My daughter got accepted in UNC chapel hill, ncsu, furman (with scholarship) and GT (with scholarship) so from tuition perspective we will be paying almost the same for all schools except Furman ( which is 20k /yr more ). She wants to do undergraduate in Biochemistry / biology. Her future aim is to go to med school. Which school will prepare her better for med school?
Med school admissions is based on GPA, MCAT score, letters of recommendation, and required medical volunteer work/job shadowing. All of those places would be just fine. Her aim should be to finish her undergrad years without any debt, and with as much money set aside to pay for med school as possible. She can safely choose the place that will give her the best combination of low costs, and likelihood of a better GPA. For price alone, I’d drop Furman from her list right now. Since GT is only cheap because of the scholarship, she needs to know what the requirements are for keeping that scholarship.
Many, many premeds change their goals along the way. She should take a good long look at what the places on her list have to offer if she would decide against med school.
"Her future aim is to go to med school. Which school will prepare her better for med school? "
- She does not need to worry about being prepared for the medical school. I would follow the money and select one of the cheaper ones. My own pre-med D. was attending the UG on full tuition Merit award and it freed our resources to pay for her Medical School. No UG prepares them for medical school. College provides some basic background, but academics at Medical School is “quantum leap” higher as was expressed by my D. What they need to focus in UG (any UG!!) is getting very high GPA, decent MCAT score, participate in medical ECs and all of it will depend on the student, not the college. Besides, medical schools do not pay too much attention to the name of the UG, they pay whole lot of attention to the things that I listed.
Best wishes on this very challenging road!
GPA is paramount for med school admissions. Georgia Tech is known to be unusually tough in terms of grades, since it’s an engrg. school. Not that the other universities are handing out A’s - just something to consider. Perhaps others can chime in on this aspect.
GT isn’t likely to produce a med school -worthy GPA (no adjustments to expect despite their tough grade deflation). Onlykeep if you think she may prefer other venues than med school (as most freshmen find out what they like while in college and drop the vague “med school” option that wasn’t anchored in reality - if she has shadowed doctors, volunteered in a hospital, truly enjoys and excels at science and English, etc., then she may hold on to it.) A GTech degree is very worthwhile for other endeavors than medicine.
Both UNC-CH and NCSU would be excellent choices. Atmosphere is quite different so she should visit, do an overnight, attend two classes (one a freshman gen ed requirement, one in her potential major), talk to students, eat in the cafeteria, read the campus paper, to see which one “feels right”.
Furman should be crossed out due to costs.
If you want to go pre-med then think about:
- The cheapest reasonable college so you/your parents can use the money for med school
- The college needs to prepare you for MCATs but still allow you to get a good GPA
- Access to volunteering opportunities (e.g., near a hospital)
- Success in graduates getting into med school
- Options if you don’t go to med school
She will likely have plenty of debt for medical school…so keep undergrad debt to as close to zero as possible.
As noted above…school doesn’t matter as much as MCAT scores, and GPA…and then to some degree letters of reference…and interview.
Ditto on the above. She needs a viable plan B as many will change their minds about becoming physicians or not get in. Finances trump other considerations at this stage- she obviously applied to schools she would like to attend. Therefore drop the outlier. Among the others consider where she would most enjoy being. Grades are critical for medical school admissions and she is likely to do her best where she most wants to be.
Do not waste time plotting facts and figures for numbers/percentages getting into medical schools. Instead, if she is wavering between two same/similar cost schools she should look at the requirements for probable majors at the competing schools. See which has the courses she most likely wants. She should be excited about opportunities at her school.
ANY school will offer the classes needed to prepare one for medical school. ANY major can be chosen as long as one takes the required courses needed for admissions. Most choose sciences because they like them most. When in college she should relax enough to choose classes to educate herself in many ways, not just get into medical school. Times change but remain the same across generations. A women physician from eons ago (percentages of women went from 10-20% to 50% since my day) I am so glad I took so many nonessential courses such as Art History, Symphony, a Sci Fi lit course and so many other not required for my Chemistry major (I wasn’t gung ho medicine until later in college- deciding it over grad school). No time for those in medical school! and the knowledge gained has been beneficial. A recently accepted woman I know majored in Anthropology and something else because she liked it.
There are as many paths to medical school as there are students. Think of college as an education, not just a path to being a physician. Choosing the university that appeals most will make the experience best. And- do not look back and second guess the choice. She likely will/won’t get in regardless of the school chosen. Good luck to her and realizing her goals as they evolve.
Just read this article today. It was helpful to my daughter.
Well, some have a plan B and others do not. These others focus more on the success of plan A than on failure. This focus may make a difference. I believe that it did for my D. I believe that the lack of plan B actually pushed her to work harder but it could be just her HS habits, I do not know at this point. What I am trying to say, that it is a very good idea to have a goal of an A in every single class. Pursuing the interests outside of medicine may eventually lead to plan B anyway. Most pre-meds around my D. were pursuing their personal interests, but all somehow got into medical schools. The interests were Art, Music, Spanish,…etc. My D. graduated with the Music minor, but she never ever mentioned that she is interested in career related to music. I do not think that she belongs there. D. said that she would do fine anywhere and choose to attend at in-state public where she felt more at home than at other places. She did not check any classes or anything related to academics, she felt that it would be up to her and not the place to get the most out of it. It worked out well for her and her friends, those who eventually applied. The average rate of initial pre-meds who eventually apply is about 15%. It may be lower at schools with the stricter pre-med committee. Out of those who apply about 42% will get accepted to at least one medical school. One thing that I forgot to mention before is a difference in pre-med committee. D. got lucky with hers, but frankly, we did not check it out. She was ready to apply early and committee was essential to that.
Why did she apply to these schools? She should lean to the one where she believes she will be happy and fit in because if she’s happy she’s more likely to do well GPA wise which is something that will be important to med schools. I know “fit” is nebulous.
As most med students tend to borrow their way through med school which is typically expensive, trying to graduate with as little UG debt as possible should be an important consideration in college choice.
As to which prepares a student for med school: premed reqs give med schools a way to see if applicants can handle a moderately difficult set of science courses (GPA wise), not so much to actually prepare a student for med school. Premed reqs (eg bio, chem) are not titled Bio for Premeds, Chem for premeds. These courses are just garden variety science courses offered to students who want to take them and have satisfied whatever prereqs are needed to enroll in them.
As to MCAT prep: again premed reqs are not titled Bio for MCAT prep, etc. Although the material taught in these courses tends to provide the background material for the MCAT, most kids will either take a formal MCAT review (eg Kaplan, Princeton Review), or buy MCAT study materials and prep on their own.
And as suggested above, a plan B is always a good idea for any premed. Many, many students who show up on day one as premeds will change their minds and never see the inside of a med school. And of those who run the gauntlet and get to point of applying, approx. 60% will not get accepted anywhere.
Good luck.
This assumes that if the student does not spend the money for undergrad, the parents will make it available for med school. The student should ask the parent whether this is true. It may not be.