High school students committed to a path to medicine might be considering direct medical, or BS/MD programs. These programs allow students to matriculate directly to the partnered medical school after earning their bachelors degree, making it an attractive option to students who are positive they want to pursue their medical degree. One such program is The College of New Jersey (TCNJ)s 7-Year Medical Program. Students earn their undergraduate degree from TCNJ in three years and then matriculate to the New Jersey Medical School.

Students can gain admission to medical school when they are still in high school through the 7-Year ... [+] Medical Program at The College of New Jersey

Moon Prep sat down with Dr. Sudhir Nayak, professor and co-director of the 7-Year Medical Program at the College of New Jersey. The interview sheds light on the admission process and how students can be competitive BS/MD candidates, even in the coronavirus era. The full interview can be viewed here.

Kristen Moon: What advice do you have for students applying to your program this year? Has the pandemic altered your process?

Dr. Sudhir Nayak: I would tell students to stop worrying. If you were a good student before Covid-19, you're going to be a good student after Covid-19. We look at the population of applicants in a relative sense. Students still have to meet the minimums set by the medical school, but thats it.

Most of the questions that we've gotten from parents and students imply that we think they're robots. We understand that you're going to have limited access to certain experiences that you potentially could have had. For example, as a part of our application evaluation process, we've had to deemphasize a couple of things. Shadowing a doctor is not possible right now. Most hospitals have just shut down their volunteering system completely. We expect that students applications are going to be a little bit different this year than usual.

Some things we haven't changed. We've always offered Zoom or Google Meet interviews for our out-of-state students or in-state students with accessibility issues. We do not expect there to be any differences in the number of students admitted.

We evaluate the program every year. I anticipate that the repercussions of the pandemic will last for a year or two.

Moon: What type of student are you looking for?

Nayak: We're not looking for students who would just burn right through the program; we're looking for students who want to be part of TCNJ by sharing its values for a cooperative learning environment. We specifically look for eager learners who have challenged themselves in high school and want to continue to do so in college.

Some of the other highlights we're also looking for are students who want to be in a liberal arts college. While this is a Bachelor of Science degree, we want people who have nontraditional premed experiences, see value in diversity and have plans to study abroad.

We look for students who have diverse interests who have long-standing interests in music, business or law, but they dont have to be hyper-focused. In fact, we tend not to focus on the hyper-focused.

Finally, I would say the only thing we actively dont want is students in a rush. We think that the third year of the undergraduate program is critical for personal and professional development. Not every candidate who would make a good accelerated candidate is the right fit for our program.

Moon: What is the selection process?

Nayak: The first step is validating that students are hitting the minimums for the program. While getting 1550 versus 1510 on the SAT might seem to be a significant advantage, it's not for this program. As long as theyve met those minimums, they are in the pool to be evaluated.

The second step is what I call a micro screening. In no particular order, we look at the transcript. They must've taken challenging courses, in STEM, in particular, to indicate that they would be a good fit for an accelerated program.

But the caveat is that we're not looking for perfect grades. Getting a couple of Bs here and there doesn't matter. I cannot emphasize this enoughthat's not how our evaluation process works. We look at the transcript overall: did they take a variety of challenging courses, and then did they test themselves? Did they take AP exams or any other types of achievement tests?

Next, we look at activities, and here's where I think that students have the biggest misconception. They believe that putting a lot of activities on their transcript is good when it's actually counterproductive. What we are specifically looking for at TCNJ is deep involvement in a few things. For example, are you an Eagle Scout, do you have a black belt in TaeKwonDo or are you an EMT? Have you been in band or Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) for two or three years? Are you an athlete? Those are the types of things we look at, but you don't have to have all of those things. You just need one or two.

Next, we look at recommendations and evaluate to see if the student is exceptional.

We also look for direct exposure to the healthcare profession. Students could gain this experience by working as an EMT, becoming certified in CPR, shadowing a doctor or volunteering at a hospital. However, some students are more focused on biomedical research, and here at TCNJ, you can come in as a biomedical engineer. Those students tend to have a slightly different profile and have done internships at biomedical research companies or developing orthopedics. No experience is less valuable than another.

We also like to see something where they're working toward the greater goodvolunteering through a church, school, some formal organization or starting something on your own like a food drive or nonprofit. This one is important because one of TCNJs core values is giving back.

Next, we read their essay, and that does take quite a while. We evaluate their personal statement and secondary essays for thoughtfulness, completeness, ability to answer the question directly and expand on it and provide evidence. It's a new essay question every year.

One of the final aspects would be the interview. We are evaluating whether the person on the paper is the person we see in real life. We also check if they are a good fit for TCNJ and our specific seven-year program.

Moon: What are the average stats of your accepted students?

Nayak: We don't look at GPAs that carefully because they are weighted in so many different ways, and there can be grade inflation at some schools and not at others. When available, we use class rank. Students in our program are generally ranked in the top 3% of their class; they were among the best students at their school. The SAT average is generally between 1530 and 1550; it was 1535 for the last cycle. The ACT was around 34 for the students who took it.

Moon: How many students do you interview and accept into the program?

Nayak: We get between 300-400 applications each cycle. There is no fixed number of seats for our programs, and its ranged from 10 to 25 over the last 30 years. In the past five years, the number has varied from 13 to 20 students. I believe we have 18 students in the previous cycle.

We interview about a hundred, and then we submit around 60 to 80 to the medical school to evaluate the candidates. Then, 40 of those students are ultimately admitted.

Moon: Whats the MCAT policy?

Nayak: They have to take the MCAT, but there is no minimum score required. The only exception is if a student is on probation because they dropped below the 3.5 GPA. Then, they might have an MCAT minimum imposed on them by the medical school.

Moon: Can you tell me some of the highlights of the program?

Nayak: I think the most important part about the TCNJ program is the flexibility. You don't have to major in biology; you can major in whatever you want, within reason. For example, some options are biomedical engineering, chemistry, physics, math, or computer science. Some non-STEM majors are even approved, like English, philosophy, history and Spanish. You can also design your major at TCNJ, provided it's approved.

Another way TCNJ is flexible is because we encourage our students to study abroad to expand their sense of self and develop as a person. This is one reason we keep that third year of undergraduate because I think two years is not enough to grow and mature. Our graduates are a little more mature than others because they've been interacting with diverse populations for an extended period. We want students to have a meaningful undergraduate experience, which means they can join clubs and activities.

Moon: Can you share any insights into the accomplishments of past applicants?

Nayak: Once they finish medical school, the students land tremendous residencies. And when they are TCNJ, they are also achieving amazing things. The EMS crew on TCNJ was started by seven-year students in the late nineties. It's an all-volunteer EMS squad that has run since then, and they integrated with the rest of the campus, campus police, emergency services, and rescue services.

Another thing that is neat that seven-year students created is the Alpha Zeta Seven-Year Medical Society. Theyve unified the students in the program because they're in different majors. They bring in alumni and coordinate events where students can talk and get advice from alumni.

The application deadline for TCNJs 7 Year Medical Program is November 1 each year. For more information, visit here.

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Top Insights Into The College Of New Jerseys 7-Year Medical Program - Forbes