Should I repeat my junior year?

[deleted688154]

I'm a junior right now from NY although currently living in Taiwan as an exchange student. Since this year doesn't count academically I have the option of either repeating junior year or combining junior and senior year.

The only reason I would really consider repeating junior year is if it would give me a chance in applying to one of those BS/MD programs. Otherwise, I don't really mind combining junior and senior year and later on taking the normal route to med school

As of right now my unweighted GPA is 3.8 and I've taken the SAT once and scored 2000

My ECs include:
Varsity and Intramural Diving
Youth in Gov.
STEP Research Project at SUNY New Paltz (2 yrs with two other other high schoolers and a professor and we poked around with worms and won 3rd place for the biological sciences senior division of our program)

If I were to start volunteering at a hospital, raise my SAT, do another research project, and show more leadership/involvement in clubs, could I realistically get into a BS/MD program?

I know nothing can guarantee me a spot anywhere but is it worth going through another year of high school?

Thanks for reading my long rambling in advance

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[ComputerGuy365]

Do you really want to go BS/MD? (Remember that if you go BS/MD you HAVE to go to the school in your program.)
It really depends on what you learned in Taiwan. I assume the curriculum covered most 11th grade topics, but I can't speak for everyone.
Personally, I would skip, as I would want to move the hell on with my life. You're not me though.
Your stats are good however so you have proven you can do well in school.
Do what you want. Talk to your parents and your school counselor.

Good luck with your decision,

Zach

 

[Jagon]

Do you really want to go BS/MD? (Remember that if you go BS/MD you HAVE to go to the school in your program.)
It really depends on what you learned in Taiwan. I assume the curriculum covered most 11th grade topics, but I can't speak for everyone.
Personally, I would skip, as I would want to move the hell on with my life. You're not me though.
Your stats are good however so you have proven you can do well in school.
Do what you want. Talk to your parents and your school counselor.

Good luck with your decision,

Zach

Proving you can do well in HS is one thing. Doing well in college is another. Skip the BS/MD OP. If you are academically strong you'll have more med school options when you graduate college.

 

[ComputerGuy365]

Proving you can do well in HS is one thing. Doing well in college is another. Skip the BS/MD OP. If you are academically strong you'll have more med school options when you graduate college.

Agreed, that's a reason I would not choose BS/MD, is because you are limited to that Medical Insitution. If you happened to over excel, or even worse, under excel, you could risk being kicked out of the program or not getting to go to a good school you may have wanted to.

 

[deleted688154]

I haven't learned much actually aside from Chinese. The first 6 months here I wasn't able to really follow during classes and now I can semi-follow classes although I don't really pay attention

I like the idea of BS/MD programs mostly because of the security that comes from already accepted into med school before even starting undergrad although committing so early does come with it's downsides. I understand where ya'll are coming from, I'm not too keen of spending another year in high school and I would def have more opportunity to apply to better med schools as long as I apply myself. and if at one point during undergrad I decide that medicine just isn't my thing it wouldn't be as big of a deal compared to deciding it during a BS/MD program

guess I just needed the reassurance.

Thanks you guys!

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

I haven't learned much actually aside from Chinese. The first 6 months here I wasn't able to really follow during classes and now I can semi-follow classes although I don't really pay attention

I like the idea of BS/MD programs mostly because of the security that comes from already accepted into med school before even starting undergrad although committing so early does come with it's downsides. I understand where ya'll are coming from, I'm not too keen of spending another year in high school and I would def have more opportunity to apply to better med schools as long as I apply myself. and if at one point during undergrad I decide that medicine just isn't my thing it wouldn't be as big of a deal compared to deciding it during a BS/MD program

guess I just needed the reassurance.

Thanks you guys!

Ehh your not really accepted to med school in bs/md programs.

Most of them are conditional acceptances based on mcat and gpa. The ones with no mcat are extremely hard to get into.

 

[elprezidente]

Proving you can do well in HS is one thing. Doing well in college is another. Skip the BS/MD OP. If you are academically strong you'll have more med school options when you graduate college.

I very rarely venture over to hSDN but just happened to see this and couldn't disagree more. Med school admissions is a crapshoot, and a BS/MD is a very nice, safe option, if nothing more than a fallback plan. Coming out of a high school, I'd say I was a pretty stellar student. I was accepted to an in-state BS/MD program (let's call it school X) in which tuition for the BS was completely covered (full merit scholarship) and the transition to MD didn't require that I take the MCAT. I turned it down and accepted another full tuition scholarship at an out-of-state school that I preferred thinking "I was such a great high school student with all of these amazing options, I'm going to get into much better schools than school X!" I had gotten into multiple top 20 undergrads, why would I have any problem getting into medical school in four years. Then, I got to college and began having fun, concentrating less on academics and more on my social life.

Fast forward to my senior year, I had a solid GPA (~3.7 and a pretty average MCAT score 30+) and suddenly I wasn't such a shoe-in, even at the school that had offered me a full-ride and automatic acceptance into medical school. Fortunately, at the end of the day, I got into my top choice, but it was my only acceptance and it came off of the waitlist in May after biting my nails for a full year. I can't tell you how many times, through the course of that year, I regretted not accepting the offer from school X, where all I had to do was maintain a 3.5 or 3.7 GPA or something along those lines.

I'm not saying that BS/MD is the only way to go, but definitely don't discount that option. Many BS/MD programs have a clause that says that if you take the MCAT, you're forfeiting your acceptance - essentially, that's their way of keeping you from applying to other schools. But hey, if after the first semester of junior year, you find that you have a 3.9, there's no clause that says you can't take a couple of practice MCATs, see how you do and study for the MCAT. If you're scoring high on practice exams, and have that great GPA to complement it, then you can take the MCAT, forfeit your auto-accept, and take your chances because you know that they're going to be relatively good, and you're in the same exact position you would've been in anywhere else. But if you find that you're just barely maintaining the auto-accept and that your chances at MD acceptance wouldn't be so great, well you've just won the game because you're already accepted.

 

[Jagon]

I very rarely venture over to hSDN but just happened to see this and couldn't disagree more. Med school admissions is a crapshoot, and a BS/MD is a very nice, safe option, if nothing more than a fallback plan. Coming out of a high school, I'd say I was a pretty stellar student. I was accepted to an in-state BS/MD program (let's call it school X) in which tuition for the BS was completely covered (full merit scholarship) and the transition to MD didn't require that I take the MCAT. I turned it down and accepted another full tuition scholarship at an out-of-state school that I preferred thinking "I was such a great high school student with all of these amazing options, I'm going to get into much better schools than school X!" I had gotten into multiple top 20 undergrads, why would I have any problem getting into medical school in four years. Then, I got to college and began having fun, concentrating less on academics and more on my social life.

Fast forward to my senior year, I had a solid GPA (~3.7 and a pretty average MCAT score 30+) and suddenly I wasn't such a shoe-in, even at the school that had offered me a full-ride and automatic acceptance into medical school. Fortunately, at the end of the day, I got into my top choice, but it was my only acceptance and it came off of the waitlist in May after biting my nails for a full year. I can't tell you how many times, through the course of that year, I regretted not accepting the offer from school X, where all I had to do was maintain a 3.5 or 3.7 GPA or something along those lines.

I'm not saying that BS/MD is the only way to go, but definitely don't discount that option. Many BS/MD programs have a clause that says that if you take the MCAT, you're forfeiting your acceptance - essentially, that's their way of keeping you from applying to other schools. But hey, if after the first semester of junior year, you find that you have a 3.9, there's no clause that says you can't take a couple of practice MCATs, see how you do and study for the MCAT. If you're scoring high on practice exams, and have that great GPA to complement it, then you can take the MCAT, forfeit your auto-accept, and take your chances because you know that they're going to be relatively good, and you're in the same exact position you would've been in anywhere else. But if you find that you're just barely maintaining the auto-accept and that your chances at MD acceptance wouldn't be so great, well you've just won the game because you're already accepted.

Really? Lol you just completely proved my point. Nice argument...

 

[elprezidente]

Really? Lol you just completely proved my point. Nice argument...

Did you actually read my post? In no way did I prove your point. You said "skip the BS/MD," I said that it should be a consideration because it can be a nice fallback option. I literally cited an entire life experience in which I said that I wish I had taken the BS/MD option. I was fortunate in that it worked out, but I'm sure there were others that were not as lucky. And had I been in the BS/MD, if I felt like I was in the position to apply, I could've forfeited my acceptance and taking a shot at applying.

OP may be able to get into all of the Ivies coming out of high school, but be unable to break whatever the equivalent score of a 30 is on the new MCAT, or unable to maintain a 3.8 GPA that would make them fall into the "academically strong" category that you mentioned. If he/she is in a BS/MD program, then the student will get in to med school regardless of those weaknesses.

End point: Getting into a BS/MD program is similar to getting accepted in October to a school that's lower on your list, and being able to confidently go through the rest of the cycle knowing you have an acceptance in your pocket that you can fall back on if all else fails, except that you can spend all of college with that acceptance in your back pocket.

 

[deleted688154]

I'm personally fine with going to SUNY Downstate or Stony Brooke and the like. Even if I go through the traditional route I'm not expecting to get into academic medicine so not going to Harvard won't matter much as long as I do well on the USLME

The fact that I'd be accepted to med school on a conditional basis doesn't bother me much because the minimum mcat score for most is 30 which would be a hard score to get into an allopathic school with in the first place.


I've been so easily swayed Ahh. I might just apply to the bs/mmd programs and decide later if I were accepted to any.

I still don't want to repeat a grade but if I combine I would be able to take any electives I like or more than one college class.

I think I'll repeat though since taking the advanced classes and raising my stats in general would be good even if i dont go bs/md. It would give me a greater chance in getting into the Maucauley Honors College which would make my undergrad education nearly free.

Thanks for all your input. ill tell you what happens in September when I finalize my schedule.

 

[deleted688154]

Ah so an update much sooner than expected

My school won't let me repeat junior year unless I do something like flunk out of gym and refuse to go to summer school but then I would only be allowed to stay for a semester. In short it's because I have enough credits to count as an incoming senior when I get back.

I thinks that my indecisiveness about whether or not to go the bs/md route was a sign that I'm not really ready for it either way.

I'm going to be applying to:
Macaulay Honors College at Queens College
SUNY ESF
SUNY Binghamton
SUNY New Paltz
SUNY Albany