Vanderbilt with full ride or CWRU/PPSP bs/md program ?

Answered

Be patient and wait for all the decisions to come in.

My personal 2 cents is as a parent your immediate goals for your daughter might not be perfectly aligned. Some parents feel that getting to the "Brass Ring" goal of being a Doctor or a Lawyer is the most important thing. And if there is a short cut to getting to that "Brass Ring" the better. There are so so many parents that convince themselves to enroll in DE AA degree programs while their kids are in HS, but that denies them the chance to have the right experiences and opportunities to compete with students who get into the best colleges. It is a short sighted gain, never taking the long view on things.

To explain this problem I will use the example of students who graduate early from HS because they skipped a grade or two, versus those who graduate with their class. I feel that those who matriculate into college at age 16 or 17 might be academically prepared but more often not, they are not emotionally prepared to be separated from the support system that got them there in the first place. It is much harder for young students to transition to independence and be fully responsible for getting up, feeding themselves, walking to class, scheduling all their commitments and owning the responsibility to time manage with out parent keeping track on their mental health, physical well being and emotional needs. They no longer have someone doing their laundry, cleaning their bathroom, driving them to their after schools activities or weekend sports games. Younger freshman do not necessarily translate to better college students because this demographic is first group to feel "imposter syndrome" and often have mental breakdowns because they have no "safety net" or caring adult to step in an support them in a time of crisis.

Similarly, there is ZERO evidence that student who enter a BS/MD program make better doctors. Yes, they become doctors faster than their peers by 1 year but they are missing out on valuable experiences, coursework, social interactions and exploration time to discover new things and become the best version of themselves. There is huge difference between someone 18 deciding to become a doctor and committing 7 years versus a 22 year old deciding that medical school is a personal choice after experience 4 years of college. Why? Because the 22 year old has given themselves 4 years of academic exploration without some hyper-structured format to pick and choose their classes. They had the luxury to pick all their random ECs, perhaps travel 1 year abroad to learn a new culture or language and have experience normal rights of passages that colleges afford like joining Greek life or compete on an Varsity or intramural sports team.

Your daughter will live a long life perhaps to 90 years or longer. And if she decides to be a doctor she will be an M.D. for life. Can anyone say that being a doctor for 65 years more fulfilling than being one for 64 years? I don't think so. So my point is: does it really matter so much to take a short cut to being an M.D. if you there is actually a real cost to it that you can NEVER make up for in the future?

Being academically competent is only one aspect to becoming a successful human being. If you are are global citizen that cares about our planet and our people, you will also agree that the best people also have the desire to serve the needs of others and have superb character traits like empathy, compassion, integrity and kindness. I think one huge gap in all accelerated BS/MD programs is that these colleges do NOT do a great job at graduating well rounded adults who have superior character traits. They just graduate excellent doctors.

If I had a daughter who had the aptitude to become a doctor met all the thresholds on her college applications, I would hope she would pick the school where she could grow the most as person and create memories doing things college students do without the pressure of trying to keep her Class rank in the medical school program. I would want her to experience new and exciting friendships, meet her people, fall in and out of love, travel, explore, try new things like courses she would never otherwise pick for herself, find other passions, and feel unrestricted for the first time in her life because she is a safe, supported, space that encourages this sort of thing. If it takes her an extra year or two to matriculate into Medical School, does it really matter? I would argue NO because your daughter will be a better version of herself which will ultimately translate into being a better human and medical doctor. By giving her the gift of flexibility, you are also helping protect her mental health as well.

HS students like me do not really want to make binary choices like should I pick Prestige over Practicality. And if we were given the choice I hope most high achievers on here would pick the college that is the best fit, one that will encourage that we use our time to evolve into our best future self.

Good luck to you and your daughter.

Hi @mamabear! Congratulations on your daughter’s acceptances to Vandy and CWRU’s BS/MD program - those are incredible choices to have and she must have worked very hard to achieve all of that!

As a current first year medical student, I want to quickly emphasize that this is a very good situation to be in! CWRU’s medical school is very highly ranked (https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/research-rankings). Going there for med school will definitely give her a lot of great opportunities that will make her very competitive for residency programs. That being said, the CWRU BS/MD program is a bit different from other programs. As a student in the program, you have to maintain an 3.63 science GPA in all of your science undergrad classes. Additionally, you are not required to take the MCAT, but if you choose to (because you want to apply to other schools), you must score in the 94th percentile (517 out of 528) to stay in the program. And if you achieve that score of a 517, you will honestly be competitive for a lot of the other highly ranked medical schools. So taking the MCAT and getting a lower score could potentially risk your chances of staying in the program. Here is some more information on the specific requirements of the program that might be helpful: https://case.edu/medicine/admissions-programs/md-programs/pre-professional-scholars-programs

Vanderbilt is also a great school and will definitely have a lot of incredible opportunities in terms of research, volunteering, etc. However, there will be that added stress of performing well in classes, maintaining a high overall GPA and science GPA, doing well on the MCAT, applying to medical school, etc. However, if your daughter has gotten this far, I anticipate she will also be very successful in undergrad and beyond.

I would recommend talking to current students in the BS/MD program at Case to ask them what their experience has been, what opportunities they have had, etc. This will give your daughter an idea of whether or not she sees herself there for the next 8 years. I would also talk to the advising office at Vanderbilt to get some stats on how many students apply to medical school every year from their school, how many get in, what sorts of pre-health professions advising programs they have, etc.

Hope that helps!

I recommend choosing the best undergraduate education possible over guaranteed acceptance to medical school. Undergrad is so much more than just a path to a dream career - it's the place where you will gain a general education that will serve you for anything the future holds, all while making lifelong friends and growing leaps and bounds in self-discovery. Your daughter has the most to gain from her top pick of an undergrad school. A full-ride can also make a big difference in college's affordability compared to a half tuition scholarship.

In terms of becoming a physician, attending a prestigious school for undergrad could increase her chances of getting accepted to a med school even better than CWRU. It would also reduce her pressure to commit to med school early, which is one of the largest commitments she could make. It is definitely something she should take her time to think about, especially since she could attend several years after undergrad. Hope this helps!