Which is the best for pre-med? I want to go to either Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Stanford, or UPenn for grad school. Which one of these three helps my chances the best?
While you can probably find percentages of student applicants admitted to medical schools on each of their websites, I really doubt your individual chance will be affected by which of these schools you go to. You have named 3 amazing colleges that all will prepare you well for medical school. I think you can feel safe choosing by other factors, like course options in the catalog in subjects that interest you, rural vs. urban, small vs. large, open curriculum vs. distribution requirements, and other factors that draw you more towards one of the schools than the others.
Given all three schools are well regarded, all else being equal, I would probably give a little edge to Amherst and Bowdoin…because of their size.
I like the open curriculum a lot at Amherst and Bowdoin but thought Brown would provide me with the best research opportunities. But I am worried that it is the hardest to make friends at Brown.
I think you will find friends at all, in your dorms and clubs.
Brown may have more opportunity and more related courses if you have a highly specific research interest, but Brown’s research opportunities go to grad students as well as undergrads, and Am and Bo’s go just to undergrads. Research opportunities are a strength of small liberal arts colleges, too, and small colleges are a disproportionately high percentage of the “top feeders to PhD progams” because the students have had such active research experience. But there will be more professors with a wider range of interests and specialties at Brown.
You can’t go wrong here!
Indeed.
Relaying on data supplied by the National Science Foundation, the following schools produced the highest percentage of students who went on to earn a PhD. Results are listed in order.
All Disciplines
Reed
Swarthmore
Carleton
Pomona
Haverford
Caltech
Grinnell
Williams
Amherst
Oberlin
Kalmazoo
Wellesley
Vassar
Mcalseter
Allegheny
Bowdoin
Kenyon
Wesleyan
Whitman
Mount Holyoke
Source * College Transitions*
But which med schools are the students matriculating to? I know the top liberal art colleges have a high med school acceptance rate, but I can’t find where the students are going to and in what numbers.
I don’t think you will have any issues with doing research at Amherst or Bowdoin. With respect to making friends at Brown, I don’t think Brown is any different than Amherst or Bowdoin. You would actually have a larger population to tap into at Brown to build friendships than at A or B.
Brown has open curriculum as well. Presumably, you want open curriculum to make it easier to avoid general education courses that may pose a risk to your GPA?
I wanted an open curriculum because I am terrible at languages but also want to be taking courses where everyone is excited to be there and chose to be there.
Felix99 - I think you had it right. Brown is amazing for undergraduate research. There just aren’t that many grad students there like at some other mid-sized schools, and the focus is very much on the undergrads. There are also a ton of opportunities to get paid for the research. They have grants for everything.
On the other hand, I do think it is harder to make friends there than at a smaller school. You don’t cross paths with everyone over and over again. Since there are two main dining halls, if you meet people who live closer to the other dining center, sometimes you don’t see them so often. But, you do tend to make friends first year with the other kids in your dorm, and in your classes (and go to meals with them after class). You will join clubs and make friends with people that way as well. Brown has a really good EMT program if you are interested in that. And really good placement in med school. The Cr-N option is also good for keeping your GPA high.
I think the bigger question you should ask yourself is do you want to be in a small city or in the middle of nowhere. Amherst and Bowdoin are in beautiful, but rural areas.
All excellent schools, but rather different experiences and environments. Do you feel they are equally good for you in that regard?
I visited all of the school and I liked them all for different reasons. They each had pros and cons (I don’t think any institution is perfect), so I was just looking to see how med school matriculation played in.
Medical schools don’t particularly care where you received your undergraduate degree. They care about grades and test scores. Unless you are wealthy, consider your state flagship.
If med school is the main factor, carefully read the 3 web sites for how they handle health advising and the med school admissions process. I know Amherst has an exhaustive online guide and advising that begins first year, and a very high accept rate without screening out students without the highest stats.
https://www.amherst.edu/campuslife/careers/gradstudy/health/guide and some results here: https://www.amherst.edu/system/files/media/LoebCenter_AnnualReport_2015-16.pdf
Dig around Bowdoin and Brown for similar.
And you know about Brown PLME but aren’t applying?
I know about Brown PLME and I know that Brown has a good med school but I don’t think I want to be in the same place for 8 years.