<p>I am looking for the best pre-med school I can get into and don't know where to ever start. I am an incoming senior at a somewhat small private, Catholic, high school in Ohio. I'd like to stay in Ohio for undergraduate school however that is not my top factor in my decision. Here's more of my info:</p>
<p>GPA 4.14 weighted 4.0 unweighted</p>
<p>AP Calc AB 5
AP Psych 5
AP classes I'll be taking my senior year:
Calc BC
Government
Lit & Comp
Physics
Spanish 5
*I'm taking all but two of the AP classes my school offers</p>
<p>ECs/Awards
Volunteer at local Children's Hospital for 4 years
President's Silver Award of Service
200+ hours of service award
Siera Club Service Award
Competitive Dancer for 9 years
Regional Dance Competition Scholarships (2)
Well Club 4 years
Environmental Club Founder
Environmental Club Co-President 2 years</p>
<p>Work Experience
Receptionist/Personal Assistant at local music studio 3 years
Dance Teacher 1 year
Babysitting 5 years
Paper Route 4 years</p>
<p>Thanks! And again, I want the best pre-med education I can get...with a focus on the colleges in Ohio!</p>
<p>Case Western is good for pre-med and you might well get merit aid there.
Ohio State is also a great choice for science undergrad.
Consider University of Pittsburgh, you would probably qualify for a scholarship–Pitt is a wonderful school and excellent in the sciences.</p>
<p>For the love of god, someone had a similar post the other day, and I will repeat: there is no such thing as pre-med school - pre-med is only several courses you have to take to fulfill general medical school requirements. You can major in biology or chemistry or, to be a bit extreme, history! The very notion that there is such a thing as pre-med school is foolish. If say you wanted to major in biology or BME, then you would go to the school probably with the better department; good luck finding which school has the better “pre-med” courses. I’m quite sorry to rant, but often when I see a post such as this (which on CC happens more times than not) I wonder the reasoning behind your pursuit of medicine. It always seems like this category of people either has no idea what they are talking about or are programmed to spit out “pre-med,” “pre-med”, “pre-med” - by your parents, etc… Obviously I can not know the extent to which this is true nor if it is even true, but in general this holds water. Just remember that there is a realistic side to medicine, and it’s not all wonderful.</p>
<p>Good point, Tinfoyl. But even if it’s not accurate, the term ‘pre-med’ is still pretty prevalent in general use, as you mention. I have a friend who says his son is ‘pre-med’ even though his actual major is biology. </p>
<p>When the poster said ‘pre-med’ I was assuming undecided-major-but-I-want-to-be-prepared-for-med-school. With that in mind, I recommended a couple schools well-known for sciences and for ties with med schools.</p>
<p>And you were helpful with your suggestions. I understand how people use the term pre-med, but it is true in that it’s not a major. My father (who is a doctor) and I always roll our eyes at the pseudo-prestige notion of medicine. The field is not what it once was, and far too large a percentage of the future doctors out there are naive about the realistic practice of medicine. It’s not the fault of the children but of the parents who steer and push their kids into medicine because they see it as a prestigious profession. My dad would never want me to be a doctor, and other intelligent peers of mine with parents as doctors were given the same routine. The parent who smiles and says their child is “pre-med,” is only fostering the general impression of pre-med factories. And when they step off the moving assembly, they see the disillusioning truth. Medicine has for the most part become a trade as opposed to the skill and art it once was. That’s being a doctor for you.</p>
<p>Now to actually be useful, state schools are often great places to do your undergrad with the intent to pursue your medical degree later. That way you get a fine education without the economic burden which will only worsen when you go to med school. OSU is a great option, and I would highly suggest Pitt - it has a good biology department and a nice campus plus it’s very close to Ohio. Your academic profile suits you well for both schools. There is always Miami University which is also a public school, but Case Western is the best by a good margin of the bunch especially for what you want to go into. It is a private school though, but I don’t know your financial situation.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses so far… By pre-med I do mean just preparing me well for Med School, MCATs, etc.
I recently toured Wittenberg University in Springfield Ohio and absolutely LOVED the feel of the campus, and social aspect. Does anybody know anything about their science academics?
I’ve tried to find Med-School acceptance rates and what not, but haven’t found anything on the internet that I think is reliable.</p>
You’re very fortunate to live in an area with a ton of great colleges. Besides Wittenberg, you also have Denison, Kenyon, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan, Wooster, and the previously mentioned Case, Miami U, and Ohio State. You also have some fairly good options as very safe backups, including BGSU, Cincinnati, and Xavier.</p>
<p>If you move into surrounding areas, you have Centre in Kentucky, DePauw, Earlham, and Purdue in Indiana, Hope and Kalamazoo in Michigan, and Allegheny, Carnegie Mellon (slight reach), and Pitt in western Pennsylvania. In central/eastern PA, you also have Bucknell, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Haverford (slight reach), Juniata, Lafayette, Muhlenberg, Swarthmore (slight reach), Ursinus, and W&J.</p>
<p>Many of these offer hefty merit scholarships for which you may qualify.</p>
<p>Tinfoyl isn’t entirely correct. When you go to visit a school you also want to look at factors like how good their pre-med advising is, what sort of volunteering/research exposure you’d get in order to prep for medicine, and–if you’re concerned about it–then the grading policies at the school (such as perceived grade inflation/deflation or whether pre-med classes are on a curve, etc.). All of these things collectively factor into what makes a good “pre-med” school, because although it’s hard to say that any school has a good pre-med program, there are certain things that some schools have over others to help out pre-meds more. but none of these are really make-or-breaks, and so common advice is to go to the school where you like the atmosphere best and think you can do the best.</p>
<p>Research and grading are not exclusive to pre-medical programs. That does not constitute a school preparing one well for medical school - I think the strength of the school overall determines that.</p>