I am currently a junior in high school looking for possible college choices. I am trying to look for schools that can be beneficial to me in the sense that it will prepare me for the MCAT, and it is not too competitive (even though I know most pre-med schools are). Also, I got a 30 on the ACT, but I’m not sure how far that will get me.
As this have been answered several dozen times, pre-med is not a major, you can major in any discipline of your choice in UG and at any school, as long as you fulfil the pre-req from AMCAS, you can apply for med school after taking MCAT. And no college classes will prepare for MCAT, its the overall education that prepares you for the MCAT.
Are there any colleges you can recommend?
Where will you be in-state?
California
Sure, just take the US News & World Report ranking system, start from #1 and go down to where you will be accepted. AND can afford. Don’t forget your state flags and non-directionals, as they most likely are the most affordable. However, select those that have good pre-med advisory.
Some LACs have committee letters of recommendation, they select their strongest candidate to send them to med school. Anyhow, keep your College GPA HIGH is the key, try to get ALL As and do not let your GPA and sGPA get below 3.7 is essential.
I am a CA resident. CA pre-med tracked students are the most difficult to apply for med schools. 1000s of UC graduates are applying, there are so few seats in CA med schools in comparison to number of applicants that most CA residents are going OOS. And UG instate COA is not much cheaper than OOS, some times it is even cheaper to go to OOS state schools, such as UVA. It is a bad state for pre-meds.
Again, for school selections, just pick the one’s you feel the most suitable and comparable to your personality. Perhaps after you have a list, post here and we can make comments.
Possible Choices:
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
UC Davis
College of William & Mary
UC Santa Barbara
Boston University
Bradley University
University of Wisconsin
Pepperdine
All these colleges you listed can produce successful med school admissions. You mind as well also apply to all the UC schools and perhaps one or two CSUs for safety, such as CPSLO. If you do well in the school and MCAT, there is a med school for you when you graduate. Med related ECs are important for the application process as well.
A kid I know, did not do well enough in UCLA, went to CSU-East Bay close to home for post-bacc, after two years, she is successfully got admitted into a dental school, which is as difficult as med school.
All colleges have premed paths. They’re not unique.
Premed classes do not prepare you for the MCAT or for med school.
Calif has too many premeds and the competition is insane.
Have you asked your parents how much they’ll pay for college
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Possible Choices: University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.....no....why would you choose that? UC Davis College of William & Mary UC Santa Barbara Boston University....not a good idea Bradley University...don't know this school University of Wisconsin....ok, but why? Pepperdine <<<
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You need a better list.
What is your GPA
What is your UC GPA
How much will your parents pay each year? Ask them, please don’t guess. We see later posts from a lot of disappointed students who thought their parents would pay more.
^^ M2ck’s concern on Boston U is because its perceived grade deflation, that is one of the reason that BostonU’s acceptance rate has been maintained around 50%. Some kids don’t think grade deflation is real there, but some do.
William and Mary is a great choice, if you can get in. Was there for summer sessions and met with my childhood friend there, he had just finished his Bio Phd and went to Columbia for post doc.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/5/16/mcat-test-prep-premed/
This is no knock on Harvard. This is how it should be (and how it is at most schools). College science courses aren’t geared to the MCAT, especially since the MCAT isn’t really a knowledge based test.
This list can be worth browsing for ideas for colleges to research further:
http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/lists/list/the-experts-choice-colleges-with-great-pre-med-programs/199/
You might like a college such as Bates, for example.