Early Assurance Program

[MD-To Be]

I wanted to raise awarness about Early Assurance Programs (EAPs) offered at medical schools across the nation. Essentially, EAPs extend an early conditional acceptance to a select few undergraduate pre-medical students at the end of their sophomore year based on various criteria specific to the university but usually ones GPA, ACT/SAT score, clinic experience, and classes taken.

I only mention this here because I go to a school that offers one of these programs (Wright State Univ.) and didn't know it existed until it was almost too late to apply. Fortunately, I found out in time, applied, and was accepted into the WSU's School of Medicine (SOM) last month. The acceptance for most EAPs programs is conditional and requires that students complete their undergrad degree, maintain a certain GPA and matriculate in approximately two years from the time of acceptance. Some programs don't even require students to take the MCAT and others only require students to take it and post a score; no specific score is necessary.

Overall, if you are going to an undergrad school that is near one of the following schools that offers such an EAP and am interested in going to their SOM then I would look to see if you can apply. No matter what, you would know you would have been accepted to at least one school and if you are accepted and know you want to go there you can forgo all stress related to the MCAT and actually enjoy your undergrad experience which is a novel concept for pre-med students.

The following schools offer EAPs that I know of but I am sure I am missing some (if anyone knows of others please add them to this list):

(a) Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine
(b) Penn State College of Medicine
(c) Tufts University
(d) Drexel School of Medicine
(e) Georgetown School of Medicine
(f) SUNY School of Medicine at Buffalo
(g) SUNY School of Medicine at Syracuse
(h) Mount Sinai School of Medicine
(i) University of Buffalo School of Medicine
(j) Brody School of Medicine
(k) Albany Medical College
(l) University of Colorado
(m) Wake Forest University

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[monkeymeg2]

So its like applying a year before you are actually going to (which I guess means...if you get EAP in 2006, you matriculate in 2008)? Can you only do it your sophomore year? How is this different from those guaranteed med programs?

 

[MD-To Be]

So its like applying a year before you are actually going to (which I guess means...if you get EAP in 2006, you matriculate in 2008)? Can you only do it your sophomore year? How is this different from those guaranteed med programs?

I don't know what a guaranteed med program is but yes, if you are accepted in 2006 you are expected to matriculate in 2008 (2 years later) and I am only aware of programs where you apply at the end of the sophomore year because the freshmen year hasn't allowed enough experience and anytime after the sophomore year is around the time one would normally apply. In that case, that is closer to an Early Decision Program.

 

[monkeymeg2]

I looked it up...the guaranteed med programs are the ones where you get in directly out of high school and go to a university affiliated with the med school for your undergrad. They are also called BSMD programs--so you get your bachelor of science and then automatically matriculate in the md program when you are done.

 

[DoctorPardi]

They are also called BSMD programs

I was going to join one of these programs but I am not much for pain and leather.

 

[beaverfetus]

vanderbilt too (ten spots)

 

[leahmaria]

I know UW has one of those programs for high school students--Medical Scholars

 

[vincikai]

okay what do I do if i dont meet the min SAT requirement even if i have 4.0 GPA by the time I apply? do these program take the SAT score seriously??

 

[AppleseedCast]

yes, because its the only indication they have of how you'd perform on the mcats if you were to take them.

 

[blarrgh]

Some more info on Tufts' Early Acceptance program:

It is only offered to Tufts University, Boston College, Brandeis University and Holy Cross undergrads. SAT's and MCATS do not factor in the admissions decision and the main indicator is one's GPA for the first two years in college (3.5 minimum cumulative and science GPA to apply).

I, along with a couple of my friends, have been preliminarily accepted to the class of 2012 and I recommend any high schooler, freshman or rising sophomore to think about something like this. Once accepted, MCAT scores do not mean anything and it is not binding contract.

I'm not sure this is the same for all other EAP's across the nations but the general theme is that it is a mutually beneficial program to both students and the medical school... students are allowed to pursue a more flexible courseload for junior/ senior year along with having the stress of applications and MCATs lifted. Med schools more or less lock in a promising undergrad early on thus allowing ad-comms to focus more on applicants during the regular cycle.

More information can be found @
http://www.tufts.edu/med/admissions/programs_ba_md.html

 

[desi5286]

.

 

[heeseop]

uconn has an early assurance program..
u have to apply at the start of ur senior yr ..

 

[thinknofu3]

I think University of Chicago has one that they invite select undergrads to (don't quote me). And I know for sure that Northwestern University also invites some rising juniors to join the HPME program (which is their 7 year BA/MD program), but I think you have to have above a 3.75 science GPA to be invited (which I can attest at NU unbelievably difficult)

 

[drdoctor]

I think University of Chicago has one that they invite select undergrads to (don't quote me). And I know for sure that Northwestern University also invites some rising juniors to join the HPME program (which is their 7 year BA/MD program), but I think you have to have above a 3.75 science GPA to be invited (which I can attest at NU unbelievably difficult)

Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst (RPI) and Albany Medical have a 7-year Physician-Scientist BS/MD program....its really really nice. No MCATs required at all, gotta maintain a min. GPA, save a year of college. I think average SAT for hs students now is around 740 on all the subjects. I'm entering AMC and I really recommend this program. It's a very tight knit program, you get to do two summers of research putting you on the track for thesis defense and a MD with Distinction in Research on your diploma.

 

[AppleseedCast]

If a person gets accepted early assurance, but decides to apply elsewhere during the normal cycle, is this early acceptance made known to all adcoms at the schools you apply to? What about if you first have to withdraw from a binding early assurance prog?