Can I get into a good medical school if I got to Case Western Reserve for undergrad?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

hey, im a current senior in high school who needs to commit to a college soon. I recently received a full tuition scholarship to Case Western Reserve University, as well as was admitted to Rice and Johns Hopkins (both of whom are NOT giving me a single piece of aid)

Money is really important in my decision, since I have two other siblings and we are a middle class family, meaning we arent poor enough to get aid but not rich enough to easily pay off 70k a year.

I’m a neuroscience major on a premed track, so I was wondering if I go to Case would I be able to get into a good medical school? Does anyone have anybody they know go to Case and end up at a really good med school? Or would Hopkins or Rice guarantee me a better med school admission?

Being asian, I guess school ranking is pretty important and its Hopkins > Rice > Case, but for premed/med people say undergrad doesn’t matter all that much as long as your med is really good.

So what do you think? Is Case full tuition (close to the Cleveland Clinic) better than spending all that money at Rice/Hopkins? Thanks!

2

Congratulations!

Yes, absolutely. Having a major research hospital immediately adjacent to campus is a huge plus. Obviously Rice and JHU are top-notch, world-class universities. To me, CWRU has closed the gap pretty significantly in recent years. The student body is really accomplished today. It has really become much more of a national university in the last decade or so. I think Rice’s curriculum is fantastic, campus beautiful, and the weather great (during the school year, less so the summer). If money were the same, I’d personally have a preference for Rice for those reasons. Really, though, if you go to CWRU, work hard, take advantage of opportunities, make opportunities, and treat everyone with dignity and respect, you can come out of CWRU every bit as strong of a med school applicant as anywhere. Med school is very much about what you do in college, much less so where you go to college. And these are GREAT choices.

In the end, though, it’s what best suits YOU and what makes the most financial sense for YOU that is crucial and decisive.

Good luck!

3

You will need the $200,000 when you go to med school. Go to Case.

4

Yes, of course. The obstacles are primarily getting a great GPA in premed courses and doing well on the MCAT. Those are challenges at every college.

5

Also from Case Western, you can apply and do research in summer medical programs at many fine undergraduate medical research programs like–Ohio State, UC Irvine, too, and thus if you are interested in research, there is a path each summer you might want to take. That might be on or off campus.

If you are interested in clinical experiences, a different path. You may want to try both. Case will coach you on MCAT exam. Case offers later writing services, to your med school, the other colleges will do that too.
.
There are actually 3 hospitals walking distance from Case, 1. University Hospital, 2.Cleveland Clinic and 3.the VA Hospital, all very different, so you can get three different clinical experiences. Also, there are nursing classes you can take at Case as well, as there is a full undergraduate nursing program there.

Case also has a brand new Medical Campus that integrates social work, low cost dental care, and medical training,
opening 2019. Case University Hospital is one of the first to use the Hololens to teach surgery to medical students.
http://hec.case.edu

Whats also cool about Case, if you major in say math, you can do biomedical related math. If you major in economics, there is a professor working on drug economics , if you major in physics, there is a strong biophysics research program at Case.

Also Seidman Cancer Center is on campus too.

6

Absolutely go to Case.

7

Here’s one way to look at reputations and rankings. JHU has long been a tip-top national research university. In fact, JHU was one of the pioneers in establishing the German university system in the US, where LAC-type schools had been the norm. So it’s been near the top for a long time, and has grown and improved and there’s every reason it should be there today.

CWRU is actually the result of the 1960s merger of Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University, which at that time were on either side of Euclid Avenue just outside downtown Cleveland.CIT was a regional tech school, though an outstanding one. Western Reserve was more of a regional school, though a strong one. There had been some cooperation between the schools.

So a half century ago CWRU was a newly reorganized university, strong regionally with national ambitions, with a funny name, and in a city going through a very difficult time as deindustrialization and economic changes hurt it. I mean, it’s river, the Cuyahoga, caught on fire because it was so polluted. The city was firmly established as “The Mistake by the Lake.”

But in the last few decades Cleveland has done pretty well, it’s actually a pretty good city, with admittedly lots of areas that are struggling. And the school is doing fantastic. It really has fulfilled its mission to become a national university. While JHU and Rice have continued to grow and develop and improve, CWRU really has largely closed the gap, particularly in the quality of its research and of its students. It always had very good students but now it really draws top students from all over. Lots and lots of students are high SAT/ACT achievers, with top grades in school.

Since JHU and Rice are also doing great, it’s harder to close the gap in the rankings than to change the quality in fact.

I think it might help to think of it that way.

8

Also note that Western Reserve College is much older than CIT, was established in the New England LAC tradition in the “Western Reserve of Connecticut” in about 1924. This was before the formation of the state of Ohio, so the school was well known back east for many years. There has been a long history of excellent physics and chemistry at both institutions, see the Michelson Morley experiment, for instance!
https://case.edu/ech/articles/m/michelson-morley-experiment

Case Western also has ties to Akron, because of its fine polymer science and macromolecular science programs.
Case was a school on the radar of EAST COAST students in the 1970s who wanted to study science and engineering.

Case still keeps a strong liberal arts focus in the Arts and Sciences department, while doing an excellent job
with majors like accounting, engineering and nursing.

The fact that Case’s President is an academic law professor is also keeping humanities and social sciences, and writing programs strong at Case.

Case also has one of the finest schools of social work in the region, and has many joint projects with the city of Cleveland. Undergraduates at Case have an opportunity to serve Cleveland as well, in SAGES seminars that engage Case students with the greater community.

All Case students get public transportation as part of their student ID,
all Case students can get deeply discounted season tickets to the Cleveland Orchestra, which is walking distance to dorms, and many Case music minor students actually get a chance to play at Severence Hall, one of the more famous concert halls in the USA.

CIM is on campus, one of the finer small music conservatories in the USA. All CIM students take general education classes at Case, and Case students get music lessons with CIM professors. The music interaction between the conservatory and Case is phenomenal.

Cleveland Institute of Art, a well known fine arts college also offers joint art programs, and Case Western’s curation and art history program is A+. Many Case professors are also curators at the Cleveland Art Museum, also co located
in University Circle.

Cleveland is like a compact Boston/Cambridge to me. Although lots of bloggers will try to tear that down,
its what comes to mind when one gets off the train at University Circle Cleveland. Brick roads, huge synagogue or church on every corner, it could be Central Square Cambridge.

9

Note that macromolecular science is a fantastic premedical major available at Case. Polymers are used for drug delivery, as well as tires !

10

I just have to comment here as I am very familiar with CASE. Cleveland Clinic and the VA are not within walking distance- certainly you can take an Uber or a cab- 15 minutes with traffic, but not walkable. UH is right there so I imagine they have many opportunities for CASE students. It is also nice in that many museums are a stones throw away, as well as the Orchestra and Little Italy which is a big draw.

11

@isitfridayyet ?? It’s under a mile from Case to the CC, straight shot down Euclid. Easy walk unless the winter wind is blowing really hard off Lake Erie :slight_smile:

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12

All US medical schools are good.

13

The VA medical Center is adjacent to Wade Oval. Also a mile from campus and very walkable.

Congrats on your acceptance to Case!

14

I know of a doctor in our city who went to community college for 2 of her 3 years in college. She had no problem getting into medical school.

15

Case with free tuition ALL the way, do not look back… Congratulations.

16

Can you please provide your profile - including GPA / rank / scores / AP - IB / affordability , any aid received ?

17

@chaks2623

Why do you need to know stats and aid received.

The student got a full tuition scholarship to Case, and was wondering if Med school could be done from there (yes).

And judging from a post on May 8, this student has committed to attending Case.

Not sure why you are asking your question.

18

Guessing to see if similar to @chaks2623 stats, @thumper1 , for chance-type purposes.

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19

All medical schools are good, there is not much difference between the Ivies and the States, the only difference may be at the research level. The “higher ranking” med schools are more concentrated in medical research, the lower ranking med schools are more concentrated in clinical experiences. If you do well in a lower-ranking school, you still can get into a highly competitive residency.
When you apply to med school, MSAR is your friend, individual applicants’ stats may be misleading.