BA/BS/MD Programs are designed for highly motivated high school students who desire to commit in the career of medicine. These programs guarantee you a spot in the medical school provided that you meet their requirements, such as certain GPA, MCAT, or community service requirements. The point of these program is to give students a peace of mind while in college. BA/BS/MD students know that they are already accepted into medical school. This reduces the amount of stress associated with applying to medical school by a whole lot.
However, people often debate the merits of BA/BS/MD programs. Here are the two opposing arguments:
If you are good enough to be accepted into a BA/BS/MD program, then you are good enough to be accepted to medical school via the normal route.
High school students accepted into BA/BS/MD programs are often the top of the class, the cream of the crop. By "locking" yourself into a program, you "could" miss the opportunity to get into a better medical school, but again, you would have the comforting notion you already have one foot in the doctor door.
There are no significant variations between medical schools. There are no "bad" medical schools.
People like me (I'm a BS/MD student), would rather sacrifice prestige for a peace of mind than go through the hell of applying to medical schools. I know lots of people look at US News ranking on medical schools and would call my medical school "bad" because it's not highly ranked. But I don't care. I am a firm believer in individual effort. Once I'm in medical school, there's no limit of what I can't do just because the name of my medical school isn't in the top 10.
Some programs are accelerated, meaning that they take a shorter amount of time to complete than the normal 4+4 route (4 years of college + 4 years of medical school). Accelerated programs are possible because the undergraduate years are shortened to 3 years or 2 years, making it possible to obtain a medical degree in 7 or 6 years. The number of years spent in medical school remains the same for all programs (4 years of medical school). The accelerated element of these programs means two things: savings on money and time. One year less of tuition could mean a whole lot. One year less of your life in school could mean even more.
These programs are extremely competitive. Most have a certain SAT/ACT and GPA cutoff requirement in additional to the insane amount of extracurriculars. Some programs are easier to get in than others, but all are difficult to get in. I would put the level of selectivity of BA/BS/MD programs along with Ivy League schools.
Here is how the BA/BS/MD application works:
1. Be accepted to the undergraduate.
2. Go to the interview at the medical school, if offered one.
3. Wait for the results.
• Cost
ReplyDeleteo Since public universities charge, on average, less tuition for in-state residents than private institutions, always apply to your state medical school, if it offers a BS/MD program.
o It is very hard to get scholarships /grants for pursuing MD program. Most (>95%) students take out loans for med school. While choosing a BS/MD program, seek the ones that have lower cost of attendance. As of 2010, many MD programs, especially private med schools, cost over $70K/yr to attend; in the next 4 years, expect the cost of attending medical schools to keep with inflation rate, which one can assume to be around 2.5%/yr. The same med school which costs, say $70K in 2010, would cost around $77K/yr in 2014. That comes to around $300 K for med school education! Add to that is the cost of undergraduate education. You don’t want to be in such deep debt coming out of med school, that it influences your choice of specialty. Med schools in the South (especially Texas) have lower cost of attendance, even for out of state students, compared to med schools in North.
• Flexibility:
o From a flexibility standpoint, choose to apply to BS/MD programs which do not bind you to attend their MD program. i.e. should a student admitted to a BS/MD program apply to other MD programs in their junior year of college, then the med schools that have binding clause in their admission, can rescind admission to their MD program for such students. From a med school perspective, they feel that they have made an investment in time & effort to guide their BS/MD candidates through their undergraduate program, and they do not want see them to go elsewhere. From a student’s perspective, what if he/she is not happy with the overall school and has better options elsewhere. Therefore, one should have the flexibility to apply to other med schools without losing the guaranteed spot in the med school with its BS/MD offering.
• Med School GPA Requirement;
o This point is important for those who want to pursue engineering. Make no mistake: engineering is a difficult major. Watch out for programs that have high GPA (>3.7) requirements every semester to remain in their BS/MD programs, or face probation. It can make you miserable and impact your undergraduate experience. Perhaps you should look at other schools that are not so stringent. From an administration standpoint, it is quite difficult to implement a two tier GPA requirement, so select your major & the BS/MD program judiciously.
• Undergraduate Quality:
o If possible, choose a BS/MD program which has high quality undergraduate offerings. At 17 or 18 years of age, it is difficult to say with 100% certainty about one’s lifelong vocation. It is likely that interests change during the course of under graduate years; however, if the school has well reputed undergraduate programs, it is that much easier to get admission to graduate school or gain employment in the new major. Med schools do not like to hear of such ambivalence, but one should be prepared for change in one’s vocational direction.
If you get into an accelerated program, what exactly would you major in? I, for example, am definitely set on Biomedical Engineering, and some say that is a 4 to 5 year deal. If you can't finish the work for your undergrad, how do you go onto medical school afterwards?
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that you are interested in Biomedical engineering! Yes, usually that bachelor's degree does take more than the usual biology or chemistry BS degree, so you will have to check specifically with each program if they allow for a major in biomed enginneering. If they do though, they will (should, at least) accommodate for you accordingly in the program. So just check the program to be sure; I know for sure Drexel University offers such a biomedical engineering program.
ReplyDeleteHi, Prestige Pursuit, what school are you at right now?
ReplyDeleteThat shall remain a mystery.
DeleteI like this post.
Deletethank u for all the information u gave.i would like to know if the med schools offers scholarships to those who need it.if not can u suggest me the one with low cost of attendance which would provide me with loan to persue my med career?
ReplyDeleteThank you for this great site.
ReplyDeleteCan you do New Jersey Medical School next?