From HES to Harvard Medical School?

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undergroundcelloswan

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I doubt HES carries enough weight with the top-tier medical schools.
 
Perhaps this is not the best place to post my question. Mods, you totally can fix this up if I did a major SDN no-no... anyways, I will be attending the Harvard Extension School to complete my ALB. I did my AA (graduated magna cum laude w/3.7 GPA) in Science at my local CC. I had applied to universities/colleges all over last year, but got rejected (I hadn't completed my AA then). So my plan is complete undergrad at HES, then apply to Harvard Medical School. I will be sitting for the June MCAT---I've already taken all the pre-reqs and I have been preparing since January. Just would like to know, from those knowledgeable about the matter, if anyone who's attended HES has gotten in HMS. I would really like to go to HMS, not just because the name's Harvard, I really do like the school. If I don't get into HMS, it's not like I'm going to pull my hair out or something, but then would other medical schools consider an applicant with a high MCAT score (I'm trying my best to achieve that) and a ALB degree from HES? I'm thinking Johns Hopkins, UPenn, Cornell, GU, Columbia, UCLA, just to name a few. I know that medical schools look for more than just MCAT and GPA, but just generally speaking.

Also, if HES accepts my AA, how long would it take for me to finish the ALB? Not that my intent is to get it done quickly, I'm just curious to know.

I would really appreciate the advice! Thanks in advance to anyone who answers!

HES is great. An excellent value for a baccalaureate degree. Massachusetts tuition is no joke. I think UMASS might cost more than HES. And as an upperclassmen you can take classes at Harvard. I know a dude who got into great research at the Harvard labs through a stipend offered at HES.

Now. Go talk to an adviser to figure out your life. Nobody knows what your schedule is like and how long it will take you based on class offerings.

And the handful of medical schools you name dropped are among the most competitive in the country. Those schools will not be impressed with your open enrollment degree. Facts. Face'em. Your life. Your plan. Something not achieved via internet surveys.

Good luck.
 
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Perhaps this is not the best place to post my question. Mods, you totally can fix this up if I did a major SDN no-no... anyways, I will be attending the Harvard Extension School to complete my ALB. I did my AA (graduated magna cum laude w/3.7 GPA) in Science at my local CC. I had applied to universities/colleges all over last year, but got rejected (I hadn't completed my AA then). So my plan is complete undergrad at HES, then apply to Harvard Medical School. I will be sitting for the June MCAT---I've already taken all the pre-reqs and I have been preparing since January. Just would like to know, from those knowledgeable about the matter, if anyone who's attended HES has gotten in HMS. I would really like to go to HMS, not just because the name's Harvard, I really do like the school. If I don't get into HMS, it's not like I'm going to pull my hair out or something, but then would other medical schools consider an applicant with a high MCAT score (I'm trying my best to achieve that) and a ALB degree from HES? I'm thinking Johns Hopkins, UPenn, Cornell, GU, Columbia, UCLA, just to name a few. I know that medical schools look for more than just MCAT and GPA, but just generally speaking.

Also, if HES accepts my AA, how long would it take for me to finish the ALB? Not that my intent is to get it done quickly, I'm just curious to know.

I would really appreciate the advice! Thanks in advance to anyone who answers!

First off, I will state that HES is a great option for those living on the East Coast/Boston to do post-bacc work because of it's relatively cheap cost and flexibility in offering classes. It has had produced great results for many members in SDN in the past and should continue to do so into the forseeable future.

Now, that said, I don't think you're being realistic at all. Not to rain on your parade, but 5/7 of those medical schools you named in your post are the most competitive medical school programs in the country. I do not know the average stats of a matriculating MS1 for Harvard Med but I do know for the UC schools that you aren't even on the bottom end of the competitive scale for GPA and you're looking at 38+ scores to realistically hold up with the competition. Furthermore, HES is not meant to send people into the top 15 schools but it is great for the type of person I listed above to finish his pre-reqs and do some post-bacc work for applying to other medical schools. If you notice programs like Scripps, Goucher, and BM which are the top 3 pre-med post-bacc programs in the nation, they don't even send most of their top students into said schools.

I suggest you do some research and be more realistic in what you are able to accomplish if you are trying to complete a degree at an open extension oriented program. I don't mean this to be mean or negative, just my own honest opinion.
 
Is there any particular reason you're only mentioning top-tier schools?

Hmm... I would list more schools, but I wouldn't want to bore people with a list they might well be familiar with. I don't really discriminate between schools, I would very much like to go to the ones I've listed as I visited some of them when I was younger (when my mom was moonlighting, my family would go and my dad's idea of going around town was scoping out the local universities). As I got older and more interested in medicine, I would check out medical schools, especially the ones I listed. That's all.

Nasrudin, good advice.
 
Wouldn't bet on hms after attending hes.
 
Hmm... I would list more schools, but I wouldn't want to bore people with a list they might well be familiar with. I don't really discriminate between schools, I would very much like to go to the ones I've listed as I visited some of them when I was younger (when my mom was moonlighting, my family would go and my dad's idea of going around town was scoping out the local universities). As I got older and more interested in medicine, I would check out medical schools, especially the ones I listed. That's all.

That's cool. Just remember to cast the net early and WIDE. Even for exemplary candidates top-flight schools can be a longshot.
 
and with you saying that you already have all the prereqs done and that you will be attending HES, i can only assume that you did your prereqs at your community college, which is probably more than fine for some medical schools, but frankly, it probably may hurt more that it helps at the list of schools you mentioned, if they accept them at all.
 
Perhaps this is not the best place to post my question. Mods, you totally can fix this up if I did a major SDN no-no... anyways, I will be attending the Harvard Extension School to complete my ALB. I did my AA (graduated magna cum laude w/3.7 GPA) in Science at my local CC. I had applied to universities/colleges all over last year, but got rejected (I hadn't completed my AA then). So my plan is complete undergrad at HES, then apply to Harvard Medical School. I will be sitting for the June MCAT---I've already taken all the pre-reqs and I have been preparing since January. Just would like to know, from those knowledgeable about the matter, if anyone who's attended HES has gotten in HMS. I would really like to go to HMS, not just because the name's Harvard, I really do like the school. If I don't get into HMS, it's not like I'm going to pull my hair out or something, but then would other medical schools consider an applicant with a high MCAT score (I'm trying my best to achieve that) and a ALB degree from HES? I'm thinking Johns Hopkins, UPenn, Cornell, GU, Columbia, UCLA, just to name a few. I know that medical schools look for more than just MCAT and GPA, but just generally speaking.

Also, if HES accepts my AA, how long would it take for me to finish the ALB? Not that my intent is to get it done quickly, I'm just curious to know.

I would really appreciate the advice! Thanks in advance to anyone who answers!

Look, I will make some points, don't take them the wrong way -

Yes, you are interested in Harvard just because of the name.

That is why the other schools you mentioned are "name" schools.

You really need to do some more research about medical schools.

Do you have any idea of what kind of medicine you want to practice?

And to answer your specific question, no, you have no chance at getting into HMS, from HES.

HES is an extension school designed to make money off the Harvard name, nothing less, nothing more.

Some people succeed after going there, but not because of HES. They merely have other reasons to be in Boston, and would have been successful anywhere.
 
Look, I will make some points, don't take them the wrong way -

Yes, you are interested in Harvard just because of the name.

That is why the other schools you mentioned are "name" schools.

You really need to do some more research about medical schools.

Do you have any idea of what kind of medicine you want to practice?

And to answer your specific question, no, you have no chance at getting into HMS, from HES.

HES is an extension school designed to make money off the Harvard name, nothing less, nothing more.

Some people succeed after going there, but not because of HES. They merely have other reasons to be in Boston, and would have been successful anywhere.

um....this is basically exactly what i wanted to say. +1
 
I don't think you can gain sponsorship if you've finished the prereqs. It's astronomically unlikely for someone who has taken the prereqs already (at a CC no less) to get into HMS. I've heard of a few people going from HES to HMS but most of them had ~4.0 in a non-science major from a top ivy or LAC prior to starting their postbac and did amazing there, and got a high MCAT and had amazing ECs. Even then, it was less than 5 people in the ~5 years I've been involved with SDN, so <shrug>
 
Perhaps this is not the best place to post my question. Mods, you totally can fix this up if I did a major SDN no-no... anyways, I will be attending the Harvard Extension School to complete my ALB. I did my AA (graduated magna cum laude w/3.7 GPA) in Science at my local CC. I had applied to universities/colleges all over last year, but got rejected (I hadn't completed my AA then). So my plan is complete undergrad at HES, then apply to Harvard Medical School. I will be sitting for the June MCAT---I've already taken all the pre-reqs and I have been preparing since January. Just would like to know, from those knowledgeable about the matter, if anyone who's attended HES has gotten in HMS. I would really like to go to HMS, not just because the name's Harvard, I really do like the school. If I don't get into HMS, it's not like I'm going to pull my hair out or something, but then would other medical schools consider an applicant with a high MCAT score (I'm trying my best to achieve that) and a ALB degree from HES? I'm thinking Johns Hopkins, UPenn, Cornell, GU, Columbia, UCLA, just to name a few. I know that medical schools look for more than just MCAT and GPA, but just generally speaking.

Also, if HES accepts my AA, how long would it take for me to finish the ALB? Not that my intent is to get it done quickly, I'm just curious to know.

I would really appreciate the advice! Thanks in advance to anyone who answers!

Um no. I know a person at HMS who went through the POST-BAC (non-degree) PROGRAM at HES. However he was likely going to be going to HMS regardless of where he picked up those last couple of science courses (truly outstanding credentials, top grades). HES didn't play a role in getting him in, it just let him pick up those missing classes conveniently. And he didn't get any sort of degree or certificate there -- he just picked up the sciences. His alma mater for his degree was a 4 year very well regarded institution.

Unless you are an absurdly credentialed type, you have to consider ALL of the programs you listed above should be regarded as extremely long shots, even if you have the 4 year undergrad institution pedigree. For 99.99% of the readers of this board, they will be. They all get 5000-10000 applications each year for a class of 150, and have their pick of the litter. The competition is very different than undergrad, because of the amount of self selection that goes into who is left standing after the MCAT and science courses and med school advising. And in general, if the words "community college" appear anywhere in your pedigree, you are not going to get into the HMS/Hopkins type programs. Maybe that's unfair, but you have to be realistic. The dude who gets a 4.0 at a 4 year institution simply gets better regarded than the guy who gets a 4.0 at a community college. Your goal should be to get into any US med school, apply broadly, with some longshots and some more realistic choices, and then once you get acceptances, you can start talking about the longer longshots etc.

The short answer is that you probably are shooting for the stars in a ship that would be lucky to make it to the moon. The smart person in your situation reevaluates and decides he would be happy with the moon.
 
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