Good for you in starting the process at this point. I will make it much easier to accomplish all that you need to do to be the strongest possible BS/MD candidate.

For doctor shadowing you can start with a family doctor to see if that person would allow you to follow them around. Most doctors enjoy helping young students if they know you are interested in becoming a physician. Even if your family doctor can’t let you shadow, they may know someone who can get you this experience. Also, if your parents have any friends that are doctors or if any of your friends have parents who are doctors, that can be a way to find someone to shadow.

For research, again if you or your parents know someone who works at a local college or university you can see if they can get you in touch with a professor doing research. Most of the students I work with do their research at a local college.

The other option, and one that many students take, is to find professors, typically in the biology or chemistry departments or at the medical school if there is one and just call and ask if you can volunteer in their lab. Research experience is typically done in the summer when everyone has more time to spend on the research. Let them know you are interested in science and research, you are a strong student and that you are looking for experience. You should start looking for this type of experience usually in January for the following summer. Some professors will prefer to have older students so it might be easier to get a position the summer before your senior year. Don’t get discouraged if you can’t find something the first few years. On the other hand, if you can find something, that can work out very well.

I hope that helps.

Like most highly selective programs, grades and test scores are the most important. Most BS/MD programs have minimum requirements of top 10% of your class or a 3.8 or better GPA. The most competitive students will be in the top 1 or 2% of the class. Most BS/MD programs also require around a 1,400 on the SAT critical reading and math portions. Of course those are minimum requirements. Many programs also want to see SAT subject test scores as well. The higher your test scores the more competitive you will be. Keeping your grades up and preparing for the SAT and SAT subject tests will be very beneficial.

To strengthen your application you should also have experience shadowing at least one physician and several would not be a bad idea. Ideally, you would also have research experience at some point during high school. Most successful BS/MD students do some research at a local college during one of the summers of high school. Very often this is in some health related field.

If you do this, you should be competitive for a BS/MD program. However, these programs are so competitive that even the best prepared students are often not admitted. But, if you have the basic qualifications to apply to a BS/MD program you will also put yourself in a very competitive position for a regular undergraduate program in case you don’t get admitted to a BS/MD program.

As I indicated in the article, the focus is one why you wish to become a a doctor and why you want a BS/MD program instead of the regular route to medical school. There will often also be questions about your resume and in particular your experiences shadowing a doctor and any research experience you have.

It is also common to have questions asked that relate to current topics in medicine and in particular medical ethics. Questions may be asked about what you think about stem cell research or end of life issues. Whether you are for or against a particular issue doesn’t generally matter, it is your ability to articulate your thoughts and to be able to provide a reasoned argument that is important.

I hope that helps give you a little more insight into the BS/MD interview.

There are several programs in the Chicago area. Northwestern University has a BS/MD program, known as HPME. Illinois Institute has a BS/MD program with Rush University Medical Center and a BS/DO program with Midwestern University’s Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. Finally, the University of Illinois at Chicago has a BS/MD program.

However, you should be aware that all of the programs that I am aware of limit admission into these programs to incoming freshman only.