I am going to be studying biology or psychology on a pre-med track. I got roughly the same financial packages from both schools so that’s not really a factor anymore. I like BU’s urban location but Brandeis’ smaller amount of students. Pros/Cons of each school?? Pls help!
How important is the urban location? Having visited both, the feels of the campuses are night and day.
Academically I think you’ll find both to be good options, so I think I’d focus on fit. What does your gut say and why?
BU is a better option all around. Bigger, more diverse and has better opportunities
@lolabenchik Boston U. is known for grade deflation. For premed you need to have a high gpa. That’s something to consider. However a pro for Boston U is that it has more applicants to medical school. Check out aamc.org website Table A-2 (Undergraduate Institutions Supplying Applicants to US Medical Schools by Race). It has a list of the top schools in terms of the number of students applying to medical schools. For 2017-18 Boston U had over 240 applicants to medical school. Brandeis was not included on that list.
In defense of smaller schools, please note that Brandeis has a total undergraduate enrollment of 3,588 students compared to BU’s undergraduate enrollment of 16,478 students With 4.5 times more students and their own medical school, they should have a higher number of applicants to medical schools. I have trouble understanding why the larger school has an advantage.
Go to http://www.brandeis.edu/search/index.html?q=medical+school+placement and select medical school placements and download the PDF report on medical school placement. It impressed me.
As you probably know, most schools know by sophomore year if you have a good shot at acceptance to medical school as they have two years of their college’s grades to go by and to match with their acceptance records. For this reason it is always good to know your field of study/graduate school/placement options at that point in time.
Personal preference.