Thanks Consolation.
Then here is the solution…the parent should stop looking for college options. If this student really wants to be a doctor on the fast track…let the student lead the search…and only offer advice if finances are an issue, or if the student asks your opinion.
If “they” are smart enough for the med school fast track, "they are smart enough to lead the college search.
I thought the student completed the AS degree. He would still enter a 4-year school as a freshman?
Re: state school for one year before attending medical school…
This would mean the student was actually taking the MCAT either spring of their last year of high school or summer between high school and college, right? Applications for the following year will open up while this kid is a senior in HS.
Is this a plan that will work?
Student has enough credits to complete the AS degree; sometimes 60 or 90 credits (depending on semester or quarter system) do not match exactly the AS/transfer requirements but it depends. Some states have PSEO or early college or middle college, where getting that many credits is possible. The students still apply as freshmen, then get advanced standing, because the college credits counted toward HS graduation.
I would assume that Op’s son is attending a community college (or a former community college turned into a 4-year college) because at this college, precalculus is a non-remedial college course and organic chemistry is considered “junior level”, not sophomore level.
But back to my question…if this student attends the public U for only one year, “they” will need to take the MCAT in April or May of their senior year of HS…or in the summer before they start public U.
The med school applications will open up June 1 of this kid’s senior year in HS.
Is this a realistic plan?
ETA…the new MCAT is over seven hours long. And this student would need to fulfill the new course requirements.
Thumper, as you know, it’s not. NO ONE can get a med school application ready in so little time, and OP hasn’t yet taken orgo nor biochem nor statistics, which are required for the MCAT, not to mention worked past the gateway courses to his/her major. It’s pointless to take the MCAT Spring of senior year in HS, without adequate preparation, without any knowledge of professors who would write recommandation, without a major, without a potential committee letter. It’d be utter hubris, or someone who’s seen too much Doogie Howser reruns. 
It seems to me that a student exceptional enough to get into med school during their first year of college would have to be truly exceptional. I am not seeing anything that makes this student stand out from the many other fine honors students who will be applying to med school eventually.
Do med schools look less favorably at repeat applications from students? If this student applies in high school and is rejected, is that going to reduce the ultimate chance for acceptance? Personally I wouldn’t think well of a student who lacked the judgement and due diligence of research to know that applicants in high school are not going to be competitive for med school.
If the OP’s opinions reflect those of the student, I don’t think the student is likely to be admitted to Harvard anyhow. They have their pick of the best premeds in the country who really want to attend and participate in their full program. Why would they want a student who isn’t interested in a liberal arts education?
I agree MYOS.
But the OP is writing like this is a real possibility. And I agree…it is not.
And if applications need to be submitted essentially before the kid even begins his 1-year college degree, who the heck is going to write a recommendation?
While we decided to shell out for full-price privates, I absolutely understand those who make different choices. State schools can be great IF they provide the appropriate level of challenge, and a good set of peers. I taught at a mid-tier private, and there were kids from the “honors college” along with kids who weren’t in my required business major class. I felt SO sorry for those couple of honors kids. They could sit at the back and do suduko as I tried to reach rest of the class with, really, rather simple material.
The college years are special. Not something to be rushed through. I have seen enormous maturity and growth in my daughter who is graduating this May. And she has developed wonderful outside interests, AND decided that a PhD in science (what she ALWAYS assumed she would do) was not for her, based on her SUMMER RESEARCH work, where she got a real idea what it was like.
The answer is yes. Repeat applicants are at a disadvantage. Repeat applicants are significantly less likely to be accepted than first-time applicants. The unofficial motto for med school applicants is “do it once and do it right.”
Med school admissions is all about “what have you done lately?” Repeat applicants have a higher bar to jump than first time applicants and their application portfolio is expected to show significant improve over their previous attempt. (Admission committees will even haul out your prior application to do a side-by-side comparison.) Even students who are creditable applicants but for some reason were not accepted (likely due to the fact there are way too many fully qualified applicants for too few seats) are expected to demonstrate significant improvement over their previous application.
Additionally some medical schools, particularly top ranked med schools have policies about how many applications from a single individual they will consider. Harvard says flat out, you have 2 tries, after that you’re automatically disqualified from admission consideration. No exceptions.
Applying with a slap-dash portfolio or any deficits is a strong sign of immaturity and a lack of good judgment–and both are negative indicators for admission.
@mathyone “It seems to me that a student exceptional enough to get into med school during their first year of college would have to be truly exceptional. I am not seeing anything that makes this student stand out from the many other fine honors students who will be applying to med school eventually.”
I do not think the OP understands that, when we say that what he is proposing is not feasible, and that we would not do it even if it were, it is not because we are jealous. We know that even in the fantasy scenario where this student gets accepted directly from high school with a full scholarship to premed at Johns Hopkins, Stanford, or Michigan, is given full standing as a Junior or Senior, and enrolled in all upper level courses, that the tale would not end well.
One thing I will say is that in the unlikely event that a student showed up directly from high school ready and was actually ready for all Junior level work, they would be allowed to demonstrate their knowledge/ability and move to that level. I know that Penn, for example, will let a student out of most classes, if they can demonstrate their knowledge to the faculty, and will allow the student to replace the normal course with a more advanced one. I think most other schools will allow this too.
In our case, DD was bored with MV calc first semester of freshman year. She complained about the class being a waste of time, so her advisor quizzed her about the subject and then moved her to the next calc class (Diff Eq. and linear algebra). When she completed that course she received credit for both classes. What she did was not unusual and there were several other freshmen in her class doing the same thing.
Why not just try for a BS-MD program?
Iwonder…guessing the BS/MD route is just too long. After all, the OP said the kid would start med school at age 21…after either 1 1/2 years at a public university…or a little later if attending an Ivy for three. The BS/MD route would require four full years as an undergrad. Then med school. This would “delay” the start of medical school by at least a year.
the OP is completely out of touch with reality.
Why continue to post about this ?
Actually @ thumper1, there are shorter BSMD programs, some are 6 or 7 years total
http://www.coas.howard.edu/preprofessionaleducation/bsmdbrochure_jan2015.pdf
I seriously doubt this parent would consider Howard. The thread title clearly says…Ivy or instate option…and this has been repeated again and again by the OP.
post #173, so the OP will hopefully “get it” after so many posters have tried to drill reality into her head.
^^ not too likely to happen! 8-| ~X(
Current Harvard physics major here–
You seem concerned that your son will be bored by “repeating” classes. I cannot speak much for the humanities, but I know that in the sciences the introductory classes are miles above the level of any AP or dual enrollment classes I took at my (reasonably good though not exceptional) public school, although the difference in difficulty might not be obvious from a glance at a syllabus. (For example, when my AP physics class said on the syllabus that they covered springs, they meant you did F=-kx. Given k and given x, solve for F. Harvard’s freshman physics class means you’re solving second order nonhomogenous differential equations. But both show up on the syllabus as “springs”, so one could be fooled into thinking that taking the AP class meant I had already learned all the material in the Harvard class). As far as repeating the humanities, I too hated english in high school because literary criticism bored me to tears, but I do not dread my humanities classes in college because there are so many different options that I can find something that interests me. Check out a course catalogue
Most science majors at a top school have a similar high school science background to your son’s, and we start at or near the beginning and stay for 3 or 4 years. I say this not to diminish his accomplishments (he sounds like a great and very motivated student) but in an attempt to convince you that he will not be bored and he should not try to race through college.
As for trying to get through a chem major at a good state school in 2 or 3 semesters–have you looked at major requirements and plotted out a possible schedule? Even if it looks doable on paper, taking a ton of science classes in a semester to race through a major would be an extremely hard workload. I know many of harvard’s chem classes have 6 or even 8 hour weekly labs on top of the homework. I cannot speak to a state school but a good state school will also work their science majors hard.
Sorry, that rambled a little, but my point is, I would highly advise against trying to get through any college in less than 3 years. I think you overestimate the difficulty of a community college class compared to a class at an Ivy or a strong state school, and you underestimate how prepared all the other freshmen are going to be. Best of luck!
ps. I would also look at financial aid packets before you conclude that an Ivy would be more expensive than a state school. I read that Harvard would be cheaper than a state school for 90% of Americans.
I think the OP has left the building