Best Medical Opportunity for Undergrad

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

Hi everyone, I am a junior this year in high school and I want to be a doctor in the future. I know that there is no such thing as a premed college but there are colleges that have better medical opportunities than others. Based off of that, could you pile together a list of top 5 “premed” so to say undergrad collges based on any of the following:

  1. Research opportunities at the college deemed hospitals
  2. Bang for your buck- Tuition costs
  3. Majors offered and the academic support
  4. Acceptance rate into med school
  5. Pre med advising tract or anything like that

And anything else that you would consider in an undergraduate college that will enable me to become a doctor

My top 5 so far based on my own research includes (based on the ranking of tis hospital):

  1. Johns Hopkins- Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
  2. Harvard- Massachusetts General Hospital
  3. Boston University- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
  4. Cornell- New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell
  5. Columbia New York- Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell

Thank you :slight_smile:

2

What is your state of residency?

Have you talked to your parents about what they will contribute for your educational costs?

3

Im in california and Im sort of in a funky situation because my grandpa has offered to pay for my college if i go to u of a but i am worried if i go there i will not have the best research opportunities or preperation possible. Also im not super siked to be graduating from u of a when i have worked my life to do something higher. So im in a sticky situation rn but besides cost what would you say would be the best?

4

@thefuturedoctor What are your stats? And are any of those choices affordable? You would still have med school to pay for.

5

Although the name of the school you attend is not of zero importance, most colleges will offer you the resources and opportunities you need to develop a competitive med school app. Whether you have a competitive app will be more based on your efforts, less on the school attended.

Med school is outrageously expensive and is typically paid for by loans that you will need to pay back. Going to a college where one can graduate with as little debt, if any, is a very important consideration for any would be premed. Most often state supported schools are the best option for cost. You’re in a state with arguably the best public university system in the country (eg UCs), why are you looking at these east coast schools. Although UCs are crazy competitive for premeds, the schools you list will easily be just as competitive premed wise. Even if you go to a UC, does grandpa know he could be writing checks for $30+ each and every year you’re in college. Or besides COA, is grandpa also willing to pay additional costs of traveling back and forth from east coast schools (eg holidays).

You can major in anything (eg STEM, art history, foreign language, etc). Other than I want to be a doctor, what interests
you. (I do not need an answer).

Be highly skeptical of any college’s published acceptance rates as to getting their students into med school as those numbers are easily manipulated. I would just ignore such numbers.

Consider colleges where you think you’ll fit in as if you’re happy you’re more likely to do well academically which will, in part, be a big concern to med schools. There will be many such colleges closer than the east coast. Although research experience appears often on med school apps, research is not a must or a big deal, especially if your research experience is a couple of years of cleaning glassware for grad students.

I don’t need an answer, but why as a 16/17 year old have you set your mind on an MD career. There are other medical field careers besides an MD. As an MD hopeful, understand that you are looking at 4 years of college, 4 years of med school, 3-5 years of residency, perhaps several years of fellowship depending on your interests. You could be in your mid 30s by time you are able to practice in the area of med you have chosen.

Also understand that most premeds who show up on campus day one, change their minds and career paths. Of those that apply, 60% fail to get even one acceptance anywhere.

I’d give more thought to why an MD, exploring college choices closer to home, and most importantly enjoy your remaining time in hs.

6

To add to Jugulator20 any instate school would be fine taking premed classes. Save your money for med school instead. Don’t get hung up on prestige for undergrad because just going to an elite school is no guarantee of admission to med school. It’s all based on your performance. I am sure there are lots of research opportunities in California schools. Also lots of college graduates are taking one or two gap years to work and gain more experience before going to med school. Keep your career options open and have a plan B.

7

MGH is a Harvard hospital. It has no connection with BU.

Cornell undergrad is in Ithaca which is a roughly 4-hour drive from Weill Cornell/NYP in NYC. Brown is closer to NYP than Cornell is.

8

I haven’t taken any of the standardized tests like sat or act but I have pretty consistent grades around 4.2 or 4.3. And I’m not quite sure about the money right now I’m mainly just looking at the schools with money in mind

9

As a California resident, you should apply to all UCs, including Riverside and do not stick your nose against it because it has the highest number of openings for its Early Assurance program to UCRSOM. There is no bad medical school in the US as Residency is the determining factor for your future prospect.
Your chances to get in med school is just the same whether you go to any UC or those high priced private “Ivies equivalent”. What you do is what makes the difference, not the school.

10

I plan on applying to all UCs minus Merced. I know it is said that what you do during undergrad matters rather than the name, however, it is with better opportunities through the college that the better prepared you are, and these higher end colleges usually offer this.

11

@thefuturedoctor

What opportunities exactly do you think higher end colleges re going to offer?

Better MCAT prep? Nope. MCAT prep is all on the student. Even Harvard pre-meds complain their classes do not prepare them adequately for the MCAT,

Better research opportunities? Possibly, but research is one of the lesser valued ECs for pre-med.
(See p. 14 of this annual survey of med school admission offices: https://www.aamc.org/download/462316/data/mcatguide.pdf)

Better community service opportunities? Nope. That’s on you.

Better clinical volunteering opportunities? Nope. That’s on you.

Better pre-med advising? Unlikely.(It’s mostly terrible everywhere.)

12

“if i go to u of a”

I am curious, which U of A? Alberta, Arkansas, Alaska, Arizona?

There are a lot of universities with very good premed programs. However, premed is a tough route, and most students who start at university intending to be premed eventually end up doing something different.

13

Go where you will have the least amount of debt. Medical school will be loans…loans…and more loans.

You are a HS junior. Your list above is extremely top heavy.

In addition, remember, most undergrad colleges in the country are not affiliated with a medical school or hospital. Plenty of medical school students graduated from undergrad schools without Med schools or hospital affiliations.

And plenty of medical school students attended a public university in their home state.

I think you are minsinformed regarding what the “name” of your undergrad school means in terms of medical school admissions.

14

Oops…you are a senior.

So did you get the tuition payment thing worked out with your grandpa? Will he help he help you with tuition costs at any college?

And how did your SAT or ACT scores turn out?

15

The “higher end” colleges you mentioned will not offer any special opportunities that you can’t get elsewhere. It’s all on you…

My daughter attends a strong public university and is deciding whether she will eventually apply to medical school following some time off to pursue another opportunity. She has what she needs to apply… but she took the initiative and went after it. Nobody knocks on your door and offers you community service with underserved populations. The opportunities are there but you need to go after them.

Can your family afford the schools on your list?

16

First, all of this is premature since you’ve not taken any standardized test. Practice and study before you take your first test.

UCs are terrible for pre-meds because there are so any extraordinarily talented students there and so few med school places.
So, your choice will quickly be : do I want UCLA/UCB and find another future profession or do I really want to be a doctor and chose UCRiverside (currently the best for pre-meds).

What UofA?
If Arizona, what about ASU Barrett? Might your grandfather pay the reminder of any merit scholarship you get from ASU Barrett?

The best odds are at colleges that don’t weedout, will give you an individual pre-med adviser the moment you step on campus, and are collaborative/supportive (e.g., Bates, Macalester, Grinnell, Skidmore…to give you an idea of some you might not have heard of).

17

I have a cousin who went to UC Davis ( family from California), took some time off to figure it out etc, and is now in med school. I agree that you need scores…but you don’t need one of the schools on your list in order to get into medical school.

18

California is the hardest State in which to get into med school because there are so many excellent students and so few spots. The UC system CANNOT be supportive of them all.
And getting into med school anywhere is HARD - your odds are low to start with, they’re worse if you"re from CA attending a UC.
So, of course, Californians do get into med schools. But their odds are lower than if they were at another university adnd from another state.
The best systems for CA premeds are those where both “state of residence” and “college graduated from” matter to determine where one might be considered for the state med school. (Many public med schools will mostly consider students they consider residents, either through the regular original “parental residence” process or the “lived/worked/graduated from” classification).
The California kids who are wiped out in the process may very well have made it in Montana, Iowa, Minnesota, Alabama, Maine, or South Carolina.
A good college for premeds should be supportive of premeds, collaborative in peer environment, easy/non competitive access to key activities such as work with a variety of populations (rural poor, , refugees, homeless, non English speakers, urban hospitals, hospice, clinic…) in various respects, both medical and non medical, if possible actual research (ie., not “rinsing out grad students’ beakers” but “work that can lead to a publication as a 4th or 5th author”).
Now, the OP’s list is wildly off, not sure how s/he came up with it. Unless it’s just a list of “colleges that have a med school attached and/or I’ve heard of”.
For instance, BU is one of the most expensive universities in the nation, offers comparatively little financial aid, and is super weedout. Basically the opposite of what a premed needs. In the same city, you have Northeastern, which offers lots of hands on experience through its co-op system, offers ok financial aid to middle class applicants and generous merit aid for high test scores.
JHU is excellent for med school (although ALL med schools are excellent in the US and what really matters is your residency which doesn’t depend on where you complete the first years of med school but on your excellence)… but you wouldn’t be attending the JHU med school. College kids DO NOT mix with medical students. They don’t walk around or take classes in the med school. They don’t get any preference in the med school process that I know of. (Some universities do/may show some preference to their own college graduates, all other things being equal, such as Case Western or Creighton: apply there if that’s what you’re after). You’re better off attending another university (in MD if you wish) then applying to JHU Med School, than attending JHU for college. Now, you can attend JHU for many reasons… but proximity to med school shouldn’t be one of them.

19

When this student wrote as a junior, he had not taken the SAT or ACT…but I believe he is now a senior in HS…

So wondering…how did the SAT or ACT scores turn out.

Impossible to give decent suggestions without this info…unless he is planning to apply to test optional undergrad programs.

20

@thumper1 @MYOS1634 @twogirls
OP started new thread yesterday.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/2110950-ucla-vs-uc-berkley.html