I’m currently a senior in high school and was recently accepted to Brown University. I was also waitlisted at the University of Chicago, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Dartmouth, Wash U, Cornell, Northwestern, and Vanderbilt. My counselor advised that I stay on the waitlist for one of these schools if I did prefer it over Brown, and that’s what I’m currently deciding. Right now, UChicago and Duke are pretty high on my list in addition to Brown. My primary interest is neuroscience, although I’m also interested in continuing with Spanish and possibly studying abroad. I am definitely interested in conducting research during undergrad and am very likely going to pursue the premed track.
I’m looking for a fairly competitive but not extremely cutthroat environment that I will enjoy and that will prepare me well for med school. I’m interested in hearing about your experiences at any of these universities, impressions, pros/cons, and/or opinions. If I do end up getting off a waitlist, I’d also like to take into consideration the location and social atmosphere at the other school, so any thoughts you have could help!
Take Brown and run, it is a wonderful school. I don’t know enough to comment on the other schools, but there is 0.1% of chance to get off waitlist from Chicago.
Pre-med at Chicago would have to be planned real carefully. Because of the core curriculum, there is not as much flexibility in the kinds of courses you can take. Nearly every one the Core Foundation categories has tough GPA killing courses. Chicago is also not a school where the Physical sciences dole out A’s willy nilly.
If you choose the wrong Physics or Math sequence (like 160x, because you got a 5 in BC calc) for example, you could be in very tough spot GPA wise.
Having said that, premed advising at Chicago is one of the best in the country. They are really excellent. There are many many opportunities for research and unlike other schools, the school writes a committee letter for each and every student applying to medical school along with guidance to medical schools on the curriculum at Chicago and providing important context for the GPA of Chicago students. Because of this 85%+ of kids get into Medical schools most years.
Also, Chicago is not a premed factory like Duke where as many as 25% of the class applies to Medical school. At Chicago it is more like 10% to 11%, so you get much better attention and access to resources.
If you are willing to plan your courses very carefully, balance tough courses with easier ones, willing to work hard and are ok not being surrounded by a huge premed contingent, then Chicago may work.
But all this is moot till you get in, so I would mentally embrace Brown.
@Hmfzz29 Brown is probably the best choice for pre-med out of the bunch and all around an excellent choice. It has flexible curriculum and grade inflation so it won’t be impossible to achieve a med school-worthy GPA. Also it has a good hospital and med school with plenty of research opportunities (also an important part of med schools applications)