Hi, I'm a high school student, and I'm just wondering what are some good things to have for a BA/MD program, also does anyone have any recommendations on which programs are nice or bad, and which ones are hard or easy to get into (realizing that this is comparative)
Ba/md
- Thread starter aroen
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Tons of schools have programs that lead into matriculation at their medical school...a lot of schools use it to attract students to the undergrad program. The harder the medical school is to get into, the harder the program would be.
So Northwestern has one that's damn near impossible to get into (50/2000 or something)...but St. Louis University has one that's not that bad.
As for getting into them--stellar grades, stellar ACT/SAT...and tons of service are your three best bets (the idea being that medicine is a "profession of service" lends to this idea). Volunteering in a clinical setting is a plus (find a local free clinic and see what you can do there). Mostly, though, these schools are assessing the risk of you becoming somebody they wouldn't want to take anyway in college--so high GPA and high standardized scores would rule supreme I'd imagine.
A small caveat, which I'm sure you're gonna get from other people--it's a tremendous decision to decide to go to an undergraduate school because of a medical scholars type program. At least half of the people who were in my freshman chemistry course, all thinking they were premed and were going to be doctors, ended up dropping out through the years. It would be a shame for you to go to some place, only to realize because of the coursework, or because of exposure to clinical medicine through shadowing/volunteering, or because of finding some other passion, that you don't want to go into medicine...and wish you could've gone to that other prestigious program you were really interested in that didn't have a BS/MD program. Most of these programs will be contingent on you keeping a certain GPA, remaining in good standing etc. as well.
I got into SLU's myself...and decided to go to another ugrad institution because it was a better fit...more prestigious, etc. I happened to make it through--and wish to a certain extent I had that SLU acceptance under my belt. But I still don't think I would change a thing...make sure you consider all possibilities before diving into a program like this.
So Northwestern has one that's damn near impossible to get into (50/2000 or something)...but St. Louis University has one that's not that bad.
As for getting into them--stellar grades, stellar ACT/SAT...and tons of service are your three best bets (the idea being that medicine is a "profession of service" lends to this idea). Volunteering in a clinical setting is a plus (find a local free clinic and see what you can do there). Mostly, though, these schools are assessing the risk of you becoming somebody they wouldn't want to take anyway in college--so high GPA and high standardized scores would rule supreme I'd imagine.
A small caveat, which I'm sure you're gonna get from other people--it's a tremendous decision to decide to go to an undergraduate school because of a medical scholars type program. At least half of the people who were in my freshman chemistry course, all thinking they were premed and were going to be doctors, ended up dropping out through the years. It would be a shame for you to go to some place, only to realize because of the coursework, or because of exposure to clinical medicine through shadowing/volunteering, or because of finding some other passion, that you don't want to go into medicine...and wish you could've gone to that other prestigious program you were really interested in that didn't have a BS/MD program. Most of these programs will be contingent on you keeping a certain GPA, remaining in good standing etc. as well.
I got into SLU's myself...and decided to go to another ugrad institution because it was a better fit...more prestigious, etc. I happened to make it through--and wish to a certain extent I had that SLU acceptance under my belt. But I still don't think I would change a thing...make sure you consider all possibilities before diving into a program like this.
