what school has least grade deflation and the easiest As?
No such thing as “easy pre-med”. And if the classes somehow were easy, likely your MCAT score would be lousy. I’d avoid schools know for grade deflation, but that is a small number.
All state schools have a high admission rate, due to the mandates from the government. But easy admission does not equal to low quality or easy classes. You need to look at the 4 year graduation rate in combine with admission rates. I am sure among those 20% graduate from ole there are many high stats premed students will rival those from highly selective schools such as Harvard.
The career in medicine is a marathon, not a sprint, the ultimate success in the medical field worldwide is the final measurement of a successful “student” not where he went to to college.
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ive got a 1580 SAT, 3.5 UW GPA, 4.2 W GPA, and amazing ECs. My income is very high but what places could i expect a scholarship so that i would pay 10k a year or less
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Premed is never easy. However, you would be less likely be weeded at a mid-tier school IF YOU put in the effort.
@mom2collegekids do all science classes have quotas on how many kids can get an A?
Some schools do officially–
Some cap the absolute number of A permitted. Some cap As awarded to X percentage of the class.
Some schools don’t officially–
but the difficulty of the material and pace of the class will cause many student to earn lower grades.
And most professors will adjust the difficulty of their exams if too many students are earning As (or too many are failing) to renormalize the grade distribution.
Brown is known as giving lots of A’s, but… getting into Brown is no piece of cake AND your parents have to agree to be full pay (70K/year).
Are you a boy or a girl?
Look at UMiami Ohio, UTDallas (AES and McDermott), Temple, but also LACs which don’t weed* - look at LACs ranked 40-60 and you should be good. Dickinson, St Olaf, Grinnell have a good reputation for the sciences.
- doesn't mean the classes are easy. It just means there's no fixed number of A's.
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do all science classes have quotas on how many kids can get an A?
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Virtually every school is the US has way too many freshman premeds. Schools know that they have to reduce those numbers because, even after judicious weeding many (40-80%) will not be accepted to any med schools. Imagine if there wasn’t heavy weeding? Yikes, there would a ridiculous number applying with maybe only 10-20% acceptance. Schools don’t want those terrible numbers and certainly parents/students don’t want those horrible numbers. So, schools know it’s their duty to weed out the weaker premeds at their schools.
So, either officially or unofficially, there is going to be heavy weeding in the courses that premeds are required or suggested that they take.
A school that has 100 upperclassmen applying to med school probably had at least 400 premeds as freshmen.
I don’t think Brown is easy on their premeds. The kid I know went to Brown did not make in premed. She is very bright and worked very hard, she could get into any school she wants to. Now she is an investment banker doing very well.
<<<<Brown is known as giving lots of A’s,<<<<
Warning: just because a school is known for giving a lot of A’s, that does NOT mean that holds true for premed prereqs. That may just hold true for the 99.9% of other classes offered.
No, it’s true for premeds too. They give out a LOT more A’s and (gasp) B’s than in state schools, but of course the caliber students is very high. NO premed path is easy. Brown’s classes aren’t easy. They do give out more good grades than is usual but the classes are still really hard.
I don’t know the exact number but the estimation is that 3/4 “HS premeds” give up on the idea during college, often during their first two years. There are so many other paths and fields that HS students don’t know about… it’s not always due to low grades.
The other part of the equation is that you want to go to a school that will prepare you well for the MCATs, since that’s the other big factor in med-school admissions. If you get an A in Orgo but haven’t learned the material, the school isn’t doing you any favors.
The other thing to consider is finding a schoo with good premed counseling that will help you through the process with things like choosing appropriate ECs and obtaining good recs.
Look at the MCAT scores produced by students at each school you are considering. You want a school you can keep a respectable gpa at, but not at the cost of good MCAT preparation. No pre-med curriculum is easy. Orgo 1 and 2 can be a stumbling block for some. Make sure your physics, bio, chem, calc and statistics are strong. Make sure you’ve observed enough clinical hours to understand how demanding the job is and how difficult patients can be. Pick a university with research and get involved in a research project. It will give you an edge in applying to med school.
@EllieMom
Colleges do not prepare students for the MCAT. They just don’t. That’s not their goal; not their mission. The premed prereqs are regular classes that other STEM students are taking as well.
The premed prereqs are difficult everywhere because the material is challenging. Colleges essentially use the same books for these classes.
Finding a school with established premed advising is good, one that writes Committee Letters, and one where there isn’t just 2-3 advisors for 400+ students who’ll be applying.
I strongly disagree with mom2collegekids.
The integrated content on the MCAT is broken down into four test sections that comprise the exam:
Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems.
Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills.
Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems.
Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior.
A strong foundational program is essential to assimilating this knowledge base. (regardless of what your degree is in)
Again…check the MCAT scores of premed students at each college you are considering. You’ll notice a trend.
Schools with more academic rigor produce students with better MCAT scores.
But if students are getting the grades in basic courses, that’s just the first step. They still have to be prepared for MCATs and, while self-studying is obviously part of the deal, not all schools prepare students equally. The coursework in those basic classes—bio, gen chem, biochem, physics, orgo, stats, etc—provide the foundation. A student looking for an “easy A” in orgo may be in a big surprise if they think that’s all there is to it.
The content is part of the premed knowledge base. The test itself - not so much. It’s like for the ACT or the SAT: you need to prepare for the test itself in addition to knowing what’s in it.
All I can say is anyone who asks a question like this is someone I would not want as my doctor.
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Schools with more academic rigor produce students with better MCAT scores.
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But that is not because of what the school is doing. That is because those schools start out with stronger students
^^^^Agree!
You can’t do that @MaryGJ because that data is NOT publicly available and cannot be independently confirmed. It’s hearsay at best.
Also the MCAT score much more reflective of the amount of individual preparation a student has done than the rigor of the coursework.
Even Harvard students complain their classes do not adequately prepare them for the MCAT
[Premeds in Search of MCAT Prep Say Harvard Classes Provide Insufficient Instruction](Premeds in Search of MCAT Prep Say Harvard Classes Provide Insufficient Instruction | News | The Harvard Crimson)