***Thread For BS/MD/DO 2023-2024 Applicants/Parents ***

Yes, you start in June / beginning of your senior year.

RPI/AMC have started sending alternate list emails, basically waiting list. Does anyone know if we have to wait till May 1st for AMC to come back with a decision or have there been instances where they have taken people from the wait-list before all accepted students committed.

I would think the waitlist is specific to RPI/AMC and not AMC. So people have to drop out of RPI/AMC list for someone else to match from the same list.

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Is there a results thread to post results yet? I have viewed these since 8th grade, and I would love to give back to the wonderful CC community! :smiley:

My son was admitted to a 3+4 BS/MD earlier this week. He applied to only one (kind of on a whim) and was admitted, which surprised us all. He is also admitted to a number of other top 25 schools, early action, and is waiting on a lot more regular decisions from top 25 schools. We were pleasantly surprised the BSMD program gives until May to respond (we thought it would be like a week or two to respond) and he has time to make a meaningful decision after all college results are in. Do you think the (relatively) assured medical school admission is worth going to a lesser-regarded undergraduate school? I can tell he is somewhat hesitant in going to the BSMD because he has dreamed of attending a top-flight undergraduate school and all of the bells/whistles/glory associated with that (and he has the opportunity to do that, given his acceptances early action and anything else he might get in regular decision)? I have spoken with several practicing physicians and we hear two different things…(1) go to the BSMD…cutting out all the pain of trying to get into medical school while in college is a HUGE plus; or (2) given your child’s stats, academics, history and everything else he has done so far, he is likely a candidate to get into medical school in the traditional route…go enjoy college at the regular pace and have more options for medical school later (instead of being tied into the one he has already been admitted to through this 3+4 BSMD program). Any thoughts would be welcomed. Thank you

My take on this is the following.
When you go to BSMD programs you do compromise on the quality of education at both undergrad and MD schools. However if you are at the top of the MD school you can get a residency of your choice and the training you want . There is one BSMD that is highly coveted and will announce decisions at the end of month. Also beware of programs that do not guarantee the medschool.

When people get into T10 for undergraduate for schools that are not grade deflationary, the kid has the skills to get into a better medical school. If the kid loves to go to this tippy top school he has earned it. Usually these schools have resources to help them achieve their dreams and medschool acceptances are 90% plus at some of these.

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Read these threads I have created 6 years back.

Congratulations on the successes of your kid getting into several top 25 schools and also one BSMD.

Much of this decisionmaking should be left with the kid if your finances allow it/ you are paying for it because safe vs traditional decision comes down to the confidence of the kid. Sometimes it is also whether you are a native of california vs Newyork/Florida/Texas to see if you lots of instate seats vs too few per capita.

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It is a myth that there are schools out there that are not grade deflationary vs inflationary. One can do as well as they want for 4 years or get messed up in a single semester blowing them out of medicine in a single semester. They are competing with other elite students and unless they constantly put in the effort, they can get a few Bs that will put them out of contention. The other myth is that one has to attend elite schools to get into elite medical schools. I spend a lot of time on SDN in Texas threads and over the last 3 years I have seen several Texas students get into top 10 medical schools attending our flagship. I know someone this year who interviewed at many top schools and has gotten into Harvard, Yale, Penn and NYU with a 4.0 and 525.

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What flagship are you talking about and does this have BSMD program?I understand that a strong student can get high GPA at any school. However there are multiple threads about grade inflation at some ivies. At the same time some schools don’t give out A’s at the same frequency

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University of Texas is our state flagship. I am referring to the traditional route of doing BS and MD and being able to get into any medical school from any undergrad.

There are threads about certain schools having higher grade averages but that applies across the school. If the school average 3.5 it is an average across all majors. One can go to Harvard, get 3.5 and it gets them into almost no medical school.

Grade deflation is real at large state flagships like Berkeley, Austin. Other schools known for deflation are Cornell Chicago and Hopkins . Harvard and Stanford are known for inflation. However there are kids with great outcomes or setbacks at all the schools mentioned. It comes down to kids work ethic, planning and their high school competitiveness. For example, Getting 4.0 was not easy my S’s HS (an IB school open to entire metropolitan area and national championship in science competitions) so that work ethic contributed in college.

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Is there a list or spreadsheet anyone can share with the factors to consider while choosing a BS/MD program?

My understanding is that very few folks have multiple BS MD choices to select from.

Experts on this forum can validate but below criteria can be considered :

  1. Medical school ranking in a specific area of interest
  2. Undergrad Ranking for personal experience and do they allow you to apply out
  3. Cost
  4. Location

For 1) there is only one BS MD which has T20 med school, so there are choices which smart students have to make.

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About 15 years ago people who did get in used to have multiple admissions because many BS MD programs liked people with similar characteristics. Overtime the highly competitive schools which had combined programs started shutting them down (Wash U, Northwestern, Caltech/UCSD, USC, Rice/Baylor, Boston U and so on) but there were people back then on CC who got into several of them but ended up going to Harvard Yale or Stanford. Now there are so many fewer programs that it is hard to find someone who gets into several programs since many are focused regionally and not nationally.

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Once you have all the outcomes, post your acceptances and we can give our opinions.

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My daughter (sophomore) is deciding between a summer abroad in Korea in a language program and waiting to hear back from other domestic programs (some STEM, some humanities). She could try to do independent research, but it is not always easy to find (some local students cold e-mailed over 100 researchers - we are in the SF Bay area, lol). Due to age requirements of being 16 years old when programs start, some of the more ā€œprestigious programsā€ will have to wait until her junior year to apply. She is interested in medicine even though we tell her not to go into it unless she REALLY wants it and she already has a specific area of medicine in mind due to her current interests.
What was the Korean language program that your daughter attended? Did it really make a difference in applying to these combined programs? Thanks in advance.

Is there grade inflation at Stanford?

thats a myth my friend @srk2017 wants to believe since he knows a few brilliant students who did well!

There are liberal arts classes at most elite schools that give practically everyone who makes any effort As but it is almost impossible to get As at stanford in engineering and science classes unless you put in the effort or you are naturally at a higher level than everyone (you are setting up nuclear reactors in your basement before college). If you do a major with basic minimum science classes needed for MD apps without overloading each quarter it is possible to reach a good GPA.

Most science classes at Stanford are graded as 90+ is an A or 40% get an A. They make sure the exams are hard enough that 90+ is available only to 40% so it comes out to the same thing. 700/1700 (not sure if the class is bigger now) used to write essays wanting to be premed but only 200 or fewer end up applying.

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NSLIY in Korea after 11th.
I can’t say much about BS/MD related to these types of programs because liberal arts relevant programs dont help in this area but might show you as well rounded if one has the other requirements covered (service, research, shadowing). When you do commonapp, it counts as a national/international honor and scholarship.

D was only keen on HPME and PLME. Once she got a letter from Columbia in February for regular decision (forget what the term is when they notify early) the only other school she was waiting on was Stanford where she was deferred. There was someone from her school who wanted to go to Yale and got in early but applied to all others regular and blew up everyone’s chances as a first gen Val.