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[Djax99]

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[Goro]

You'll make that $80K back as a doctor.

 

[AsepticTechnique]

I think it's worth it. If you end up with super high stats you can always apply to other schools and forfeit your seat.

 

[BOAO523]

Normally I'd say take the Drexel deal...but their requirements for staying in the program are such that meeting them would give you the stats of the average medical school matriculant. If Drexel didn't have the MCAT requirement I'd say go there. But as is, I'd say 80K compared to the 5-6k that a full application cycle goes (+ the stress)....I'd go to UMass, pocket the 80K, and work my tail off to get into medical school.

At the heart of what I'm saying is this: given that Drexel is only a guarantee assuming you get a 511 on the MCAT and maintain a 3.6 cGPA, I don't think it's worth an extra $80k.

My only word of caution is who knows how much more competitive getting into medical school might get in the next 4 years....at which point auto admission at 3.6/511 might become a bargain. Hmmmmmm. On second thought take Drexel!

THIS IS JUST ONE PERSON'S OPINION!

 

[thankthegodsforbessie]

I would choose Drexel. Applying is a time intensive and extremely expensive process and if you can avoid it to become a doctor, I would. Those requirements are definitely doable and Philly will be more fun

 

[sinigang14]

I think you should also ask yourself if you would want to attend Drexel college of medicine after undergrad before throwing down the 80K. Reach out to current students and get honest opinions.

 

[Dr. Basketball]

For sure look at all your options, but if I were applying and was being charged an additional 80 grand for a guaranteed seat, I would pay it happily and so would thousands of other premeds. Congrats on the opportunity!

 

[dohopeful13]

There is no guarantee you hit that 511 MCAT, espeically with the arbitrary sub score requirements, and if you did, you’d be a solid enough applicant to apply to many schools. I’ve seen a lot of intelligent people score under a 511 or even score well above it but with a low CARS (so many people struggle with CARS). In either case, your “auto” acceptance would be revoked. As others have said it also locks you into that program.


There’s also the possibility you find another field you would rather pursue (who really knows when they’re 18 years old) or you hate living in Philly, etc. My point being, the only real guarantee here is the ability to save 80k. I would go to the cheaper program. But then again, it sounds like you have family support financially, so by all means go to Drexel if you like it better and there is no debt involved. That said, go because you truly like the school not because of the BS/MD program. It’s far from a sure thing with their requirements

 

[efle]

That's not a guaranteed spot. That's a "pay us 80k and we'll let you in if you get grades and scores that would have been competitive to get interviewed anyways"

Not. worth.

 

[Peter Pan.]

$80k before med school even starts? No thanks. I feel like these types of programs are just getting money out of people. Because those requirements could get you into medical school anyways.

 

[Djax99]

You'll make that $80K back as a doctor.

So would you recommend choosing the program despite it having relatively high requirements to remain in it and with me losing my guaranteed spot if I apply out?

 

[Dwight Snoot]

I would do UMass personally for a couple reasons. First of all, very few if any people are certain that they want to be a doctor before they even start college. Also, if you do become set on being a doctor you will get those stats at UMass as well and almost certainly get into a medical school (most likely UMASS which is a solid and CHEAP medical school). But really 80K is not that much more debt so it is really up to you.

 

[Goro]

So would you recommend choosing the program despite it having relatively high requirements to remain in it and with me losing my guaranteed spot if I apply out?

Yes

 

[efle]

Yes

But...why? If he does way above average, he's going to lose the spot for applying out. If he does below average, he's going to lose the spot for failing to hit the minimums. The ONLY way this 80k gets him ANYTHING is if he ends up as an exactly-average premed.

 

[deleted480308]

People with a 3.6/511 don’t all get i to med school

Go to drexel

 

[Tenk]

Do you get any sort of financial incentive for going to Drexel medical school or do you have to pay their ridiculous tuition? They are on the higher end of things so you’d be walking away with around $400,000+ of debt after interest.

 

[efle]

People with a 3.6/511 don’t all get i to med school

Go to drexel

Not all premeds get good grades or a 510+ MCAT either. What if he gets a 508, or a 3.55 GPA, or decides not to do med school? Now he's 80k in the hole with nothing to show for it

I thought you were financially risk averse!

 

[IlDestriero]

I wouldn’t do it.

 

[vaticrunner]

Was in a BS/MD program with a 511 3.8 cutoff. The real question you need to ask yourself is what do you enjoy doing. In my program, there were students who joined a lot of different extracurricular activities and maintained pretty good grades A's with a handful of B's and they scored right around a 511 give or take. Additionally, there were other students who really focused on school got really good grades and high mcats >522 but joined no extracurricular activities. Those students applied to other schools but ended up at the same medical school as the other students who just did extracurricular activities they liked and had fun during college. The reality is joining a BS/MD program most likely makes you complacent you either strive to be average or you don't develop outside interests because you are never focused on building a competitive med school app. Many premed students only pick up extracurricular activities because they will help them get into med school. If you already have that guarantee are you going to be inclined to spend 40 hours in a lab in the summer while your other friends are having fun?

After going through the application process, it always helps to have a safety net. If you are fairly certain you want to do medicine and are a good standardized test taker, then take the plunge. Take your first year slow and figure out what you really want in life. If you care a ton about prestige, then start slaving away to make yourself the best med school applicant possible. If you realize after you enter college you would much rather not participate in the boondoggle that has become med school apps, use your 80k insurance policy and coast.

The other comment said what if you don't meet the requirements. At that point you just sit down and think long and hard about career options and find something else that interests you. I assure you 50% of MCAT scores are below a 500 people have not met the requirements and go on to live great lives. You will either repay the 80k to your parents as a doctor or as something else. It really isn't that big of a price to pay if you decide sometime in your college career there is more to life than making yourself the perfect applicant.

 

[efle]

Was in a BS/MD program with a 511 3.8 cutoff. The real question you need to ask yourself is what do you enjoy doing. In my program, there were students who joined a lot of different extracurricular activities and maintained pretty good grades A's with a handful of B's and they scored right around a 511 give or take. Additionally, there were other students who really focused on school got really good grades and high mcats >522 but joined no extracurricular activities. Those students applied to other schools but ended up at the same medical school as the other students who just did extracurricular activities they liked and had fun during college. The reality is joining a BS/MD program most likely makes you complacent you either strive to be average or you don't develop outside interests because you are never focused on building a competitive med school app. Many premed students only pick up extracurricular activities because they will help them get into med school. If you already have that guarantee are you going to be inclined to spend 40 hours in a lab in the summer while your other friends are having fun?

After going through the application process, it always helps to have a safety net. If you are fairly certain you want to do medicine and are a good standardized test taker, then take the plunge. Take your first year slow and figure out what you really want in life. If you care a ton about prestige, then start slaving away to make yourself the best med school applicant possible. If you realize after you enter college you would much rather not participate in the boondoggle that has become med school apps, use your 80k insurance policy and coast.

The other comment said what if you don't meet the requirements. At that point you just sit down and think long and hard about career options and find something else that interests you. I assure you 50% of MCAT scores are below a 500 people have not met the requirements and go on to live great lives. You will either repay the 80k to your parents as a doctor or as something else. It really isn't that big of a price to pay if you decide sometime in your college career there is more to life than making yourself the perfect applicant.

Bruh $80,000 of undergraduate college debt IS a big price to pay

Hell I only owed about half that much, and when I had to start making payments during my mediocre-salary research gap year, it had a big impact on my disposable income.

Most "something elses" are going to feel that debt in a big way, and while I'm sure the 50% of low MCAT scores that pick a different career are living great lives, I'm also sure their average debt is nowhere near 80k. The student debt situation is considered a crises right now with the average person only having 30k!

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Don't do it. This Drexel thing sounds like a scam honestly.

 

[efle]

Don't do it. This Drexel thing sounds like a scam honestly.

It really does sound like something a con-man pitched in a meeting with the higher ups.

Let's start a BS/MD to help matriculate more high-scoring, straight A students.
No way, we can't assume just because they did well in high school they'll do well in college.
No that's the thing, we only let them in if they do as well in college as our typical med students.
Well we really don't have any available scholarship funds, and if we did we'd need them for diversity.
No that's the thing, we still charge them full cost for undergrad and med school.
Well but won't these students generally want to apply to other med schools and usually just ditch us anyways?
No that's the thing, we forbid them from seeing what their options are, or else we take away the sense of security that we used to get them here in the first place.
There's no way anybody will think we're offering anything of value here.
Trust me Bob. You'll see

 

[vaticrunner]

Bruh $80,000 of undergraduate college debt IS a big price to pay

Hell I only owed about half that much, and when I had to start making payments during my mediocre-salary research gap year, it had a big impact on my disposable income.

Most "something elses" are going to feel that debt in a big way, and while I'm sure the 50% of low MCAT scores that pick a different career are living great lives, I'm also sure their average debt is nowhere near 80k. The student debt situation is considered a crises right now with the average person only having 30k!

I agree with you; however, it doesn't look like OP is taking on debt in the conventional sense of the term. My best guess is that factors such as repayment plans and crushing interest on a meager salary aren't strong considerations here. However, I could be wrong.

but I wouldn’t be taking loans to pay for it.

 

[ciestar]

Don't do it. This Drexel thing sounds like a scam honestly.

Drexel is just stupid expensive.

 

[differentiating]

Most BS/MD programs that I've seen have GPA and MCAT requirements; mine did as well. So I wouldn't consider that weird at all.

If Drexel allowed you to apply out without forfeiting your seat, it'd be a no-brainer to take that offer and run. As it is, it sounds like you're not very interested in attending Drexel for either undergrad or med school, so you're probably better off turning it down and seeing what happens otherwise. You'll still need to shoot for great stats to have a chance at acceptance, so that won't change, but it sounds like there isn't a scenario in which you actually see yourself attending Drexel's med school. So why spend the 80k?

 

[PreMedMissteps]

That's not a guaranteed spot. That's a "pay us 80k and we'll let you in if you get grades and scores that would have been competitive to get interviewed anyways"

Not. worth.

I agree. Tired of seeing people throwing around words like, “guaranteed spot” when the requirements are so stiff that the student would likely have acceptances anyway. Has anyone seen the stats as to how many BS/MD students end up being weeded out?

I saw one of these BS/MD programs indicate that you’re out of the program if you get a C or if you withdraw a class.

I recently talked to a high school senior who had 3 of these “guaranteed spot” acceptances, including one to Drexel. Crossed that one off right away because of the MCAT and subsection requirements. A 509 req’t with maybe a minimum 126 subsection would be more reasonable.

 

[differentiating]

I agree. Tired of seeing people throwing around words like, “guaranteed spot” when the requirements are so stiff that the student would likely have acceptances anyway. Has anyone seen the stats as to how many BS/MD students end up being weeded out?

I saw one of these BS/MD programs indicate that you’re out of the program if you get a C or if you withdraw a class.

I recently talked to a high school senior who had 3 of these “guaranteed spot” acceptances, including one to Drexel. Crossed that one off right away because of the MCAT and subsection requirements. A 509 req’t with maybe a minimum 126 subsection would be more reasonable.

Requirements to stay in the program don’t make the spot any less guaranteed, imo. It’s a conditional acceptance, the same as you’d get by applying to a school in an application cycle. They’re not going to be so generous as to let kids all but flunk out of college while keeping a seat in their med school class. I don’t know how stringent the MCAT requirement is because I took/understood the old version, but maintaining a 3.6 isn’t that difficult to achieve.

My BS/MD program - which allowed applying out without giving up your seat - had 1/3 drop out of the program (either because they couldn’t meet minimums or weren’t interested in medicine), 1/3 apply out and attend other med schools, and 1/3 matriculate to the med school in question. I imagine it varies by program.

 

[PreMedMissteps]

Requirements to stay in the program don’t make the spot any less guaranteed, imo. It’s a conditional acceptance, the same as you’d get by applying to a school in an application cycle. They’re not going to be so generous as to let kids all but flunk out of college while keeping a seat in their med school class. I don’t know how stringent the MCAT requirement is because I took/understood the old version, but maintaining a 3.6 isn’t that difficult to achieve.

My BS/MD program - which allowed applying out without giving up your seat - had 1/3 drop out of the program (either because they couldn’t meet minimums or weren’t interested in medicine), 1/3 apply out and attend other med schools, and 1/3 matriculate to the med school in question. I imagine it varies by program.

I have no issues with using the words, “conditional acceptance.” That is more realistic.

I don’t like the words, “guaranteed admission,” because it suggests a fait accompli. When someone is accepted to a med school, no one would say he/she is “guaranteed to graduate,” because being conferred the degree means fullfilling the req’ts first.

 

[efle]

Requirements to stay in the program don’t make the spot any less guaranteed, imo. It’s a conditional acceptance, the same as you’d get by applying to a school in an application cycle. They’re not going to be so generous as to let kids all but flunk out of college while keeping a seat in their med school class. I don’t know how stringent the MCAT requirement is because I took/understood the old version, but maintaining a 3.6 isn’t that difficult to achieve.

My BS/MD program - which allowed applying out without giving up your seat - had 1/3 drop out of the program (either because they couldn’t meet minimums or weren’t interested in medicine), 1/3 apply out and attend other med schools, and 1/3 matriculate to the med school in question. I imagine it varies by program.

I can't help but ask why your school would want to run a program like this. If 2/3rds are making B grades, giving up on medicine, or leaving for greener pastures, it's clearly not a big help for them building their med school classes.

I propose it's because the schools are offering pretty much nothing (no scholarship funding, required performance just as high as their usual admits), and gaining a way to entice a bunch of desirable applicants to their college.

Change my mind!

 

[differentiating]

I can't help but ask why your school would want to run a program like this. If 2/3rds are making B grades, giving up on medicine, or leaving for greener pastures, it's clearly not a big help for them building their med school classes.

I propose it's because the schools are offering pretty much nothing (no scholarship funding, required performance just as high as their usual admits), and gaining a way to entice a bunch of desirable applicants to their college.

Change my mind!

The school did actually cancel the B/MD program - though imo it hurt the undergrad in doing so. I probably wouldn’t have gone to the school without it, and I think a lot of similarly talented applicants in my class felt the same.

I don’t regret being a part of the program in the least, even though I hated my undergrad in general. It was a relief to know that I’d be a doctor but could shoot for a better school, and I saved a crapton of money on my application cycle. I also did receive merit aid for my undergrad years to make it comparable to my other choices. I think they tended to offer 1 kid/year a merit scholarship for the med school as well - I wasn’t that kid, and I didn’t push for one because I wanted to go elsewhere for personal reasons. B/MD doesn’t necessitate no aid.

I have no issues with using the words, “conditional acceptance.” That is more realistic.

I don’t like the words, “guaranteed admission,” because it suggests a fait accompli. When someone is accepted to a med school, no one would say he/she is “guaranteed to graduate,” because being conferred the degree means fullfilling the req’ts first.

That’s fair. It’s just a matter of semantics.