BS/MD at Wayne vs. BS/ DO at MSU! College experience vs. MD?!

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MSUSpartan2015

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Dilemma!

I have been accepted to a combined BS/ DO program as well as a BS/MD program. What should I do?? Both the programs are not binding.

The DO program is at MSU while the MD is at Wayne State University. Wayne BS/MD is a full ride vs. the DO program is not. However, MSU is a fantastic living experiences while Wayne is just detroit, to say the least. I have no idea what to do- and I have to decide by tomorrow!

Please help out guys! Is a conditional md acceptance worth sacrificing 4 years of undergrad??
 
If you want a better chance of landing the specialty of your choice, MD>DO.
 
To my understanding, please correct me if I am mistaken, both programs let you 'apply out' when application time rolls around (end of your junior year), so they'd be equivalent on that front. Therefore, you could attend undergrad with a guaranteed acceptance in your back pocket, then apply across the board to other MD/DO schools just like everyone else when the time comes.

Generally speaking, Wayne has more of a research focus while MSU-COM focuses more on primary care (though you could readily pursue any path at either school, so don't make that a major consideration).

East Lansing has a MUCH different feel than Detroit does. EL is your typical college town, very safe, lots of partying, etc. Detroit is, well, Detroit.

MSUSpartan2015 said:
Is a conditional md acceptance worth sacrificing 4 years of undergrad??
Click to expand...
This wording is confusing to me. How would you be sacrificing your undergrad? You could still pursue any major, so long as you satisfied each programs requisite courses.

My vote would be MSU, but I'm a bit biased (MSU graduating senior).
 
LOL @ passing up a full ride to BS/MD.
 
when i mean sacrificing an undergrad- i mean sacrificing an undergraduate experience of going to basketball games, going to movies with friends..etc
 
MSUSpartan2015 said:
when i mean sacrificing an undergrad- i mean sacrificing an undergraduate experience of going to basketball games, going to movies with friends..etc
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Though it will certainly be a different experience in Detroit you'll still be able to do most of the same stuff at Wayne. $200,000 is just way to much to turn down.
 
Let me make myself clear, it is not a full ride. It is full tuition - 8,600 per year for only undergrad. 34k over 4 years.
 
dude.. you have no idea how hard its becoming to get into medical school, screw life for 7 years and just get your MD. You can have fun after.
 
Wayne and you shouldn't trust a Spartan anyway! 😉
 
I don't know much about med schools but I have lived in east lansing and I would take living in detroit any day. Many students at MSU don't find the party scene to be a good match for them. I'm not trying to insult East Lansing or MSU, it's a great place for many people, but many have a different perspective too. Detroit has a bad rep but I personally love Detroit, I live in Ann Arbor but spend every weekend in Detroit. There's so much to do there, and if you have a car and prefer a less grungy bar scene there's always surrounding communities like Royal Oak.
 
MSUSpartan2015 said:
However, MSU is a fantastic living experiences while Wayne is just detroit, to say the least. I have no idea what to do- and I have to decide by tomorrow!

Please help out guys! Is a conditional md acceptance worth sacrificing 4 years of undergrad??
Click to expand...

MSUSpartan2015 said:
bump...any more thoughts ppl! I have still confused!
Click to expand...

WAT??? Dude, MSU is in East Lansing. East Lansing is a hole. If you think it's so much better than where Wayne is, you've got a skewed perspective which we don't have time to correct. Not to mention, even if Wayne's location were a zero (which it's not), all of the cool stuff in southeast Michigan (not to mention Windsor) is concentrated closer to Wayne than it is to EL.

You're getting a lot of the same responses you got when you started your thread about the Wayne BS/MD vs UMich undergrad. People are telling you to go to Wayne, for a multitude of good reasons. The only reason you've brought up for why you don't want to go there is the location/experience.

You can have a great college experience at Wayne, and really that depends a lot more on you than it does on the differences between Lansing and Detroit.

Wayne is a better deal, and it's a conditional acceptance to an MD program. If having "fun" is more of a priority than those two things, I don't think anyone here is going to convince you to change your priorities around or rework your understanding of how to have "fun" in college.

Good luck with your decision. IMO, the practical evidence overwhelmingly favors Wayne. If you make a decision based on your instincts that go against what's practical, you'll probably still be fine. So relax, decide, ???, Profit.
 
Whoa. Are you seriously considering turning down a full-tuition BS/MD program for a vaguely-defined (going to movies with friends? WTH? You can do that anywhere) college experience?
 
Every college will have a party scene, and you will be able to make friends wherever you go. I agree 100% with the above posters who have said the college experience is more about you than the location of your school. Take the free ride (for undergrad) and MD acceptance, when you get to school make the most of it. Join student groups, a frat, or whatever, you'll get your 'college experience' don't worry about that.
 
jc235693 said:
Every college will have a party scene, and you will be able to make friends wherever you go. I agree 100% with the above posters who have said the college experience is more about you than the location of your school. Take the free ride (for undergrad) and MD acceptance, when you get to school make the most of it. Join student groups, a frat, or whatever, you'll get your 'college experience' don't worry about that.
Click to expand...

I don't really think that this is true. Sure, you will make friends and party anywhere you go. That said, many use Wayne as a commuter school and it just simply doesn't offer the same experience that a big ten school offers. I visited friends at Wayne numerous times as an undergrad--the party scene there is pathetic.

There is something special about living on a college campus for 4 years where the student body is all that matters in the universe. You have 3 good options, you just have to decide if the social atmosphere or having the best med school safety net is your number one priority.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
MSUSpartan2015 said:
Dilemma!

I have been accepted to a combined BS/ DO program as well as a BS/MD program. What should I do?? Both the programs are not binding.

The DO program is at MSU while the MD is at Wayne State University. Wayne BS/MD is a full ride vs. the DO program is not. However, MSU is a fantastic living experiences while Wayne is just detroit, to say the least. I have no idea what to do- and I have to decide by tomorrow!

Please help out guys! Is a conditional md acceptance worth sacrificing 4 years of undergrad??
Click to expand...

I did a BS/MD program and I personally found I had MORE time to do all of the "college experience" things because I had less concern about my GPA and MCAT scores.

If you like the undergrad school and have the option to do a conditional acceptance(hold your spot, but still apply out), there is no reason not to do a BS/MD or BS/DO. Even if they don't offer the conditional acceptance, at the end of 3 years you should have a good feeling about whether you are competitive at the other med schools that you want to attend so you'll know whether or not to apply outside the program and give up your spot.
 
I am going to disagree with a lot of the people posting before me and say that you should do MSU as that it seems from your description that that is where you would really rather go. If you were competitive enough to get a full ride at wayne state for an BS/MD degree I think you should be fine in the med school application process further down the line. I wouldn't want to look back 20 years from now and wonder what I missed out on if I did not have my undergrad experience. The money is nice but college is only something that happens once and MSU is a great school.
 
I'm going to get flamed for this, but "college experience" the way you describe it becomes completely worthless the day you graduate. What matters in college is 100% about the people you surround yourself with and the friendships you make. You don't need to be in the Izzone or be in a "traditional college town" for that. East Lansing is a boring suburb with a few bars anyway. The Detroit Area is much more fun.
 
WingedOx said:
I'm going to get flamed for this, but "college experience" the way you describe it becomes completely worthless the day you graduate. What matters in college is 100% about the people you surround yourself with and the friendships you make. You don't need to be in the Izzone or be in a "traditional college town" for that. East Lansing is a boring suburb with a few bars anyway. The Detroit Area is much more fun.
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+1

Full disclosure: graduating in 12 days
 
Having lived in both areas I would have to say both EL and Detroit have their redeeming qualities.

If you want an undergrad feel and Big Ten campus then go to MSU, if you want a more urban feel with more culture and diversity go Wayne. You could however, do MSU for undergrad and go to the DMC campus for MSUCOM and experience both places 😛.

I don't think there is a wrong decision in this, both are great programs and both can get you to where you want to be. Personally I love Detroit, and I love living in it... back in undergrad I loved East Lansing, it really depends on what you want.
 
Quick question... how difficult is a 30 MCAT? That is a requirement for the Wayne BS/MD degree. Is it still considered a 'guarantee' with this, from what I hear, relatively high MCAT requirement?

10 in each section btw
 
MSUSpartan2015 said:
Quick question... how difficult is a 30 MCAT? That is a requirement for the Wayne BS/MD degree. Is it still considered a 'guarantee' with this, from what I hear, relatively high MCAT requirement?

10 in each section btw
Click to expand...

Haha thats the guaranteed acceptance requirement? Almost everyone instate with a 30+ gets into wayne anyway if you have a decent GPA. I see you asked about whether to go to U of M or do this program also. I say go to U of M, and thats coming from someone who went to MSU for undergrad (i wasn't premed until after graduating with my bs. if i had been out of high school i'd have gone to u of m). If you have a decent gpa and 30+ at u of m you will get into wayne, msucom, and likely msu chm (they sometimes are weird with admissions though), oakland, and CMU and WMU will be open by then. You also will have a better chance at getting into U of M if you go to a bigger university (statistics dont lie, look how many people at u of m come from u of m compared to the smaller schools in the state).

also msu is a great experience, and waynes location (at least what i saw from my interview at the med school) would not have appealed to me. I do like me some windsor and royal oak though.
 
MSUSpartan2015 said:
Quick question... how difficult is a 30 MCAT? That is a requirement for the Wayne BS/MD degree. Is it still considered a 'guarantee' with this, from what I hear, relatively high MCAT requirement?

10 in each section btw
Click to expand...

It's not that it's hard to score a 30, but you never know what can happen on test day...or you may have difficulty in physics or verbal...do you get more than one shot?
 
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