AaryanThePatel
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2020
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 0
I have just graduated from my senior year of high school and wanted to get some input regarding my college decision. Right now I’m deciding between a major in Neuroscience at Texas A&M and a 3+4 BS/MD track in Ohio at Youngstown State University (YSU) in partnership with NEOMED.
I’m fully basing this decision off of a non-social point of view meaning distance, friends, weather, and all of that doesn’t have an effect on my decision. I’m stuck at a point where I see both directions have an equal weight of pros and cons and it makes that a difficult decision to make.
Just to quickly boil it down here’s a basic sense of what my thoughts are:
NEOMED Pros:
- already accepted to early assurance track
- 3 years done with bachelors and good chance of getting into program so long as I bring the grades
- possibility of working for a masters degree as well with their 2+1+4 program
NEOMED Cons:
- not the greatest medical exposure program (low ranked program in the US)
- if for some reason I am not able to get the grades and be accepted to the NEOMED path, I will not have a competitive enough resume to get into med schools anywhere else
A&M Pros:
- great medical program (highly ranked in the US)
- good chance of being accepted if I bring the scores
- still a high chance of being sent to med school from traditional route (AM has 95% success rate of sending students to med school for students who score high)
A&M Cons:
- high risk of not being accepted to medical school due to competitive environment
- longer 8-year program
*either way I go I’m going to have to score a high GPA (3.8) and score at least score in the 77th percentile in MCAT scores (about 509) to be considered a “good” candidate for med school*
Basically this gives a general idea of what I’m thinking going both ways. Additionally, at Texas A&M I am interested in applying to two of their early assurance programs which will be open for me to apply to in my sophomore year (2nd year). I’ve contacted the department's head, and they've told me last year there were only 16 kids who applied of whom 5 were accepted. The requirements to apply to this program is just to have a 3.7GPA in the freshman year and to get a 509 on the MCAT before starting the med program which you can do anytime before the end of your senior year.
I’m definitely leaning towards A&M because personally I feel like I’ll have to do the same amount of work and it could potentially lead to a higher ranking med school acceptance and start me on a good track for a career in medicine. But then again, my parents have a good point in saying “why not take the guaranteed shot?”.
If you all have any thoughts or suggestions, please let me know as it would really help me to make a decision. Also if anyone has any questions please feel free to ask.
I’m fully basing this decision off of a non-social point of view meaning distance, friends, weather, and all of that doesn’t have an effect on my decision. I’m stuck at a point where I see both directions have an equal weight of pros and cons and it makes that a difficult decision to make.
Just to quickly boil it down here’s a basic sense of what my thoughts are:
NEOMED Pros:
- already accepted to early assurance track
- 3 years done with bachelors and good chance of getting into program so long as I bring the grades
- possibility of working for a masters degree as well with their 2+1+4 program
NEOMED Cons:
- not the greatest medical exposure program (low ranked program in the US)
- if for some reason I am not able to get the grades and be accepted to the NEOMED path, I will not have a competitive enough resume to get into med schools anywhere else
A&M Pros:
- great medical program (highly ranked in the US)
- good chance of being accepted if I bring the scores
- still a high chance of being sent to med school from traditional route (AM has 95% success rate of sending students to med school for students who score high)
A&M Cons:
- high risk of not being accepted to medical school due to competitive environment
- longer 8-year program
*either way I go I’m going to have to score a high GPA (3.8) and score at least score in the 77th percentile in MCAT scores (about 509) to be considered a “good” candidate for med school*
Basically this gives a general idea of what I’m thinking going both ways. Additionally, at Texas A&M I am interested in applying to two of their early assurance programs which will be open for me to apply to in my sophomore year (2nd year). I’ve contacted the department's head, and they've told me last year there were only 16 kids who applied of whom 5 were accepted. The requirements to apply to this program is just to have a 3.7GPA in the freshman year and to get a 509 on the MCAT before starting the med program which you can do anytime before the end of your senior year.
I’m definitely leaning towards A&M because personally I feel like I’ll have to do the same amount of work and it could potentially lead to a higher ranking med school acceptance and start me on a good track for a career in medicine. But then again, my parents have a good point in saying “why not take the guaranteed shot?”.
If you all have any thoughts or suggestions, please let me know as it would really help me to make a decision. Also if anyone has any questions please feel free to ask.
Last edited:
was just sharing the experience of a few close friends. Glad you can provide the opposite view!
