Am I a good SMP candidate--and if so can someone help me understand what they're like/timelines?

[ardenbucket]

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I'm graduating in 3 days with a BS in Biology! I have a cool, clinically-relevant research job lined up, but I've recently come to the realization that my dream job really is medicine and I should take steps to pursue it now, lest I regret it in a few years when I'm 30+ and it's too late (no offense to all you non-trads, you are braver souls than I!). I have extensive volunteer and work experience that demonstrates my love for medicine, and is actually what drew me to choose it as a career. I know I can get great letters of rec from professors and some physicians that I've worked closely with on research over the past few years.

My GPA is 3.2 overall, with my last 40 credits being 3.95 with all upper division science courses. I know I can handle the rigor, I just need to prove it to everyone else! I took the MCAT in January 2018 and got a 518. I'm open to both MD & DO schools--beggars can't be choosers, and what not.

From what I've read, an SMP is the right way to go. I've looking into some in my area--Rush, Rosalind Franklin, Loyola, Cincinnati, Iowa State--those would be my first choices due to geography relative to my fiance and his job.

I have a few concerns though.

1) Timeline: I am graduating Spring '18 and will work for a year, applying to SMPs for next fall (2019). Do you apply to medical schools before or after your SMP?

2) Cost/Failure Rate: I've heard that SMPs are do or die and that if you don't get a 3.7+ you've screwed yourself out of any chance at matriculation. How true is that? I assume classes are graded on a curve, so where do all the people who don't do well enough to matriculate go? I mean...is it really all that bad?

3) Rigor: I guess I am concerned about not being able to handle it, despite my earlier confidence in this very post. Maybe it's over-exaggerated but everyone seems to say their SMP was the hardest thing they've ever done and it's so easy to slip up, etc. etc.

Thanks in advance for your help everyone!

Edit: fixed a sentence that didn't make any sense

 

[Goro]

1) Timeline: I am graduating Spring '18 and will work for a year, applying to SMPs for next fall (2019). Do you apply to medical schools before or after your SMP?
After. We can't take your word for it that you're going to to do well in the SMP...you need to prove it.

2) Cost/Failure Rate: I've heard that SMPs are do or die and that if you don't get a 3.7+ you've screwed yourself out of any chance at matriculation. How true is that?
This is what I've seen for SDNers who report about their reinvention. At my school, a 3.5+ is what we want to see from our own SMP students. Students who perform in the low 3's in our SMP struggle badly in our med school.


I assume classes are graded on a curve, so where do all the people who don't do well enough to matriculate go? I mean...is it really all that bad?
Curve? This is an audition for med school, not pre-med...we don't curve.
SNPs are high risk and high reward. I know some of my SMP students went into teaching. A few went to pod school. At least one buckled under family pressure and went Carib. Poor bastard.

3) Rigor: I guess I'm concerned about not being able to handle it. Maybe it's over-exaggerated but everyone seems to say their SMP was the hardest thing they've ever done and it's so easy to slip up, etc. etc.
Your last 40 credits would argue otherwise that you can't handle it.

Now, with your massive rising upward trend, I don't think that you need an SMP. Start applying. I suggest:
BU
Case
Hofstra
Dartmouth
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Vandy (yes, Vandy)
Gtown
GWU
Netter
EVMS
Wake
U Miami
Western MI
Oakland-B
Loyola
MCW
SLU
NYMC
Tufts
Your state schools
Any DO program. I can't recommend Touro-NY, Nova, Wm Carey, LUCOM, for different reasons. MSUCOM? Read up on Larry Nasser and you decide.

 

[ardenbucket]

1) Timeline: I am graduating Spring '18 and will work for a year, applying to SMPs for next fall (2019). Do you apply to medical schools before or after your SMP?
After. We can't take your word for it that you're going to to do well in the SMP...you need to prove it.

2) Cost/Failure Rate: I've heard that SMPs are do or die and that if you don't get a 3.7+ you've screwed yourself out of any chance at matriculation. How true is that?
This is what I've seen for SDNers who report about their reinvention. At my school, a 3.5+ is what we want to see from our own SMP students. Students who perform in the low 3's in our SMP struggle badly in our med school.


I assume classes are graded on a curve, so where do all the people who don't do well enough to matriculate go? I mean...is it really all that bad?
Curve? This is an audition for med school, not pre-med...we don't curve.
SNPs are high risk and high reward. I know some of my SMP students went into teaching. A few went to pod school. At least one buckled under family pressure and went Carib. Poor bastard.

3) Rigor: I guess I'm concerned about not being able to handle it. Maybe it's over-exaggerated but everyone seems to say their SMP was the hardest thing they've ever done and it's so easy to slip up, etc. etc.
Your last 40 credits would argue otherwise that you can't handle it.

Now, with your massive rising upward trend, I don't think that you need an SMP. Start applying. I suggest:
BU
Case
Hofstra
Dartmouth
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Vandy (yes, Vandy)
Gtown
GWU
Netter
EVMS
Wake
U Miami
Western MI
Oakland-B
Loyola
MCW
SLU
NYMC
Tufts
Your state schools
Any DO program. I can't recommend Touro-NY, Nova, Wm Carey, LUCOM, for different reasons. MSUCOM? Read up on Larry Nasser and you decide.

Thank you so much for this! I really appreciate the info--I'm very new to this stuff and trying to figure out all the intricacies is proving very challenging!

May I ask why you recommend those schools specifically, e.g. what about them makes them good choices for me to look at, and what should I be looking for in other schools when making a school list? You're obviously much, much more knowledgeable than I am in this process but seeing you recommend schools like Georgetown, Dartmouth and Vanderbilt makes me balk a little!

Again, thank you so much for your detailed and thoughtful reply!