SUNY Poly, Upstate Medical University partner on accelerated-scholars program

SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) and Upstate Medical University in Syracuse say selected students can pursue degrees at both institutions under Upstate’s accelerated-scholars program (ASP).

It would allow dual acceptance to selected high-school seniors interested in pursuing a doctoral medical degree at Upstate Medical University after earning a bachelor’s degree at SUNY Poly, per a SUNY Poly news release. SUNY Poly has campuses near Utica (Marcy) and in Albany.

The agreement allows up to five “interested and qualified” high-school students to enroll in any bachelor’s-degree program at SUNY Poly, starting in the fall of 2020. It guarantees acceptance into Upstate Medical’s College of Medicine upon completion of their undergraduate degree.

Accepted students would not be required to take the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and would be automatically enrolled in Upstate Medical’s Doctor of Allopathic Medicine program.

In order to qualify for ASP, a prospective high-school student must have an “excellent” school record with a minimum grade-point average of 3.50, or 90 percent; an SAT score of 1,360 or better, or an ACT score of at least 29; and participate in volunteer work and extra-curricular activities that demonstrate experience in a health-care setting.

Each student accepted into ASP would have a pre-medical advisor in addition to an undergraduate advisor.

The program was “proactively” designed to help mitigate an expected shortage of medical doctors by 2035 and “attract a more diverse” medical workforce with knowledge in areas outside of medicine, Krystal Ripa, director of special admissions programs at Upstate Medical, said in the SUNY Poly news release.

“We’re seeing a need for physicians to also have training that’s more well rounded so they can serve a more diverse population of patients, which we consciously need to be thinking about as we are selecting applicants,” Ripa said. “We are so excited.”

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com