Anonymous wrote:OP, your post is offensive. Coming from a family of surgeons and civil engineers—people who save lives in surgery and save lives by building bridges that don’t collapse .....your DD might create a college portfolio that merits medical school.... but it is offensive to suggest that she should have a shot at VCU’s very competitive BS/MD program given her low academics and lack of medical extracurriculars.

Oh give me a break. OP is not offensive in the least. She doesn’t know a lot about what it takes to get into medical school. That is all. It just comes down to that. Naïveté plain and simple. If you are offended by what she innocently wrote you have a problem to address.

Anonymous wrote:Your DD sounds very accomplished regarding her art. Her unique application may get the attention of the admission staff, but please understand that the BS/MD programs are VERY competitive (lots of science AP classes etc). Best of luck to her.

Your post is not offensive. You simply asked a question.

-signed, mother of a DS who graduated from medical school recently.

Just because your DS graduated from medical school does not make you an admission expert in BS/MD.

OP should not listen to people here. If your DD is interested in the BS/MD program, she should definitely apply. She has a very unique skill that very few people have. Artists are very creative people and I would pick her over someone with perfect GPA/SAT/community services. Your DD does not need to convince every schools with BS/MD programs out there, she just needs to convince one.

Anonymous wrote:If she is actually making that much from art, why the heck does she want to be an opthalmologist?? That's the question.

You don't know much about art do you? If a painting is sold for 40K, about 50% of that goes into art gallery owner and agent. The artist gets about 20K. It takes a long time to create a painting.

Anonymous wrote:OP, your post is offensive. Coming from a family of surgeons and civil engineers—people who save lives in surgery and save lives by building bridges that don’t collapse .....your DD might create a college portfolio that merits medical school.... but it is offensive to suggest that she should have a shot at VCU’s very competitive BS/MD program given her low academics and lack of medical extracurriculars.

The following links give some idea of stats and ECs of some admitted BS/MD students.

https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/multiple-degree-programs/2126726-bs-md-results-class-of-2019.html

https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/multiple-degree-programs/2057178-official-thread-bs-md-results-for-class-of-2018-p2.html

This must be a troll. If I was making that much from my art, why wouldn't I major in art?

Op, some of the responses sound harsh but they are not wrong. You should really sit down with your daughter and discuss what she wants to do and why. Chasing money is the worst reason.

If she is actually making that much from art, why the heck does she want to be an opthalmologist?? That's the question.

Anonymous wrote:OP, your post is offensive. Coming from a family of surgeons and civil engineers—people who save lives in surgery and save lives by building bridges that don’t collapse .....your DD might create a college portfolio that merits medical school.... but it is offensive to suggest that she should have a shot at VCU’s very competitive BS/MD program given her low academics and lack of medical extracurriculars.

Get off your high horse, Dr.

This has got to be a troll post from a student. Good one, dude! You got some people going.

Your DD sounds very accomplished regarding her art. Her unique application may get the attention of the admission staff, but please understand that the BS/MD programs are VERY competitive (lots of science AP classes etc). Best of luck to her.

Your post is not offensive. You simply asked a question.

-signed, mother of a DS who graduated from medical school recently.

OP, your post is offensive. Coming from a family of surgeons and civil engineers—people who save lives in surgery and save lives by building bridges that don’t collapse .....your DD might create a college portfolio that merits medical school.... but it is offensive to suggest that she should have a shot at VCU’s very competitive BS/MD program given her low academics and lack of medical extracurriculars.

Another thing to consider is that ophthalmology is one of the hardest residencies to get accepted to. Those spots go to kids at the very top of their medical school classes.
If your daughter applies I definitely wouldn't state this is her goal because it's even more in congruent with her grades.

Anonymous wrote:Doesn’t really matter either way. She has no shot.

+1. Also agree with the poster who says that someone with that high of a SAT and that low of a weighted GPA and few APs that your student was taking a course load that should have been relatively easy for her and yet also did not do that well in them.

However, you’ll get into great art schools!!!

I understand the frustration of wanting to achieve something out of reach, but this is an unrealistic goal at this point. She will not be able to gain access to a combined BS/MD program.

However, If she goes to college, completes a BA or BA with all pre med prerequisites and achieves a 3.75 or higher and great MCAT scores, she will have a shot at medical school at that time.

And no, artistic ability will not gain you med school admissions. Doctors don’t have to be great painters, and they are often the exact opposite personality type. They need to be concrete thinkers, problem solvers, and have to be able to remember vast volumes of knowledge, and process information and respond accordingly quickly.