<p>Colorado College is a living, breathing contradiction. Overall, I’d say the campus is liberal, but Springs itself falls more into conservative to libertarian range. (The AF Academy is in Springs, so are the headquarters to a number of conservative politico-religious organizations–like Focus on the Family) </p>
<p>So while the majority of the campus leans left, there is also a strong contervaling conservative presence on campus.</p>
<p>I have a friend’s daughter who went to Rhodes and loved it! She finished med school this past spring.</p>
<p>My son starts at Wash U in the fall. Being accepted is very competitive, he had great ECs and a 34 ACT and we were not sure if would be accepted. It was his first choice, so we were pleased with his acceptance. The general atmosphere of campus life seems much more collaborative among the students than competitive. I would strongly encourage you to do a campus visit if your child looks at the university on-line and it seems like a possible fit. </p>
<p>Also, you didn’t have Rice on your list. They were on our top 10 list. They have a program for freshman that partners with Baylor Medical School. If your child is truly interested in pre-med, you may want to check into that program as well.</p>
<p>Both mine went to Rice and LOVED it. Very collaborative, fun, lac-like in size, rez college system and tons of opportunities for research and medical work…next to the largest medical center in the world!!!</p>
<p>wowmom, thanks for the input. yes, we are scattered. bewildered actually! 
THere are just so many good choices, and overall it seems it is most about where you find a good fit. COULD he thrive at any of the above?? …yes, I am sure he could. As to primary concern? “will it get him where he wants to be” is the primary concern. and that is the problem, so many roads will get him where he wants to go, it is picking one. To answer your specific questions, cost isn’t a huge issue, (have mentioned geo location), school size is not important in LAC, public u’s honor program a plus (to size it down) but in general size isn’t THE issue, merit potentional is always good but again, not mentioned as it is not a determining issue, gender balance (coed is a must, balanced not), LAC preferred, research univ. seem to suffer at the undergraduate level, often, not always. NOT interested in being taught by TAs, for example. Number of premeds not an issue, more an issue is a negative competitive relation with other premeds, or a more cooperative atmosphere. Hope that helps, I AM new here and a bit overwhelmed with the info, the decision, etc. THX!</p>
<p>miami, won’t know the $ given til applications are in (yes some give idea online). but good advising is important. thanks</p>
<p>plum. thanks, i think the problem is, any of the choices could work. you CAN find whatever you want at most schools…hence, the problem.</p>
<p>rereading my post, seems somewhat consistent to me that a few things are ‘ironed out’. </p>
<p>south and southeast up to northeast.</p>
<p>good sciences, good advising, no grade Deflation, research opportunities, cooperative/collaborative students (not overly internally competitive), not overly liberal atmosphere, greek not importatn, football not important, etc…</p>
<p>I would like to add…as so many pre meds change, a LAC that is productive toward law school would be good. I am sure I sound flakey, but at 17, who can tell for sure ANYTHING!! He does ‘like’ school, so advanced degrees are a sure thing.</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>@MiamiDAP: How do you recommend checking if an institution has good pre-med advisory/committee?</p>
<p>anxious mom, love your name, btw. wow, that is great, getting into rice is no small feat. being close to houston, son’s hs is a tough one to get in from. top ten or so kids, only. so, i don’t think he has a shot. have they seen the environment collaborative? or internally very competitive (what ARE the schools that are reputed to be cut throat internally, as so many here say they aren’t??). congrats! good genes over there!!</p>
<p>newcrew, i am aware of the rice/baylor link. very competitive, and being top 15%, 4.1GPA, 33ACT, I don’t think he has a shot at it. we will visit wash u. glad you are happy there.</p>
<p>wowmom, yes, i see that! quite a contradiction indeed! WILL consider, as great part of the country!</p>
<p>consolation, finally a place where we are a minority!! williams, that is. have heard same about vermont. any med info there? i’ll check it out.</p>
<p>bartlybee, not interested in ivy ug. fortunately. top 15% won’t get in.</p>
<p>patsmom, yes, i am familiar with davidson. not sure what research/hospital opportunities are there, being a small town, but a lovely place, and quite a reputation. thanks for mentioning.</p>
<p>whenhen, thanks for your perspective on emory, are you a student there?</p>
<p>Well, D2 attended a well-known for pre med (AKA a “pre med factory”), smallish (<6,000 undergrads) research U in the NE. She was never taught by TAs. Students were aware of each other as competition, but the competition was friendly and the student quite cooperative with each other. (No sabotaging, no cut-throat atmosphere. Lots of cooperative study groups. Minimal screen for committee letters.) School is reputed to have excellent pre-med advising. (Although I haven’t been especially impressed…).</p>
<p>I can say the same exact things about D1’s big state school including that she was never taught by a TA either.</p>
<p>(Both D1 and D2 actually worked as TAs, though. Both TAed recitations–which is commonplace just about everywhere.)</p>
<p>Again, you can find just about everything you list at variety of schools of all sorts. You probably need to narrow your and his focus/wish list down more.</p>
<p>RE: grade deflation. Please realize that at all or nearly colleges and universities of every size that freshman science lectures are going to be big lecture classes (300 at D2’s school, 400+ at D1’s school) and the grading will be curved with the intent to limit the number of As awarded. (This practice is called “weeding”.)</p>
<p>Weeding occurs just about everywhere. (Well, maybe not at Brown ;)) It’s a fact of life for pre meds and for science/engineering fields in general.</p>
<p>As for as advising, I would be more concerned about a school that produced very few pre-meds than a school that produces tons. Few pre-meds means the advisor may not have current experiences and data regarding the med school application process and where their grads have been successful.</p>
<p>~~~~</p>
<p>And netti makes a good point. 75% of all freshmen pre-meds never even apply to med school. The reason often isn’t grades, but rather they find other interests to pursue during college. Make sure there are other opportunities/fields available that your son might find attractive at whatever college he picks.</p>
<p>I just transferred to a school which has my major. I was a student at Oxford College of Emory (the liberal arts college branch of Emory University) this past school year. I’ve spent a lot of time with students at Emory’s main campus, so I’m fairly familiar with its academics and social components.</p>
<p>Davidson is in northern Mecklenburg Co. N.C.
Carolinas Medical Center(huge teaching hospital) in Charlotte is about 20 (interstate) miles south of Davidson.</p>
<p>packmom, thanks. so I presume they work together a lot. How is Davidson for grades? I suppose all these ‘tough’ schools are similar, not trying to cheat the system, just sometimes think no need to beat your head against a wall when there are many ways to get a good education. I will put this one back on my list.</p>
<p>whenhen, congrats to you! i need to learn more about emory. thanks,</p>
<p>If a student is serious about going to med school, then I would recommend going to a school where his stats are well-within the top 25% of the school. </p>
<p>When premed students are “lucky to get in” to top schools, they often find that their premed classmates grab all the limited number of A’s in those weeder classes. </p>
<p>It’s not trying “to cheat the system,” it’s using a thoughtful strategy. My own son did that and he’s starting med school in 2 weeks.</p>
<p>Colorado College has a block system (1 class at a time). Some students love that, but supposedly can make it tricky to get premed pre-reqs.</p>
<p>A friend had a son admitted to a big university he loved, but w/o much scholarship. Reluctantly he choose Stone Hill instead due to scholarships. He’s done very well since then in med school.</p>
<p>mom2. well put, that is what I am talking about. so “stats well within the top 25% of the school”. yes, those a’s are hard to come by if you are not. love to know your son’s stats (privately) just to know this can be done. so ‘reach’ schools don’t make alot of sense for premed. seems so many kids are stretching to get in the ‘best’ school, concerned I am not doing the same. so, relax, I tell myself!! THANKS!</p>
<p>colorado, the block system sounds good to me. lets you focus!</p>
<p>Although I don’t have personal experience with pre-med, I would not discount LACs if S would prefer that environment. My understanding is that you just need a strong GPA and MCAT scores for med school and can major in anything as long as the pre requisites are met. There are an awful lot of very fine LACs in the Midwest (lots in Ohio for instance – Denison, Wooster, Ohio Wesleyan, Oberlin, Kenyon) that give quite a bit of merit aid and that do not have the reputations as being cutthroat.</p>
<p>Or what about some smaller research U’s like Case Western Reserve University or University of Rochester --both give merit aid and are in cities with research opportunities (of course, both have high price tags to start)</p>
<p>“the block system sounds good to me. lets you focus!” - Yes, that’s a huge advantage. But per a friend/doctor that did his undergrad at Colorado College, it was tricky to arrange all the courses he needed. And the 3 week terms that had intense lab courses were brutal.</p>
<p>Consider Trinity College in Hartford, CT. Being from Texas will be a “boost”. The school is near major medical programs. From their website:</p>
<p>“The acceptance rate for students at Trinity applying to all graduate health-care programs is approximately 80%… this number reflects data collected over the last 5 years for students applying to medical (allopathic and osteopathic), dental, veterinary, physician’s assistant, nursing (accelerated), and pharmacy programs. Students who are evaluated by the Healthcare Professions Advising Committee as either Outstanding or Superior Candidates have an acceptance rate of over 90%.”</p>
<p>[Admission</a> Statistics](<a href=“http://www.trincoll.edu/Academics/CareerDevelopment/Students/prehealth/Pages/Admission.aspx]Admission”>http://www.trincoll.edu/Academics/CareerDevelopment/Students/prehealth/Pages/Admission.aspx)</p>
<p>The College of Charleston doesn’t mention much about community opportunities, but seems to have a strong pre-med program (see schools students were admitted to in the document at the bottom of this page: <a href=“Page not found - College of Charleston”>Page not found - College of Charleston;
<p>Could be a “safety” for your student, with the type of smaller-school, liberal arts atmosphere you son is looking for. A wonderful city, too!</p>
<p>33, 3.7 is pretty good. I received multiple full rides, got into a top 3 engineering school, an ivy league school, and a BS/MD program with a 32, 4.0. Don’t cut yourself short. If I were you, I’d take the cheapest, well-reputed option since med school admissions are largely dependent on GPA/MCAT/ECs.</p>
<p>I’d suggest going to a city where the people are nice and there are enough hospitals etc to give you a chance to get some good EC’s while in college.</p>
<p>When I first went to college, I was a stranger in the city. I found myself looking for a mall at 9 p.m and just randomly asked a middle aged lady where I could possibly find one. Ended up walking with her for the next 20 minutes since we were going the same way. </p>
<p>After that, she gave me her card and told me to come by the hospital anytime incase I need help with anything. Turns out she was a surgeon at a really good hospital near by. </p>
<p>It’s a shame I wasnt a pre med or interested at all in medicine. I only realized later on what a great opportunity it would have been for me if I was looking for a extracurricular in medicine.</p>
<p>It’s the little things like this that really make a difference.</p>
<p>have a look at uab in birmingham alabama…with those stats automatic merit that would cover tuition…if nmf then full ride. uab is home of a top 25 med school, very strong sciences…excellent sci/tech honors program… about 11k undergrads, urban campus. campus is surrounded by hospitals to lots of opportunities for volunteering, shadowing etc. excellent opportunities for undergrad research. feel free to pm me with any questions etc…</p>