Hey guys, sorry if this is a redundant question asked on here (lol). I have gotten into private schools and Binghamton, which is NY’s best state school. Binghamton would be cheaper and I plan on attending medical school (or graduate school if plans change in college) in the future to hopefully go into sports medicine. Will Binghamton give me the resources to be able to gain entry to a US MD school or is it worth spending extra money to go to a better private school? I’ve heard that they have a ~60% acceptance rate to medical school, but I believe that this included MD/DO schools. Thanks
SUNY-Binghamton is an excellent choice for an in-state pre-med student. Hard to think of a better option for pre-med for a New York state resident other than attending another school on a full tuition scholarship.
What’s your parents’ budget?
Which other colleges are within budget?
Do you qualify for Excelsior scholarship?
What’s your plan B if medical school doesn’t happen?
Have you taken AP calculus, AP chem, AP biology?
SUNY Binghamton is a fine choice for pre-med, especially if money is a factor. Med school is expensive.
Also I’d be very wary of any statistic you get about med school acceptance rates. It may sound obvious, but it is very important to understand exactly what goes into the numerator and denominator of the ratio as not all schools calculate med school acceptance rate in the same manner. For example:
–Some schools have more “weed out” classes than others reducing the number of students who continue on the pre-med path for four years (lowering the denominator).
–Certain colleges have committees which pre-screen and recommend med school applicants. These committees generally only recommend students who have the stats, experiences etc. to make them very strong candidates for med schools. Students who are not recommended are left out of the equation. In contrast, other colleges support all of the students who want to apply to med school. So while the schools with the pre-screening will have a higher acceptance rate (because of the lower denominator), a schools that support all students may be preferable.
–It is important to know what constitutes a med school acceptance for the med school acceptance rate. Some colleges just count US allopathic med school acceptances and other schools also include acceptances to DO, overseas med schools, podiatry etc. programs in the numerator leading to a higher med school acceptance rate.