Apply to the same school for SMP and med school at same time?

[ymmit]

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Is this commonly done or acceptable? I'm thinking about applying to (for example) Temple ACMS for entry in 2015 and Temple Medical School for entry in 2016 (oddly, I would be applying to both at about the same time - Spring/Summer of 2015). Is it awkward for either program to see that you've applied to the other? Will they see or know? What do I do about the essay questions that are exactly the same?

I have no problem being forthcoming about my plans to the schools where I'm doing this, but I want to know if it will hurt my chances at either one. I'd greatly appreciate feedback from anyone with real life experience of this, thank you!

 

[LakersInSix]

Yes, that is commonly done, especially with SMPs that have linkages to their medical schools. Temple has a strong linkage to its medical school so if you're going to start their SMP program then you definitely want to apply to their medical school for the following year. That would prevent a gap year so that you can start medical school right after the SMP is finished.

 

[The Helpful Aye Aye]

If you get into Temple ACMS and are intending to have above a 3.5 and 30 MCAT, I don't believe that you need to submit your AMCAS to them. That's what the linkage agreement (which is official, unlike other schools) is for, so you put all your cards into the program and don't have to worry about AMCAS...

For programs with no or unofficial linkages, you would submit via AMCAS as you described. Most schools guarantee an interview, which is based off of AMCAS. For Temple you go through a preliminary interview to get in and, as is written on the website, all you need to do is meet there 3.5/30 threshold.

 

[ymmit]

If you get into Temple ACMS and are intending to have above a 3.5 and 30 MCAT, I don't believe that you need to submit your AMCAS to them. That's what the linkage agreement (which is official, unlike other schools) is for, so you put all your cards into the program and don't have to worry about AMCAS...

For programs with no or unofficial linkages, you would submit via AMCAS as you described. Most schools guarantee an interview, which is based off of AMCAS. For Temple you go through a preliminary interview to get in and, as is written on the website, all you need to do is meet there 3.5/30 threshold.

Thanks for the reply guys. The issue with this is the timeline:
Apply to SMP (like Temple ACMS): October 2014 to June 2015
Get interviews to SMP/get accepted: June/July 2015
AMCAS opens: June 2015
Secondaries: summer/fall 2015
SMP starts: summer/fall 2015

Either you put all your eggs in the SMP basket and don't apply to any other medical schools, or you try to do both and
(1) lose money paying for and relocating for the SMP when you didn't need to because you get into medical school in the same cycle
or
(2) lose time/money submitting your AMCAS/secondaries to other schools after it opens and you find out you got into a linked SMP

 

[DrMidlife]

If you're already stressing about what apps cost in terms of time & money, then give up now. It only gets worse.

Here's your decision tree: