how do we choose the college based on safety, Best for the field, close to home. Please advice
Safety: Must be affordable (little to no debt), applicant willing to attend and has a high acceptance rate based on applicant stats.
Specific major to apply to Medical school is not required. A student can major in any subject as long as they are able to take the Medical school requirements:
All medical schools pretty much require the following pre-med coursework:
General Chemistry with lab: 2 semesters
Organic Chemistry with lab: 2 semesters
General Physics with lab: 2 semesters
General Biology with lab: 2 semesters
English: 2 semesters
Calculus: 1 semester
Note that some medical schools require courses such as Biochemistry or additional Calculus, for example. Other special non-science courses may also be required by some medical schools. A few examples: The University of Nevada in Reno requires one upper-division behavioral science class or something like it (and they are very specific about which ones will cover this requirement) and University of Utah requires a “diversities” class such as Women Studies, Gender Studies, or some sort of minority studies. Harvard requires 2 semesters of Calculus instead of just one.
In-state schools on average would be more affordable than OOS schools. It will depend upon your financial situation, if need-based and/or merit aid is required and how much you are willing to pay/EFC.
The main thing to remember is that the student applying to Medical school wants to have a High GPA, High MCAT scores and medically related volunteer/research/internship opportunities.
Any college will do for a student who intends to apply to medical schools. However, the flagship public university students who do well will have an edge over those who attend the less prestigious state schools. Forget about gaming the system to get into medical school. Instead, focus on affordable choices that are a good academic fit.
Consider the facts. Most students who indicate an interest in becoming physicians will not do so. Some will not be able to handle the coursework required to get in- ie they won’t have the grades to be competitive. Others will change their minds about what they want to do.
Choose a college and a major with a plan B- something other than medical school- in mind. ANY major works for getting into medical school. Students often choose a science because they are interested in it and many of the same courses will be needed for the major and medical school. But- college is the time to indulge in majoring in something else and adding the needed courses. With the possibility of not getting into medical school college plans should maximize the alternative paths- ie major in something you would want to, not just because you think it will help getting into medical school.
In short, premed is an intention. Apply to colleges that are a good academic and financial fit. Hundreds of colleges will work. Have the top public schools in your state on the list.
Do not get hung up on statistics of how many/what percentage from any given school get into medical school.
Just in case you (or others who read this thread) don’t know much about the process of becoming a physician in the United States, perhaps it would be good to get some basics into this thread.
- In the United States, you don't study to become a physician as an undergraduate (right after high school). With rare exceptions (such as 7-year medical programs), you go to college first and then go to medical school (a 4-year program) later.
- While in college, students who intend to apply to medical school can major in any subject they choose. In addition to that major, they need to complete certain courses that are required for medical school admission. The courses needed for medical school admission are not highly specialized. Essentially every college (except perhaps for schools that are extremely specialized, such as music conservatories) offers them.
- It is quite difficult to get admitted to medical school in the United States. You need exceptionally high college grades, and you have to do well on a test called the MCAT.
- Because it is so difficult to get admitted to medical school, many students who want to become doctors think seriously about what other career they might like to pursue instead if medicine doesn't work out for them. They may choose their college major with their alternate plans in mind.
- Medical school is expensive (just like college). So students who think it is very likely that they will want to go to medical school may try to keep costs down, for example by attending a college that will give them a merit scholarship or going to a state college instead of a private one.
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
You should also ASK your parents whether they will let you use money that you didn’t spend on college for medical school. Don’t just assume that the answer will be yes. For a variety of reasons, it may not be.
The parent is the OP.
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how do we choose the college based on safety, Best for the field, close to home. Please advice
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Since we don’t know where “home” is, how can we suggest schools that are “close to home”?
It sounds like you may be foreign-born. If so, you may not fully realize that undergrad doesn’t teach “medicine”…and undergrad schools don’t “prepare students for medicine,” and they don’t “prepare students for the MCAT.”
There aren’t colleges that are “best for the field” of medicine. Even Harvard doesn’t prepare its premeds for MCAT or med school.
Any good college is good enough as a premed.
What are your child’s stats? What is your home state? What can you afford.
Re #4 in post #4. Do not look at the percentages or numbers of grads that go to medical school. That is trying to game the system. The statistics can be misleading. A large school, such as the state flagship may have smaller percentages because, frankly, most students have no interest in becoming physicians. Some schools may be “filled” with good students intent on going to medical school. This could be a cutthroat, horribly competitive environment. Actually it is refreshing when most students in the sciences are there because they want the course for itself and don’t just see it as a needed one for the goal of medical school.
Back to the OP’s query. Take safety out of the search. You can find good/bad news about every school. You can scare yourself about the safety everywhere. As above- no best school- this is not a major. Close to home depends on where you live. Regardless of that there will be many, many options in most states (some western states are not well populated but those people are used to vast distances and close to home is not asked).
Parent- ignore the medicine question. Your child needs to consider majors of interest. Then figure out parameters for colleges. First figure out the family budget- before s/he gets excited about a school you would need loans for. Do all of the regular things any student wanting to go to college for any major would do. Once s/he is in college s/he will learn the ropes about courses to take, activities to pursue, tests and the whole application business. I notice you started another thread about the seven year programs. You can add those to the mix.
Finally- RELAX. Try not to micromanage the process. Remember it is your child’s life, not yours. S/he needs to be primarily involved in deciding things, regardless of how busy s/he is.
Disagree, premed reqs are garden variety courses taught at most schools typically open to anyone who wants to take course and has satisfied any prereqs. The course catalogs will NOT list these “premed” courses as say Bio 101 for premed, but just Bio 101. When it comes time for MCAT prep, one will either take some structured review course (Princeton Review), or obtain study materials and prep on their own, perhaps in a small group.
Disagree, a school’s published success rates for getting students into med school tend to be quite misleading. For example, let’s say 100 eager young premed hopefuls show up on day one of freshman year. For a variety of reasons, 80 change their career minds as time goes by and so only 20 actually get to point of applying. If 15 of the 20 are successful, the school will proudly announce that 75% of their premeds get accepted, omitting the fact that 100 started.
As to safeties, best college…. pretty much any college will offer the opportunities. The burden to be successful into getting into med school is more directly related to the student’s efforts, not the school attended.
OP, when you talk about “safety,” are you referring to the idea we call “safety schools” – that is, a school that an applicant can be almost sure of getting admitted to? Or are you referring to the physical safety of a female student on campus?
The OP posted this this morning.
Please…the Ivy League schools are not the only colleges that can prepare a student for life after college. And they are not a guarantee to get into medical school either.
Picking good collegess for getting into med school is like picking good supermarkets for buying ingredients to make pancakes. They all sell flour & eggs.
Being premed is counter intuitive to a certain extent.
Any college listed in Fiske Guide or Princeton Review 's Best Colleges will be good.
What will matter is being top 10-20% in a set of classes you’re not majoring in, and where you must hold your own compared to figure or actual majors.
What is MOST important in my opinion for a student who is really interested in medicine (including the boring and nitty-gritty vs. I like science and I want to help people) is choosing 1) a supportive environment. Stay away from cut throat colleges, colleges where students are proud of how competitive they are, colleges that purposely ‘weed’. Premed is hard enough as it is without throwing unneeded obstacles in your path.
2) good health committees, with strong advising (advisers well aware of opportunities, of the new medschool requirements and new MCAT… vs. Random 'walk in’adviser), committee letters written to all candidates, etc.
Many good honors colleges and LACs offer optimum presence of both.
Ability to do research and to volunteer at a hospital, health clinic… Is also very important but you should find most colleges that are in the guides and cover 1+2 also meet these criteria.