What's harder to be accepted in, Ivy League or BS/MD?

[bluewind751]

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I'm just curious, so let's say you have decent statistics. You applied to the eight Ivy League schools and eight schools that have BS/MD programs. (Perhaps, two reach programs, five decent programs, and three lower-tier BS/MD programs.) Are you more likely to get into one Ivy League school or one BS/MD program?

 

[NickNaylor]

Ivy, easy.

 

[unitofpain]

depends on the ivy...obviously getting into brown will be easier than getting into brown PLME...harvard yale or princeton though? hard to say.

 

[niranjan162]

ivy

 

[linkin06]

depends on which ivy and which bs/md. for instance, NEOUCOM is a bs/md and hella easy to get into. but cornell is a lot easier to get into too for a ivy.

 

[NickNaylor]

I would argue that even the less prestigious BS/MD programs are on par with getting accepted to an Ivy. There are just so few of those slots available compared to how many slots are available in Ivy schools.

This isn't to say that getting into an Ivy is somehow easy, but BS/MD programs are just super competitive.

 

[EyEnStein 07]

Depends on IVY depends on BS/MD...

Ex: Browns HPME > Cornell
Ex: Harvard > Sophie Davis

 

[unitofpain]

one thing to consider is that these bs/md programs draw HEAVILY from their waitlist. I.e. this year, for northwestern HPME, i know at least 10 people who got in (including myself) who chose to attend a top ranked school. Those that are admitted from the waitlist are definitely of lower caliber, and normally do not have acceptances at any top schools.

 

[nfgsjklgnsdfkjn]

Depends on the ivy, Brown and Cornell are much easier to get into than Princeton and Yale. Brown's average SAT is only like 1390/1600, which is maybe top 5-15% material.

 

[mmmcdowe]

Definitely varies, but I would bet getting into the most competitive of the BS/MD programs is at least on par, if not harder, than getting into HYP.

 

[schrizto]

It depends. It's obviously easier to get into Cornell than Northwestern HPME, and easier to get into Drexel's BS/MD than Harvard.

 

[tootiefruitie]

Actually, last year (2008) the acceptance rate for the Drexel BS/MD program was only 5% whereas Harvard's was about 7%.

All BS/MD programs are very competitive and generally have lower acceptance rates than 4-year colleges.

 

[Narmerguy]

I see your point. However, some BS/MD programs are not hard to get into like USF's but hard to stay in i.e. you still need a 30 MCAT at USF 7 year and 3.7. At that rate you might as well try your luck elsewhere cuz why limit yourself to USF? whereas before people did those programs cuz it was easier to be in already and not weeded out of such programs since they meant that MCAT score didn't matter much like how UMiami 6 year program used to be. Of course Umiami no longer has 6 year and their 7 year now requires that you get at least 26 on the MCAT and do some ECs and have a certain GPA maintained.

However, I imagine a lot of the people capable of gaining acceptance to a BS/MD are also capable of getting the MCAT scores and GPA necessary to get into other medical schools.

I don't know though. I've seen questionable admissions into Ivy schools while I've also seen questionable admissions into BS/MD programs.

 

[schrizto]

Actually, last year (2008) the acceptance rate for the Drexel BS/MD program was only 5% whereas Harvard's was about 7%.

All BS/MD programs are very competitive and generally have lower acceptance rates than 4-year colleges.

I still think Harvard is harder to get into from personal experience. The kids I know that go to Drexel's BS/MD programs are good students with medical ECs, but they're not exceptional.

 

[Ravendown]

Depends on IVY depends on BS/MD...

Ex: Browns HPME > Cornell
Ex: Harvard > Sophie Davis

how is harvard harder to get into than sophie davis? It's easily one of the best programs in the country. Granted harvard is prestigious enough and super competitive, and the whole country applies to it. Sophie davis only takes NYS students, which is why it may appear to be less competitive, but it is not. definitely not.

 

[fahimaz7]

Actually, last year (2008) the acceptance rate for the Drexel BS/MD program was only 5% whereas Harvard's was about 7%.

All BS/MD programs are very competitive and generally have lower acceptance rates than 4-year colleges.

That's also due to their application pool size. I bet quite a few people didn't apply to Harvard, due to their preconceived notion of not being competitive.

Competitiveness is generally determined by grades and scores, and not by the raw numbers of applicants/acceptances.

Rosland Franklin medical school has a ton of applications (one of the most commonly applied to MD programs). Does that mean they are more competitive (and thus difficult) to get in to? Nope.. That school sits very low when it comes to GPA and MCAT, accepts a ton of OOS applicants, and thus has a large applicant pool.

 

[medicaldoc]

In all honesty, don't look at admissions rates as they are not predictive of your admission chances. If you have the scores that are in the top ranges (31+), 3.9+ GPA, and all the other academic stuff, I would say that already increases your chances to 15-20% at lets say Harvard. After that, your essays and EC's will carry you. If you did something amazing, you can expect chances to rise to 70% and if everything looks good, it is really how you compare to others. That said, I would say that bs/md and Ivy league has a lot of cross admits and if you can get into one, you should certainly be able to get into the other.

So basically,

Amazing academics + ECs that set you REALLY set u apart + good everything else = admit unless random badluck plays against u.

Amazing academics + Above average ECs + good everything else = maybe + luck

Amazing academics + avg ECs = reject

Bad academics + Amazing ECs = reject

 

[fahimaz7]

To give you an idea about Harvard Medical school...

UGA Grad
4.0
Presidential Scholar (full academic scholarship in undergrad)
41 MCAT
Loads of EC, leadership, etc
Born and raised in a rural town (<25k people)

Wasn't even interviewed at Harvard or Vandy. However, he did get a full ride at Emory and WashU, and was waitlisted at JHU.

Nothing guarantee's you an interview or admissions to those schools. It's very hit or miss.

But, I misread the topic of the post... I thought the question was about Ivy MD programs, vs a BS/MD program.