Hey everyone! I’m a high school senior and I’d really appreciate some advice. I want to go to medical school and become a doctor.
I need help deciding between my two top options: Columbia University (CC) and a 7 year med program between Penn State University and Sidney Kimmel Medical College (Jefferson). The conditions of the program are that I maintain a 3.5 GPA (in science and overall, each semester), and the current MCAT requirement is a minimum composite score of 504 with no less than a 126 on any subsection (~64th percentile). Note: I’m not concerned with the financial side of this decision. The cost of each option does not matter to me or my parents. We are focused on which path is better for my ultimate goal of becoming a strong doctor (being competitive for strong residencies and fellowships) and having a successful career .
A little bit about me, I was in the top 1% of my class, my standardized test scores are very strong, and I’ll be finishing HS with over 10 APs taken.
I’m worried about being able to balance a high gpa and strong extracurriculars as a premed at Columbia.
Is a 3.5-3.6 science/overall doable?
What is the grading like at Columbia (for premed, science, and overall)? What is the distribution of As and Bs generally like in premed? Will I often be against a tough curve or will I be able to earn good grades with focus and hard work? I will likely be majoring in some sort of biological sciences.
Another thing, I’ve seen statistics showing a very high percentage of graduating Columbia premeds getting into medical school. However, does anyone have an idea of how often premeds get weeded out of the premed track/what is a better percent estimate of the likelihood that a day 1 freshman in CC will make it to medical school?
Would anyone have an idea of how often Columbia premeds get into mid/top tier med schools compared to low tier schools?
I’m concerned about the stress and being able to manage my time. I also don’t want to take more than 1 gap year after a 4 year Undergrad to get into med school. So, my general question is how manageable/doable is premed at Columbia with the aim of being a strong applicant for med school in the hopes of not needing more than one gap year? At the same time, I’d like to hear opinions on going through the Penn State-Jefferson route. I’d also like to hear thoughts on how each path would affect my career trajectory as a doctor. Any input would be appreciated! Thanks!
The choice is really about whether you are ready to commit to med school now. If you are, a guaranteed slot is hard to pass up. You will save a year’s worth of tuition and you’ll be able to concentrate all your energy on your professional goal. But, an accelerated BS/MD program means minimal opportunity to pursue other academic fields, other modes of academic thought, and intellectual breadth. Columbia’s Core will force you to study lots of things unrelated to becoming a physician. Columbia has a great track record of pre-meds getting into med school. The “risk” is that you will develop other interests and decide to follow a different path. A huge portion of pre-meds only want to be pre-med because of what they (or their parents) perceive about the field, not what they know about themselves and medicine. Think of it as less about “weeding out” as it is about “opting out.” If you are truly dedicated to medicine, you’ll do fine either way.
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The Penn State–Jefferson 7 year option will force you to determine your commitment to medicine. If committed, then you save one year of study & expenses. If not for you or you cannot meet the conditions, then you can pursue another career goal.
Another issue to pose: Will the Penn State–Jefferson Program limit your medical career options in any way that a four year degree from Columbia would not ? If not, then Penn State is the better option.
I agree with SlowPop’s comments. Also, I don’t think it’s impossible to get a good sGPA in CC as long as you take on a major that you are woefully ill suited to, and even so, if you push yourself (I know someone doing bio and applied math), it can turn out well. Due to health reasons or whatever, I definitely didn’t go as hard as some of my classmates but I got above what you’re worried about.
Mowsh bio is infamous for its difficulty; personally, I think if you can think analytically, you’ll be fine. Mowsh bio vaguely tends to be curved to a B, Orgo to a B or B+, premed physics I wouldn’t know, Calculus to an A- or B+, Stats is similar to Calc. Is it a cakewalk? No, you definitely need to put the time in, but I think that many of the people who were premed when I started are still premed now, and the ones who left it, typically went into more lucrative careers in finance or consulting, and Columbia will give you far more options than PSU.
Overall, grading is fine. With core classes it varies, but usually you can get a read on the professor and how they mark and try and switch sections if you think the situation is dire.
Stress definitely exists but I think a lot of the problems college students have with it is due to mismanagement of time and not taking good care of themselves. It’s more about maturity than not. If you are focused, start volunteering early (and there are many opportunities in NY), and get your MCAT done by junior summer, you don’t need to take any years off. If you take it senior year, you should only have to take 1.
Take a look at this Grid (from the AAMC):
https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/157998/factstablea24.html
The sweet spot for med school admissions is a GPA of 3.8 or higher and an old MCAT score of 33-35. This gives you an 86% chance of admission. If you are black or hispanic, the chances are a little higher. Will you be able to achieve this high of a GPA? Getting though the rigors of a premed curriculum is not easy. Med schools largely focus on the GPA and MCAT. Extracurriculars and other things do matter, but not as much. The rigor of the undergraduate education is taken into account, but don’t expect it to make up for a GPA less than 3.5.
If you have doubts about this, then take the Jefferson combined program. Seems like almost a shoe-in for med school acceptance. However if you feel that you can graduate at the top of your class in the big pond at Columbia, then you should have no problem.
I love Columbia but I would say to take the BS/MD if it will allow you to enjoy college. Getting a 3.5 GPA is definitely something you could reasonably expect to achieve at Columbia but the stress would be real. Essentially every class is curved so you not only have to be smart but you also have to be willing to work harder to get As which then impacts on social life and extra curricular opportunities. If you really need to have a 3.8 gpa that will be stressful plus usually pre meds need to do research (very competitive to get these jobs in pre med at Columbia) and some type of med shadowing/volunteering. It really comes down to if you would be happy with Kimmel and if so then you should probably go with PSU especially since you mention stress as a decision factor.
Some great insight from these posters. I’m also deciding between PSU/Jefferson and a few undergrads (albeit not Ivy league). Curious to know where you end up committing, so please update when you do.