i know that pre-med isn’t an actual major or anything I’m just wondering what undergrad schools are best for preparing their students for med school, have great resources, internship opportunities, etc. Im currently a sophomore in high school and i am very interested in going to med school one day.
You can find adequate preparation for medical school at just about every 4 year college in the US. The required prerequisite classes for med school are all basically lower level courses that are available everywhere. Successful med school applicants come from every type of college imaginable–giant state Us, tiny private SLACs, high powered research Us, liberal arts schools, Ivy Leagues, little known regional colleges, public Us, private Us…
There are advantages and disadvantages to just about every college type.
If you want recommendations, we need more information from you—
What kind of educational environment would you be happiest in? Big school? Small school? Something in-between? Co-ed? Single sex environment? Urban/suburban/rural location? Geographic region-- North/East/South/West? Strong Greek scene? Big time sports? Are you looking at specialized majors not commonly available?
What are your financial constraints? How much can your parents afford every year for your college? Will you need financial aid? How much?
What are your stats (GPA, SAT/ACT)?
@hsgirl89 Good to know you are thinking about college and medical profession at the right time. In case if you are interested in BS/MD programs, this is the best time to plan for it. Take time and look at current and last year threads in http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/multiple-degree-programs
Lot of information which will help you to plan and get going. GL.
@WayOutWestMom Im trying to be open minded since i do have quite some time untill i actually have to start applying to schools. Im mostly interested in big-medium sized schools, co-ed, urban or subarban, im from the east coast but i really want to go out to the west coast. Im interested in joining a sorority, but it honestly depends on the school, i do want to have a social life and have a “traditional” college experience if that makes sense. Financially i will probably need a significant amount of aid. I have not yet taken the SAT or ACT and my most recent psat score is from my freshmen year. GPA: 2.9 but i had family problems last year and plan on improving my grades throughout the rest of high school.
If you need a significant amount of FA, then going OOS, across the country is going to be difficult simply because there aren’t many schools that meet full need for students and your grades right now aren’t going to qualify you for those highly competitive schools or for big merit awards. Once you get closer to applying and you have test scores and budget from your parents, you should post again to get specific college suggestions.
For now, you should start looking at your state’s public colleges. Those will usually be your more cost-effective choice. You need to remember that med school is expensive and there’s very little FA for it except for loans. Because of this, you’ll want to minimize your undergrad debt as much as possible. This mean you don’t want to take huge loans just to attend an undergrad “dream school.” You need to be practical.