Here to answer questions about Goucher for 2012-13

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Originally Posted by Evidence Based

Ah Lucky you guys! I don't finish up until tomorrow. We have a mix of scheduled and self-scheduled finals this spring. Bio and Organic chem were scheduled, and physics was self-scheduled. If you were in gen chem, that was self-scheduled as well. In the spring all our exams are self-scheduled. It's a pretty nice system, I'm not complaining. Gives you the ability to study the way you want. And the linkage discussion is a biiiggg grey area. It's considered rude to ask someone you're not super close with about their linkage plans, but it still comes up all the time in conversation. People are naturally very curious about it. How is it at Goucher?

Really interesting how your post-bacc experience influenced your med school choice! That's a little bit less salient here, given how big our program is, but that's still something to think about.

And I certainly wouldn't ever tell someone to factor in the prestige of the undergad institution into their calculations, if only because (at least at Goucher and BM), the programs are almost completely separate from their hosting institutions. Within the med school world, I certainly think the program reputation carries a big weight, one that's basically independent of the laymen's understanding of things.

That being said, everyone should choose Bryn Mawr. (I kid, both programs are amazing).

Wow, this is turning into a serious BM-Goucher postbac backslapping contest!

The more flexible exam system is definitely a plus for Bryn Mawr. At Goucher, we have fixed exams. That's the standard format, but I know some med schools also have a flexible examining format similar to BM's, and that can be a great advantage to certain people. Accommodations at Goucher are relatively easy to come by, but they are still accommodations versus standard practice. The traditional system works for 98% of people, but it might be a game changer for the other 2%.

I think linkage discussions at Goucher are more open. Since there's only 30 of us, it's pretty easy to either ask or ascertain who's interested in where. Of course, there are definitely some people who are more reticent about discussing linkage goals - I come from a small-team environment where everything professional is shared and a "may the best person win" kind of sportsmanship prevails, and I'm having to (generally) adjust to the fact that most people don't live that way. But the majority are happy to share, and most of the rest are bashful but not defensive.

In terms of describing the process to people who haven't started their postbac yet, there can definitely be some sudden anxiety for up to ten people when linkage decisions draw near, because every year you get 1-3 schools that look almost certain to have more applicants than places (some schools also have no limit on how many people they'll take). This is the one time you'll ever see your peers as competitors, even though I believe most of the factors that distinguish us are immutable at this point, so there's no point comparing. On the other hand, you get people who suddenly find themselves in the position where there's essentially zero competition, which is an extraordinarily calming position to be in for med school applications. You're certainly not guaranteed to get in, but that admission letter becomes yours based on more or less your performance alone.

One piece of advice for future postbacs would be to start thinking about the linkage process and schools early on. Again, I'm from the "more talk is better" school, but that's more towards the extreme end of the spectrum. It did help me build a clear picture early on, though, and that became more refined as I went on linkage visits and chatted to classmates about linkage schools. I'm a big proponent of going on as many visits as possible. I started the program fairly certain about one school based on some past experiences. Now I'm applying to a school I hadn't considered at all two months ago. That's the power of linkage visits and the avoidance of having to rush through the thought process in the final part of the fall semester.

A perhaps interesting observation is how much the linkage process liberates people from rankings. You get a lot of people with 4.0s applying to places like Maryland and people with 3.7s applying to "top ten" schools. Nor does ranking really correlate with number of applicants. I think that says something about how these postbac programs allow people to relax and choose schools based on fit, rather than the traditional stat fest that .

One final note is that some schools have linkage places allocated to postbacs in general, and some for specific schools. That does mean that BM, Columbia, Goucher, Hopkins people can be competing against each other, and that sometimes one program snags more places than the other. At this stage in their admissions cycle, most schools are looking to fill specific gaps in their incoming class, so they choose certain personalities/backgrounds, not who comes from a better postbac. Things might swing in the other school or schools' direction the next year.

Alright, bed time. I'm in Europe, it's 8 am, and I haven't slept more than 3 hours per night in the past few weeks. Hence the motormouth.

Just wondering how Goucher notifies applicants. I interviewed early December and was told I would hear in a couple weeks. Since it's now officially the weekend before Christmas, and I have not heard anything...

1. Has anyone else heard in that time?
2. Does Goucher email? Snail mail? Phone call?

Thanks!

I know they mail rejections!

Originally Posted by thursdaynext

Just wondering how Goucher notifies applicants. I interviewed early December and was told I would hear in a couple weeks. Since it's now officially the weekend before Christmas, and I have not heard anything...

1. Has anyone else heard in that time?
2. Does Goucher email? Snail mail? Phone call?

Thanks!

Hi thursdaynext,

I'm not sure what the general rule is, because I applied very late in the cycle. I would give the general Goucher PBPM number a call and explain your circumstances to Theresa. They'll be back in the office next week. Be sure to explain any circumstances that make you a bit more pressed for time, such as holding offers from other programs.

Thanks for the advice! Happy to say that I'm now Goucher 2014!

What's the ratio of Goucher post-bac students straight from undergrad vs. those who've been out of school for a year (or a few)?

Originally Posted by thursdaynext

Thanks for the advice! Happy to say that I'm now Goucher 2014!

Congrats, thursdaynext!

Originally Posted by thursdaynext

What's the ratio of Goucher post-bac students straight from undergrad vs. those who've been out of school for a year (or a few)?

This year, we have 3-4 people out of 31 who are straight from undergrad. The vast majority have been out for 1-3 years, although a few have been in grad school the whole time. Lastly, about 5-6 of us have been out for 4+ years.

Another quick update:

Goucher has an unusually long (to me) winter break, from mid-December until late January. This meant that one third of us has had an awesome, long break with plenty of time to start practicing MCAT problems (our recommended reading is Exam Krackers).

Our additional linkages fueled a bumper year of applications, though, so it seems like we may have the highest number of linkage applications in Goucher's history. Almost two thirds of the class applied to link this cycle, which meant that those of us who can't bang out instant hit AMCAS essays had to work quite a bit over the holidays.
Then came secondaries. Most of us were done by mid-January, although some schools have surprisingly late deadlines during the spring semester. Interview offers for linkage candidates have started to trickle in, with a high yield so far. I don't believe any of us receive special interview days - we attend those days that were already scheduled for regular applicants at the end of each school's interview cycle.

Classes start next Wednesday. Last week, we started an "MCAT boot camp", whose main purpose is to get us going on practice questions and tests. There are various ways to learn the material and each of us will have a different learning style, so much of the effort led by our TA is geared towards testing, testing, testing. We'll have two practice sessions each week during the spring semester, plus a full-length MCAT every other Saturday morning. Right now, the MCAT still seems very daunting, of course, but we have four months, we're learning much of the more advanced material concurrently in class, and we're getting about as much preparation as is possible.

Originally Posted by Goucher2013

Another quick update:

Our additional linkages fueled a bumper year of applications, though, so it seems like we may have the highest number of linkage applications in Goucher's history. Almost two thirds of the class applied to link this cycle, which meant that those of us who can't bang out instant hit AMCAS essays had to work quite a bit over the holidays.

Why do you think so many people are linking this year? What do the non-linkers plan on doing in their glide year?

Originally Posted by campti01

Why do you think so many people are linking this year? What do the non-linkers plan on doing in their glide year?

I think the number of linkage applicants is partly fueled by the amount of linkage options, but mostly fueled by an alignment of personal preferences - especially geographic ones - that changes from year to year. There isn't any screening for linkage preferences during the Goucher program application process, so you could end up with five people interested in living in Chicago, or two. And if you add someplace like Cornell as a linkage option, you're definitely going to find some people interested in studying in NYC.

This year, we also had some people interested in schools that don't usually get many takers, for cost or geographic reasons, which further bumps up the numbers. Again, it's kind of luck of the draw, but the more linkage options, the higher I'd expect the annual linkage averages to become. That's especially the case when establishing a linkage option in a major city - I hope future classes get to link to schools in Philadelphia and Boston.

Thank you for this topic! It is very helpful!

I am considering applying to the Goucher Post Bacc at the end of this year. Would you suggest my taking the GREs as my SAT scores were average? I know you said you cannot really answer admissions questions, but perhaps you can offer insight into what your peers/you did?

Originally Posted by ConfusedCareer

Thank you for this topic! It is very helpful!

I am considering applying to the Goucher Post Bacc at the end of this year. Would you suggest my taking the GREs as my SAT scores were average? I know you said you cannot really answer admissions questions, but perhaps you can offer insight into what your peers/you did?

It can definitely only help. I do think Goucher admits some low GPA (~3.3), not-very-high SAT applicants though, so it's hard to tell. But they basically want to know that you can score at least a 30 and preferably closer to 34-36 on the MCAT, and the GRE or LSAT helps with that prediction more than the SAT/ACT. So, unless you have a very high SAT/ACT - especially verbal - I would try to take the GRE. The MCAT is an unfortunate fact of the med school application process, and Goucher wants to be sure that if you finish the program and apply, you'll be accepted somewhere.

I think high test scores may also help with linking. I'm around the 15th percentile for the GPA range of the school I've been accepted to, and I believe that getting a high score on the GRE this January helped, since it indicated that I wouldn't have too much trouble meeting the minimum MCAT score they now require of me.

Thank you all so much for this post. I was recently accepted to the Goucher program, and am beyond thrilled! This forum has provided a wealth of incredibly valuable info.

Goucher2013: at the risk of sounding like a game show host here, what would you say your top advice for an entering post-bac student would be? I assume there are things that you predicted, and a ton more that totally blindsided you. What lessons did you walk away with both personally and regarding the program? I realize this is incredibly open ended, and I would clarify if I could, but at this point I'm just trying to soak up absolutely everything I can before entering this new world.

Obviously if anyone else wants to weigh in here, feel free!

Congratulations on completing the program, and I hope your doing well now that decisions are starting to come in!

Originally Posted by QuarterNote

Goucher2013: at the risk of sounding like a game show host here, what would you say your top advice for an entering post-bac student would be? I assume there are things that you predicted, and a ton more that totally blindsided you. What lessons did you walk away with both personally and regarding the program? I realize this is incredibly open ended, and I would clarify if I could, but at this point I'm just trying to soak up absolutely everything I can before entering this new world.

Obviously if anyone else wants to weigh in here, feel free!

Congrats!! I just wanted to offer a quick suggestion: spend time getting to know your classmates and the staff/faculty/students from previous years. Of all the awesome things about my year at Goucher, I think the most invaluable part of it was getting to meet awesome, supportive, brilliant people with similar interests/goals/values. They'll be your biggest resource, both during the program and afterward. Try to live close by to other classmates and try to stay involved in class stuff even if you have a serious significant other (or kids, like some people did).

Our class hung out a lot together and I think we all came out really glad that we had met and been (or are still) a part of this community. I was a Goucher '11-12 post-bacc.

Originally Posted by QuarterNote

Thank you all so much for this post. I was recently accepted to the Goucher program, and am beyond thrilled! This forum has provided a wealth of incredibly valuable info.

Congratulations! You can't go wrong at Goucher.

Originally Posted by QuarterNote

Goucher2013: at the risk of sounding like a game show host here, what would you say your top advice for an entering post-bac student would be? I assume there are things that you predicted, and a ton more that totally blindsided you. What lessons did you walk away with both personally and regarding the program? I realize this is incredibly open ended, and I would clarify if I could, but at this point I'm just trying to soak up absolutely everything I can before entering this new world.

Obviously if anyone else wants to weigh in here, feel free!

The main advice I would give that I didn't hear elsewhere before starting, from the perspective of someone below-average who had to fight for every A and A-:

1. This first point is mainly aimed at people who aren't from an American upper-middle class, elite college background (the predominant background at any selective postbac...and med school):

Don't be anxious about group cohesion, being part of the Goucher crowd, etc. Just do what makes you feel most comfortable. If you're not a big-group person or you love living in the city, act according to your preferences. Because of the small class size, each Goucher year can have a different character. Looking back, I would have made more friends and socialized more if I hadn't deferred a year, just because last year's class had more people I was compatible with (pure luck of the draw). So, don't fret if you don't immediately feel like you've made friends or clicked with the overall crowd in your class. Just let it come naturally.

That having been said, don't let this advice make you anxious about not making lots of friends. I came from years of a military environment that was all about quickly forming strong bonds in small teams. So, Goucher seemed perfect. But perhaps because my prior experiences were so extreme and I went straight from overseas to Goucher (plus I was married, a foreigner, etc.), I actually didn't feel particularly compatible with the people in my class. At first that felt like a disappointment - I'd found the small class size to be a huge plus when I accepted - but eventually I just learned to accept that my experiences were an outlier compared to most people's in their 20s. And I've certainly made more and more friends over time.

Bottom line: Goucher's class atmosphere is wonderful and very inclusive, but don't fret if you don't immediately feel like you just found your new best friends.

2.Don't be afraid to study on weekends over the summer. Goucher has set things up so that you are tested on Thursday and can take the weekend off before moving on to the next week's material. In my case - largely due to rusty study habits - that just didn't pan out. I studied ahead a lot on weekends just to stay afloat. Because I had different expectations, this became demoralizing. If I'd had more of an "ah, let's just see what works" attitude to begin with, I could have been more relaxed. As with 1., do what works for you.

3. The program staff advise you not to start the material ahead of classes. I wish I'd had. Specifically, there are certain key chemistry materials I wish I'd memorized from our text book (Brady & Senese, 4th ed): understanding the basics of the periodic table (e.g. difference in position between metalloid and transition metals, and basic properties - chapter 1); ions of transition metals and post-transition metals (table 2.4) and monatomic negative ions (table 2.6). It also helps to be comfortable with decimal multipliers, e.g. the difference between deci- and nano- (table 3.3) and the metric system in general. Significant figures are common cause of point loss early on, and can be avoid through some googling and exercises ahead of course start.

Most importantly (and dauntingly), you want to memorize the formulas and names of the 26 polyatomic ions most used in the course (table 2.5), plus the 10 monatomic negative ions (table 2.6). Note that you want to use the specific Brady textbook for the ions, since other textbooks have different lists.

If you can then also memorize the strong/weak acids and bases (5.7), even though you only need them a few weeks in, all the better.

Again, this advice is if you're not used to memorizing lots of esoteric facts very quickly. Doing this stuff ahead of time can help you get your brain into the right mode before classes start. You don't have to memorize things perfectly, since you'll still have time for further memorization during the week when you learn this stuff.

4. If you do have extra time during the summer because you're not just trying to stay afloat, get a copy of the Examkrackers MCAT chemistry prep book and read the relevant chapter each weekend after learning the material. Then read through everything again during the break before fall classes and maybe occasionally brush up during fall semester (definitely do the latter). You hardly need any gen chem knowledge during the fall. I also went into a mode during the summer where everything was just a blur. I learned the material, but I didn't truly store it in long-term memory. The result was that I lost a lot of gen chem familiarity before the spring semester, and I'm currently spending spring break re-familiarizing myself. Don't be me. Don't be that guy.

5. You're going to have an excellent TA next year. If you have any qualms about the material, go to her immediately and don't be afraid to ask questions that you feel you should already know the answer to.

Originally Posted by QuarterNote

Congratulations on completing the program, and I hope your doing well now that decisions are starting to come in!

I'm not done yet! I successfully linked, but I actually have to increase my Goucher GPA, plus get a minimum score on the MCAT, in order to matriculate in August.

I've heard a lot that the spring semester at Goucher is the toughest, since we're juggling MCAT with some subject material that's harder and/or more esoteric. The good news - to me at least - is that this isn't always the case. I've finally gotten into the study groove this year and my exam average has definitely gone up. Second-semester material in bio and orgo is actually more relatable. Also, for the latter, it can be painful to get the fundamental mechanisms down correctly in the first semester, but if you keep practicing over the extra-long winter break, things come much easier for the spring. It's kind of like learning the basic of a language versus more advanced stuff. In terms of the MCAT, we have full-length exams every other weekend, but I've skipped those in favor reviewing material. In that area, Goucher gives us the flexibility of learning on our terms. If you're a good test taker, you do the material. If you're good with the material, you take the test over and over. The key to all this is to find your own rhythm and feel like you're in control of your academic destiny - the same as I found during the concentrated chemistry over the summer.

The bottom line of the preceding paragraph is that if you're a slow starter, you don't necessarily have to be scared that things will get worse in the spring during a one-year post-bac.

Originally Posted by zencake

Congrats!! I just wanted to offer a quick suggestion: spend time getting to know your classmates and the staff/faculty/students from previous years. Of all the awesome things about my year at Goucher, I think the most invaluable part of it was getting to meet awesome, supportive, brilliant people with similar interests/goals/values. They'll be your biggest resource, both during the program and afterward. Try to live close by to other classmates and try to stay involved in class stuff even if you have a serious significant other (or kids, like some people did).

Our class hung out a lot together and I think we all came out really glad that we had met and been (or are still) a part of this community. I was a Goucher '11-12 post-bacc.

Thanks zencake!

The fortuitous finding of this thread only emphasizes the importance of having a support network. Thankfully this is a lesson I feel I learned early in life, but your comment only solidifies my view. I walk into the program feeling confident, but also humbled and fully aware that there is no way I can ever have all the answers, so I will be reaching out often. My housing situation is in the earliest stage (aka non-existent, but phrasing it that way minimizes panic ), so I take your advice to heart! My preference is to live close to my fellow classmates, but we'll see how it all works out. I'm a social learner, and feel like the more often I can learn with a group, the better.

It must be quite a thrill to have people from such diverse backgrounds trying to conquer the same beast. This camaraderie is one of the reasons I chose a formal post-bac, and I can easily see how the bonds made can last a lifetime. Thanks again for your comment, and I look forward to having you in my arsenal!

Originally Posted by Goucher2013

Congratulations! You can't go wrong at Goucher.

Thank you so much Goucher2013!

Your advice, along with zencake's, is worth its weight in gold. Like you, it's been a while since I've had to do intense memorization, so I expect to fight for every grade. This makes your suggestion to start early that much more essential, and you saved me the trouble of asking for specifics!

Don't be anxious about group cohesion, being part of the Goucher crowd, etc. Just do what makes you feel most comfortable.

This is a major deal for me. I tend to invest a lot into communities I belong to. While it is one of the best commitments out there, at times it can come at a sacrifice of time and resources. While I intend on being fully present and taking advantage of every opportunity to build relationships, I need to be sure to keep my boundaries and not be afraid to say no when necessary. It also seems true that the social dynamic of the program fluctuates between years, so just hunkering down and being myself needs to be the top priority. Not to say I don't expect to make some truly great friends out there!

Don't be afraid to study on weekends over the summer.

Ohhh this was the plan from the beginning. Like I said, while I feel like a talented student, I'm not one to sail through a test and exclaim "Boy that was easy!" There will be a lot of learning happening in the "off-season", and I really appreciate you laying out specific things I should be working on when the time comes.

The program staff advise you not to start the material ahead of classes. I wish I'd had.

This is insanely helpful. I'm buying the book in the next week and can assure you I will be digging into the topics you mentioned. I can't thank you enough for graciously sharing what you wish you had done in retrospect.

get a copy of the Examkrackers MCAT chemistry prep book and read the relevant chapter each weekend after learning the material.

Once again...golden. I just took the GRE, and want to keep my mind in fighting shape because I know the MCAT is a whole different animal. I can already tell the name of my game is going to be constant, controlled, connection of class material to MCAT questions from day 1. Goucher's MCAT prep is yet another major player in my decision.

I'm also very excited to have a great TA. From what I've heard, TA's are an invaluable resource, so I'm glad to know you approve.

I'm not done yet!

My mistake! I mixed up dates here... Congrats on your linkage, and good luck with the GPA and MCAT! Also thank you for the reassurance on spring at Goucher. It seems a common theme is endurance and confidence, and it's encouraging to know even if things seem crazy in the beginning, you just need to keep fighting.

I can't thank you enough for this, and all the other contributions you have made to this thread. It's obvious you really care about people, and that will serve you for the rest of your life.

Alright, this is going to be one of my last posts for the Goucher 2012-2013 year. We were back in class this week after a week-long Spring break that gave me the chance to go over Examkrackers' gen chem book and questions. A lot of people just relaxed.

This week started off with a big Pesach dinner in the common room of a postbac student's apartment building. Most of the class showed up, plus some of the program staff and Sos, and the gentiles making up the majority of attendees got to enjoy their first proper Passover seder. Another good example of the Goucher community spirit. I was at home studying, and that's been pretty much me all semester: pure study mode. When I'm not studying for class I'm studying for the MCAT (I've become a big fan of Kaplan MCAT flash cards). I've got to achieve a reasonable MCAT score for my linkage school, but why study less and take a risk? Besides, this semester is probably the best-possible preparation I could get for med school, and I hope I'll soon be in the same boat as Goucher grads who say that med school is easier than pre-med.

Linkages

This year has been an absolute bumper year for linkages at Goucher. I expect close to half the class will link once a couple of wait list movements occur, yet I think we've already achieved a record linkage year at Goucher.

Of particular interest might be that for schools with only one linkage applicant, the acceptance rate was 100%. For multiple-school applicants, the worst rate has been 50% (with wait list movement likely to increase that to 70+%). I did a double take when I calculated that. A 50% chance of acceptance to a med school - at worst? The odds really don't get higher than this.

Apart from the admissions rate, the other key thing I should reiterate is that these were applications based on fit, rather than stats. Some of the people with the highest GPAs went with the lowest-ranked schools and vice-versa (in terms of US News research rankings). Also, for the schools with only one linkage applicant, each of these particular applicants had qualities that made them a perfect fit for that school, which explains the acceptance rate. The program staff are great at helping you find that fit. In my case (multi-applicant school), I couldn't imagine a better place, either - it would have been both my first choice and a reach school had I applied the regular route.

So, odds plus fit seems like an unbeatable combination. Why wouldn't someone link, then? Well, the obvious one in that equation is that at least a third of the class just couldn't find a linkage school that made them feel, "I'll have no regrets if I commit to this place". A lot of that comes down to geography or wanting more opportunities to compare.

Others want some time off from academic work, want to scratch one last non-medical itch (one of last year's graduates has been in Rwanda a lot during their glide year), or they want research experience to either discover a passion or improve their applications to certain schools.

Because of all these factors, it's almost surprising that the number of linkers hovers around a third each year, not lower. This year was perhaps an outlier, and we might regress to the mean next year. The program staff puts zero pressure on anyone to link or not link, and that's a good thing. If only two people chose to link next year, there wouldn't be any fuss about that. It's all about what works for you, but boy are linkages a great option.

There's one more big reason not to link though, and that's money.

Linking and Money

Linkers don't get scholarship money, that's just a given. Medical school scholarships are recruiting incentives, and there's no incentive to woo someone who's already committed. I never had any pretenses about this, but right now is also scholarship season for last year's class, and it certainly brings a tinge of dread to know that I will have to bear the financial burden of medical school myself. A good friend of mine from last year's class received a full scholarship to my linkage school. He's going to graduate med school debt-free, and I'll have triple the average. Our stats and life stories are similar enough that I have to ask myself, "what if"? What if I'd taken a glide year?

I'm going to reveal a bit more about myself than usual because I think a lot of you readers are in roughly the same boat as me, and I hope this will help you with your linkage and general med school decisions. Like many of you, I've got the kind of GPA (3.65) that's good, but not good enough - especially for scholarships. To compound that, I've got the kind of life story that I've found hard to sell.

And because I'm the kind of person who doesn't get scholarships, I had to pay for most of undergrad (some grants) and all of my postgrad through loans. This left me with a six-figure student debt before Goucher, let alone med school. By the time I graduate med school, I'll probably have half a million dollars in debt. And of course some of that will be the result of judgment: that postgrad degree turned out to be useless in the long run, and I'm sure I could have saved at least thirty grand if I'd lived in a shed and eaten baked beans. Yep, I'm one of those fools who are pushing the boundaries of educational loans and common sense. Again, I'm sure many of you fear being put in a similar situation, and some will ignore the benefits of linking because of the financial burden.

So, why would someone like me - or you - link under those financial constraints?

Well, it's a matter of probabilities. Goucher, BM and Hopkins grads get over five million dollars in scholarship offers every year, but I'm going to hazard a guess that much of that money is clustered among some of the class who receive multiple offers. Others get in like the vast majority of regular med students: on their own dime.

As I mentioned, I'm just not someone who gets scholarships. Whether it's the Truman, Jack Kent Cooke (RIP, best scholarship ever) or Soros Fellowship, I'm the classic case of someone who applies to all and doesn't even get to the interview round with one. As of this year, my chances for a big external scholarship are essentially zero, because I've aged out of every one of them (can you believe the age limits on these things?). Again, I think many of you are in the same boat - good, but just not good enough. So, what do people like us do, when in the eyes of academia we are good but not great, interesting applicants but not at the top?

My answer is simple: you plough through. You make it post-residency as fast as possible, because you're never going to earn as much money towards student loan repayments as when you're a fully qualified doctor.

So, for those of you with twenty thousand dollars of loans, or a hundred thousand, or just a general fear of debt, make a calculated decision about your odds of getting a large scholarship to a med school you're willing to attend. A gut check should suffice, but if you're wiling to make things really complicated:
1. Make a spreadsheet and figure out how much you could earn during your glide year and your realistic loans or savings that year.
2. Then try to come up with the odds of getting a scholarship from "safety" schools you intend to apply to. Most of those schools offer a smaller number of scholarships that should be relatively easy to find. Then figure out your odds for a specific amount that's, say, 50% likely: ten grand? Twenty? A half scholarship? Full?
3.Add up the glide year loan repayment/savings to the probable scholarship and compare the result to a year's salary as a physician (if in doubt, default to a primary care salary) minus extra interest payments you'd incur.
4. Unless the amount and probability of the glide-year-plus-scholarship option significantly exceeds roughly 50%* of the certain physician salary you'd be earning a year earlier thanks to linking, you should strongly consider a linkage.

*pretty much the max you could put towards repayments


Going back to me comparing myself with my friend (and hopefully future classmate), yes, of course I'll sometimes wonder "what if", but I made a conscious decision to believe that I'm not going to start receiving scholarships anytime soon and I'd rather one of us be in a good financial position than neither of us. People who live life without regrets aren't making any tough decisions, and choosing whether to link is just one of many. If you do your homework, if you act rationally rather than out of simple fear of debt, then you can make the best decision about the financial implications of linking.

Goucher 2013,

+1 to your awesome post. I may link some of the kids over at the Bryn Mawr 2012-2013 thread over here, because I think you've really summed up the linkage calculus nicely.

The linkage process is amazing if you find the right school for you, and want to skip the glide year. In a certain way, however, it has a lot in common with say getting a military scholarship (full ride to med school), doing National Health Service Corps (full ride), or MD/PhD (yes, full ride). All of these things sound awesome. Going to med school a year early? Awesome! Full ride to med school?! Who doesn't want that. One thing that's become clear to me, however, that these things are really only beneficial if you'd want to do it without the inducement. Love one of your linkage schools, and would probably choose it over anywhere else? Linkage is awesome. You wanted to serve your country and join the military anyways? Then a military scholarship is an awesome deal. Same thing with doing research, primary care in an underserved area, etc. These things are all amazing if that's what you wanted to do. But there are costs to all of them. For linkage, it's foreclosing on a substantial number of financial aid opportunities. For many other things, it's prolonged schooling (MD/PhD) or substantial service requirements (military, NHSC).

As Goucher 2013 put it, in the end it's all a risk/benefit calculation. There's a lot to think about with all of this, and I think linkage is one of the things that really draws people to these structured programs. At the end of the day though, it's not for everyone. For linkage (or for any of these opportunities), think about whether you would do it regardless of the incentives (money, time saved, whatever). If you would still do it without the incentive, then go for it. If not, you might want to give it some more thought.

One of the awesome things about BM (my program) or Goucher is that they really guide you so well through this process. Everyone knows their stuff, and can really help you figure out what the right decision is for you. Wherever you go, listen to your advisors. They really have nothing but good advice.

-EB

P.S. Goucher2013 good luck with MCAT prep! It's hitting crunch time for that here as well, and life is getting interesting. All the best!