Hofstra/Northwell BS/MD vs George Washington University BA/MD

[ramennoodles77]

hi!! I’m a high school senior who applied to bs/md programs. I’m having trouble choosing between the two, and Hofstra wants to know within 6 days. I would appreciate any input!!

Hofstra:
- tier 1 school for research
- really impressive match list
- close to home
- BUT need 80th percentile MCAT in 1 attempt

GW:
- 1 less year (7 years)
- no MCAT!!
- research is harder to access/ get involved with

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[jvquarterback]

Neither. GW if you're sure you want to be a Dr. But BSMD programs aren't great options for people willing to put in the work for an MD.

 

[Dom Dolla]

Neither. GW if you're sure you want to be a Dr. But BSMD programs aren't great options for people willing to put in the work for an MD.

i'm curious to know your opinion on this. with the increasing difficulty in MD admissions, if i had a guaranteed med school admission, i would take it and run given i don't mess up really bad along the way

@ramennoodles77 are the program costs a factor for you at all? i'd be leaning toward GW since there isn't any mcat requirement and GW is still a reputable school. either way i don't think you'd go wrong choosing either, just know that the 510 mcat will require you to sacrifice some time studying rather than pursuing research or an extracurricular activity

 

[chilly_md]

Are there any other requirements? A 7 year program at GW without an MCAT score is hard to beat though

 

[Brownies_15]

I vote GW bc if going to Hofstra, taking all the premed classes, and sitting for the MCAT, you might as well do the whole ordeal as a traditional applicant lol

 

[ramennoodles77]

i'm curious to know your opinion on this. with the increasing difficulty in MD admissions, if i had a guaranteed med school admission, i would take it and run given i don't mess up really bad along the way

@ramennoodles77 are the program costs a factor for you at all? i'd be leaning toward GW since there isn't any mcat requirement and GW is still a reputable school. either way i don't think you'd go wrong choosing either, just know that the 510 mcat will require you to sacrifice some time studying rather than pursuing research or an extracurricular activity

I agree with your first paragraph - that’s the reason why I applied to these programs

Cost is not a big issue! I’ve seen that Hofstra has better matches, is that something to consider? I know the MCAT prep will take a lot of time, but do you think the quality of the med school outweighs this negative? Also, I feel like research would be very easy to get involved with in Hofstra since northwell provides funding … I’m not sure what the funding at GWU will look like some time from now

 

[ramennoodles77]

Are there any other requirements? A 7 year program at GW without an MCAT score is hard to beat though

3.6 gpa for both! and just premed classes. what are your thoughts on the research opportunities? Hofstra gets a lot of funding so I know it’ll be plentiful there, but I’m worried about research at GW

 

[ramennoodles77]

I vote GW bc if going to Hofstra, taking all the premed classes, and sitting for the MCAT, you might as well do the whole ordeal as a traditional applicant lol

yeah I agree. but I’m stuck thinking about the quality of the med schools. isn’t ZSOM better?

 

[surelycalm]

Considering you got into these 2 programs I imagine you are a very good test taker so a 510 MCAT shouldn't be a big deal for you to achieve (it's still a 7 hour test and you will need to do proper prep). It will however lay some of the foundations you will need to be successful in medical school (Anki, uworld, griding practice tests, marathon study sessions) compared to how you would study for undergraduate classes. With that being said, Hofstra is probably a better choice since it's closer to home and is a very good school.

If you want to save a year and not bother with the MCAT, GW isn't a bad option.

I would 100% go the BS/MD route since you got accepted into it. Even with a 520+MCAT and 3.9+GPA the application process is a crapshoot. Just look at admit.org and you will see just how many folks get rejected from various schools with those stats.

As far as prestige, sure it can help, but it's a bit overrated. If your not going into academics, you don't need to go to a T20. Hofstra has home residencies in almost anything and that's a big advantage if they have a home residency in the specialty you are interested in.

There are 2 drawback to Hofstra. They have mandatory lectures (8-12 every day if I remember correctly), and they have both in house exams as well as NBME exams. In house exams basically force you to study what a PhD thinks is important for a given class as opposed to what you need to know for Step exams.

 

[chilly_md]

3.6 gpa for both! and just premed classes. what are your thoughts on the research opportunities? Hofstra gets a lot of funding so I know it’ll be plentiful there, but I’m worried about research at GW

It's probably fine at GW. It is not a large gap of a difference between the 2 schools like if it were GW vs Sinai or Cornell.