For parents of my clients who immigrated to the US, higher education is a symbol of upward mobility, a life-altering path to meaningful careers and financial stability. A medical degree, specifically one obtained through a direct BS/MD program, is a definitive path to becoming a medical doctor.
“The future depends on what you do today.” – Mahatma Gandhi
For many of my client-families, education is an important means to achieve the four aims of human life, namely dharma (virtue), artha (wealth), kama (pleasure) and moksha (liberation). Vidya or education is the means by which an individual can gain the right knowledge, control his desires and learn to perform his obligatory duties.
Dr. Paul Lowe and his team of admissions experts help many of his clients successfully attain this career track while in high school through BS/MD Admissions Advisors. This is one of the reasons why he has been in practice for 28 years with unmatched results!
For H-4 high school students, this means that they will be U.S. medical doctors – an immigration benefit, in addition to the job security.
“As an admissions expert, I am always cognizant of the unforeseen circumstances and unfavorable consequences that may adversely affect my clients’ positive outcomes. Because of our vigilance and comprehensive strategies, my clients are ACCEPTED into BS/MD programs as well as Ivy League and competitive colleges and universities with superior pre-med programs.” – Dr. Paul Lowe
Our BS/MD Admissions practice is specialized: Dr. Lowe and his team ONLY work with parents who understand that the BS/MD admissions process is highly competitive and thus desire help from an admissions expert. They appreciate the value and investment in paying for expert advice consisting of a detailed and ongoing comprehensive admissions advisory service for their child’s dream of becoming a doctor. He also specializes in helping international students in the BS/MD process. Parents who chose to use our services want to call their son or daughter – “Doctor” when they are seniors in high school.
Congratulations to our clients who have received secondary applications from Albany Medical College!
What does this mean regarding the Application Process: Rensselaer reviewed their Common Applications (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute/Albany Medical College – Accelerated Physician-Scientist Combined BS/MD Program) and now has referred them, as qualified students, to Albany Medical College (AMC), which will then review the secondary applications and reach out to certain students for an interview (in January, February, or March).
From that pool of students, AMC will make offers of admission to the program. The application process is lengthy and notification begins in early April.
For our clients in this highly selective process, it’s one step closer to being accepted into a top direct combined BS/MD program and the goal of becoming a medical doctor!
Our BS/MD Admissions practice is specialized: Dr. Lowe and his team ONLY work with parents who understand that the BS/MD admissions process is highly competitive and thus desire help from an admissions expert. They appreciate the value and investment in paying for expert advice consisting of a detailed and ongoing comprehensive admissions advisory service for their child’s dream of becoming a doctor. He also specializes in helping international students in the BS/MD process. Parents who chose to use our services want to call their son or daughter – “Doctor” when they are seniors in high school.
It’s the 2023-2024 Early Decision and Early Action season! Competition to Ivy League and highly selective colleges are expected to be high. Therefore, expect many applicants with high SAT/ACT scores, high grades and seemly perfect applications and personal statements to be rejected or deferred to the regular decision pool.
It’s also time that many students will be notified about the progress of their BS/MD applications at BS/MD programs.
We expect, based our strategies, in-depth planning and Weekly-Skype sessions with Dr. Lowe that many of our clients will begin to hear happy and positive news from colleges and BS/MD programs!
Here are some early decision and early action notification dates for Ivy League and highly selective colleges and universities:
Barnard College: ED by Mid-December
Boston College: ED by December 15
Boston University: ED by December 15
Brown University: ED by Mid-December
Cal Tech: REA by Mid-December
Carnegie Mellon University: ED by December 15
Columbia University: ED by Mid-December
Cornell University: ED by Mid-December
Dartmouth University: ED by Mid-December
Duke University: ED by Mid-December
Georgetown University: EA by December 15
Hamilton College: ED by December 15
Harvard University: REA by Mid-December
Johns Hopkins University: ED on December 15
MIT: EA by Mid-December
New York University: ED by December 15
Northwestern University: ED in December
Princeton University: SCEA by Mid-December
Rice University: ED in Mid December
Stanford University: REA by Mid-December
Swarthmore College: ED by Mid-December
Tufts University: ED by Mid-December
University of Chicago: ED and EA by mid-December
University of Michigan: EA by Late January 2024
University of Notre Dame: REA by Mid-December 15
University of Pennsylvania: ED by Mid-December
Villanova University: ED by December 15; EA by January 20
Yale University: SCEA by Mid-December
We expect that our clients will have positive results on the above dates because of Dr. Lowe’s weekly Student Parent meetings!
Here are some notification dates for BS/MD Programs:
Augusta University: Admissions decisions released on April 1
Baylor University: Interview notifications sent in January or February. Admissions decisions released by March
Brown University: Early decision applicants are notified by Mid-December, Regular Decision applicants are notified by early April
Drew University: Admissions decisions released in April
Drexel University: Interview notifications are sent at the end of January
Indiana University – Evansville: Interview notifications sent by November 17, 2023. Admissions decisions are released by December 22, 2023
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine: Interview notifications sent out on a rolling basis
Mercer University: Notified by the end of January of interviews, which are held in February. Students are notified by mid-March of admissions decisions.
Nova Southeastern University: Interview notifications sent out on a rolling basis, starting in October. Admissions decisions are released 2-3 weeks after the interview.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI): Admissions decisions released in early April
Rutgers University-Newark: Admissions decisions released in April
Saint Louis University: Admissions decisions released in March
Seton Hall University: Rolling Admissions
Sophie Davis Biomedical Education: Admissions decisions released by April 1
St. Bonaventure University: Admissions decisions released in mid-late March
Stony Brook University: Admissions decisions released by April 1
Texas Tech University: Interview notifications are sent by February. Admissions decisions released by April
The College of New Jersey: Admissions decisions released in April
Tulane University: Admissions released by April 1
University of Alabama – Birmingham: Interview notifications sent by February 15. Admissions decisions released by Mid-March
University of Arizona: Acceptances sent out in April
University of Colorado-Denver: Interviews are in early December; find out after 2-3 weeks
University of Illinois at Chicago: Admissions decisions released by April 1
University of Missouri-Kansas City: Interview notifications sent at the end of January. Admissions decisions released by April 1
University of Pittsburgh: Notified if moving forward to medical school in December
University of Rochester: Interview notifications are sent in January. Admissions decisions released by April
University of South Alabama: Notified in early February with interviews taking place in March.
University of Toledo: Decision letters are sent out 1-2 weeks after university acceptance
Virginia Commonwealth University: Interview notifications are sent out at the end of January
Wayne State University: Interview notifications are sent at the end of January, and successful applicants are notified within 2-3 weeks
After hundreds of hours of hard work and Weekly Skype sessions we expect many positive results – future medical doctors.
By having continuous Weekly Skype/Zoom sessions directly with Dr. Paul Lowe, brainstorming ideas, developing admissions strategies, essay review, and mock interview sessions to develop amazing student profiles, our clients stand out and are accepted into Ivy League and highly selective colleges/universities and BS/MD programs
SUNY Albany has informed (2023) applicants that SUNY Upstate Medical University, its affiliated medical school with the BS/MD program “has made the decision to conclude the Upstate Accelerated Scholarship program to new applicants effective immediately.”
SUNY Upstate Medical University and Alnaby had an established partnership to form the Upstate Accelerated Scholars Program (UAS).
Since the SUNY Albany will no longer be accepting applicants, the competition to gain admissions into BS/MD programs will now increase because there will be fewer programs.
Now it has become even more competitive as more BS/MD programs have closed and the number slots are dwindling!
SUNY Polytechnic Institute has informed (2023) applicants that SUNY Upstate Medical University, its affiliated medical school with the BS/MD program “has made the decision to conclude the Upstate Accelerated Scholarship program to new applicants effective immediately.”
SUNY Upstate Medical University and SUNY Polytechnic had an established partnership to form the Upstate Accelerated Scholars Program (UAS).
Since the SUNY Polytechnic Institute will no longer be accepting applicants, the competition to gain admissions into BS/MD programs will now increase because there will be fewer programs.
Now it has become even more competitive as more BS/MD programs have closed and the number slots are dwindling!
The Pingry School is ranked by Niche as: 1st on its list of 2023 Best Private K-12 Schools in New Jersey and #2 Best Private K-12 Schools in America! Pingry has a Niche grade of A+. With three campuses totaling 303 acres in New Jersey: Short Hills-Lower School: grades K-5, Basking Ridge-Middle/Upper School: grades 6-12 and the new Pottersville Campus-Experiential Learning: grades K-12, Pingry provides an unmatched learning environment and experience to it over 1200 students.
We toured the entire campus. We observed polite and very happy children. All the teachers we met were happy, enthusiastic and engaged. The school just bustles with multiculturalism and energy!
“To be a student at Pingry is to live life fully, to experience it intensely, and to explore friendships and learning in ways that feel both uniquely independent and yet fully intertwined with the community.” – The Pingry School, Community Life
Here are some interesting Pingry facts:
Average class size – 15
Teachers: 74% hold advanced degrees and 7 hold doctorates
School Clubs – 130
Tuition in Grades K-5: $42,409
Tuition in Grades 6-8: $48,603
Tuition in Grades 9-12: $49,900
Pingry’s college matriculation rate to Ivy League and highly selective colleges and universities is high. Here is a list of several colleges/universities attended: 2018-2021.
Harvard (7)
Yale (11)
U Penn (16)
Brown (10)
Cornell (11)
Dartmouth (7)
Columbia (13)
Stanford (4)
Northwestern (10)
University of Chicago (12)
Duke (10)
Georgetown (15)
Colgate (10)
Dr. Lowe and his team physically visit schools and actively interact with school admissions personnel, senior administrators and students. My clients are, therefore, placed in the most appropriate school for their (and their parents’) happiness. My approach ensures that your child will be placed in the best and most appropriate top-choice school.
Dr. Paul Reginald Lowe is the managing director and lead admissions expert at Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group’s Boarding School Admissions Consultants. and affiliate of Private School Admissions Advisors. Dr. Lowe specializes in providing exclusive concierge-type admissions advisory services for U.S. and international students who are interested in applying to top U.S. boarding and private schools. Dr. Lowe helps U.S. and international students gain admissions into top U.S. boarding schools even after they have been wait-listed and rejected. Dr. Lowe and his team of admissions advisors also visit prestigious and elite private schools, where they have the unique opportunity of interacting one-on-one with heads of schools, directors of admissions and senior admissions personnel.
At BS/MD Admissions, Dr. Paul Lowe and his team of advisors discern that many students and parents are clueless about what to do, when to do it, where to do it, who to contact, and why do it. They fail to discover what they are doing that’s wrong, or they discover what they’ve been doing is wrong when it’s too late!
If you are a high school junior or your son or daughter is a high school junior and you are thinking about applying to direct BS/MD programs, it’s time to get really serious about either planning or implementing your plans.
Most students (even with the help of their parents) read books, look at videos or visit college forum-type websites which they believe may provide personalized answers for them.
Many parents who call us (and whose children are performing the above and have the below profile profile) then believe that their child is a shoo-in for BS/MD programs and just need “some” advice.
Here is the typical BS/MD applicant-student profile of students when parents contact us:
GPA: 3.9 (UW) 4.6
ACT: 35
SAT: 1580
APs: usually 10 -14 classes
Honors/Awards: several
Teacher/Counselor Recommendations: Excellent
Resume: 2-3 pages
Volunteer: Several organizations
Shadowed Doctors: 2-3
Extracurricular Activities: Several
Published a paper: 1-2
Laboratory Research: Participated and/or possibly published
With all of the above you would believe that this student will definitely be accepted – WRONG! This is only half of the equation!
Here’s a list of factors by admissions expert, Dr. Paul Lowe that you should consider if you are a junior seriously thinking about applying to BS/MD programs.
Student CHARACTER – Personality counts! What’s your “je ne sais quoi”?
The HOOK – If you don’t have a hook, the admissions committee will not grab you!
The STORY – It’s all about the story and how it’s framed and presented! No good story, no acceptance! Certain rejection!
Common Application: PERSONAL STATEMENT – Meaningful, well-written and convincing personal statement needed. No flow, harmony, tone combined with gravitas – rejection!
COLLEGE-SPECIFIC SUPPLEMENTALS – You must complement and synergize your supplementals with your personal statement. All the school-specific essays are important, even the 50 word-count answers! Students have been rejected because of mistakenly using one word or a sentence in 50 word-count essays!
COLLEGE-SPECIFIC-BS/MD ESSAYS – The “Why doctor essay?” “I want to help people”. Everyone in the service industry does that!
COLLEGE APPLICATION VIDEO ESSAY – Schools are seriously viewing these videos. Brown PLME application includes an optional video.
The effective and bold RESUME – It’s not just about a 2–3-page resume with lots of research and extracurricular activities which is just a list. It has to be framed correctly or it looks boring and generic!
EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES – Are your extracurricular activities meaningless or meaningful? Do they really interconnect to your student profile in a meaningful way? Have you become the jack-of-all extracurricular activities? The master of none? Are you a drive-by extracurricular activities person?
VOLUNTEERISM – It’s not just about tutoring underprivileged children, participating in an ESVE (Expensive Summer Volunteer Activity) or starting your own nonprofit organization. There is more to volunteering than just volunteering!!!
WOW FACTOR – What’s your WOW Factor? How and when can you use it to WOW admissions? You want the admissions committee to say “WOW! We want this applicant on our campus.”
INTERVIEWS – You may seemingly be all that on paper; grades, SATs recommendations, volunteering to save the world, 1000 hours of shadowing, however, one incorrect word or statement in an interview results in a rejection – That’s right, just one!
ETIQUETTE – Think that doesn’t matter? Think that’s old-school? Think again! Are you mindful of how you present yourself and how people perceive you? It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it! Etiquette matters! We provide personalized etiquette strategies for our clients.
MANNERS– When you say something (or write something) what counts is not what you mean but how you are heard and perceived. Are you mindful of your manners? Manners matters! Do you know when or if you sound rude, pretentious, impolite, disrespectful, unrefined or uncultured?
WHO ARE YOU? – What are your values? What do you stand for? Can you define you? Why are you different?
DIVERSITY – What’s your diversity intelligence? What’s the meaning of diversity to you? It’s not just a word to be used throughout an essay. It’s not just about being a member of your school’s diversity club. Colleges seek students who truly understand the meaning of diversity. Diversity matters!
UNCONSCIOUS BIAS – It may occur at any time, at any level or at any stage during your admissions process. Can you identify it? How must you successfully deal with it? How do you overcome it for successful admissions decisions?
UNIVERSITY PRIORITIES – Colleges are not accepting applicants for just top grades and their perceived amazing resumes and achievements; they are continually adjusting and building diverse campus communities and future global networks based on geopolitics, geo-economics and their financials. School admissions policies and institutional priorities change year to year and region to region to match their goals. What makes you believe that you know these policies and priorities better than a boutique admissions firm that has superior access to current information and admissions trends?
The KNOW-HOW. So, you really believe it’s just (1-18)? You need the Know How: How do you do the right-things the right-way and with the right-people at the right-time? Our proprietary-knowledge, unmatched experience, admissions success and years of close working relationships with admissions professionals ensures that you do it right!
So, you really believe that factors 13-18 are unimportant? Think again!
If you know how to plan, develop and implement (1-19) and how they are used in BS/MD admissions – that’s wonderful!!! But if you don’t, there is an increased probability that you (and your child) will make irrevocable mistakes that will cause instant rejections to all schools. Would you want this to happen after your years of planning as a parent and your child’s hard work?
The parents who retain Dr. Paul Lowe and his team of consultants may take risks in business and investments, but not risks in their children’s educational future – to become a medical doctor. The ones who do take risks in their children’s education – 95% of them bet WRONG!
Princeton University is the highest-ranked Ivy League school in The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse Rankings – 2024
Here is a list the top ten:
Princeton University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Yale University
Stanford University
Columbia University
Harvard University
University of Pennsylvania
Amherst College
Claremont McKenna College
Babson College
The WSJ/THE College Pulse Rankings takes a different approach as compared to other rankings; it emphasizes the return on investment students see after they graduate. Schools that fare the best on this list have graduates who generally are satisfied with their educational experience and land relatively high-paying jobs that can help them pay down student loans.” These two factors are clearly why our clients retain us as admissions advisors who specialize in Ivy League admissions: Ivy League Admissions Advisors and seek the personalized superior admissions advice from Dr. Paul Lowe.
My team and I personally visit top colleges three times annually to understand each of their ever changing and unique admissions policies as well as the campus environment. As a result, we garner and develop our proprietary knowledge to help our clients achieve admissions success.
For almost 27 years, I have been writing about the changes and nuances in college admissions.
The Supreme Court’s ruling against Harvard University and University of North Carolina could lead to an admissions system that is even more subjective and mysterious, as colleges try to follow the law but also admit a diverse class of students. The Ivy League colleges and universities and BS/MD programs are aware that a diverse class leads the enhanced learning for alumni and future medical doctors.
Officials at some selective institutions have predicted that there would be less emphasis on standardized metrics like test scores and class rank, and more emphasis on personal qualities, told through recommendations and the application essay — the opposite of what many opponents of affirmative action had hoped for.
It would be nearly impossible, however, to eliminate any mention or suggestion of race in the admissions process — starting with applicants’ names. What is certain is that admissions committees can surmise in many cases based on years of reviewing applications and technology, an applicant’s race, cultural background and socio-economic caste.
Additionally, “Landscape”, developed by the College Board, is a tool meant to help admissions offices go beyond test scores and GPAs and considers what applicant have achieved in the context of where they’ve learned and lived.
Another factor (caused indirectly by SCOTUS) that will affect admissions – review of legacy admissions. Applicants whose siblings were admitted will now face admissions committees that will not factor in the legacy component.
What do the above changes mean for the college admissions environment for high school classes: 2024, 2025 and 2026?
My firm, in predicting the outcome, has already developed strategies and an admissions network and contacts to further increase our clients’ chances of admissions!…If you believe that your child’s chances will not be affected by the SCOTUS decision, think again!We have had meetings with BS/MD program and Ivy League admissions officers and understand how the decision will affect student applications!
NEW National Association for College Admission Counseling – State of College Admission 2023 Data Release – School Counseling: Caseloads and Responsibilities indicate the following:
(1) During the 2021-22 academic year, each public school counselor was responsible for overseeing 405 students, on average, which exceeds the 250-to-1 maximum ratio recommended by the American School Counselor Association.
(2) School counselors at public schools spend 26% (at private schools: 51%) of their time on post-secondary (college admissions) counseling.
Over the past 27 years, my team and I have complemented the college admissions tasks of school counselors and, at times, worked collaboratively with them to help our clients gain admissions into Ivy League and highly selective colleges and universities and BS/MD programs!
It’s a WIN-WIN for students (our clients – international and U.S.) and their school counselors!
Dr. Paul Lowe - Admissions Expert 