What the hell is WashU thinking?

[MSTP gunner]

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I didnt realize this before, but they now offer a combined BS/MD degree thru the medical school.

Here's the catch though: YOU HAVE TO GET A 36 MCAT TO ENTER THE MEDICAL SCHOOL!

Now, obtaining say a 29 or 30 is reasonable, but who in their right mind would enter a BS/MD program knowing that that their acceptance to the med school is contingent upon such a high (top 3%) MCAT score?

http://admissions.wustl.edu/admissi..._USP_medicine.htm?OpenPage&charset=iso-8859-1

 

[Street Philosopher]

good point.

maybe to some people, getting a 36 is easy. i dunno.

 

[jwin]

i think the 3.8 might even be more ridiculous. i am a wash u undergrad, and i know at least 4 people with >36 who have nothing close to a 3.8

 

[md_student10021]

This is perfectly reasonable. After all, isn't a 3.8/36 about average for WashU medical students?

One problem I see with the assured admissions programs is that students can breeze through college, get a respectable but hardly amazing MCAT score, and get into medical school. This is an insult to the thousands of students who take medical school admissions seriously.

Getting into WashU for medical school is very competitive. Do you really think they are going to lower their standards?

 

[mellotron]

I really don't see what motivation there is to start a program like this. This seems like a sure-fire way to get people who don't take leadership roles or do other EC's into med school.

That said, maybe WashU thinks it's losing too many of their best pre-meds to Harvard, Hopkins et al - because if I had numbers like that, I'd certainly be taking a shot to go to the east coast.

 

[surge]

As much as I love WashU, this is pretty ridiculous.

So between a 3.8, 36, filling out the medschool application and interviewing, what exactly makes them different from a Joe Blow applicant from Unknown University (e.g. me)?
I'm sure they probably recieve special consideration, but please...🙄

 

[merlin17]

To me it sounds like a brilliant ploy to get the best premeds out of high school to come to WashU instead of the east coast schools and then forcing them to work as hard as the rest of the premeds. Hey, there are people at every school who probably had the grades/SATs/volunteer work in high school to get into a BS/MD but can't get the grades/MCATs once they get to college. WashU assures itself that no one gets into their med school that doesn't have the numbers to get in regular admission. They also don't have to worry about filling up half their MD class with BS/MD kids since a lot won't make the 3.8/36 cutoff. I bet a lot of high school kids don't really get what those numbers mean and how hard they are to attain. I certainly didn't coming out of high school. These kids probably have a 4.0 + 99% SATs...why wouldn't they think they could get a 3.8 + 90% MCATs?

 

[coffeespoon]

This combined program doesn't seem to confer any of the advantages traditionally associated with these type of programs; even if they achieve the high GPA/MCAT, they still have to fill out an application (i.e. personal statement) and go through an interview. There doesn't seem to be any guarantee of admission (and interviews can be so unpredictable!). Seems like a fancy way to rope people into attending the undergraduate institution.

At the very least, these standards ensure that students who choose not to continue with the program will be pretty competitive for applying to other schools.

 

[DW]

hmm, the ploy theory doesnt sound too far fetched. i'm sure there are a handful of kids in h.s. who think "I got a 4.0 and a 1500 on the SAT, surely I can get a mere 3.8 36 on the MCAT"

i think a better title for this thread would be "what the hell are kids considering WashU's B.S/MD program thinking?" 😉

 

[VienneseWaltz]

Originally posted by DW

i think a better title for this thread would be "what the hell are kids considering WashU's B.S/MD program thinking?" 😉

 

[MSTP gunner]

Originally posted by merlin17
These kids probably have a 4.0 + 99% SATs...why wouldn't they think they could get a 3.8 + 90% MCATs?

A 36 MCAT is at the 97th percentile, not the 90th.

 

[Dr.Tong]

man, you don't mess around about bein' a gunner

 

[Dr. Dodger Dog]

dude... that's NUTS! I mean, I can understand why you would think a 3.3 and 27 is kinda low (what we have at USC BA/MD) but a 3.8 and 36 is....WTF...

 

[benzo]

It makes perfect sense to me. I mean the people in this program are GUARANTEED admittance to the medical school provided they meet the GPA and MCAT requirements. Chances are that these students REALLY want to go to WashU. Wouldn't you like knowing that you wouldn't have to go through the painful application process but instead just slide right in. Worst case scenario is that they miss the GPA or MACT requirements and simply get in somewhere else by going through the usual process. To me it doesn't seem like these students are really risking anything.

 

[surge]

Originally posted by benzo
Wouldn't you like knowing that you wouldn't have to go through the painful application process but instead just slide right in.

Ummm.... but they do.
What do you consider the 'painful application process' to be, if not the application and the interview? (as stated above, they are required to do both)

I'm feelin' the ploy theory myself.... 😀

 

[benzo]

I know a guy that went to dental school this way and I asked him how his interview went (for admission) and he said that it was more an excersice of going through the motions and that the interview really didn't matter that much. Perhaps it is the same here, perhaps not, I don't know.

 

[benzo]

They may need to write an essay and be interviewed to be admitted to the BS/MD program but to begin the MD they may not have to write another essay and have another interview. But if they do have to write another essay or have another interview it is likely a formality. Lets face it these are likely students that will have no problem of getting into medical school no matter how they choose to do it. Like I said, I know a guy that was admitted to a similar program and although he did have an interview prior to begining his dental training he was basically informed that it was a formality.

Still I see the point. I guess these people dont just slide in. Getting into the BS/MD program is pretty tough to begin with and staying in is tougher still.

 

[HouseHead]

Okay, if 36 is 97% on the MCAT, what's 99%? Just wondering (I need a little pick-me-up )

Totally unrelated, but here's a question: How has the SAT changed? I've heard that there was a major change in the early 90's, and that means that the numbers of ancient folks like me mean something quite different than those of the young bloods.
Just wondering.

 

[lola]

here's a score converter: http://www.greenes.com/html/convert.htm

 

[HouseHead]

Thanks lola! Another pick-me-up.
Y'all know everything 😀

 

[Gleevec]

Originally posted by lola
here's a score converter: http://www.greenes.com/html/convert.htm

Do you happen to have a score-percentile converter for the composite score for the MCAT?

Also would such data take into account all test-takers for that administration, or the entire application cycle.

 

[washkeep]

Well, c'mon all that really matters in life is your MCAT score. Does it correlate with your happiness in life or something...? 36- 97% of undergrad is miserable?

30- 70% of undergrad is antisocial?
🙄

 

[Gleevec]

Originally posted by washkeep
Well, c'mon all that really matters in life is your MCAT score. Does it correlate with your happiness in life or something...? 36- 97% of undergrad is miserable?

30- 70% of undergrad is antisocial?
🙄

Wow, I didnt know that is what they taught you at WashU. The people I know there seem much more laid back.

Also this was a purely statistical question people were asking, no one at any point placed any utility value on it. You added that. I guess that says a lot then?

Anyway, would anyone happen to have any stats regarding this, I havent found them. They're not especially important, but I was just interested.

No biggie, thanks for any info yall can provide though.

 

[FZISHN]

Hello,

I am from the Midwest and I thought Wash U had this program since at least the mid 1990's. Ten students were selected for the BS/MD at that time, but I was not aware of the requirements.
The cost of Wash U deterred me, because not everyone gets a full-tuition scholarship.

I may be mistaken about this, but I thought this program wasn't new. I was in a 7 year program and boy am I happy it wasnt at Wash U!