High School Senior Early MCAT For 6 year BS/MD

[YoungMD411]

My foster child is a junior who already finished pre-AP & AP Bio, pre-AP & AP Chem, pre-AP & AP Physics and AP Calculus AB/BC. He is a predicted NMSF ( perfect score on practice tests) and have a 36 on ACT and 4.0 unweighted/4.7 weighted GPA. He never thought about going into medicine so he didn't do any pre-health EC like volunteership, research, shadowing, HOSA etc and instead did activities related to acting. Since he moved in with us, he got interested in medicine helping us take care of my sick grandfather. We asked him to give it a shot if he is interested as he is clearly gifted in studies and can keep acting as a hobby. Now, he wants to apply for an accelerated BS/MD program but doesn't feel that his application is strong enough due to zero health related interests to add to his resume. He is very good at test taking, is it possible for him to take a MCAT this summer so even if he gets a mildly decent score, he can add it to his application as senior. What say you?

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[precisiongraphic]

My foster child is a junior who already finished pre-AP & AP Bio, pre-AP & AP Chem, pre-AP & AP Physics and AP Calculus AB/BC. He is a predicted NMSF ( perfect score on practice tests) and have a 36 on ACT and 4.0 unweighted/4.7 weighted GPA. He never thought about going into medicine so he didn't do any pre-health EC like volunteership, research, shadowing, HOSA etc and instead did activities related to acting. Since he moved in with us, he got interested in medicine helping us take care of my sick grandfather. We asked him to give it a shot if he is interested as he is clearly gifted in studies and can keep acting as a hobby. Now, he wants to apply for an accelerated BS/MD program but doesn't feel that his application is strong enough due to zero health related interests to add to his resume. He is very good at test taking, is it possible for him to take a MCAT this summer so even if he gets a mildly decent score, he can add it to his application as senior. What say you?

I'm the parent of a 99.9% PSAT kid who also had all those classes in high school and I'm impressed. However, I know that BS/MD entrance is a whole different world. I don't think that they are required to take the MCAT but could be wrong. The purpose of BS/MD programs is to guarantee admission but only after all or most of a bachelor's is done.

See this article: http://www.collegeadmissionspartners.com/bsmd-programs/bsmd-programs-dont-require-mcat/ or this one: https://www.noodle.com/articles/guarantee-med-school-admission-with-these-5-bsmd-programs

You might ask @gonnif (gonnif is a poster here who was/is an admissions committee member) who has a wealth of knowledge about medical school programs.

 

[YoungMD411]

I'm the parent of a 99.9% PSAT kid who also had all those classes in high school and I'm impressed. However, I know that BS/MD entrance is a whole different world. I don't think that they are required to take the MCAT but could be wrong. The purpose of BS/MD programs is to guarantee admission but only after all or most of a bachelor's is done.

See this article: http://www.collegeadmissionspartners.com/bsmd-programs/bsmd-programs-dont-require-mcat/ or this one: https://www.noodle.com/articles/guarantee-med-school-admission-with-these-5-bsmd-programs

You might ask @gonnif (gonnif is a poster here who was/is an admissions committee member) who has a wealth of knowledge about medical school programs.

Thank you for useful input. I know for sure that BS/MD doesn't need MCAT for admissions, you take that as college junior. My FC only wants to take it as he has no other way to show his interest in this field so at least it's better than nothing. Preparing for MCAT during senior school can be disastrous for his GPA so it's only a remot possibility that he would do that.

 

[precisiongraphic]

Well, given that extra clarification, I think he definitely should not take the MCAT now. (It's meant to be taken after a full year of each of bio, chem, Ochem, some biochem plus psych, sociology etc.)

If he wants to have the most impact, he should add hospital, nursing home or hospice volunteering (50-100 hours over the next year) and/or 40-60 hours of physician shadowing. He should try to demonstrate that he knows what an MD's day to day life is like and that - as young as he is - he knows what the medical profession entails. To find a shadowing opportunity, the parents can network with their friends/family or even the family doctors.

The other reason not to take the MCAT is that it would show on his record FOREVER. I've seen posts here where students say that their MCAT in high school didn't work in their favor when they applied as juniors. Sure, he could explain that he took it early but it's still going to raise questions.

Good luck. My 99.9% PSAT daughter got a 99%+ MCAT score as a sophomore.

Edited to add: Showing maturity and thoughtfulness is probably more important than scores or volunteering.

 

[Goro]

Let him shadow a doctor to find out what a real doctor's day is like, and volunteer with patients who are strangers, who will most likely not be as nice as Grampa.

When I was his age, I wanted to be a fighter pilot.

My foster child is a junior who already finished pre-AP & AP Bio, pre-AP & AP Chem, pre-AP & AP Physics and AP Calculus AB/BC. He is a predicted NMSF ( perfect score on practice tests) and have a 36 on ACT and 4.0 unweighted/4.7 weighted GPA. He never thought about going into medicine so he didn't do any pre-health EC like volunteership, research, shadowing, HOSA etc and instead did activities related to acting. Since he moved in with us, he got interested in medicine helping us take care of my sick grandfather. We asked him to give it a shot if he is interested as he is clearly gifted in studies and can keep acting as a hobby. Now, he wants to apply for an accelerated BS/MD program but doesn't feel that his application is strong enough due to zero health related interests to add to his resume. He is very good at test taking, is it possible for him to take a MCAT this summer so even if he gets a mildly decent score, he can add it to his application as senior. What say you?