Best Colleges for Getting into Med School

If the question is what are the “best” Ivies for pre-med, Brown and Dartmouth are likely on the top with Princeton and Cornell probably at the bottom.

4th year Med Student here…ready to graduate in May and begin Residency in July…I know many folks are quite obsessed with gaining entry into an Ivy and then somehow get the ticket into Med School…does not always work that way as the competition is fierce when you graduate from any college…I’m a Bucknell graduate and felt I was very prepared for the rigor of Med School…I am in a state medical school with quite a number of Ivy and NESCAC grads and I will say there is little way to predict how medical schools pick their incoming classes of students other than to say the best strategy is to apply broadly and do not limit yourself to thinking that you somehow must attend an Ivy Med School in order to become successful…not the case…there are numerous medical schools other then the so-called Top 10 that will provide you with an excellent clinical experience…the ups and downs of medical school are numerous and for some folks despite their collegiate honors and high GPA, and superior LORs (almost everyone apply to medical school has these honors)…they WILL find the overall experience challenging in so many ways…medical school is hard, bottom line…and you must gird yourself for constant rejection because along the way in your “relationship” in medicine you will discover there are some unbelievable hurdles that must be jumped in order to proceed with each stage…the greatest hurdle being…surviving the rigor of classes and the volume of material you are responsible for each year…and then the amount of testing and preparation hours to pass those tests and move on…and then score highly in each clerkship you work during MS3 and MS4…and at the same time have great communication with the attendings and Residents who will be grading you…EVERYTHING YOU DO IN MED SCHOOL COUNTS…and the pressure will be on you to perform at your best ALL THE TIME…one of the best things I did was to take a year off after undergraduate graduation and instead of taking my MCAT exam my junior year…take it my senior year when my class load was a bit lighter and I had the time to study for The Test…this plan worked for me and I was able to interview for med school the fall after graduation and not be encumbered with missing classes and trying to make up work…while I did work the year after graduation while I was applying to Med School, I discovered that I was at least rested, relaxed, and ready for interviews while not worrying about missing undergraduate classes…surprisingly, my med school classmates who went to med school right after graduation discovered that they would probably have to take time off in med school (not uncommon) in order to properly prepare for their chosen specialty with additional research in order to make themselves an eventual better candidate for Residency…in the end, because medicine is like running a number of marathons…you must take time to plan long range so you don’t burn out…burning out is very easy to do when you have to live up to an expectation that is sometimes next to impossible that either you have placed on yourself, or someone else has placed on you because they want to live their life through your achievements…don’t fall into that trap…it’s easy to do and believe or not while your parents are well meaning and love you very much-----they are hoping that you can pull the entire act together and “wrap it up in a nice package” I know you do not want to let anyone down and you are used to being the top student in your class from high school through college…but, think for a moment…you are a college student for four years, you’re in med school for four years-and sometimes five…and then you are in a Residency and probably a Fellowship for another four to seven years depending upon which specialty you choose to practice…that is a long time to please a lot of people…BUT, are you truly in this for pleasing yourself because it is what you truly are willing to sacrifice everything for???..the issue remains that you do not realize all of this as an undergrad because you are constantly hustling to shine in all that you do…and that is OK…just keep things (life) in perspective…also, if you are planning on going into medicine for the money…you have been duped by your own preconceived notion of what it means to be a successful doctor…in the end, how much do you really care about taking care of others knowing that you will be working extremely long hours which will place a tremendous strain on your personal relationships with others? Most of all, how do you balance all that you want to achieve? Just know it can be done…but you have to think it through will a long-range plan that pleases YOU… Stop thinking about the prestigious medical school that you desire admission…and really take some time to think where you want to be at about 31 or 32 years old…and how you will cope with all the ups and downs, and the highs and lows and JOY of practicing medicine in the 21st Century…slow down…and do some thinking and reflect on why you want to become a doctor…good luck and know I am pulling for you to succeed!

Forget relying strictly on combo of numbers / school names, it is not how it works. I would not focus too much on the medical school when starting the college. Just have a goal of having an A in every class you take. This is enough of a goal for the first year. Engage in some (not many) ECs starting with the second semester. Engage in more ECs in the 2nd year if you are OK with your time management. Figure your plan to prepare for MCAT in Junior year. Take MCAT after spring finals of the Junior year. Then see if you have enough to apply to medical schools and compile your list to match your stats.

One step at a time, plan every day, do not forget to enjoy your UG experiences, all of them, not only academics / medical ECs. Do not forget to sleep well and enough, try to keep yourself healthy…and forget about checking on medical school’s acceptances. it will work if you keep it simple!

@aberdeen, I know your school makes you split your patient write ups into sections, do the same for us here with some paragraph breaks :slight_smile:

Hi everyone, need some help in deciding…
I am a high school senoir who applied to a bunch of schools including BS-MD and BS-DO programs. Got into CCOM combined BS-DO program, and none of the BS-MD programs. Now I am in a situation to decide between CCOM BS-DO or regular undergrad like UCB, UCSD, GW or UCDavis. Please help me decide…With the difficulty getting into MD programs even for kids who went to good under grad schools…it feels like taking hte CCOM is better option…But when looked at the ranking of undergrad and grad. not sure if it will be a better option to go regular traditional undergrad route?

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1484178-if-you-are-in-high-school-please-read-this-before-posting-p1.html