My son is in the middle of the decision making process of where he wants to go to college. For the most part we (single mom & son) agree on pros and cons of the schools he has applied and been accepted but I am looking for some additional parenting-adult input. His goal is medical school so that played some role in deciding the schools to apply but now that he has been accepted he has to decide which one. He has been accepted to UK, UT, Sewanee, Rhodes and MTSU. Any input is greatly appreciated.
Is that UT Tennessee or Texas (or Toledo)?
Some things to consider for pre-med
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Cost. Medical school is horrendously expensive. Pre-meds are strongly advised to minimize undergrad debt. If your son is OOS for UK (or UT), did he receive merit that will reduce his OOS costs? Sewanee and Rhodes are private. Did he receive merit or need-based aid that will reduce your OOP costs to close to what your in-state costs are?
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Opportunity. I know that UK, UT, Rhodes and Sewanee have close by access to hospitals and clinics that your son will need to complete the clinical volunteering expected of pre-meds. What about MTSU? What about access to lab research opportunities? That’s another expected pre-med EC.
Are there majors, aside from pre-med, at each of these schools that your son may find attractive? (Why? Because no matter how sure your son is now about pre-med, he may not feel the same 2 or 3 years from now. The vast, vast majority of freshmen pre-meds never apply to med school. Academics/GPA are not the main reason they change their minds either.)
Truthfully, for pre-meds, most undergrads will provide the necessary educational classes to fulfill med school admission requirements. So that’s not a concern. And it’s pretty much true that a student can be a successful med school applicant coming from just about any college in the US. The responsibility for preparing a strong med school application falls squarely on the shoulder of the student.
Also, med schools are pretty agnostic about the name of the undergrad a student attends. Achievements and stats are much more important than the name of the undergrad attended. (In my N=2 sample, I had one D go to a pricey private and one to the local state U. Outcome: both received multiple med school acceptances and both are now physicians in their specialty of choice.) Med school admission is all about the student and their achievements.
So I would suggest that you and your son base your decision on which school offers your son the best combination of fit, cost and opportunity.
Sewanee student here! I know you wanted “adult input” and I’m not on the pre-med track so I don’t know how helpful this will be. However, I do know pre-med students often get the opportunity to work alongside professors on research and be published in reputable journals. There’s also a cool program for those on the pre-med track to do medical work in Greece over the summer or do research and get experience at Vanderbilt. Everyone I know on the pre-med track likes it and is involved in other campus activities too, so it’s not completely draining of your time.
You’ll be surprised how many times we hear “doctor” on this forum. EVERY smart kid coming out of HS wants to be a doctor. Almost none of them actually go. As they mature, they find hidden passions in other areas. My best advice would be to choose a school that’s both affordable and flexible.
University of Tennessee
COSTS are your biggest obstacles to med school, so you want to keep the costs of undergrad to a minimum.
Funding for med school is loans, loans, loans.
My dd’s roommates all are using loans to fund their med school educations. There is no real merit money, and very limited need-based funding to pay for med school since each med student would qualify for everything. Where would that money come from?
We are fortunate to have saved money and will continue coupon clipping for a while (driving old cars, fixing our own plumbing, electrical, duct-taping, etc.) and both my husband and I earn pretty strong salaries. We pay cash for everything. Two more years and they’ll be done!!!
Just curious–what’s his top choice so far and why? Plus, what’s your net prices at Sewanee, Rhodes and UTK?
His first choice of all that he has been accepted thus far is UK, although there is some financial support there is not nearly as much as the in-state universities. We are in the process of jumping through all the hoops for everything he can get and so far it is looking like Sewanee will be the one with the least amount out of pocket.
@TNBoymom Given how much med school costs, unless there’s some strong overriding reason to not take the best deal for undergrad, I agree with everyone’s advice to do so. Sewanee is small enough that I’ll bet they would put you in touch with a couple of recent grads who are in medical school or residency, and those former students would probably be your best bet for information. How well did they feel the college prepared them for the MCAT? How did they feel about the quality of pre-med advising? Is there college committee that selects and backs its medical school applicants? I’d ask these students not only about themselves but about their fellow students who also aspired to medical school. How many stuck with the plan, and if not, why not? Did they fall in love with something else, or are there a certain pre-med class professors who crush many students’ GPAs? (A small college won’t have as many professor choices, so if the only prof who teaches a pre-health requirement is awful, students may be at their mercy.)
If Sewanee is willing to cut him a nice deal, they should be willing to take the time to get you a few names. Plus, if a current med student or resident is willing to take the time to answer some questions from your son, that would suggest they liked their experience there well enough to want to help it attract another strong student.
Any college in the country offers the lower-division science and math needed by premeds. Whether a kid works for good grades, get to know some profs so they get strong recs, take part in appropriate ECs, and develop compelling essays is up to them.
Your son should be thinking about why an M.D? When a lot of HS kids think of a career in medicine it becomes “I’m pre-med!” and happily embark on a track that will take 11+ years of school/training plus enormous debt. Doctors are far from the only ones in the health field that help people. Physical therapists, radiology techs, nurses, speech pathologists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, to name but just a few. as you can see on http://explorehealthcareers.org Unless he’s carefully considered the alternatives and has spent time actually working in a health care setting (which is an unwritten requirement to get into med school and is actually required for some other medical fields) its better to think of him as interested in exploring a career as a doctor rather than someone who has already made the decision.
I’d say the most important thing to do now and next summer is to get a job or volunteer position in a medical setting (volunteer in a hospital, etc). This will give him a better sense if medicine is a fit, if being a doctor is the right choice in medicine. An additional benefit is increasing the motivation to persevere thru the hard work it takes as a pre-med. A lot of kids that throw in the towel (maybe 4 out of 5 entering as pre-med) because they were never that committed in the first place.
As for getting into med school, he can learn what it takes reading thru the very informative https://www.rhodes.edu/sites/default/files/PreMed_Essentials.pdf. There is also a good handbook at https://www.amherst.edu/campuslife/careers/gradstudy/health/guide and no doubt many other websites, as well as books.