<p>Forgive me if I may be vague or sound like a clueless idiot, but I'm new here and I lack a good comprehension of life after high school. </p>
<p>Moving on. I'm a junior, and at this point I sort of know what I want to be in the future. Something to do with Medicine. Probably a general doctor, a pediatrician, or maybe a pharmacist. </p>
<p>So what colleges are best known for their Medical program? I've heard that John Hopkins was good but I really don't know. My parents really want me to go to an Ivy...I shudder at the thought. I just want to go to a good college with a good Medical program. If I can make it into an Ivy, fantastic.</p>
<p>My stats arent so great....</p>
<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.7/4.0
AP Bio: 4
SAT score: 2130/2400 (plan on taking it once more after actually doing some decent studying this time)</p>
<p>EC: 180 hours of volunteer service at hospital
Pre-med club- 10th grade
Academy of science and medicine- 10th grade</p>
<p>Moving to a different state after 10th grade sort of screwed me over in the EC department....but I plan on interning at a hospital this summer (if i pass the interview on tuesday O_O) </p>
<p>for pharmacy i heard UT has a real good program...although it's really big and if you're living up north it might be a hard transition.</p>
<p>the fun thing about medicine is that it doesn't really matter where you go for undergrad as long as you keep your GPA up and get good MCAT scores. for undergrad, johns hopkins is def one of the best but it's very rigorous and competitive. well, here's the link to the US News rankings of grad schools:</p>
<p>Good pre-med programs are basically anywhere in the top 50 schools list and many state universities have good ones too. Some of the best ones are WashU, JH, stanford and some others ones that i can't exactly remember at the top of my head</p>
<p>if I were you, I'd retake your SAT's again and make sure they you get good rec's. Also, great essays go long ways and on the contrary your GPA is pretty good, especially if it appears that you've been taking AP classes, so don't sweat it. </p>
<p>do you have any specific lists of colleges that you're interested in?</p>
<p>You should be looking for schools with good pre-med programs, not medical programs. Pre-med lays a base for medicine, but the undergrad requirements don't involve medicine directly. You don't have to choose an undergraduate college with an elite medical school. In fact, ivies and other elite schools don't take care of their own for med school - they usually only accept the very top of the class. You'd be more likely to get into one of these med schools from a different undergrad school. A good liberal arts college can prepare you just as well for medical school.</p>
<p>There's <em>plenty</em> of schools out there that would fit you, but you might want to look at Haverford. It's an excellent LAC that has a med school placement rate much higher than any of the Ivies (~100%). Davidson and Kalamazoo are also good.</p>
<p>Cornell
Brown
John Hopkins
University of Chicago</p>
<p>I'm still looking...but of the 4 I have so far, I doubt I could make it into any. What would you say? I only know one girl who got into Cornell and she was pretty amazing..</p>
<p>your stats aren't that great!? *** are you talking about man. Your SAT scores are very high (they're like 350 pts higher than mine) and a 3.7 is a high gpa.</p>
<p>It should be easy to get into with your stats and has an excellent medical school and a vast undergrad research program. Dr. Sanjay Gupta got both his undergraduate and Medical degrees at Michigan! :- )</p>
<p>Also, you could try Duke University, but it might be a bit of a reach</p>
<p>Duke would most definitely be a reach....considering that they only accept 9% of their applicants, and almost all are in the top 10% of their class...hmm i wonder if I'm even in the top 10%</p>
<p>Oh I have another question: When determining your rank in class, do they use your weighted or unweighted GPA??</p>
<p>Also, do colleges look at your GPA up to the second semester of your junior year? Or up to the first semester of your senior year? And what if I apply for an ED?</p>
<p>OP, you list schools that are incredibly difficult to get into. I'm not saying you won't, but ... It sounds like your parents have unrealistic expectations, as if the only thing holding you back from an Ivy is deciding to go. Your SATs are competitive but your GPA is a bit low and your ECs are weak compared to the competition. At the top schools you are talking Intel Finalists, Olympic athletes, people with state and national awards. 180 volunteer hours and member of some clubs just isn't on the same level.</p>
<p>I'm not saying don't look at top schools, but you're better off spending your time finding matches that offer a fit and a safety you'd really be happy to attend. As in 80% or more of your time. That way if the reaches come thru, great! If not, you're still going to be going to a wonderful school. And I say this to everyone, not just you. While its great to aspire to one of the elite colleges, its better to focus on schools that ARE likely to take you.</p>
<p>So many pre-med kids are worried about where they go to college, as if that makes the difference. It doesn't. YOU make the difference. What gets you into college are good mcat scores, a good gpa (esp. in the core classes req'd for med school), good recs, good essays, and volunteer work in medicine. Research exposure is a plus. You do these things and you'll get into med school regardless of where you attend college.</p>
<p>I guess the problem with me is that I'm just look at those amazing tops colleges that hardly anyone gets into....I need to look for some colleges that aren't ivies but aren't mediocre no-name colleges. Its hard to ask people about those kinds of colleges since all the people I know only know about ivies and stats and figures...</p>
<p>anyone know if Emory is a good university for medicine? I just heard about it yesterday...is it a competitive college thats hard to get into?</p>
<p>Once again, you're going to be an undergrad! You're not looking for good schools for medicine, although Emory has a good medical school. I'm going to Emory next year. There are alot of premeds. Acceptance rate this year was I think 32%. I dont know what it was like this year, but in the old stats 90% were from the top 10% of their class. It's ranked #20 in the nation in US News.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I need to look for some colleges that aren't ivies but aren't mediocre no-name colleges. Its hard to ask people about those kinds of colleges since all the people I know only know about ivies and stats and figures...
[/quote]
One reason its hard is because you're going about it the wrong way, the wrong way being "where is a good premed school" as if there was a universal answer for all HS kids. And as a junior you have time to do the college search right, instead of rushing around in the fall like a lot of kids are going to do.</p>
<p>Start by getting a book about college admissions. One I like is "Admission Matters" because it lays out how to pick the right college; fit is very important. Then based on what you've read, start visiting a few colleges in your area to confirm your first thoughts. Visit a large U and a small LAC, an urban school and one in the sticks. Figure out what type is right for you. Then start to build a list of what your ideal college looks like. Small classes or large lectures? An assigned advisor? Big-time sports program? Intramural sports? How do you get involved in research? Fraternity system? Semester abroad program? Semester or quarter system? What advising available for premeds? What clubs available on campus? While you don't want to go overboard, if you can come up with a focused picture of what you want you're much more likely to recognize it when you see it. </p>
<p>Then, having figured out what you want, sit down with a book like Peterson's and start reading the descriptions. If your friends only know about ivies and such you're going to have to do this on your own, but its not that hard. Then visit and make see if your initial impression is correct. You're not going to do all this in a weekend or a week, but you can easily do it by next fall. And you'll end up with a list of schools in a range of selectivity, all of which you'd actually like to attend. </p>
<p>You'll be miles ahead of your friends who are fixated on ivies and spending little effort outside of their dreams in finding a college.</p>
<p>I'm a current med student, teach MCAT test prep for Kaplan, and was a student for my University's College of Arts & Sciences (U of Nebraska-Lincoln) so I'm obviously well versed in the process and used to talking to students about medical school.</p>
<p>The biggest thing is that getting into medical school is not based on where you went to school. I have classmates in my M1 class (Nebraska - #11 in the latest US News poll) from Chadron State, Northern Iowa, Nebraska-Lincoln (obviously), Creighton, Pepperdine, Michigan, Loyola-Chicago and Harvard among many others. My point is that going to a school known for pre-med (Creighton, WashU, Iowa and Kansas as some examples in the Midwest) is not going to get you in. The important part is that you fulfill your requirements, do a good job, are well rounded, and really want to be a doctor for the right reasons. Name recognition really means nothing unless you're trying to get into medical schools like JH, WashU, UWashington, or one of the schools in CA which are competitive simply b/c of the number of people applying and you've done really well at a "name" school. Even then, going anywhere and doing well is more important than anything else. More than likely, when you start applying you're going to be far more worried about just getting accepted, rather than where that acceptance comes from. There are no "safety" schools when applying to medical school because the competition is so fierce. </p>
<p>You should be far more focused on finding a school that you are going to enjoy during undergrad. A place that when you're about to graduate, you're really going to miss, and perhaps start thinking about sticking around for an extra semester or two. </p>
<p>What I will finish with is that college should not just be a stepping stone to your medical career, but 4 years of your life in which you are going to really grow into the person you will be for the rest of your life. Medical school is not fun, and if I had not enjoyed Undergrad as much as I did, I probably would be kicking myself right about now for being singularly focused during what should be the best years of your life.</p>
<p>thanks a LOT mike and bigredmed....your replies really cleared things up for me. I guess it doesn't really matter if I go to a "name" school as long as I end up as a doctor and like my job. At this point I just have to do a lot of research since all I really know are about Ivies. But for now, I've gotta start studying for my APs... -__-</p>
<p>but again, thanks a lot...I think I know what to do now</p>