RPI-Albany Medical College 7-Year BS/MD Program vs Rice Pre-Med (High School Senior)

[dazzlingcomet]

Super tough situation. Both cost the same, affordable as well. Please consider that I am from Portland, OR on the West Coast.

The RPI/Albany Med program is 7-years (3 years undergrad, 4 years medical school) and has no MCAT requirement + 3.5 minimum GPA during undergrad. Albany Med is a good medical school but not outstanding in research output, ranking, reputation, etc. The program, however, is a guarantee medical school admission. Albany Med also has good match placement results.

Rice, on the other hand, is an incredibly strong pre-med program and will help me get a shot at top medical schools (UT Southwestern, Baylor, and Ivies/Hopkins, etc.). However, there will be a grind and I might need to take a gap year (personally don't want to).

I'm not sure if medical school prestige matters in the long run - I'm sure it has an impact regardless. What do you recommend for me regarding which program to choose? I'm confident I want to pursue medicine but I know the social life/college experience at RPI/AMC won't be as amazing as Rice. However, it is what I make of it - I am willing to put in what it takes to make my experience worthy. Thank you!

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[tyke on a bike]

I would take the no-MCAT USMD acceptance and run. Reading what you've written, there are a lot of positives to do so:

1. not only do you avoid any potential for a gap year (which is becoming very common nowadays), you also get an MD in 7 years versus the traditional 8.
2. There's no MCAT requirement. The MCAT is a major barrier for applying and even with 95th+ percentile you're not guaranteed admission. You will avoid all the immense stress that comes with preparing for that mammoth.
3. As you've gotten into a BS/MD program I can predict you'll perform well in undergrad, so the 3.5 gpa requirement will be doable
4. Albany's match list is good, with many students getting into competitive specialties. I wouldn't try to read to much into it.
5. You'll be a part of a close-knit group and I'm sure that you'll be supported well by faculty as the program is quite established.
6. It looks like the program is geared to becoming a 'physician-scientist' where they promote medical research

You will avoid a lot of stress and toxicity that accompanies the life of a premed. Although I am sure Rice's premed track is decent, nothing there is guaranteed. You'll have to work tirelessly to get good grades in class, retain the info in preparation for taking months to study for the MCAT (and if you don't you'll have to re-study), perhaps need to retake the MCAT, all while doing clinical, volunteering, and research activities. You'll need to write good application essays and get excellent letters of recommendation. You can do all that exceptionally well and still not get in. So you'll take a gap year. Maybe another. Not saying there's anything wrong with doing so, but if you could avoid it, why wouldn't you? There's a reason why med school applicants generally apply to 20+ schools because they are trying to get accepted anywhere.

Bonus: Because research output carries onto residency applications, you can focus a lot of your undergrad on getting publications (while traditional premeds at Rice would juggle clinical, volunteering, research, high GPA, MCAT prep). Research output can help you a lot with competitive residency programs.

 

[ClashRoyaleKing]

Take the MD acceptance! However, I am curious whether these tracks do not require clinical experience, shadowing, or nonclinical volunteering? I feel like valuable information can be learned through these avenues.

 

[xUnrevealed]

I'm less inclined to simply take the BS/MD and run. For one, do you want to go back to Portland? Going to Rice increases your chances of getting into OHSU or matching in the PNW vs. Albany Med. Albany Med also probably has good match results, but probably in the Northeast - is that what you want? Second, on what grounds are you positive that you don't want to take a gap year? I, for one, felt the same way, but now appreciate that I did take two gap years (although this is for MD-PhD). Third, while the guaranteed MD acceptance is great, do you feel like you might feel regret regarding "what could have been?" What if you take an engineering course at Rice and it turns out that you like it? Med student switch speciality interests all the time, so it's not unreasonable to suggest that your interests might as well, and Rice provides that flexibility to make a more informed decision. Lastly, are you okay not getting into a more "prestigious" med school? While MCAT, grades, etc., are the more important factors, prestige of the undergrad can be a "make or break" factor under certain situations.

Overall, I think the BS/MD route is great and provides you a sense of security and confidence (which is important), but I also think the choice needs to be slightly more informed. I don't mean to be a hater here; a BS/MD is a great opportunity, and if you feel reasonably confident about that choice, I'd take it.

 

[ll275]

Take the USMD acceptance!! You will see throughout your undergrad years how much of a win for you it’ll be to not have to stress about clinical hours, shadowing, research, GPA, LOR, and MCAT!! Most of all, the biggest win will be not having to “compete” among other neurotic pre-meds (look at /premed reddit if you want a taste). Congratulations!

 

[Xprem3dx]

Mannnn if you dont take the BS/MD and runnnnn

 

[gilberto]

Congratulations by the way! That is a huge huge huge accomplishment you should be so proud of, and you will make a great doctor one day.

However, I will respectfully strongly disagree with most people on this thread, but with the disclaimer that I went to Rice myself (rising senior now). I do have friends who did Rice-Baylor BS/MD, which has discontinued, but was the most prestigious BS/MD program in the entire nation (due to Rice and Baylor both being T20s). These are my reasons:

1) Though you are confident in doing medicine, it is super possible you will change your mind. Not to say that you are naïve, but knowing what you want to do for the next 60 years of your life doesn't come that easy, but hey maybe you are 100% in which case I am wrong. However, I came into Rice premed but there were times where I seriously doubted whether it was right for me. If you have even just an inkling you might want to do anything different, e.g. pre-grad in research (which many premeds do), Rice is the place to be.

2) You were smart enough to get into BS/MD, you are smart enough to thrive at Rice/any other T20 undergrad. No disrespect to them, but Albany does not rank relatively well (#120 on med.admit.org), and given that you could got into a BS/MD, you will easily get into a T20 med school as long as you put in the good work. I would put a $10k bet that you would get into a T50. Also: is the BSMD free? I would bet another $5k that you will get a scholarship of some sort at a higher ranked school than AMC.

3) Rice is so fun, I love this school. We work really hard and play harder. I could make a whole separate thread or give you 30 minute phone call about Rice. There's a reason we ranked #1 for best student life at some point. Worried about TX? Don't. My roommate is also from Portland, OR and loves it here. You will have a whole life of medicine ahead of you, who cares if you have to take 1 gap year, or that you did 8 years of undergrad+med school instead of 7. You will be grinding the rest of your life, you really should be enjoying your undergrad. The residential college system, beer bike, the integrated campus culture, the fact Rice > RPI, I could go on and on.

4) As a premed, Rice is way better anyways. We have a collaborative, non-toxic premed culture (****, here I am giving you advice when I should be working on my PS). We have the damn texas medical center (the largest ****ing medical center in the world), so it is STUPID EASY to get research positions and clinical experience here, as a freshman I cold emailed professors for research and on my second cold email I got a response and a position. We lowkey have grade inflation, and our average premed GPA is like 3.9. We have so many premed related clubs here, the premeds here are unique and interesting (we're not just bland 52x 3.9x students), and the class sizes are small and you can work with profs a lot. I know RPI is small, but Rice is smaller, and my rec letters are from profs I know super well.

5) These are personal anecdotes, so take it with a grain of salt, but BS/MD makes you complacent. This will likely be a very controversial take but I got the eye test of the best BS/MD program, and it is quite true. I know 4 people who did BS/MD, they knew they had acceptances in hand so they never really tried. They didn't get super involved in research, they didn't build good study habits, they didn't have to take the MCAT. All of these things are, yes, annoying "tasks" you have to do as a regular premed, but they also make you a strong applicant and, more importantly, a better doctor. A couple of them I talked to when they came back for some alumni events, and they told me straight up "I am struggling compared to my peers right now because all I did in college was chill, drink, and barely get by on my classes". Once you get to medical school, your classmates will all be sharpened from going through the wringer, and though you might continue your excellence in undergrad, you can imagine how easy it is to get complacent when you know you don't have to work nearly as hard as your peers.

There is a lot more I can say, but I really should get back to drafting my personal statement.

After all, the option is yours, and I am just offering my nuanced perspective. Please do not hesitate to PM me and we can email/call.

 

[secondariesftw]

Take the BS/MD. You will save at least 1 year and probably 2 (most folks end up needing a gap year).

Prestige matters, but not as much as your performance. You can most likely match to any specialty from any MD school if your step 2 is good and have proper research etc.

Save the 2 years, save the aggravation of having to apply. It's too long of a process and too much of a crapshoot. Albany Medical College is perfectly fine.

 

[secondariesftw]

2) You were smart enough to get into BS/MD, you are smart enough to thrive at Rice/any other T20 undergrad. No disrespect to them, but Albany does not rank relatively well (#120 on med.admit.org), and given that you could got into a BS/MD, you will easily get into a T20 med school as long as you put in the good work. I would put a $10k bet that you would get into a T50. Also: is the BSMD free? I would bet another $5k that you will get a scholarship of some sort at a higher ranked school than AMC.

Can you get him 2 years of his life back? Also, even if he scores a 520+ and has a 4.0 there is simply no guarantee of landing a T50 spot. MSAR doesn't lie. 518-528/3.8-4.0 only has an 83% chance of getting an acceptance. What is guaranteed is his spot at Albany so long as he maintains a 3.5, which should be pretty easy.

Also the entire ranking system is flawed. Reading match lists is like reading tea leaves. Any US MD school is going to be a good program.

 

[gilberto]

Can you get him 2 years of his life back? Also, even if he scores a 520+ and has a 4.0 there is simply no guarantee of landing a T50 spot. MSAR doesn't lie. 518-528/3.8-4.0 only has an 83% chance of getting an acceptance. What is guaranteed is his spot at Albany so long as he maintains a 3.5, which should be pretty easy.

Also the entire ranking system is flawed. Reading match lists is like reading tea leaves. Any US MD school is going to be a good program.

Fair point that it's not guaranteed, but nothing in life is.

As far as losing 1 year (maybe 2) doing the traditional route, we also need to consider that doing well in undergrad sets you up for a good medical school, which prepares you for a good residency, which prepares you for everything else. I'd rather go to a top undergrad and top medical school and lose out on one year of salary than go to an average undergrad (#70 on usnews) an average medschool (#120), where at Rice I will build valuable connections, have access to a plethora of resources that will put me in a good medical school.

also, medicine should not be your life. Meaning, you shouldn't sacrifice the amazing friendships, mentorships, and memories you will make at Rice. A lot of people who go to Rice make their best friends and even meet their spouses here. Our alumni network is small but very strong. You will undoubtedly have a better social experience at Rice.

 

[harmonious_gazelle]

Congrats on your offers and success so far!

Rice (almost!) alum here -- I have a friend who went to the Albany BS/MD 8-year program and they really enjoy it. However, I think Rice helped me grow as a person and human being and feel certain in my path of pursuing medicine. I explored different majors (comp sci, engineering, etc) and found my niche and was able to work on really amazing research projects here. I also met some amazing people. I know many people who did do BS/MD programs and then decided they did not want to do medicine anymore. I even know people who did Rice BS/MD and decided not to go down the MD path (one of them is pursuing law now).

A note about Rice -- if you are able to establish Texas residency (which many OOS people intending to stay in texas for med school do), then get accepted to a TX medical school (much easier if you are a texas resident!), then you can save a LOT of money on tuition for medical school. Almost all of the schools in TX, including Baylor (which is private!) cost about 20-25k in tuition per year. You can't get prices that cheap anywhere else unless they have grant-based financial aid (not super common for medical school except at the elite institutions) or you receive a merit scholarship (pretty rare). Also, non-Texas resident applicants who went to Rice do have decent success getting into TX medical schools.

The pros of the BS/MD are tough to beat -- guaranteed seat at an established MD program means less stress, and not having to take the MCAT is certainly a big weight off your shoulders. However, Rice prepares you really well for medical school -- our office of academic advising advertises more than 90% of first time applicants from Rice get accepted to medical school. I'm obviously a little bit biased, but I love Rice and would have always chosen to come here. Obviously I don't know what it's like to go to a BS/MD, but I feel that the challenges I faced at Rice (trying to maintain a high gpa as an engineering major, doing well on the MCAT, getting involved in research and extracurriculars) helped me become a more mature, confident and well-rounded human being. Feel free to DM me if you want any more information about Rice.

 

[chilly_md]

BS/MD if you're confident about medicine. If you happen to like engineering, RPI is a good school for that as well for the undergrad part.