Hi, so I am looking at schools to choose and am thinking of going to college as a pre-med student. My biggest dilemma is that I want to have somewhat of a social life in college rather than sitting in the library and studying all day, but I also want to go to a school that has a good program for pre-med students. I know this may sound contradictory, but please hear me out. Is it better if I choose a school that has much more national prestige (example: Northwestern or Wash U) but expect a not as high GPA…or… go to a slightly less demanding school (ex: UT Austin) and expect a high GPA?
Another perk about UT Austin is that I live in Texas so it’s much cheaper than Northwestern or Wash U combined, BUT I don’t learn well in large 200 people classes, so I’m afraid of that large learning dynamic of UT.
Best advice is to save money for medical school. But I’ve heard that Northwestern sends alot of its kids to UMichigan medical school, if that is a place you consider
It’s true that where you go to college matters little for Medical School admissions. Grades, MCAT, and extracurriculars far trump school name…
Coming from UT will absolutely not be a disadvantage as far as admissions is concerned. Save the money, because you are going to need it to pay for medical school…
Go to the school where you think you will perform and learn best. Don’t go to UT because you’re under the impression that it will be easy or that you’ll earn a high GPA. If you’re someone who doesn’t do well in a large environment/classes, then UT shouldn’t be on the table.
Next, I think it’s great to have an idea of what you want to do and keep that in the back of your head when choosing a school, but you must remember that most people don’t end up majoring in what they think they will. There’s a joke around my school that every freshman is a future doctor or lawyer. I’m not saying this to discourage or patronize you, what I’m saying is that you should choose the school that is the best overall fit for you rather than basing your decision on plans years away that may or may not happen.
Premed is hard everywhere because all schools weed. All schools know that they have too many frosh/soph premeds, and they have to get a bunch to move on to something else.
Each school knows their approx number of final applicants and acceptances. They don’t want a ton of disappointed students/parents…for obvious reasons. So, they aggressively weed during the frosh/soph premed prereqs.
You will find premed hard at UT, NU, and even schools like UT-Dallas, TAMU, or Texas Tech.
The difference may be that at NU there will be a higher concentration of superstars in those premed classes which will lessen your chances of emerging with the top grades.
To give you an analogy that might provide a visual…At NU, you’ll be running with a bunch of Olympic medalists. You might be a very good runner, but how would you do against them when the profs curve the grades?? At UT and TAMU, you’ll be running with a bunch of Olympic participants. At UT-Dallas and TTU, you’ll be running with a bunch of NCAA team members.
As you go down in level, you’re running with very good runners, but not superstars…so if you really apply yourself, you’re more likely going to emerge with top grades.
GPA is more important BUT don’t assume that you will get a higher GPA at UT than you will at Northwestern or Wash U. Many top schools are well known for their grade inflation; UT is an excellent school with a great quality education and probably a rigorous curriculum in many areas; and there are a lot of other things that contribute to GPA besides just the difficulty of the classes anyway (environment, your personal happiness, student support services like tutoring and academic advisement, how collaborative your classmates are, the size of your classes, the investment of your professors, etc.)
Depending on your major your intro classes at UT are likely to be very large but your upper-level classes will be smaller. You may also have some big classes at smaller universities - the intro biology lectures at Columbia were easily 200-300 students, for example, because there are so many pre-meds at these types of schools.
Plus, consider how every other premed is having this same discussion…many will make the same choice as you, whichever you choose, and then they’ll be the Olympic champions you’ll be running with.
I’m not the OP, and I’m not trying to hijack at all. BUT, for those of you who are far ahead in the process (D is a junior), please tell me what to make of this:
D has met with representatives from several medical schools (they come to campus, do presentations, ya da, ya da). Reps from her top two favorites have both told her that, because they are aware of her school’s reputation and difficulty in premed reqs, they “take that into account” when they factor GPA. One of the reps said they add .1 to their GPAs.
@Belle315: the name of one’s college is not of zero importance in med school app process, but if a school does in fact add .1 to an applicant’s cGPA, wouldn’t it better that the applicant had say a cGPA of 3.7 from most any accredited college v a 3.1 from say Harvard? I agree with above, go to a college where you can graduate with as little debt as possible and have competitive GPAs at time of applying without having to need the extra .1 boost.
^ completely agree, @jugulator20. I would always recommend a 4.0 from an undergrad school you paid $0 for. :))
My advice to the OP is just what others have been saying. There is NO good reason to go into debt just for a “name”.
I truly was just wondering if these reps were playing head games with the students. And I wasn’t thinking of the large GPA spread that you mention (3.7 vs. 3.1). I was thinking more 3.8 vs. 4.0.
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name of one’s college is not of zero importance in med school app process, but if a school does in fact add .1 to an applicant’s cGPA, wouldn’t it better that the applicant had say a cGPA of 3.7 from most any accredited college v a 3.1 from say Harvard?
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I agree.
But…as to the “zero importance”…med schools view most schools as “the same”. They don’t favor NU over UTexas. They may favor Stanford over Cal State Fullerton. And you’re right…better to have the 3.7 from CSUF rather than the 3.1 from H.
I’ve read on SDN that there are a couple of colleges that are recognized as grade deflators (eg Reed?) and attending them may help an applicant get some boost as to their GPAs at some med schools.
@Jugulator20 I know that there have been some unsubstantiated rumors that Reed and (I think) UChicago are grade deflators and med schools accommodate for that…but …as we know from the CC parent who posts here…a UChi undergrad with a 3.5 GPA and strong MCAT, who applied early, got ZERO interviews.