Which of these options make more sense?

[rajayya]

Option A:

Let's say, you got admitted to one of the top notc IVY schools. Pursue a 4-year degree and then pursue a MD degree at same school or other reputed school



Option B

You get into to one of the Top 25- 50 schools with scholarship and then pursue a pursue a MD degree at same school or other medical school


Option C

Get into one of the 7 -year accelerated program or 6-yar program at UKMC and finish the degree.

Can some one tell me which option would you pursue, if your end goal is to become a doctor? Please list the pros and cons.


Thanks

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[HumidBeing]

This topic is much better suited for our pre-college forum. You can find some excellent information on these topics there.

I'm moving this to hSDN. Those who would like to follow and give respectful answers may participate in the discussion there.

 

[WinterLights]

In this order:

C, B, A.

C is the quickest way to become a doctor so it goes without saying that this is the best option if your goal is to become a doctor.

B saves you a lot of debt from undergrad, and you will likely be almost as competitive coming from a top 25-50 school as you would be coming from an IVY.

A sounds like a crapshoot because the tuition is not worth the education IMO, unless you are going into the workforce straight out of undegrad.

 

[calnation]

C is lame. What difference will one year make. Besides, what high schooler knows what they want to spend the rest of their life doing. The people I graduated with sure as hell didn't.

B and A are both nice. Just go the cheapest school you can feel proud of. That's all that matters. Beyond that they're all mostly the same. If you can only get yourself to be proud of an ivy then so be it. At least you'll be happy about where you're going and be motivated to do well and be all academic and all fancy-smancy and root beer floats with extra ice cream are delicious

 

[ylrebmik]

B... less money but same outcome.

 

[177983]

B.

Unless you want to teach and do research at an Ivy, the Ivy itself won't do much for med school admissions. Your volunteering, MCAT, GPA, etc. will do more.

 

[xnfs93hy]

Option A:

Let's say, you got admitted to one of the top notc IVY schools. Pursue a 4-year degree and then pursue a MD degree at same school or other reputed school



Option B

You get into to one of the Top 25- 50 schools with scholarship and then pursue a pursue a MD degree at same school or other medical school


Option C

Get into one of the 7 -year accelerated program or 6-yar program at UKMC and finish the degree.

Can some one tell me which option would you pursue, if your end goal is to become a doctor? Please list the pros and cons.


Thanks

B would make the most sense and would be the most helpful. Not interested in C, however it is the quickest path. I would choose A though, go to an Ivy for UG then the same school, other Ivy or other top school for med school.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I'd personally rank them B, C, A. I know UMKC's program has an absurd attrition rate (over 20%), and you're really screwed if you drop out of it. You won't even get an unmarketable science degree out of the deal. No, your hard work and med school tuition gets you *drumroll* a Liberal Arts degree! Congratulations! You get to flip burgers until you go back to school and finish a more useful degree! What I'm saying is that you'd better be damned certain medicine is what you want to do if you go into a BS/MD program. I agree with the posters above about ivy schools. Where major colleges are concerned, cheaper is always better, in my book.

 

[Depakote]

I'd personally rank them B, C, A. I know UMKC's program has an absurd attrition rate (over 20%), and you're really screwed if you drop out of it. You won't even get an unmarketable science degree out of the deal. No, your hard work and med school tuition gets you *drumroll* a Liberal Arts degree! Congratulations! You get to flip burgers until you go back to school and finish a more useful degree! What I'm saying is that you'd better be damned certain medicine is what you want to do if you go into a BS/MD program. I agree with the posters above about ivy schools. Where major colleges are concerned, cheaper is always better, in my book.

I tend to agree with this post.

 

[Terpskins99]

I'd personally rank them B, C, A. I know UMKC's program has an absurd attrition rate (over 20%), and you're really screwed if you drop out of it. You won't even get an unmarketable science degree out of the deal. No, your hard work and med school tuition gets you *drumroll* a Liberal Arts degree! Congratulations! You get to flip burgers until you go back to school and finish a more useful degree! What I'm saying is that you'd better be damned certain medicine is what you want to do if you go into a BS/MD program. I agree with the posters above about ivy schools. Where major colleges are concerned, cheaper is always better, in my book.

For me, it would be C > A > B

A ahead of B simply because I think you can do more with a degree from a program of stature A should you decide not to pursue medicine.

I know several people at UMKC's fast-track program. While their attrition rate is about that high, keep in mind that most of those people drop out voluntarily within the first or second year. They do have a remediation program in place for those students that struggle in class (frankly, those people would struggle at any other medical school anyhow).

The biggest negative for UMKC is cost. Tuition is pretty high for out-of-state students. But shaving two years of school might save more in the long run and brings you that much closer to attending salary.

Anyhow, a med school acceptance is a med school acceptance. You have no idea what kind of hiccups you may face as an undergrad (almost all of us have stumbled at some point in our education). And the pressure to perform well on the MCAT during a very busy junior year is pretty intimidating. Most medical students had to take it at least two times.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Depends on the cost of A for you. For some, it would be quite affordable.

It also depends on your goals. If you just want to be an MD and practice family medicine in North Dakota, your goal is minimizing cost. If you want to be a radiation oncologist in New York City, you will want every edge you can get, and reputation matters more than people want to believe.

 

[Textuality]

Depends on the cost of A for you. For some, it would be quite affordable.

It also depends on your goals. If you just want to be an MD and practice family medicine in North Dakota, your goal is minimizing cost. If you want to be a radiation oncologist in New York City, you will want every edge you can get, and reputation matters more than people want to believe.

Yeah, I recently realized that I really might enjoy radiology (diagnostic, maybe IR) as a career, and I'm hearing from various 4th years/classmates that a lot of landing a residency may have to do with networking. Or at least, that would give me my needed edge to land a match.

 

[Terpskins99]

Yeah, I recently realized that I really might enjoy radiology (diagnostic, maybe IR) as a career, and I'm hearing from various 4th years/classmates that a lot of landing a residency may have to do with networking. Or at least, that would give me my needed edge to land a match.

This is beyond the scope of hSDN, but yes networking will help to a certain extent. Radiology is a particularly competitive residency, since there are so many people applying for a relatively limited number of positions. Networking will only help you obtain possibly one or two interviews. But many people, if not most, in radiology residency matched into places they had no prior connection to. The key to radiology remains high board scores, class rank/school reputation and research.