By Alexandra Salerno
Advisory Editor
The third Thursday of March, dubbed Match Day, is a day when graduating medical students learn which residency program they’ve been assigned to, which is chosen by a complicated computer algorithm. Students across the country learn where they will spend the next seven years of their lives, and among them is the first graduating class of the St. Bonaventure – George Washington School of Medicine dual degree program.
The SBU-GW dual degree program is one of several health care programs offered by St. Bonaventure but according to Monica Thomas, director of Franciscan Health Care Programs, it is the most popular.
The most recent recruitment season garnered approximately 300 applicants to the program and resulted in 72 St. Bonaventure interviews. Of those interviewees, St. Bonaventure chooses 23 to attend interviews with George Washington. In turn, 10 to 15 students were then accepted to the program.
“These are top-notch students from across the country,” Thomas said.
Abhi Aggarwal, a class of 2016 MD candidate at George Washington University, graduated from St. Bonaventure in 2012 as a member of the SBU-GW combined degree program.
“I chose the program because of the urban and rural experiences we receive,” Aggarwal said. “We get to see how health care operates in a hospital like Olean General and then move to a huge city. That dichotomy of what we see as students at Bonaventure and as students at George Washington is a huge difference.”
To remain the program during the undergraduate phase-one stage, students are required to maintain certain requirements including a 3.6 overall GPA, 3.6 math and sciences GPA and B- or better in every class.
“We have a rigorous chemistry, physics and biology program here, and our students are well prepared to move to GW,” Thomas said.
The program especially appeals to students because there is no minimum MCAT requirement.
“As a senior in high school, I knew I wanted to do medicine and I was interested in BS-MD programs,” junior biology and psychology major and SBU-GW duel degree program member Arun Muthiah said. “It takes the stress out of it having a guaranteed seat.”
For Divya Kurian, a class of 2016 MD candidate at George Washington University who graduated from St. Bonaventure in 2012, the best part of the combined degree program is the camaraderie within the group.
“There were fifteen of us who knew each other,” she said. “We grew up together and I brought my entire friend group from Bonaventure to GW.”
salernak10@bonaventure.edu
