Hi all, I’m a current Junior and I’m currently looking at applying to these schools. Can I please have some feedback on how they are for Pre-Med as well as any other schools you’d reccomend applying to?
Siena College
Stony Brook
Boston University
Emory University
John Hopkins University
UNC Chapel Hill
Cornell University (Reach School)
Thank you!
For a range of ideas for schools, you can read through here:
http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/lists/list/the-experts-choice-colleges-with-great-pre-med-programs/199/
Note, however, that many excellent options would not be included in the above, so it would be best to consider the source as simply a reasonable sampling of what might be available to you.
Learn what it takes to get into med school by 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.
Asking about “good premed programs” leads many into a trap, since they are told to consider acceptance numbers. For med school admissions the college acceptance numbers are meaningless. Impressive rates boil down to one of two things, great students or screening. It’s no surprise that kids that can get into elite colleges like Stanford or Middlebury do well in med school admissions 4 years later. Or the school aggressively uses their “committee letter” and only recommends the best kids. A regular poster used to chime in on posts like this to recommend one such school, Holy Cross.
Any college in the country offers the lower-division science and math tested on the MCAT. Whether you work work for good grades, get to know some profs so you get strong recs, take part in appropriate ECs, and develop compelling essays is up to you. The best colleges say as much.
The real question to address at this point is not what college, but why an M.D? Have you looked into the medical field and considered the alternatives? From the day you start college it will be 11-15 years before you are a practicing doctor. Its almost a reflex action among HS kids, they think of a career in medicine and its “I’m pre-med!” Doctors are far from the only ones in the health field that help people. Physical therapists, radiology techs, nurses, speech pathologists, physician assistants, to name but just a few. Spend a few hours browsing on http://explorehealthcareers.org Unless you’ve considered the alternatives and have spent time actually working in a health care setting (which is an unofficial requirement to get into med school, BTW) its better to think of yourself as interested in exploring a career as a doctor rather than someone who has already made the decision.
Yes, as Amherst reports, undergrad schools do not get students into med school.
[QUOTE=""]
Amherst College has no magic touch that automatically elevates a student's chances of entering medical school simply by virtue of the student's coming to Amherst; no college or university has that kind of magic touch.
[/QUOTE]
Getting into med school depends on:
Completing the premed prereqs, which are regular college classes that other STEM students take. They aren’t special classes, and they don’t do anything unique to help you with the MCAT.
All good schools are fine for premeds.
Med school is very expensive, so try to minimize your costs for undergrad.
Successful premeds are usually the strongest students at their college (top 10-25%). They’ve survived the heavy weeding process that goes on at every school.
Going to a tippy-top school has its drawbacks since all the premed classmates will all be tippy-top students and therefore it becomes more difficult to get the needed A’s in the weedout classes. If you pick a tippy top school, then you should be in the top 10% at that school.
Talk to your parents about how much they’ll spend on undergrad.
These are also reach schools… Cornell is NOT the only reach on your list.
Emory
John Hopkins University (it’s actually Johns Hopkins Univ…not John)
UNC Chapel Hill
Cornell University (Reach School)
If you’re not instate for UNC, why do you have it on your list?
Where do you live? Do you have good in-state state universities to choose from? If you want to go to med school, then you need to minimize debt for undergrad and if possible have money left in your college fund when you are applying to med schools. As other comments have said, you would like to be in the top 25% or less of the students going into your undergraduate program, because you will need to get a LOT of A’s in hard classes in order to get into medical school.