Emory vs. Saint Louis Medical Scholars Program

Colleges and Universities A-Z Emory University
1

<p>Hey,</p>

<p>I really love Emory and I really want to go to Emory. The thing is, I was also accepted into the SLU Medical Scholars Program, which is essentially a guaranteed admission into medical school. Personally, I just want to go to a medical school in the United States, but I absolutely hate Saint Louis and I am dreading going there. Yet I know that it is INCREDIBLY difficult to get into medical school in the US; for example, my family knows a kid at Duke with a 3.71 and 36 on the MCAT who did research and service who has not gotten into a single medical school yet. Most of these medical schools only have a 5-10% acceptance rate.</p>

<p>Please let me know what you guys think!</p>

2

<p>If you were to come to Emory, there’s a pretty good chance you won’t finish the premed track. I don’t have a statistic, but I know from anecdotal evidence that a whole lot of people change their minds about medical school. I mean to say that people find other interests at Emory, because it affords students the opportunity to study new subjects. Coming out of high school, you probably don’t have much, if any, experience with subjects like sociology, anthropology, art history, economics, etc. Most high schools only offer 1 or 2 classes on these subjects at the most. Even for the basics like English, history, etc., there’s a whole other world beyond HS classes. A lot of people come to Emory and find that they really didn’t want to go to med school, because there is something else out there that interests them so much more.</p>

<p>For this reason, I would recommend Emory. You will grow and change so much during the next 4 years, and I would recommend allowing yourself the opportunity to explore as much as you can during college. If med school is really what you want to do, Emory will set you up to be incredibly successful in that respect. But if it’s not, you’ll want to allow yourself other opportunities, which you might not have if you do the SLU program.</p>

3

<p>It sounds like you are setting yourself for failure at SLU considering that you totally dread that school. Your mindset would not be right and you probably would not be motivated in your classes. You don’t want to end up getting waking up every morning and wishing you would have went to Emory instead. Also Emory has a really nice pre-med program, so if you were to do pre-med at Emory, get a good MCAT score, good GPA, and nice ECs, I bet you will get into a good med school.</p>

4

<p>I have to disagree with the above two posters. If med school is really the plan, then SLU is a no-brainer. St. Louis has some nice parts. Plus, you will literally be a potential star the day you walk on campus. With stats far exceeding the SLU population, professors will be seeking you out to participate in thier research. Plus, med school is (almost) all about gpa + mcat. If you can find your niche in St. Louis, your gpa just has to be much higher than it would be a Emory.</p>

5

<p>^Med school is definitely not “(almost) all about gpa+mcat”. I daresay, research and EC’s matters a lot too. You can see that if you visit [url=<a href=“http://www.studentdoctor.net/]Student”>http://www.studentdoctor.net/]Student</a> Doctor Network|An educational community for students and doctors spanning all the health professions.<a href=“a%20forum%20for%20medical%20students/doctors”>/url</a>. Also, why would his GPA matter if he goes to the SLU medical program, other than the fact that there is probably a required mini GPA.</p>

<p>One of my friend was accepted to Stanford and Drexel University’s 7 year medical program. He picked the Drexel University’s 7 year medical program and he’s telling me the classes are really easy…</p>

6

<p>See that’s the thing. I want to find a place that will be intellectually stimulating (not to slight SLU in any way or sound too pretentious) and where people will be students similar to me in drive and ambition. My high school is a feeder school for SLU and many students I know who are going to be going there from my high school are a lot of the students I really don’t associate with too much. I just know that I will enjoy myself more at Emory.</p>

<p>That being said, I still am pretty sure I want to go to medical school. As long as I get a 3.5 at SLU, which I think I’m very capable of maintaining, I continue on into a medical school in the United States. I know I would be taking a risk by going to Emory…but my question is it a risk worth taking?</p>

7

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</p>

<p>Yes, and no. Without the gpa, EC’s don’t matter at all.</p>

8

<p>Indy500,</p>

<p>Did you read your original post? I did … and I saw something that stared back at me hard … but more about that in a moment.</p>

<p>This is a great thread, so far … you posed an issue and wanted thoughts from others … and for once (and trust me, this doesn’t happen with enough frequency), you actually got some good things to think about. </p>

<p>About DGEBLL, I find that I trust his/her opinion often, and I think s/he articulated something that is a truism about a lot of colleges, but perhaps moreso with Emory. Things can and do change when you walk into an environment such as Emory where you are challenged to think and explore well beyond what most high schools offer. I agree with him here because I’ve seen it happen – my own daughter changed from pre-med (and it had nothing to do with Orgo Chem) but rather a change in perspective. She was an NBB major, but has had a strong International Relations and Public Health interest for a while, and she is now a declared major in Economics, with a possible focus on International Economics and a continuing interest in IR and PH. I don’t know what it’s going to lead to, but having 35 years of professional work experience, I am certain that this won’t be the last change she makes (it’s common for people to make multiple career changes in a lifetime, perhaps 3-7 changes). Further, one of my daughter’s best friends made a change from pre-med (much to the consternation of her parents and some family members, some of whom are MD’s) and even took a year off to think it through. I’m glad she found her way back to Emory because she’s an Emory Scholar on a full-ride Woodruff scholarship. I see this happen all the time – and it’s never surprising. To me, it’s more amazing that a 17-year old can decide on his/her future and actually follow through and be happy forever.</p>

<p>As for BLUEBAYOU, I usually agree and respect his/her opinions also, but I disagree with him here that it’s a “no brainer”. It’s a “no brainer” if YOU decide that it is. What bluebayou says has a lot of truth, though. So much is dependent on the requisite GPA and MCAT scores. If you are dedicated and pursue your goals, you should be fine wherever you go – Emory or SLU. Is there a cost factor here?</p>

<p>

This is what you said in your original post – and you should take heed, because this is a bold statement by you, and if you feel this way, it’s worth some serious consideration to make the right choice. Personally, I’d never advise anybody to go where s/he’s going to “hate” it and “dreading going there”. If you had said you hate Atlanta and dreaded attending Emory, I’d tell you to look elsewhere.</p>

<p>Now, one thing that is a mystery to some people would be the med school admit numbers for Emory students. Yes, there are the published numbers, but no, the measurements and comparative numbers are done differently for each school. In other words, don’t trust numbers – unless it’s coming from Nate Silverman (my hero stats guy). I won’t try to explain it, but suffice to say that if you work hard, maintain that 3.5+ GPA and do well on the MCAT … AND … develop the thinking and communication skills to compile a solid, comprehensive med school application, I think you will be fine.</p>

<p>Suggestion, contact Charles Collier, who is the Assoc. Director at the Emory Career Center. He is entrusted with advising and overseeing Pre-Professional Services there, and he may be able to offer good counseling. You can contact him at (404) 727-0511; <a href=“mailto:charles.collier@emory.edu”>charles.collier@emory.edu</a>.</p>

9

<p>The other thing to consider is the type of med school. If you want to go to a *top med school, then undergrad prestige matters a lot more. NorCalGuy, currently in med school, has posted numerous times that students with high grades test scores from top undergrad schools fare much better in admissions than high-high from state Unis, and the latter need aweseme ECs. But, if you just want to be a doctor, undergrad prestige is not as important.</p>

<p>Finally, I concur with dad above…most Frosh premeds do not apply to med school; indeed, only a small percentage do, and that includes Hopkins. While the obvious reason is B’s (or worse) in Chem, many do find other interests and migrate towards them. Others graduate from med school and then go do something else – our HS has a science teacher who is med school grad!</p>

<p>fwiw: I’ve seen surveys that indicate that up to 33% of a matriculating frosh at some top schools are premed – perhaps more at Hopkins? – obviously, only a few of them will actually apply four years later. </p>

<p>If you really, really, really know that med school is where you wanna be, I’d still choose the guarantee. Other than that, Emory is a much better school handsdown.</p>

10

<p>My son got into 2 med programs and declined both to stay close to home and go to a UC. We were pretty upset at first as he got a full ride at one and a pretty good scholarship at the other. His sister turned down very good schools to join a guaranteed med program but he on the other hand wants the “undergraduate experience” and feels he can do just as good applying out of a UC. He is also not 100% certain he wants to be in medicine and may change his mind like NorCaldad’s daughter.</p>

11

<p>I am a student at SLU, and, even though I don’t like the culture at SLU (rich, slightly spoiled White Catholic kids is the norm), it is pretty good academically. Their business and pre-med programs are highly ranked and kinda cutthroat. And overall, most students that I know are smart, including myself. I got into Vanderbilt and Northwestern, but because of money and location I ended up at SLU, and it is “just right” (not super intellectually stimulating but no walk in the park either, depending on your program). There is even an Honors program, which mandates that a student has at least 3.8 high school GPA, a 30 on the ACT, or a 1350 on the SAT, which a lot of pre-med scholars are apart of. Also, the pre-med scholars program is HIGHLY respected, and SLU med school is highly ranked as well. Statistically speaking, if you are sure about becoming a doctor, I would say SLU, since you are really already accepted to medical school (which is HARD!). However, if there is even a hint of doubt about your career, and if you can afford it, go to Emory: a better city (although I hear the job market sucks), better opportunities, and overall a more designer label university, which doesn’t guarantee better education, but does tend to guarantee more flash on your resume.</p>

12

<p>Is Emory an Humanitites-forward school? dgebll’s post makes it sound like it is. I really hate humanities (art and history are my least favorite things in the world) and I certainly didn’t take 3 years (itll be 4 next year) of AP History classes so I could take some more in college. </p>

<p>I’m a prospective Molecular/Microbiology major with pre-med track if that’s relevant at all.</p>

13

<p>jasonleb: Cross Emory off of your list as we do not have a molecular and microbiology major. You may want to look into a public school. I will say that you can do both bio and chem and concentrate in certain courses. It is also easy to take classes in the grad. school. However, if you specifically want to major in those and nothing else, Emory is out. Also, history and political science are done differently at the university level, especially at top colleges, so I wouldn’t be so quick to declare hate for them. Emory offers a lot, and you will have to take some for GERs, but many topics are really interesting and taught by excellent faculty who are experts in the field. You would be surprised of the different perspectives used to study society and culture (many are studied using very scientific methods).</p>

<p>Other folks: Excellent points. I’ve almost taken as many history, polisci, and religion courses as science courses. I have enjoyed them all.</p>

14

<p>Most of my friends that applied to medical school got in and they weren’t all geniuses who worked all of the time. I know one kid who was failing Soria’s orgo class freshman year, dropped it and still got into Ohio State med school. I also know of another kid who had two DUIs and got into Virginia Tech. Both were smart kids by the way. I’ve heard stories of unnamed kids who had great GPAs and MCATs but didn’t get in anywhere. I think a lot of it is kids exaggerating their stats when they tell the stories. I assume it’s really hard to get into that medical scholars program at SLU. Honestly, you’re probably smart enough to get into medical school if you put in the work but if you don’t get in you’ll always regret not going to SLU. However, you can always do a masters program after undergrad and reapply to medical school.</p>

15

<p>Failing Soria’s class: The story of many students’ lives. My year of Soria’s class (guessing your friend was a year or two ahead) performed pretty badly apparently, especially second semester. We did so badly, that he has significantly increased the difficulty of the first semester so as to weed them out then, and make the 2nd semester harder than when we even took it (b/c he only has the strong ones left so he can do more). Now, his second semester is crazy. We’ll probably be seeing/hearing more stories like that. Soria tells me how he essentially reads scientific literature and just randomly decides to put it on the exam in the context of a “story” (as in sometimes he’ll place two students in the class in a hypothetical situation and…oh just know it’s crazy as hell). He normally doesn’t care how hard it is. If he thinks at least one student can get it, it goes on. He says he has looked at some of his finals and was actually shocked at how hard many of the questions were, and even shocked that some people dared to attempt the problems. The man is maniacal. You can probably beast the MCAT orgo. crap (saw a friend studying it over summer, it’s a complete joke compared to Soria or Weinschenk) after only a portion of his course.</p>

16

<p>3.5-4 percent leave you idiot. And Vandy has more spots for transfer (admits almost 50 versus our 35-40 percent) than we do and I think there’s is slightly lower. Therefore, those two do not really correlate. You fail again. St.Louis<<<< Atlanta. Get rid of your bitterness and may you would state something that’s correct or useful for once. You could at least tell the person to go to Georgia Tech or something in a better city lol. You have a nice day bears.</p>

17

<p>Has anyone been accepted to the SLU medical scholars program? If so, what are your stats? I just moved to Egypt because my parents decided to work in a school herre, and i really dont know where i can do any extracurriculars for college; so i am only relying on my grades. Freshman year i got all A’s except for one B+, and this year I got all A’s so far ( I am a sophomore). I am on the JV basketball team and i participated in the Egyptian revolution by helping the injured people. I also just started volunteering in a hospital and i only have like 10 hours volunteer work and i didnt do any extracirr last year … Am i really that behind? What should I do? I always wanted to be a doctorrr… HELP PLEASEEE!</p>

18

I have been admitted to the 8-yr scholars program (class of 2020), and im wondering whether it’s possible to major in biomedical engineering but still be part of the med scholars program?