I am a rising high school senior who is planning on applying to college as an environmental science major on a pre med track. After a few college confidential answers I thought I was going to apply to “decent” cheap schools in order to save money for medical school. However, after talking to my dermatologist (my dream job), he told me to go to the best school I can possibly get into and to not even look at the price tag. He said that in the next 5 or so years they will be phasing out boards and standardized tests and that my best chance of getting into a top medical school is to get into a top undergraduate school.
Should I listen to my dermatologist or should I save the money?
Would you go see a financial advisor for a skin condition?
Agree with response #1. There are several parents on CC with kids in med school. I’m sure they would say the same thing. GPA and MCAT’s matter way more than where you went to undergrad.
Med schools are expensive. Maybe they will phase out all the testing. They could also cut reimbursements to where doctors make less than they do now.
Well, think of it this way. Will it be easier for you to maintain a 4.0 (or nearly) at a T-20 or at your state university? If you can’t make the grades, no amount of “prestige” is going to help you get into med school.
I don’t even know what that means that they’re phasing out “boards.” What boards is he referring to? Specialty boards? Step tests? I find that hard to believe. Is he involved in medical education? Anyway, what would that have to do with your undergrad education? And why would you have to go to a “top” medical school? The goal is ANY medical school.
Before you do anything, run the NPC on, say, Bowdoin and Vanderbilt.
Are they affordable? Then, go ahead and apply to whatever reach universities you are interested in. DO find 2 affordable safeties and 3-5 match schools first though.
BTW, you’d be lucky to get into even ONE medical school. Only 40% applicants do, and the 100% they were part of were not the freshmen who started as premeds, but the minority left out after the weeding in Orgo, the weeding in General Chem and General Bio…
In that sense, “attend whatever university you can afford” is good advice, but never attend a university for which you’d need to borrow to attend. Also, “best fit” really trumps “highest ranked on USNWR”.