California Northstate University BS-MD

 Introduction

The California Northstate University BS-MD program is the only BS/MD program in California. I'm sure lots of you aspiring doctors are from California and staying close to home would be nice. This program is very new, as its medical was only established in 2015, and its first graduating class matched in 2019. There is a lot of controversy about this program, for which I will list below.

Requirements for Matriculation into Medical School

- Maintain 3.50 GPA in college

- Score 510 on MCAT

Pros

- There is an option to finish the program in 6 years. That is a major win in my opinion. Save 2 years of tuition + feel less old when you graduate med school. 

- Location. California is the promised land for many.

- Opportunity to save money on room and board if you live at home.

Cons

- New medical school was established in 2015. It currently has provisional accreditation. 

- A for-profit medical school seems rather contradictory to their purpose, which is to serve people. 

- Their match list is very unimpressive for a US MD school. A rough measure of a medical school's strength is the ability to place students into competitive specialties such as neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, ENT, urology, and dermatology. I see very few matches here. One could argue that their mission is to place students into primary care. Even so, the primary care matches have thoroughly unimpressive names. You would think that a school in California would be able to place multiple students into UC schools, Stanford, or USC, but I see very few listed. 

- They do not have their own hospital yet. Their students rotate at Kaiser and Sutter. Not having your own teaching hospital means students will be forced to drive long distances for rotations.

Conclusion

Similar to the stock market, you must take risks to gain rewards. If you feel like the location and cost savings outweigh the unknowns of a new medical school, then consider this program. I think I would take the chance on this program. I took a similar risk with Drexel, and I came out fine (I think).

Prestige Rating

4 out of 10

Interested in other BS/MD programs? Get the complete list here.