checked the invitation code that they sent me and confirmed that I would be paying $0 without the upgrade. Should I still attend this event even though the organization is receiving a bad rep for charging students to attend?</p>
<p>Wow…to those of you who think this is real…those of us that are responding have kids in medschool…it is just a sham. </p>
<p>Teachers get these types of “nomination” forms all the time. They’ll usually just stick down the names of their top students into it or someone who they know wants to go into medicine, if they bother. Even they know that usually these things are usually angling for money.</p>
<p>IMHO, nobody is a future physician or medical student until he or she is actually accepted to medical school.</p>
<p>Medical school admissions are flooded with applications from accomplished soon to be college grads with top grades, scores, research and volunteer work. </p>
<p>So how is it believable that the deans from the top medical schools have any real interest in a group of high school students? Sounds to me like the product they are selling is flattery. </p>
<p>I have a couple of questions regarding this program. (I can’t find any other site that answer my questions) First do you have to be a junior/senior to be nominated? Is GPA only required or do you need SAT, ACT etc…Do you have to pay to go? What do you do if you have school when the event takes place? Throughout the program does everyone eventually get scholarships? Finally how ‘good’ does this look on college apps? ( I am really hoping this isn’t a scam because it SOUNDS real good!)</p>
<p>Sadiea, My daughter attended the first program earlier this year. I was (and still am skeptical) of this group but my D really wanted to go. Most attendees were juniors/seniors with a few younger students present. There is a GPA cutoff. It is a for profit outfit and too expensive. However, they do grant a number of program scholarships which you should request if going. My D raised the rest on her own. They do allow parents to attend which is a big plus. I am a physician and did attend about 2/3 of the program. The parent seating is upstairs. It takes place in the DC Armory which was only an average location but in a sketchy part of town. I have attended many AMA approved real medical conferences and surprised that the quality of speakers was above average. The White House physician, Dean of Georgetown Med School, among many innovators and motivational speakers presented. My D was also very impressed with the younger speakers, including the Duke freshmen who developed a breast CA detection model and multiple others who have TED talks that you can google. </p>
<p>The down side was that I heard multiple accounts of the unaccompanied attendees as well as the dance (my D did not attend) were poorly chaperoned. The founder and MC, Mr. Rossi seemed a bit cheesy/shady. Speaking as one who attended Med school, I would not recommend using the “award” for college apps. And no, almost no one will receive the advertised college scholarship. (I believe there was one full and two partial college scholarships awarded to students competing in a science project given at/after the program). I would only recommend going if you are able to get the price down and only expect to be motivated to pursue a career in medicine. Hope this helps.</p>
I was nominated by Connie Mariano in 8th grade, and I have never warned to enter (solely) medicine. I would have gone if I had had the money, but now that I look back on it, I am a little suspicious. I am still going to use it for extra college admissions credit.
What do you mean by “extra college admissions credit”? I dont think this will do much for your college applications.
I am a physician and parent living in Cambridge, MA, where the “National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists” is located. Please know that this organization is 100% A SCAM. It is a for-profit company that is trying to squeeze money out of high school kids with dreams of becoming doctors. It’s disgusting. I also sit on the admission board of a medical school. I can guarantee that putting this scam organization on your admission application will do nothing to help someone get into either college or medical school. Stick to the activities that are free and genuinely aim to help kids grow, not take their money.
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i also got one of these packets and did some research and the number-one consensus among journalists and sights like these seem to be that it is a scam and or not worth it. still kind of a flex though. it looks really fancy but don’t be fooled. i recommend doing your own research and coming to your own conclusion but judging by my research it seems to be a scam.