<p>I'm currently looking at U Mich for undergrad (obviously), and want to major in physics. I also would like to go to medical school, and was wondering how competitive U Mich Premeds are? I don't mind mild competition, but I love helping people, and couldn't see myself at a 100% cut-throat school. If anyone could help me out here, that'd be great.</p>
<p>competitiveness is sorely lacking at Michigan, even in Ross or Pre-med. a non-type-A like you would fit right in (I dont mean it in a bad way… just different personality traits).</p>
<p>from my understanding, Michigan is nowhere as competitive as east-coast schools, such as UPenn and the rest of the Ivy League.</p>
<p>The above guy is right. No one at UMich is going to try to undermine you or hope you break your ankle on the way to the Orgo final. UMich students are, on the whole, really supportive. Some dislike this. But it really makes for a better overall experience.</p>
<p>“competitiveness is sorely lacking at Michigan”</p>
<p>Nope. Depends on what kind of premeds you hang around. In chem 463 once I let a clueless dude look at my solution to a page-long problem for like an hour. He then refused to help me with another problem he had the solution to on the problem set even though he copied it from GSI office hours and understood none of it. A girl I was sitting next to in 463 refused to let me copy her notes from the first 10 minutes of class after I walked in late. A different girl used a bunch of people to copy homework/labs off of fall semester (while she partied like a *****), pretending to be their friend, and then apparently wanted nothing to do with them winter semester because they no longer shared classes. A girl did badly on the first orgo exam and tried to lead my friend on romantically in order to copy the orgo coursepack off of him. Little did she know that he had 2 coursepacks and filled in one of them with entirely wrong, yet believable answers. Guess which one he let her copy off of? She did really badly on the second test. It was hilarious.</p>
<p>There is a strong contingent of students here who are very competitive, make no mistake about it. But I will agree that the majority of students do not act like that in public.</p>
<p>“A girl did badly on the first orgo exam and tried to lead my friend on romantically in order to copy the orgo coursepack off of him. Little did she know that he had 2 coursepacks and filled in one of them with entirely wrong, yet believable answers. Guess which one he let her copy off of? She did really badly on the second test. It was hilarious.”</p>
<p>This is awesome. Hahahaha.</p>
<p>from my pre-med friends it is not that people will try to make you mess up or not help you so much as it is still really hard to do really well</p>
<p>IM Mens Flag Football and Soccer on the other hand… very competitive.</p>
<p>URM perspective: I’m usually around black premedical students and we are on the whole, supportive of each other. In terms of the rest of the university, I have never encountered people that were not helpful. I’m sure you will get a mixed bunch at Michigan since its a large school, but on the whole, this is probably one of the most laid back, prestigious universities in the country.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone, and Bearcats… that’s my high school’s mascot… :)</p>
<p>Anyways I think I’d survive there if I get in. I’m actually extremely competitive, but I still like helping people. I don’t want to be the reason someone failed an Orgo exam or anything :).</p>
<p>So do you guys think that if you go to Michigan being very competitive, you may stand a better chance at doing better?</p>
<p>Not necessarily. There are many students here that are laid back and perform really well. There are also students that just want to do well so they study all of the time. Then there’s the neurotic types that are competitive and get angry at every point that they lose. It depends on the type of learner you are, but if you come here with a competitive attitude it will help you and certainly put you ahead. </p>
<p>Sent from my iPhone using CC</p>
<p>just out of curiosity, how is the competitiveness / caliber of the students at umich compared to those of UC berkeley, UCLA, UVA ? Is it easier to get better grades at umich compared to these other top-notch public schools? thanks!</p>
<p>Probably not. Let’s just say that as pre-med you’ll have to earn your grades.</p>
<p>Some students care and work really hard, and others…don’t. It’s pretty easy to tell who is who.</p>