A Debate Among Friends

<p>Some of my friends and I were arguing over which schools would have the most rigorous pre-med program. (Please believe me when I say that we DO have lives haha) I guess that also entails the most difficult bio major?? Anyways, the the aforementioned schools were Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, WUSTL, Cornell, and Berkeley. Which schools do y'all think would be the most arduous for medical school? Which would be the easiest? I wonder which one of us will be right. lol</p>

<p>And the argument ensues…</p>

<p>I don’t know anything about pre-med, but I would just straight up ask which schools have the most rigorous pre-med programs. The argument you had with your friends is irrelevant to your question.</p>

<p>Pre-med is going to be rigorous anywhere you go, but I imagine that at schools where the students are more competitive (such as those you’ve listed), a lot of extra tension is created. It’s not like the pre-med coursework at an Ivy is all that much more difficult than at a state school - it’s all the same material; it’s just that the Ivy students tend to be more competitive.</p>

<p>Duke’s BME programm is #1 in the country. All the pre-med kids are insane.</p>

<p>I just wonder why all the hoopla about pre-med. I mean is organic chemistry really that different from one school to the next? It seems as if the material for med school shouldn’t be that hard, I mean bio, physics, chem, and some math. That doesn’t sound particularly difficult so I don’t understand why people are constantly complaining about how “hard” pre med is.</p>

<p>I can’t tell if Dbate’s post is sarcasm or not. Anyone?</p>

<p>I am not being sarcastic at all. Physics and Bio are really easy topics. I don’t have as much exposure to chemistry so I can not gauge how difficult those it is, but overwhelmingly looking at the course work pre med does not seem to be that difficult in terms of coursework. So I don’t understand why people constantly complain, I think people just like to complain about things. Because honestly most things are easy.</p>

<p>None of the above
Davidson has the toughest hands down</p>

<p>I really don’t understand the logic that somehow coursework at one school is going to more difficult than at another. I mean bio is bio, chem is chem. I mean are they teaching super chem at schools like Harvard. The students are smarter but that does not mean the classes are harder or more advanced. And to prove the point I am going to Yale and for each class: chem and physics they have different levels to take. One being advanced and the other normal, but both qualify as fulfilling the premed requirements. This is at Yale, so how can pre med be difficult if there are even varying levels of difficulty within a university.</p>

<p>I think it’s more the fact that you need to keep a very high GPA.</p>

<p>Also, some schools are notorious for deflating grades and making a good gpa extremely hard to come by. So in our argument we were wondering what people think would be the hardest of the group (and/or easiest). Could we see some opinions? I know that opinions on CC do not validate anything, but it is nice to see some comments about the schools listed. lol</p>

<p>Anyways, my hat goes off to JHU.</p>

<p>I’ve heard various anecdotes, and yes, I know that the plural of anecdote is not data, that they’re way overcompetitive (among pre-meds anyways).</p>

<p>I’m going to Berkeley next year and I’m not pre-med or anything, but from what I’ve heard so far, Berkeley’s pre-med is not super-intense. I mean, it’s tough, but the business school is way more competitive, and so that’s what everyone talks about, not pre-med.</p>

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<p>being a pre-med is more like (unfortunately) playing a game. you need experience, research (preferably), high GPA, good advising (here is where, as #14 stated, is cal falters significantly for pre-med students), etcetc. premed is stressful 'cause there are a lot of students who think they are going to be doctors, and so science classes have harsh curves. </p>

<p>lots of students in a class (ie my orgo class is around 50 people, whereas its ~400 at my friends’ schools) makes it even harder. additionally, my orgo class is curved to a B+/A- (lOL YAY!), whereas others have the curve set to a C-. bigg difference. </p>

<p>some schools are just better able to prepare you. some schools are extremely competitive in nature (ie stealing notes, models, etc), while some are cohesive and collaborative.</p>

<p>I am glad I am going to Yale then, because looking for the stats of people who have been admitted to medical school the average was only 3.67. Now is a 3.67 really THAT hard to maintain? Also research, shadowing, and advising is absolutely abundant so perhaps it is schools that lack such that make being a pre med hard.</p>

<p>I have heard horror stories about universities with extremely hard pre med courses to weed out over half of the pool. For example, I heard Northwestern’s organic chem was a nightmare. </p>

<p>P.s. Yale has fabulous grade inflation. You are set!</p>

<p>yeah lol hyps (not M here, for sure) are generally good pre-med schools lol</p>

<p>Dbate, although Yale has great grade inflation, if you go in thinking a 3.67 isn’t that hard to maintain you’re going to have your ass handed to you. Most premed classes are graded on a curve (i.e. only 10% will get an A, 15% an A-, 30% B+, 30% B, etc) and so on. So even if you think you’re getting a great curve (like the one I just listed) you’re competing with your peers for a relatively inflexible amount of good grades and that’s what makes premed tough. Also you have to take a large swath of science classes so while someone may love bio they’ll struggle with physics or vice-versa. Finally the labs are the silent killers from what I’ve heard. (I’m not a premed, but I have a lot friends who are.) Even though I do agree that people love to complain about things more than is warranted you should realize that there is often some truth to it.</p>

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For future reference, take Princeton off that acronym when talking about premed schools.</p>

<p>They’re known to have grade deflation.</p>