Any opinions on which would be a better pre-med undergrad institute. Baylor University (Waco, Texas) vs. Union College (Schenectady, New York)?
Union’s website says “Over the past decade, 95 percent of Union’s pre-med graduates have been accepted to medical school” and they have an affiliation with Loma Linda School of Medicine
The only stats I could find on Baylor: “In 2015, out of 270 Baylor students who applied to medical school, 190 got in. That’s a 70% acceptance rate” and there seems to be a general consensus across the web that this 70% acceptance rate is correct.
Ultimately, it is you who will determine whether you get into a medical school based on your UG GPA(sGPA and cGPA), medical ECs, research etc. Both of these will provide you ample opportunities to do required pre-med courses, medical ECs, research etc.
Choose where you think you will shine.
Ignore any numbers/percentages of students admitted to med school a college posts on its website. The data is not reported consistently from school to school. Plus the data is highly manipulated by the colleges to make the school appear more attractive to high school students & their parents.
Affiliated with a med school is meaningless. It doesn’t mean that Union students get special consideration at Loma Linda. (Loma Linda is a religiously affiliated medical school. Seventh Day Adventist. SDA students get preference in admissions as do other applicants from conservative religious denominations.)
Both Union and Baylor use health committee letters of recommendation to control which students are allowed to apply to med school.
This means only those students that the health profession committee believes have a excellent chance of gaining a med school admission are offered a LOR from the school. Not having a committee letter if your college offers one is the kiss of death for any med school aspirations.
Union’s 95% includes those students who are part of the BA/MD program at Union that gives certain students guaranteed admission to Albany Med School.
It's not the school that makes a student a strong applicant for medical school; it's the student him/herself. What you do and what you achieve during college is far more important that the school you choose to attend.
Pick the school that offers you the best combination of--
---cost (because med school is hideously expensive and you will taking out $250K or more in loans to finance your medical education. Pre-meds are advised to minimize undergrad debt as much as possible.)
---opportunity (including the opportunity to form mentoring relationship with professors, to get involved in campus activities and to explore other career paths because most freshmen pre-med will never actually apply to med school, and of those who do apply, 60% will never get an acceptance.)
---fit (because happier students do better academically plus this is 4 years of your life and you should be happy with your life)
As for which undergrad program to choose . . . these two colleges are as different as could be. Baylor is a university, with about 15,000 undergraduates. It is affiliated with the Baptist Church and has a self-described “Christian environment.” I think you’ll find a conservative student body there. https://www.baylor.edu/character/
Union College – which is an excellent school, by the way – is a small liberal arts college with about 2500 students. It’s always been non-denominational. The student body will be more liberal than Baylor’s, although not as liberal as many of the other small liberal arts colleges.
Even now you are not providing which college you are seeking information.
There are few colleges with union. If you are referring PUC, PUC and Baylor are religious affiliated schools and almost around same tuition $40k. If you are from CA, PUC is closer to family support. They claim have arrangement with Loma Linda. Do more research on that point.
As above posts have said, at the end, students prepare for MD admission (and not college names).
@brantly had the details right even if they put Union in the wrong state.
Everything I posted about Union in post#2 is correct. Union does use a committee letter to restrict who the school allows to apply to med school and Union College’s “success” rate for pre-med includes students in its BA/MD program with Albany Medical School who have guaranteed admission to the AMC before they even begin college.
BTW, neither Baylor nor Union specify who the college counts as “pre-med” and neither defines what they mean by “medical school”.
Are you a conservative Christian who wants a more conservative environment? Then Baylor is an easy choice if it’s affordable.
If religion is a non-factor and you’re interested in a STEM-oriented smaller college, then Union is a strong choice.
Were you admitted anywhere else?
I am not really concerned with the religious aspect. I mean I know that ultimately getting into medical school depends heavily on your GPA, MCAT, and ECs. But I know one school has to have an advantage over the other in some kind of way (more opportunities, funding, etc.)
I am still waiting for more decisions! Which are coming in May/early June
Nobody can really answer that question-as has been pointed out previously, most of it is up to you.
But I would be very very skeptical of any UG which claims a 96% success rate; they are clearly manipulating numbers to get such a figure. They do qualify it as “pre-med graduates” which ought to cause you to ask: how many start as pre-meds, and how many actually graduate?. And what’s the actual number of graduates attending medical school, not just the percentage? And how do you define “medical school? etc etc.”
Religion permeates classes, curriculum, and expected behavior at Baylor. They’re the flagship university for Baptists, just like Notre Dame is for Catholics, St Olaf for Lutherans, etc. It’s part and parcel of the identity. So dig a bit into what it means for you because it makes a difference.
I wouldn’t trust those medical school admission stats, especially one that claims a 95% medical school admission rate. Medical school admission doesn’t work that way. They look at grades and MCAT scores. They don’t care where you went, and they ESPECIALLY don’t care about research opportunities. Most undergraduate programs don’t even offer that. If you really want to do medicine, your best chance is in your home state, because state schools give preference to state residents.
A couple of things. There are bits of information on CC that have become the equivalent of convention wisdom, even if they aren’t correct, especially concerning medical school applications.
Truism #1: Medical schools don’t care where you attend UG.
This is not correct; some medical schools do care-Jefferson Medical in Philadelphia, for example(Jeff gets the 8th most applicants) Its #1 listed selection factor: college attended. https://www.jefferson.edu/university/skmc/admissions/selection-factors.html
