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pineapple1234

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I wouldn't. You have guaranteed admission to a good program. Any school in the top 30ish has a solid match list and matches students into ortho, optho, derm, IR and more.
 
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I’m in a bsmd program with a med school in the mid 20s ranking and since the usmle step 1 became pass/fail , I’m starting to wonder if I should apply out to get into a better medical school because I want to get in to the most competitive residencies.

My bsmd program does not require taking the mcat, but if I do , I have to achieve an mcat score of above 94th ile to maintain my spot.

Should I take the mcat in order to apply out of this bs/md?
You're not serious are you? A T20 med school is still a very good school don't throw it away for something as silly and subjective as ranks.
 
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We don't know of your specific situation, and we wouldn't want you to reveal yourself. But why would you want out of your guaranteed admission agreement? Is there a chance you won't get the acceptance?
 
I’m in a bsmd program with a med school in the mid 20s ranking and since the usmle step 1 became pass/fail , I’m starting to wonder if I should apply out to get into a better medical school because I want to get in to the most competitive residencies.

My bsmd program does not require taking the mcat, but if I do , I have to achieve an mcat score of above 94th ile to maintain my spot.

Should I take the mcat in order to apply out of this bs/md?
Seems like a VERY ill conceived idea. Do you realize above 94th percentile means 518 or above? Do you realize how difficult that is to get?

If you don't hit it, you can kiss your T30 goodbye, because they will never accept you regular decision after you signaled that you wanted to shoot your shot because Step 1 went P/F and you felt that you needed a "better" school, and then couldn't even hit 518 on the MCAT.

Bottom line, you really have no idea as a college student which, if any, "most competitive" specialty you are actually going to want, let alone be competitive for based on your med school performance. Potentially losing a T30 guarantee to chase a T10 or T20 is very high risk/low reward, since you could lose everything, or potentially find yourself at a far lower ranked school. At the same time, there is absolutely no guarantee that you will either want or be competitive for a highly competitive specialty, even if you do successfully engineer an upgrade.

The very definition of high risk/low reward. The clearest path to whatever specialty you end up wanting is to attend your T30 and excel there.
 
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Just start doing research now. Don’t waste your time on MCAT and application. Going to an even t5 will still mean the same to the most competitive residency, that is, you will need an equal amount of research output.
 
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Don’t do it. Take the BSMD slot and run. Even if you have 3.9+/520+, there is no guarantee of admission to any medical school, let alone T25, if you are white or an Asian American citizen. I personally know many unsuccessful students with similar caliber. One girl with 520 and 3.75 (from a school known for heavy grade deflation), couldn’t get in anywhere for two cycles. She did SMP and got into that school eventually (school rank mid 50s). Med school admissions in this country has become a Russian roulette, you cannot make any sense out of it. So, do yourself a favor and stay away from it.
 
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Congrats OP on your acceptance to a BSMD program with a gauranteed admission to a mid-T20 med school. 10% of applicants with 3.8+ gpa and 518+ MCAT do not get an MD acceptance based on the AAMC gpa/mcat grid. Friend of mine is at Brown on a 7-yr BSMD program. He took it and never looked back. I was applying to med school while he was already in med school. He went straight through without having to take a gap year. You may not realize this yet, but you are in an excellent position. GL.
 
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I’m in a bsmd program with a med school in the mid 20s ranking and since the usmle step 1 became pass/fail , I’m starting to wonder if I should apply out to get into a better medical school because I want to get in to the most competitive residencies.

My bsmd program does not require taking the mcat, but if I do , I have to achieve an mcat score of above 94th ile to maintain my spot.

Should I take the mcat in order to apply out of this bs/md?
That's your personal choice. You can take it and then see what the score is and then decide to apply.
 
Seems like a crapshoot because if you score less than the 94th percentile you lose your spot and likely won’t get into another school higher ranked than CWRU.
 
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Seems like a crapshoot because if you score less than the 94th percentile you lose your spot and likely won’t get into another school higher ranked than CWRU.
If he takes the exam he doesnt automatically lose his spot does he?
 
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How do they know if you take the MCAT?
 
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Lmao I'm pretty sure there's only two top 20 bs/md which are case western and upitt. Ain't no way this person trying to decline a spot to one of those two med schools just to attempt to get into a top 10
 
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your school is still very good and regardless you will still be able to apply to good residencies as this is based on your performance as a medical student (doesnt matter which med school) but also there is no harm taking the MCAT as it will always come in handy
 
Respectfully but bluntly you would be insane at this point if you risked your acceptance. Take a research year in med school to better your chances of competitiveness if that is what you are worried about.
 
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With all due respect, this would be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. You can go to a top medical school and start residency at age 25 or 26. Do you know how many non traditional students would kill to be in a situation like that? You have so many options that many nontrads don’t have

Neurosurgery—> 32 or 33
General surgery (7) + Peds surgery —-> 35 or 36
IM + cards + IV —> 33 or 34
 
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Taking the MCAT in your position would be a hilariously stupid mistake and the fastest way to torpedo the career you already have lined up.
 
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It is a bad idea. The ONLY way this could make a lick of sense is if you are a double-platinum grade rock star: 3.9+ GPA plus thousands of hours of clinical and nonclinical volunteering. And some special X factor like being a combat veteran, professional athlete, Olympic athlete, having first-author papers in journals like Nature, being a world-class musician or artist. Something of that caliber.

AND you blow the doors off the MCAT: 523+.

Otherwise? Stay in the program, take the high-ranked acceptance, take advantage of the opportunities.
 
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What is the upside and what is the downside? If you take the MCAT and apply, is your automatic acceptance to med school revoked? You should seriously consider this. Also, you don't want to burn bridges in your early career. You'll be asking for letters from your mentors to apply to other med schools and they will probably know that you are in this guaranteed admission program and may be offended. Then again, they might not be. Only you can really think through all the pros and cons of this.
 
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To echo most people here, I would avoid it. You can easily match to any specialty from a mid-20s USMD school. Just do well once you get in school, work on research, kill your Step scores, and do well on clinical rotations :)
 
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