Need some guidance about the quality of the pre-med experience at CWRU. Specifically, how easy is it for students to get involved with research and volunteer experiences? How accessible is the health professions advisor? Are there support opportunities for students who are on the pre-med track? Choice has come down to CWRU and a smaller liberal arts college, not as well known but with a strong science program and tons of support for pre-professional students.
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Case has many opportunities for research for undergraduates…they have a program called SOURCE that helps match students with professors.
https://case.edu/source/
Case is literally across the street from 2 hospitals and the Cleveland Clinic is a block away so volunteer opportunities abound.
Case has a med school so they know what is needed to get students into medical school.
in 2016 they hired someone just to be in charge of pre-med advising (previous person was pre-healh (including dentistry etc.)
http://observer.case.edu/new-pre-med-advisor/
Case has recommended premed sequences per major type
https://case.edu/ugstudies/transfer-guide/recommendations-for-students-interested-in-pre-health/
@bopper, thanks for quick and helpful reply. By chance, do you know anything about CWRU’s acceptance stats for medical school?
I do not know…
But when thinking about Med school acceptance rates (and I am making up numbers) know what a particular college means
2000 kids think they are going to go to med school as a freshman.
1000 kids think they are going to go to med school as a sophomore because they made it through chem and bio
500 kids think they are going to go to med school as a junior because they made it through organic chem
200 kids think they are going to go to med school as a senior because they got decent scores on the MCAT and have a good GPA
100 kids actually apply and get through the whole process
50 kids get a recommendation letter from the pre-health committee so the others are effectively shut out
40 of those kids are accepted to various levels of DO or MD schools
So when they say 80% are admitted, they don’t mean from the 2000 freshman, they mean from the 50 cream of the crop that made it to the end with high GPAs and high MCAT scores who got the blessing of the pre-health committtee…and some of those are going to Harvard Med and some of those are going to East Podunk DO school
I guess @NewEnglandMom2 asking “What percentage of students accepted for Medschool after they apply during Senior year”
Some schools provide the statistics like for example: “40 to 50% of biology major students apply for Med school and 60 to 70% of the students will get accepted”
Hope the surveys in this CWRU site will help to answer the questions. https://students.case.edu/career/resources/survey/
Also, note, it has becoming a popular trend for Med school applicants to take a gap year after graduation. The time required to prepare for MCAT adequately, accumulated enough clinical. research, and service hours, let alone the application itself (the secondaries, the interviews) put a tremendous amount of stress for the junior and senior year schedule. Therefore, it is not uncommon for seniors to just take an additional year after graduation to beef up the hours and the going through the application process.
IMO, for premed students, the most important factors should be #1) how competitive the undergrad. program - is there a bell curve to set the % of As in the class #2) is there medical facilities nearby for the doc. shadowing, volunteering hours #3) undergrad. research - how competitive to get one - factors #2 and #3 are very important because the letter of recs (factor #4) depends on that. Then I’d add, factor #5) - does the undergrad. institution has an affiliated medical school. MCAT is very important, but I found most top state/private schools have similar vigorous curriculum that will prepare the student adequately for the exam (clearly, personal effort is paramount when it comes to MCAT prep.)
In the situation with Case, it certainly has the resources and facilities nearby to fulfill the proper preparation of the applicant. I can’t say if it is a better school than another other school, it all depends on the fit for the student. JMHO.
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@Mickey2Dad thanks so much for this information. Extremely helpful!
CWRU allows premeds to finish undergrad early, so in three years and just head to medical school faster.
It may not be the right plan for every student, but they will award a bachelors degree with less credits if
a student gets admitted to medical school in junior year.
You may want to call the premedical advisors at both the LAC and Case if she has not made up her mind yet:
https://case.edu/ugstudies/pre-professional-programs/pre-health/
I know some students who were at LACs without advise and got rejected two years in a row at all medical schools and then ended up in a masters of public health. Some LACs are better than others for medical school advise.
The successful medical school applicants take two full years of clinical experience at a very low pay, after a four year undergrad degree.
The higher the MCAT score though may allow students access to medical school faster.
Although this is a little off topic–
There is one school that offers an accelerated MD at U of Missouri in Kansas City. It combines the medical and undergrad training into a six year program and awards the same MD at the end. Some doctors believe this should be the new trend, could students transfer here from any four year undergrad program, potentially –
http://med.umkc.edu
Thanks! She did decide on Case–and is very excited. I like the accelerated model but not for all students. Really hoping my D can enjoy the breadth of here college experience and not worry too much about medical school.
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