I have been accepted to Georgetown SMP 🙂 and may receive acceptance to the Penn Special Science Program. The website for the SMP and all of the posts about it seem to suggest that it is the optimal program for enhancement. There is not as much info given on the Penn website (such as their sucess rate) and I'm trying to decide if I should fly to Philly to interview for a program that may not be as good. Please, if anyone here has any information or suggestions about which program is better, post your words here.
UPenn Special Science vs. Georgetown SMP???????????????????????????????????
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onmyway said:
I've never seen that many ??s in any post!
Penn V GT: Depends on your preferences. GT SMP IS basically 70% of 1st year courses. Penn Special sciences is undergrad courses. SMP you have a structured program. Penn you can choose what courses you want to take. SMP does not affect your ugrad gpa, but penn's program does. if your u gpa is really really horrible, then schools may not even look at your application, from what i understand. so if your ugrad gpa needs serious help go with penn, if its just mediocre but above 3.0 then its up to you. look at the reapplicant form as well and do a search on old threads about smp.
good luck!
captjack
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Hey onmyway,
I also applied to UPenn's SS program sometime in April but haven't heard anything back from them yet. I was wondering when you applied to the program? Do you have pretty good stats too?
Thanks in advance!!!
I also applied to UPenn's SS program sometime in April but haven't heard anything back from them yet. I was wondering when you applied to the program? Do you have pretty good stats too?
Thanks in advance!!!
Thanks for the responses so far.
Spartacus: 3.7UGPA for last 60 hours which included most pre-reqs (3.0 overall), EMT volunteer, 30 MCAT, some good awards, president of frat. You should call Penn about your application. I sent mine in 3 weeks ago and heard nothing until I called and found out that they were missing a transcript. Two days after that transcript arrived I received an email to make an interview.
CJack, (I worked hard to get all those ??s, thanks for noticing)
That makes sense about penn being better for those with really bad undergrad. I have exactly a 3.000 but have a TON of undergraduate credits so it would be hard to raise it. Do you think it would be best to go on to a new graduate GPA? The program director for the Penn program emailed me saying that their success rate is 80-85% BUT that this percentage is for acceptance to all schools (dental, vet, osteo, and allopathic) meaning that the allopathic success rate is likely much lower. I believe that almost all SMP students go to allopathic schools so their 85% success rate represents a much better shot at what I want. The director at Penn also did not say if the percentage was for the just the Special Science Program so I suspect the numbers also include their Pre-health program. The pre-health is for those who only lack the pre-reqs, who usually have higher UGPAs, and stand a better shot at admission (this program also has more linkages). All of this makes the Penn success rate seem even more deceptively skewed.
If any of you see anything wrong with my thinking or have any more insight PLEASE MAKE A POST. Any suggestions/advice is also greatly appreciated.
Spartacus: 3.7UGPA for last 60 hours which included most pre-reqs (3.0 overall), EMT volunteer, 30 MCAT, some good awards, president of frat. You should call Penn about your application. I sent mine in 3 weeks ago and heard nothing until I called and found out that they were missing a transcript. Two days after that transcript arrived I received an email to make an interview.
CJack, (I worked hard to get all those ??s, thanks for noticing)
That makes sense about penn being better for those with really bad undergrad. I have exactly a 3.000 but have a TON of undergraduate credits so it would be hard to raise it. Do you think it would be best to go on to a new graduate GPA? The program director for the Penn program emailed me saying that their success rate is 80-85% BUT that this percentage is for acceptance to all schools (dental, vet, osteo, and allopathic) meaning that the allopathic success rate is likely much lower. I believe that almost all SMP students go to allopathic schools so their 85% success rate represents a much better shot at what I want. The director at Penn also did not say if the percentage was for the just the Special Science Program so I suspect the numbers also include their Pre-health program. The pre-health is for those who only lack the pre-reqs, who usually have higher UGPAs, and stand a better shot at admission (this program also has more linkages). All of this makes the Penn success rate seem even more deceptively skewed.
If any of you see anything wrong with my thinking or have any more insight PLEASE MAKE A POST. Any suggestions/advice is also greatly appreciated.
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Hi,
So I'm trying to consider the same issues, I hold acceptances to both programs. Incidentally, you don't have to go down there for an interview, I did mine on the phone. I thought Dr. Hunter was a very helpful and dedicated advisor there.
For myself, I'm waiting to hear from my wait list (which should let me know next week). But if I don't get in, I will really have to think about between these two programs. I would most likely go to Georgetown because that seemed to be a well-established program with reputation, but it sort of depends on what the advisors there say (I'd plan to talk with them before I decide to go there because I need assurance that I can get into a good school given that I do well there). I also think Penn's program is less intense because you don't compete with med students.....so I'd also consider where people end up going after those two programs with the same kind of stat with myself (I'll call and ask them exactly that).
I hope that helps....good luck finding the best program for yourself!
KO061
So I'm trying to consider the same issues, I hold acceptances to both programs. Incidentally, you don't have to go down there for an interview, I did mine on the phone. I thought Dr. Hunter was a very helpful and dedicated advisor there.
For myself, I'm waiting to hear from my wait list (which should let me know next week). But if I don't get in, I will really have to think about between these two programs. I would most likely go to Georgetown because that seemed to be a well-established program with reputation, but it sort of depends on what the advisors there say (I'd plan to talk with them before I decide to go there because I need assurance that I can get into a good school given that I do well there). I also think Penn's program is less intense because you don't compete with med students.....so I'd also consider where people end up going after those two programs with the same kind of stat with myself (I'll call and ask them exactly that).
I hope that helps....good luck finding the best program for yourself!
KO061
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100 % of the post-bac students got in to medical school last year from U Penn.
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Yellow Snow said:
wow, thats awesome. question, tho: does the 100% include special science ppl?
that's an incredible # if it includes ss and regular post bac.
how has it been the last 3-5 years? i guess exact #s may be hard to come by, but approximately... that'd give a more accurate picture...
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I was only specifically given that number in a conversation regarding the pre-health program so I don't know for certain. They said that recent years have seen 93%-95% and this last year was 100%.
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Does anybody know whether Penn's special science program contributes to you undergrad GPA or a separate grad GPA?
For those of you who went to this program, how helpful was it, in your opinion, to your quest for a medical school acceptance?
Thanks
For those of you who went to this program, how helpful was it, in your opinion, to your quest for a medical school acceptance?
Thanks
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ko061 said:
I think (?) that I have been told it contributes to undergrad as it is not a graduate program...the courses are also undergrad courses.
jack
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Jack is correct. The courses up your undergrad GPA. Medical schools will see your undergraduate courses where you got your degree separately from your post-bacc undergraduate courses too... that really helps when you show the massive improvements (if thats what you need it for) between undergrad and post-bacc...
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I'm trying to debate what would be better for me... with a cGPA that is a 3.0 and a ton of credits, it seems like boosting your UG GPA is essentially pointless. Wouldn't a formal SMP like the one at G-town be more beneficial for those of us with sub-par GPA's? It seems like a 3.0 UG GPA followed by a 3.8 SMP GPA stands out more than a 3.18 cGPA.
D
deleted248403
A 6yr old thread? This might be an all-time record...
