Which school would you guys choose? I know premed is said to be difficult anywhere but I do strongly believe that schools that give out less A’s are definitely harder than the ones that are more lenient.
Price is all around the same range.
I was also in the same situation but I chose NEU because they offered me the most money. I ruled out BC immediately because it was too expensive but also because it is more of a liberal arts school. If you want to major in humanities or social sciences and the cost of attendance is about the same as NEU and BU then you should go for BC but if you are a STEM major you should definitely go with either NEU or BU just because there is more emphasis on STEM majors there. As far as I have researched, I personally think NEU is better than BU for pre-med because BU has grade deflation making it harder to get As then at NEU. Don’t get me wrong NEU is also reasonably hard but not to the extent of how BU grade deflates. NEU is also more of an undergrad focused school so it is pretty easy to get involved with lots of things outside of the school like clubs, internships, and obviously the co-ops. There is a reason why NEU is the number one co-op school in the country, and as long as you put the effort to apply for meaningful co-ops, it will make a difference for med school applications. But in all seriousness, you can’t really go wrong choosing one because they all regarded as great schools and ranked in the top 40. At the end of the day go with what school you vibe with and would fit in well. BC is on the outskirts of the city whereas NEU is right in the heart of Boston along with BU.
Hey, thanks for the detailed response. I heard that NEU students usually graduate in 5 years due to co-ops, is 4 years possible without feeling like I’m cramming in my schedule? I want to leave enough time to write my applications & study for MCAT over the summer.
I am joining this fall as well and yes there are a lot of kids that finish in 4 years. They have a 4-year schedule with 2 co-ops.
With all due respect, that is a kinda silly reason. Math and sciences ARE liberal arts disciplines. (Engineering is not, but then BC is starting up an Engineering program.)
Now, if you’d prefer not to have to fulfill BC’s Core requirements, ok. (But I would submit that some of those Core requirements will improve your critical thinking and writing skills, which is a plus for the MCAT and MD.)
That being said, NEU is a fine choice. But don’t discount a Jesuit education; they know how to do it right.
@bluebayou - this is pre-med not just a standard 4-year undergrad and then get a job or go to grad school. the smartest decision you are ever gonna make is saving as much money possible and for me BC didn’t offer me as much money as NEU. And BC is really not known for STEM lol. I explained it in more depth but I guess I shouldn’t have used the phrase “liberal arts”. It is more know for social sciences and humanities whereas STEM is a major emphasis at BU and NEU. Like I said if you are majoring in something along the lines of humanities or social sciences than by all means go with BC. I really don’t know what is so silly about this with all due respect.
While there are STEM requirements to be eligible for med school, there is no requirement that an applicant be a STEM major. There are plenty of students with BA degrees going off to med school every year.
There is no need for a med school applicant to be a graduate of a college renowned for STEM disciplines. In fact, BC sends a number of its graduate to med school every year.
There are a number of factors which differentiate these 3 colleges, but a STEM reputation for pre-meds is not one of them.
^^definitely save money during undergrad.
But just bcos BC has a strong philosophy department doesn’t mean that their Chem or Bio is terrible. In fact, BC Chem is ranked significantly higher than NEU Chem. Ditto Physics. In Bio, they are comparable.
On a % basis, BC has a slightly higher number of biological science grads (10%) than NEU (9%). Where NEU dominates is Engineering, particularly MechE, but not sure how valuable that is to a premed (unless the OP wants to major in Engineering). NEU also has a large health professions program (RN, PT, Admin, Pharmacy…), but most of those classes do not qualify for med school apps.
Premed is premed. It’s primarily two years worth of lower division science classes. Nearly every 4-year college in the land offers the sequence.
Med schools won’t value your degree more from any of the 3 schools as they are considered academic peers.
Be happy that you got a good deal but its disingenuous to claim that that Northeastern is “known for STEM” and BC is not. One can be good at a lot of things. Most top colleges are.
I’ve found some data to hopefully drive this conversation. I have listed the 3 schools with their undergraduate enrollment in parentheses. The first column is the number of graduates who applied to med school this year. I was also able to find the number of med school applicants in 2018 for BU and BC but not for NEU. I’ve listed those to see the fluctuation from 2 different graduating classes. Unfortunately I have been unable to find the number or percent of these applicants who were actually accepted into med school and I don’t know how it compares among the three.
BU (18,515) - 282, 274
BC (9,377) - 175, 208
NE (13,909) - 184
Two things stand out. After the weeding out process that occurs among pre-meds at every college, BU produced the most med school applicants each year. Relative to the size of enrollment, BC produced the highest percent of its total student body applying to med school each year.
The bottom line is that each school seems to be turning out hundreds of med school applicants each year. And that alone says something because you don’t even apply if you don’t get the proper courses, grades, test scores, and recommendations.
I hope that someone else can contribute the number or percent of graduates of each of these schools who successfully gained admission to med school so that any conclusions can be data driven.
on the website for NEU it shows that pre-meds in the college of science alone have a 73 percent chance to get into med schools.
All statistics published by all UGs regarding medical school admissions should be taken with a very small grain of salt.
Why? None of the above listed colleges give a number of how many started as pre-meds, so there’s no way, beyond rumor, to know how many washed out long before the admissions process.
And do all or some of the schools have the requirement of a committee letter? If so, the school is selecting which students it will support for med school applications-and which ones it won’t. Suffice to say, if you don’t get the letter, your chances at med school are pretty slim. So that’s another way of selecting out applicants-and do any of the above schools publish the number of applicants they support-and how many they don’t? Probably not.
And addressing the 73% number given above-who does this represent? All kids who started as pre-meds? All kids who made it to junior year? And by medical school, what do they mean? Allopathic, osteopathic, podiatric, dental-and at NEU apparently pre-health means vet, PA, and optometry school, too.
And NEU does have a committee letter-and it’s pretty clear your medical school application is in big trouble if you don’t get one.
https://undergraduate.northeastern.edu/prehealth/applying/prehealth-requirements/
In sum, % of “successful” applicants from any UG school are subject to massive manipulations. So pick the school that is cheapest and fits you best.
if you are doing pre-med you can major in anything. It need not be anything in STEM or even humanities for that matter. It can be English or anything. My point was not to say that BC is not a good school for pre-med. All three are regarded as great schools and academic peers. It really comes down to your cost of attendance, your major, and I guess your personal opinion on the vibe you get from each school.
In terms of campus vibe there is a major diference between BC and Northeastern. Northeastern has large engineering and computer science colleges and offers a variety of majors in the health sciences. BC does not. BC has a larger proportion of students in the humanities and social sciences. While both will provide more than adequate prep for medical school it may come down to the type of “vibe” or campus atmosphere a student is looking for.
Harvard reports that 95% of its students who apply to med school are accepted. Do you think that Harvard is manipulating the numbers? Why would they do that? Do they really need to resort to fraud to enhance their reputation?
I agree that it’s important to know what the numbers mean. But once we know that, we should be able to evaluate them for what they’re worth.
Do we really think that med schools just look at MCAT and gpa to select admits? Do they not know that several dozen colleges got the cream of the crop coming out of high school? A gpa earned at East Podunk state is looked at the same as a gpa from Harvard? Seriously?
If some colleges have a better track record of getting their students admitted to med school and if the med schools put more credence on the achievements at some colleges more than others, why simply go to the cheapest? I don’t see how that’s money well spent.
All things being equal, I agree that cost should be the decider. But when they’re not all equal, it becomes a more difficult decision.
@Bill Mars- fax but in this case all three are honestly great choices and regarded the same. It really comes down to personal preference and your major since OP’s cost of attendance is about the same for all three.
@Bill Marsh Harvard may be able to get 95% of applicants into medical school because Harvard has thr highest entering standards of all schools.
I think the issue is that Harvard vs East Podunk isn’t a realistic comparison people get into. The waters muddy when you. compare say a school generally ranked #25 vs #100. What about vs #150?
As mentioned, input class is often a big predictor for “output” med school acceptance rate.
Basically that gap needs to be quite large (hundreds of places) before it is going to really become a factor in med school admissions.
GPA/MCAT is reductive but holds true generally in addition to experience, volunteering, rec letters, etc. See for yourself via Harvard’s own website:
Don’t you think that Harvard would describe itself as “a college that will challenge them personally and professionally”? If Harvard Med School is giving preference to these kinds of applicants, then they’re giving preference to applicants from the Ivies and similar undergraduate colleges.
I mean, that seems to be directly refuted by this:
I interpret that line as “go to a decent school where you’re not going to coast to a 4.0 and not pick up much”. Most schools in the top 100-200 will challenge most students. OChem doesn’t get magically easier because you went to your state school.
@bost0n Hi! I’m an undergrad student at Northeastern and 3 of my roommates are pre-med. They’ve found the classes interesting while challenging, and the co-op opportunities for those in the health/medical field are FANTASTIC. You are able to work at top level hospitals and engage in really great research. I know someone who is co-oping at Mass Gen Hospital and is working there through the CV pandemic. My roommate was able to get a 3-year long internship at a the Harvard Dana Farber Cancer Research Center. I also work for undergraduate admissions at NU as my on-campus job, and our “stats” of students getting into med school are actually 20 percentage points higher than the national average (passing the MCAT). There are also really great clubs and organizations on campus for pre-med students, as the pre-med community is quite large. Most students do 3 co-ops in 5 years of 2 co-ops in 4 years. Generally, pre-med students choose to do 2 co-ops in 4 years since they will have many many years of med school afterward. But keep in mind you don’t have to do a co-op, or you can do just one! Since my roommate scored that awesome internship with Harvard, she decided to only do one co-op during her time. So it’s totally up to you!
In terms of deciding between the 3 schools, all are great choices! It may depend on what you want in terms of campus, if you want to be in the city, whether you want to do co-op, etc. Northeastern can be STEM heavy and has lots of great opportunities within STEM, but also a vibrant humanities/social sciences group of students (I am one).
Hope this helps!