I’m an incoming freshman and just got accepted off the BC waitlist. I love BC and was originally from the northeast. I moved to FL 5 years ago. I’m very fortunate that costs aren’t an issue. I’m wondering which school will best prepare me for a medical profession career? I definitely like the BC campus and size, but I don’t want to be foolish about money and cost. I’m a bright future scholar, so it will only cost me about $12k a year at UF for food and rooming. BC will be more like $75k a year all in. I’m just nervous about a large school and the distractions that come with it. I know distractions are everywhere. Just trying to figure out maybe which school is more respected when applying to med school and which will prepare me best. Thank you
If money REALLY isn’t an issue, go with BC. But really think about that as BC will cost you $250k more than UF. That’s a lot of money not to worry about.
What do your parents want?
My parents said it’s up to me. I really like everything about BC, but wanted feedback about how BC is considered when applying to med schools. I can’t find any stats anywhere about each school success rate - those that get into med school versus the number of students that first go in as freshman premed
Go with UF. Invest the $250k. Even if you don’t become a Doc, you can make a living with that savings.
If 2 choices are vastly different, it is worth considering. You are going to prepare yourself for Pre-Med and not the college. Medical schools look at your profile and not your college profile. There are many threads, and you can go over them. You will get the same message, your GPA, MCAT, EC, dedication and passion for medical profession, Essays, Interviews get the seat.
IMHO
The purpose of a premed is to get into a med school upon graduation. The general rule of thumb is to attend a school where you are the top 25% of the entering freshman, this will give you a head start with a potential good GPA which is the key for a med school applicant. Aside from the higher COA of BC, since you are getting off the wait list, you will not be the top 25% of the entering freshman of BC. As a result, you might not be able to get top grade in the class. Your outlook as a premed might not be very bright because of that. Of course, there are exceptions, but the odds of success is against you.
A kid I know, his mom is a famous physician in her field in So CA. He was admitted by UCB and UCLA for premed, but his mom advice against those schools, because he might not be gaining high GPA as competition is fierce in those schools. Rather, he went to UC Riverside and got a 3.95 GPA, now he is doing very well in Case Western.
That because those numbers don’t exist. Freshmen aren’t asked to declare a major, nor do they need to declare themselves as “pre-med” with a health professions advisor. Pre med is an intention. So there’s no way to even estimate how many freshmen pre-meds there are any given school.
D2 used to tell a story about her college. When she first arrived at college for orientation, she’d walk down the hall and every person she met said they were pre-med. After winter break and gen chem grades had come out, she’d walk down the same hall and now every one was an econ major. By the time she was packing up to leave to summer break and after calc 2 final grades were posts, everyone was suddenly a sociology major.
That’s pre-med everywhere. It’s estimated that between 70-75% of all freshmen pre-meds never actually get to the point where they apply for med school.
If money is truly not an issue, choose the one where you have the best combination of fit, opportunities and costs. The reputation of your college is a minor datapoint when it comes to med school admission. Your GPA, MCAT, ECs, LORs, essays and interviews are what get you accepted, not the name of the college you attended.
And you might want to to consider that if you do end up going to med school you can expect to graduate with about a $200K debt.
BC has 208 med school applicants last year. (filtered by committee)
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL has whopping 839.
With your current stats from your chances thread, you will have a hard time to stand out at either school. Pick the school you love. Ignore the premed factor.
Would you consider transferring to a school in New Mexico and obtain in-state status there? For in-state applicants, the admissions rate is 32% for The University of New Mexico School of Medicine which ranks 18th in nation.
RE: UNM–
UNM ranks #20 for primary care and #78 for research.
UNM SOM’s in-state admission rate is closer to 18% than 32%. Highly protected in-state admissions, but 35-40 of the 105 available med school seats are reserved for special programs (BA/MD, MD/PhD, PrEP, Native American students)
And UNM’s adcomm is savvy to the whole “I’ll move to New Mexico long enough to establish residency and apply to med school” thing. Applications from carpetbaggers get extra close scrutiny.
The applicant data is from https://www.aamc.org/download/321442/data/factstablea1.pdf
NM New Mexico
Applicantions 1,464
In-state % 20.0
Matriculants 103
In-state % 91.3
So there were 1464 * 0.2 = 293 in-state applicants. There were 103 * 0.913 = 94 in-state matriculants.
Assuming 100% yield for in-state admitted students. The admissions rate is 94 / 293 = 32%
Sorry, the yield won’t be 100% so the admissions rate for in-state applicants might be even higher.
We have been to White Sands National Monument, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, among other places. Beautiful places. We have been reluctant to move to a neighboring lower-tax state due to the concerns brought up by @WayOutWestMom .
If you do get into medical school, $250k less medical school debt would be a nice thing to have when you eventually start practice.
UNM doesn’t offer 103 seats every year to regular applicants, only ~70. 30 go to BA/MD and PrEP students–who don’t go thru the AMCAS application process (so aren’t count in # of applicants) and who have guaranteed admissions. Instate yield >90%.
Absolutely agree with @ucbalumnus. My kidlets picked schools where they had free tuition or won big merit awards, then choose a low cost instate med school. Because the freedom to pick a specialty based on interest, not future income----priceless!
Paying off $250K of student debt during residency is next to impossible (resident salaries are in the mid$40-mid$50K/year range) and that 7% annual interest keeps on adding up during the 3-8 years of post-med school training new doctors are required to do. Since OP’s other posts suggested BC is OP’s dream school, I’d suggest OP go to BC for 1-2 years, take couple of pre-med classes there and see if he/she is able to get A’s at BC. If not, either drop the pre-med dream or transfer to other easier college.
As the mom of a high school student who is very committed and passionate about Pre-med, I have come to the conclusion that most kids can’t afford both a med school dream and a “dream school.” You get one. If you really truly want medical school, pick the college where you are likely to get the highest GPA. Unless your family has enough money to fully fund both med school and undergrad, don’t waste money on undergrad if you can help it.
Now, for some few kids, they may actually be likely to get higher grades at a more rigorous school. There are kids who really need to be pushed by difficult classes and brilliant peers. I think those kids are rare, but they do exist. That is NOT my kid and unless it is you, you are probably better off where you will fall easily into the top 25%.
I don’t think OP is likely to get better grades at UF than BC. Both are hard schools, obviously with a lot of students hoping for medical school.
Since 75% of freshmen pre-meds never actually apply to med school, pick the school you’d rather attend if you take pre-med off the table.
Thank you everyone. I really appreciate everyone’s time and advice. I decided to go with Andorvw’s philosophy and give it my best shot and worst case, I’ll transfer if things don’t work out. I love BC - the campus, the smaller school and the smaller class size. I did the 2 week forensic summer program there last year and knew it was the school for me. Thanks!!!
Of course, some students could face the dilemma where the preferred school if pre-med is off the table is significantly disadvantageous for pre-med (e.g. much higher cost which is still within budget for undergraduate only, but would result in much higher debt if the student goes to medical school since the money spent on undergraduate would not be available).
As @WayOutWestMom pointed out, nowadays it is premed everywhere at every school.
George W. Bush offered non-honor students at Southern Methodist University some words of encouragement during a commencement speech in 2015: C students, you too can be president.
So C students in bio/chem/calculus/other basic courses, it is time to change your career plan to become a president or something else.
During family weekend 2017, I attended an internships session where there was a panel of four students. A question was asked about their freshman intended majors, three out of four said they initially were doing premed. Organic chemistry/Physiology is the first real test for premed. If you are not doing well in those basic courses, it is best to move on early. OP can do well at BC and will if he/she works hard. Premed is not a dream and C students are wasting their precious time in college if they dwell on their dream.
OP already said money is not an issue. BC can offer much better personal experience than a large public school. OP should definitely go slowly on STEM courses. Focus on problem sets. If there are two problem sets sessions, do both. If there are three sessions, do all three if possible. If you cannot do well or you are unwilling to invest your time, you will know it is best to move on.
Actually, much of the weeding comes fall freshman year while taking Bio 1 ang Gen Chem 1. Then more weeding comes in spring semester. By the time sophomore year rolls around and Orgo is being taken, half of the original premeds are gone.