My daughter (high school junior) has finally decided to get her s**t together and wants to go pre-med at A&M. She is around top 50% at this point in her class. I doubt she will get into A&M, but I will do everything I can to help her.

So, what are her best choices to get into A&M pre-med (BioMed Sciences) as a transfer (i.e. Blinn or other junior college) or should she focus on another university in the Houston area (which we will do anyway as a backup)?

Other choices I can think of are: TAMU Corp (does this increase her changes of admission?), TAMU Galveston then change majors (and/or Galveston Corp), A&M System school then transfer, Houston community college then transfer, join the military

While I can't answer your questions about admissions to A&M, I can help somewhat with the pre-med situation.

Pre-med at A&M is not a specific major, but it's own separate beast entirely. If your daughter really wants to go for Biomedical Science, then that's great. However, if you're worried about her chances of getting in, you might want to look at something else she enjoys, that is less competitive. There's not a single major on campus to my knowledge that prevents her from being pre-med.

In fact, it may be beneficial to be a non-science major, as it may help your daughter stand out, although obviously her grades and MCAT will be the most important. You can look at lists of Aggies accepted to medical schools here. Biomedical science is BIMS on the pre-2014 lists, and BMSC on the 2014 list. As you can see, although it's certainly a popular choice, it's far from the only major that get accepted to medical school.

The Office of Professional Schools has more helpful information on the whole process here. If she does make it to A&M, I can say she'll be in good hands. I can't speak highly enough of Karen Hudson, the pre-med advisor.

One piece of advice I can give in her applications process pertains to volunteering. Admissions committees in general prefer to see a commitment to volunteering, over a couple of single events. That is to say, spending X hours volunteering at a single location on a consistent basis, whether that be every week, every other week, or even every month. This is in contrast with just going and doing a couple of all day events. While they could potentially have the same hour total, one shows significantly more dedication on the student's part. This is at least what I've been told, if anyone has any different information, feel free to correct me.

I'm sorry that I can't help you more with your main issue of getting in to A&M. I wish both you and your daughter the best of luck in the process.

I am a dentist and was BIMS.

If I could do it all over again I would NOT do BIMS. I didn't get in to dent school the first try, and moved back home for a few months to re-apply. There aren't a lot of jobs you can get with a BS in BIMS. The advisors at that time (1995) didn't really give a damn either. BIMS is loaded with kids who all think they are going to med/dent/vet school. Not all of them can...and there are a lot of BIMS majors who after 3 years have a 3.0 and realize they are up **** creek.

BIMS is good if you KNOW your grades are going to be good enough to get into professional school, or if you know you are going to pursue a masters degree/possibly academic career.

BIMS is loaded with a bunch of hard upper level science courses that are tough. Again, if you are a star student and are going to make A's in your sciences, great. But it's not the typical major that gets easier as you go along.

If I could do it again- I would major in something I enjoy and can get a job with right after school. Maybe do Biology or Chemistry and get teacher certified so I could teach/coach for a year if I don't get it right away to med/dent/vet. I am sure there are other options with good employment, that is just what comes to mind. I knew a guy who was animal science and did pre-dent. Genius move. Still got his pre-reqs, enjoyed himself, and could have worked after graduation.

Contact the office of professional school advising, they don't care what your major is. Take your pre-reqs and DO WELL in them. Professional schools look at your GPA in those core pre-reqs...biology, chem, organic, physics. Period.

Just my two cents.

nukeaggie2000 -

Biomedical Sciences (as most academic depts.) will look for a high GPA and whether she has been taking the courses on their course sheet. She can access the different course sheets for transfer applicants at http://admissions.tamu.edu/transfer/majors.

Regarding freshmen applicants, we look for well-rounded students. Class rank is important but it is just one item from the application process. Wanting to be in the Corps is not a factor for admissions. As a freshman applicant, she might be offered one of several programs other than full admission. She can read about those under Alternative Admission Decisions and Other Pathways at http://admissions.tamu.edu/freshman/admitted.

Starting at Galveston and doing a change of curriculum to the College Station campus is another option as well. It is always a good idea to have a plan B as it sounds like you are doing. I would also encourage her to either call to speak to a counselor or make an appointment with one at 979-458-0950. They would be glad to discuss her best options.

Nuke Aggie --- Email me and I may be able to help. You can find it in my profile. I helped a client of mine with a 30 percentile class rank and 990 M+V score gain admission into A&M this cycle.

Don't do BIMS; that is my reccomendation. Wanting to go into med school is fine, but BIMS is probably not for your daughter.

It's not for a lot of people, and if she ends up graduating and not pursuing an advanced degree it's a pretty crappy one to have (imo).

Went to A&M long ago.
Would have qualified easily for admission as a Freshman, but went to a JUCO and THAT was an eye-opener as to what I did NOT want and helped motivate me to outwork many once I did arrive at A&M.

Agree with others who say that BIMS may not be most useful Bachelors degree if she ends up not going to Med School.

Corps (with an s) has nothing to do with admissions. Old wives tale.

If she's interested in medicine, why not go to a school that offers a BS in Nursing?

No need for biomed. I have a business degree and now sit on admissions at a med school.

quote:

---

I am a dentist and was BIMS.

If I could do it all over again I would NOT do BIMS. I didn't get in to dent school the first try, and moved back home for a few months to re-apply. There aren't a lot of jobs you can get with a BS in BIMS. The advisors at that time (1995) didn't really give a damn either. BIMS is loaded with kids who all think they are going to med/dent/vet school. Not all of them can...and there are a lot of BIMS majors who after 3 years have a 3.0 and realize they are up **** creek.

BIMS is good if you KNOW your grades are going to be good enough to get into professional school, or if you know you are going to pursue a masters degree/possibly academic career.

BIMS is loaded with a bunch of hard upper level science courses that are tough. Again, if you are a star student and are going to make A's in your sciences, great. But it's not the typical major that gets easier as you go along.

If I could do it again- I would major in something I enjoy and can get a job with right after school. Maybe do Biology or Chemistry and get teacher certified so I could teach/coach for a year if I don't get it right away to med/dent/vet. I am sure there are other options with good employment, that is just what comes to mind. I knew a guy who was animal science and did pre-dent. Genius move. Still got his pre-reqs, enjoyed himself, and could have worked after graduation.

Contact the office of professional school advising, they don't care what your major is. Take your pre-reqs and DO WELL in them. Professional schools look at your GPA in those core pre-reqs...biology, chem, organic, physics. Period.

Just my two cents.

---

Agree 100%. I graduated BIMS and graduate med school in May. If I were to go back and do it again I would have done Chemistry. I have students in my med school class right now who were Religion majors-but they did great for the prereqs and MCAT. A lot of schools want to see someone who is well rounded and having a unique major can sometimes set you apart during the application process. It also gives you something different to talk about during interviews.

double b - I'd like to hear more. I have a daughter - junior in HS - that is going to be in a similar situation to what you describe. Not sure yet if she wants to go to A&M, but if she could get in, I'd definitely support it. My son is already going to be there starting Fall '15.

Sure. Shoot me an email and we can discuss further. My contact info can be found in my profile.

quote:

---

If she's interested in medicine, why not go to a school that offers a BS in Nursing?

---

A&M has a nursing school that offers a BS in nursing.

For relevance: http://texags.com/forums/12/topics/882389

One of many threads like it. I don't come off great in the thread but I'm sharing it anyways to show the general opinion of BIMS.

I would strongly encourage your daughter to choose another major. There are numerous that would prepare her for med school just as well, be more supportive to her education, be easier to succeed in, and better prepare her for the potential of either not wanting to continue into or not making it into medical school. You will find a large number of BIMS majors regret their decision to enter the major (even those who are successful doctors today).

As a conclusion to my story in the thread, I have had great success in my chosen line of work but it hasn't been an easy journey. In the event she doesn't go on to med school, BIMS is about as valuable as medieval poetry in the real world. A different major would have made my transition much easier. Feel free to PM me.

I know I'm late to the party here, but want to echo ALL the previous sentiments. In my experience (97-01), everyone with BIMS that didn't score admissions to a professional program had a terrible time finding a decent, applicable job to the major. It's a very restrictive major and the end game (professional schools) can only support a finite number of students ... therefore many are left on the outside looking in. I was a Business Management major, always with the intention of going to dental school. Required for me to take approximately 20-30 extra science hours to satisfy prereqs for dental school, but allowed me to focus on those critically important classes at my pace and not the break-neck pace of the BIMS path. Had zero trouble getting in to dental school back in early 00's with a below average GPA for applicants (3.09 - made many poor decisions as a frosh ... worst of which was sleeping through a Psych final ... :/) but with a high DAT score, high major GPA and strong scores in the science prereqs ... and was able to enjoy the entire Aggie experience to the fullest. +1 to the Professional School Admissions Office also ... they were instrumental in navigating the dental school admission process for me. On a side note, wife was BIMS, dead set on med school as an incoming frosh, and went on to become a pediatric occupational therapist instead. Too much "growing up" happens at college, and no reason to restrict yourself to an extremely inflexible major when she may change her mind 2 years in IMO.

Tell her to double major in molecular biology and statistics. If she doesn't get into med school she could have a very interesting career in bioinformatics.

If she can successfully double major in molecular biology and statistics, she'll have no trouble getting into med school no matter what path she takes.