Do SMP'ers apply to medical school during SMP or after completing SMP?

[MrWheat]

Well the titles speaks for itself. Applying to med school and doing SMP at same time or after SMP (which would take one more additional year).

Thanks in advance!

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[DrMidlife]

Well the titles speaks for itself. Applying to med school and doing SMP at same time or after SMP (which would take one more additional year).

Thanks in advance!

Depends on a few things.
1. Sometimes the med school that hosts the SMP accepts lots of its SMP students, like Tulane ACP and EVMS. For these programs, if you're successful you can assume you'll go into the host med school without a gap year.

2. Sometimes the SMP is very supportive of same-year apps to other med schools, such as with Georgetown's SMP. If you do the Gtown SMP and you're applying to a med school that gets lots of Gtown SMP grads, and your pre-SMP stats are not that bad, you can expect to not have a gap year.

3. BUT if you want to get into a U of California med school or another competitive program that doesn't support same-year-as-SMP apps, you can assume you need a gap year regardless of how bitchin' your SMP is.

4. ALSO if your stats are well below competitive, particularly if you don't have a stellar MCAT to go with your low undergrad GPA, imho it's not wise to assume you'll be successful with a same-year app to a different med school than your SMP's host med school. The more weight the SMP has to carry in your app, the more SMP you have to finish before you get credit for doing one.

Best of luck to you.

 

[jslo85]

Read through some of the posts, it's a widely asked questions that can only be addressed by the applicant themselves and the program they apply for.

If an applicant's only problem was a few semesters or his first two undergrad years and had a strong upward trend towards the end of his undergraduate studies, then I might say that he would have a possible chance at applying after his first year where he would have a year's worth of medical/graduate courses under his belt and good grades to show. It depends a huge part on the applicant himself, how well he did in that first year of SMP and if it really addresses the concerns that might be raised from his application prior to the SMP.

The program itself is another large deciding factor. Many programs require you to finish both years before granting you the linkage advantage. Others may only grant you a committee letter after finishing both years or a guaranteed interview. Some programs do a huge portion of the coursework the first year and almost purely focus on research the second year allowing you to apply out after the first year if GPA was again the only concern. Really really situation based.

Do some research into the program that is offered and look honestly at your application at what problems you might have (assuming you have some since you're considering or matriculating into an SMP). Also contact the program's advisers and ask what some students in previous years have done and their success. Then contact some schools (medical schools) that you are interested in applying to and get opinions on how they see an applicant coming out of said program and if they would take it against you if you only did the first year and updated them periodically on the rest. Take all that information and just cipher through it weighing it all out in your mind with certain questions like financial concerns, time, etc. and see what works out best for you.

 

[omgu8myric3]

Depends on a few things.
1. Sometimes the med school that hosts the SMP accepts lots of its SMP students, like Tulane ACP and EVMS. For these programs, if you're successful you can assume you'll go into the host med school without a gap year.

2. Sometimes the SMP is very supportive of same-year apps to other med schools, such as with Georgetown's SMP. If you do the Gtown SMP and you're applying to a med school that gets lots of Gtown SMP grads, and your pre-SMP stats are not that bad, you can expect to not have a gap year.

3. BUT if you want to get into a U of California med school or another competitive program that doesn't support same-year-as-SMP apps, you can assume you need a gap year regardless of how bitchin' your SMP is.

4. ALSO if your stats are well below competitive, particularly if you don't have a stellar MCAT to go with your low undergrad GPA, imho it's not wise to assume you'll be successful with a same-year app to a different med school than your SMP's host med school. The more weight the SMP has to carry in your app, the more SMP you have to finish before you get credit for doing one.

Best of luck to you.

DrMidlife,
How about UC and EVMS, do they support same year app? Gtown is too expensive
Thanks

 

[DrMidlife]

DrMidlife,
How about UC and EVMS, do they support same year app? Gtown is too expensive
Thanks

I'll encourage you to read existing information in this forum about pros and cons of different SMPs.

UC is the name of 8 different med schools, btw.