<p>I’m a senior in high school and basically just wondering how much more difficult it would be to get into med school coming from a CSU vs a UC</p>
<p>In regard to budget, it all depends on Merit scholarship package. You will not know until you apply and get it from each school. It was not predictable at all in my D’s case. She got from almost full coverage at very expensive private to some coverage at some publics to full tuition, which was not clear even after she started, since those private Merit $$ sometime come in a middle of semester. We finally figure out the one that she decided to attend - full tuition coverage was based on about 10 Merit Scholarships.<br>
So, it is as clear as mud. However, pay attention to every school requirement/strong recommendations. At D’s UG, it was strongly recommended to file FASFA to receive full range of MERIT scholarships, which we did religiously. We are nowhere close to be eligible for any need based.</p>
<p>Question:
My son has been accepted to the biology programs (pre med) at
UNC chapel hill
NC state
U. Of south carolina, columbia with a scholarship.</p>
<p>because of the scholarship the costs are all the same.<br>
so the question is which would be the best choice.
I know UNC chapel hill is the best school but I worry that it is too competive to get good grades for med school in.</p>
<p>^The best would be the one that your S. personally likes the most and feels that he belongs there.</p>
<p>Unless you are going into medical research or academia, the “glamour” aspect of a med school is not that important if you are going to be a clinical physician. No patient or their parents care that their Pediatrician or Radiologist went to Harvard or Nebraska medical school. However, if you go the research or academia route or want a “glamourous” residency, then the quality of a med school is more important.</p>
<p>My daughter is a sophomore and just beginning to think about colleges now that she has taken the PLAN and is getting all sorts of mail from colleges. She is interested in pre-med and one thing I am curious about when choosing a college is how the location figures into the equation…is being in an urban setting where you can easily access health care settings for volunteer/shawdowing opportunities helpful? Many good schools seem to be in rural areas where this wouldn’t be too easy. Does it matter at all?</p>
<p>In regard to medically related EC’s, opportunities are everywhere, even at colleges without Medical Schools. However, for my D. who is graduating and going to Med. School this summer, location is the most important criteria. She prefers non-urban location. but is OK with nicer urban locations for both UG and Med. School. Her UG was in a middle of nowhere, the town being a tiny college town. She had tremendous opportunites there, beyond that she ever imagined. Her state school even has a campus in Europe (D. did not have time to take any classes there, but went on couple trips abroad).</p>
<p>Right now I am deciding between Tufts and WashU for pre-med.
I have heard that WashU has a really strong program, is this true?
What is Tuft’s pre-med like?</p>
<p>So I’m between SUNY Buffalo and SUNY Binghamton for Pre-med. Buffalo would be great for Pre-med because it’s close to the hospital and is expanding its medical program. But, i think Binghamton would have more challenging classes for biomedical sciences. Which should i choose??</p>
<p>^ Go with buffalo, they have a hospital on campus and a stronger science program than Binghamton.</p>
<p>What does everyone think about UFlorida and UMiami. I heard UMiami is great for premed with really good advising and ALOT of research opportunities due to their huge medical center. Any thoughts? How about UF?</p>
<p>If you’re 100% certain you want to go to medical school, go to Wash U and be part of the Medicine and Society freshman seminar–it’ll give you a foot in the door with Medical Anthropology (which is a wonderful and fulfilling department) and give you a really well-rounded look at the medical field. I’m a Junior at WUSTL–it’s a fantastic, homey school, but I would suggest (whether you go to Tufts or WU) taking one year of either Gen Chem, Physics or Orgo during your Freshman-Sophomore summer. I took Orgo last summer, and it was an incredible experience that gave me room to explore academically.</p>
<p>At either school, you’ll be challenged and inspired by your peer groups and have ample opportunity to engage in research (be it at the med school, Bio department or within any other discipline you become interested in–I’m doing ecology research through the Bio department this summer). Speaking for Wash U, within every department, faculty encourages some form of independent study, research or thesis work if you keep your GPA above a 3.5. In addition, the Career Center is open daily for mock interviews, pre-med and general career guidance. They dote on us, really. I’m clearly unbiased ;)</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I think Baylor is the best!!Just sharing.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if liberal arts colleges or universities are better for pre-med students? i’d like to go to a liberal art college, but since i’ve wanted to be a doctor for sooo long, i’m afraid LACs won’t offer as many opportunities(shadow/internship/…) as universities does. are my worries unnecessary?</p>
<p>Does volunteering at a hospital during high school years/summers give you a higher advantage into getting into a BA/MD program? I haven’t worked at a hospital (I have worked in a cancer lab though for one summer) and I feel like I might be at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>which would be more helpful getting into med school:</p>
<p>1) 3.70 GPA from a top 15 college (according to USNWR)</p>
<p>OR</p>
<p>2) 3.95 GPA from an average state school (im assuming 4.0 anywhere beats almost anything else so i didn’t make this number a 4.0)</p>
<p>One person’s opinion: Both 3.75 and 3.95 are excellent GPA’s and both people should have excellent shots at med school. With grades like those, the chances are going to revolve more around which major, which courses, letters of recommendation, and very important MCAT.</p>
<p>I don’t think one could generalize liberal arts vs university for premed. LAC typically will have more personal attention, at the same time that there is less going on. The top LAC’s, like the top universities, have excellent records for getting people in med school. If you have narrowed down your list of colleges, look at the quality of the premed system at each place.</p>
<p>State school has worked just fine for my D. She is surrounded with PhD’s (Harvard, U of Mich), Lawyers, Master Degrees and just BS’s and BA’s from various Ivy’s and Elite schools at her Med. School. This Med. School wanted my D. very much, she was accepted in first fiew hours when Med. Schools are allowed to notify accepted applicants, dean of admission called D’s UG pre-med advisor later with the hopes that she will attend. Apparently, my D. did not need to go to Elite school to get where she wanted to be. State college education on full tuition Merit scholarship was good enough for couple top 20 Med. Schools. And opportunities were plentiful, well beyond our expectations. Nope, D. did not have 100% acceptance with 3.98. Do not count on 4.0 being good for every place. It is a toss.</p>
<p>*1) 3.70 GPA from a top 15 college (according to USNWR)</p>
<p>OR</p>
<p>2) 3.95 GPA from an average state school (im assuming 4.0 anywhere beats almost anything else so i didn’t make this number a 4.0) *</p>
<p>First of all, I don’t necessarily agree with your premise based on what some pre-meds have posted after actually going to top schools. Too many have found that their GPAs are 3.5 or below…simply because of the cut-throat environment that exists from tooooooo many super-stats kids trying for “As” in the weeder pre-med classes. </p>
<p>My rising junior pre-med son has a 4.0 at a mid-tier Flagship U. He has all of his pre-med pre-reqs complete. He opted to use his AP credits and then take the harder “next level” classes to compensate. He is actually a senior by credits because of the APs. His major is Chemical engineering with minors in math, bio, and chem. He has almost a free ride scholarship. </p>
<p>He has had excellent research opps and is spending the summer at another university doing a 10 week REU (research experience for undergraduates) in Bio medical engineering. </p>
<p>He’ll take the MCAT next spring and apply to med schools next summer. </p>
<p>His school does do Committee Letters and he already has his LORs lined up.</p>
<p>I think going to an elite would have been a waste of money.</p>
<p>And…I agree with Miami…a 4.0 isn’t going to get a kid into med school. Med schools probably view 3.8 and 4.0 as the same. It’s the MCAT that will likely make the big difference at that point.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, what about the specific situation where the above scenario that i stated does occur? let’s assume they both have the same and pretty decent MCAT scores (32-34). Will they both get into a US allopathic med school? If that were the case, I don’t think there would be enough med school seats to take in all the people from state/middle tier universities with 3.8-4.0s and all the people from top 20 colleges with 3.6+ (assuming that all these kids have a decent mcat score and the necessary ECs/LORs/whatever).</p>