<p>How difficult is the courseload and material for some current duke pre med students? Is it difficult to achieve a 3.7+ GPA and be able to have a outside life?</p>
<p>i also want to know this</p>
<p>No one will ever say that the Duke Premed courses are easy. All the premed courses at Duke are curved to a B-. Some of these courses are math 31,32; chem 151, 152(orgo), Bio 25,26,118; chem 21,22. The average science GPA for a premed that is accepted into med school is around a 3.5 which only includes math and science courses, and I think 3.6-7 overall. Most freshmen come in and think "alright B- average not bad, I'll just be above average and get a B or a B+." However, you have to realize the people your competing against are just as smart if not smarter than you. Ironically, a lot of students who get weeded out at Duke in premed would have become doctors if they just went to less prestigious schools and gotten better grades due to weaker competition. Roughly 40% of freshmen come in wanting to be pre med, but by the time med school results come in, only about 85-100 people get in to medical school. Thus roughly 6 out of 7 kids get weeded out in the process. If you want to come to Duke and get into med school afterwards, you MUST truly love what you're doing otherwise you'll be miserable for 4 years studying. However, the bottom line is to your question is that you are definitely going to have to sacrifice some things ; how much you have to sacrifice depends on where you fall on the grading curve.</p>
<p>So if I'm a pretty good science student, would I be better off doing pre-med at a highly ranked LAC like Middlebury than at Duke, Cornell, Hopkins, Notre Dame, etc.? I don't want to get weeded out...</p>
<p>That's a very good question. Some liberal arts colleges actually have pretty darn strong science programs (not sure about Middlebury's). Ironically, the better/stronger the department, the tougher it is to get good grades. The bottom line is, there are lots of people who get into med school from state schools every year. If you want to really make sure that you can make it to med school, just ultimately go to a school that is at or below your level with an okay science program. However, you should really enjoy your undergraduate years, so take that into account too when you decide to sign your letter of intent to register.</p>
<p>It shouldn't be ironic that good science programs don't just hand out good grades left and right. What makes the program strong is the rigor of the coursework and the quality of the instruction. If the courses are all easy, then the science program would be hardpressed to produce high quality graduates.</p>
<p>yeah, I think I could get into Cornell, Hopkins, ND, or Duke, (definitely not all), but I should probably go to Hamilton, Colgate, or something like that to be safe.</p>
<p>lol speaking for one of the 6/7 getting weeded out of the pre-med major, I can tell you from first hand...you definitely need to be passionate for it.</p>
<p>Now I'm thinking pre-law...</p>
<p>^yeah, pre-law wouldn't work for me. I'd also be doing pre-dental/pre-optometry/pre-FBI physical sciences division, but those all involve the same classes. I need to go to a school where I can get good science grades.</p>
<p>Going to an easier school just because you think it'll boost your GPA for med school is pretty detestable in my opinion. Personally, I can't stand it when people have already decided they're going to become doctors before they've even taken their first college class because the vast majority of them will end up doing something else. Most of the students who start as pre-med are only pre-med because they don't know what else to do, plus being a doctor sounds pretty cool (harsh, but realistically pretty true). They end up getting weeded out for one or a combination of reasons: they're not smart enough, they don't work hard enough, they lack the passion, or they find passion in something else. If you go to an easier college for the sole purpose of "I'm just here to get a good GPA for med school," you are putting all of your eggs into the pre-med basket (the very same basket that 6 out of 7 students drop out of). Sure, you might get into med school, but is that what you really want? After all, if the pre-med curriculum never challenges you, you won't ever think twice about it. The point of a rigorous pre-med program is to test if you really have what it takes and if you really WANT to be a doctor.</p>
<p>To the OP: yes, it is definitely possible. College is all about time management.</p>
<p>Having a bad GPA at a really tough program is not necessarily a bad thing. Medical schools are well aware of the rigor of the top programs. Someone graduating with a 3.5 from Duke BME program definitely gets a lot more respect than someone who graduated with a 4.0 from a state school with a mediocre program.</p>