<p>i have accumulated the following information concerning medical school admissions:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>it is less holistic and more grade-based than undergraduate admissions</p></li>
<li><p>GPA is extremely important</p></li>
<li><p>MCAT score is extremely important</p></li>
<li><p>research/internships/medical exposure is important</p></li>
<li><p>extracurriculars/activities somewhat important</p></li>
</ul>
<p>so, tell me why any one school is better than the other for the pre-medicine track, concerning the above 4 points... GPA (especially grade inflation and grade deflation), MCAT preparation, research opportunities/internship connections, etc. i've always been curious.</p>
<p>You accumulated information concerning medical school admissions is not entirely true:</p>
<ul>
<li>It is more holistic and less grade/score based than undergraduate admission, which is not to say that grades and scores are not still a huge portion of it. Holistic just means that they are not enough in their own right. A 4.0 and a 34 ACT is going to get you into undergrad, probably one of the top ones. A 4.0 and a 36 MCAT is likely to get you into a medical school, but when it doesn’t it is usually because that is all the applicant has going for them. Plus, it is most definitely not enough to get you into a top medical school. Look at top 10 medical school stats. 90+% have done research, community service, and health related activities. </li>
</ul>
<p>-Research and internships can be essentially mandatory at some schools, but many schools place less importance on them. Medical exposure IS essentially mandatory at ALL schools. If you can’t justify why you want to be a doctor, you are likely to be passed over.</p>
<p>-Extracurricular activities are also VERY important (and they include things like research and health experience, but lets just talk about other stuff). They are what makes the adcom want to talk to you, and they are also what you will then talk about when you get your chance to interview. Doctors treating patients has faded away in favor of the concept of people treating people. They want to see what makes you a person. Without these things you are very unlikely to get into a top school, where everyone has competitive grades and scores. </p>
<p>My advice, apply to all four and see if you get into them. All of them are great schools, what differentiates them is if you get accepted, for one, and how you felt about them when you visited. It is definitely true that some are a little more grade deflated, but medical schools understand this and they do indeed compensate your application somewhat if your school is grade deflation (Example: A 3.7 at Princeton is not inherently worse than a 3.8 from another school which is know to have more grade inflation. What they do is compare the average GPA to the average MCAT from a given school. So if Princeton’s average is a 3.6 and a 33, but School X has a 3.6 and a 30, then it is pretty obvious that a 3.7 from Princeton is more commendable and thus desirable than a 3.7 at school X) Go where you are happy. If low debt makes you happy, factor that in. Happiness at a less prestigious university is going to take you a lot farther than misery at a top. Vice versa also applies.</p>
<p>echo mmmcdowe - a few things to know. all schools are at the top in terms of med school prep through their respective pre-med offices, so there is very little lost there. all have good science departments, labs and educational opportunities.</p>
<p>i would single out Princeton because it does not have a teaching hospital affiliated, nor does it have ready access to a slew of non-affiliated hospitals and clinics. if you go to columbia you can work at Rockefeller University as an undergraduate, if you go to Penn there are a dozen teaching hospitals to work at. so certainly having a school that 1) has a teaching hospital, 2) has ready access to non-affiliated hospitals, clinics and research, is certainly something that H, C and Penn have over Princeton. but then there a set of reasons why Pton might be better for you because of their on campus basic research. </p>
<p>in the end it is a push and pull thing here and all come out to be relatively equal.</p>
<p>so why choose one over the other? feel. you like school A over school B. a specific professor you wish to study with. the academic culture of the place - columbia and penn have a lot of similarities, but you can’t mistake one for the other.</p>
<p>in the end i hope that you find your heart at columbia. i’d say its the best, but i’m biased.</p>
<p>At Columbia you also have access to the new york presby hospital system as well as the affiliates. However, the one downside to any of the schools mentioned (including Princeton, because I assume there is at least a hospital in the area) is that they are full of pre-meds. So a lot of the volunteering options at nearby and affiliate hospitals can be a little tough to come by. Fortunately, there are still plenty of opportunities available and ways to get around these minor road blocks.</p>
Columbia has the most extensive core education requirement. Being located in NYC is definitely a big plus for many students. (Every time my child had a chance to be in NYC, he was exited!)
Yale requires all students to take 4 more lecture classes before graduation. AP credits are for the placement purpose only unless you choose to graduate early. (Is this true for some of the other four schools? i.e. AP credits are for the placement purpose only.)
UPenn may have the largest graduate/professional school population, so I would imagine it may provide more varieties of courses (esp. the ones at the graduate school level.)
Princeton: It is rumored that there is a anti-grade-inflation movement recently. But it may affect the non-science departments only. Its physical science departments may be the strongest among these few schools. For the engineering departments, maybe Cornell and UPenn (and Princeton also?) are considered to be the better ones.
Harvard: It is harvard. Enough said :-)</p>
<p>They are different in some minor details. I think premed classes are demanding at any of these schools – actually, they are demanding at most other schools, public or private.</p>
<p>Hopefully, my argument is a little bit better than Torcher’s.</p>