Health Professions/Premed at UChicago

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>Congratulations to all of our 2017 admitted students! We tend to get a lot of questions around this time of year (which I am always happy to answer over at the "ask an admissions counselor" thread), but as I've noted a strong lack of accurate information about premedical/pre-health opportunities at UChicago on College Confidential, I wanted to make sure we started a dedicated thread just for these questions. Joni Krapec, head of UChicago Careers in Health Professions (UCIHP: <a href="https://careeradvancement.uchicago.edu/uchicago-careers-in/health-professions%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://careeradvancement.uchicago.edu/uchicago-careers-in/health-professions&lt;/a&gt;) wrote up the following "Health Professions FAQ" that I wanted to make sure we shared with all of you. Prospective and admitted students and parents are welcome to ask follow up questions if any arise!</p>

<p>If I’m interested in the health professions, what should I be doing while still in high school? Do my high school experiences go onto an application for medical school?</p>

<p>While there is nothing that you would <em>have</em> to do in high school, it is never too early to start taking action on exploring your interests. Why are you interested in health care? Have you tested this out? Volunteering at a hospital, or a non-profit organization, or even shadowing health care professionals that you may know are great ways to gain some clarity. If available and you feel ready, taking an AP course within the sciences can help prepare you for the level of science that is common here. Your experiences in high school will not be included onto an application for medical school, but could definitely be mentioned as a starting point for your career exploration. One note about community college courses—you WILL report to medical schools ALL courses (and grades) taken at any 2- or 4-year college, regardless of whether they are put onto your collegiate transcript. </p>

<p>Speaking of AP courses, do those substitute for the pre-requisite courses I will need for medical school?</p>

<p>No. If the University of Chicago grants you credit for your AP courses, the expectation is that you will then move onto a higher-level course within that discipline. Medical schools want to see that you have successfully completed a full year each of biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, and math while at college. </p>

<p>What should I major in? I’ve heard both that I should be a bio major because medical schools like that, but then I also have heard that medical schools like diversity so I should major in something a bit more unique.</p>

<p>Medical schools want you to major in whatever you enjoy most. Yes, you will have pre-requisite courses to take regardless, but you can honestly major in whatever you like. The key is to pick a major you enjoy, you feel excited about, and you are able to perform well in. At U of C just over half of our pre-medical students major in biology and the rest are in a plethora of other majors. Their acceptance rates to medical school do not vary significantly.</p>

<p>Does the University of Chicago have “weed out” classes designed to reduce the number of pre-meds? How tough is the work-load there?</p>

<p>Our science courses are not intentionally designed to “weed out” students interested in the health professions. Realistically speaking, yes, some students struggle in the sciences and may realize that this level of science coursework is not interesting or is not a strong suit—and remember, medical school is going to be another notch higher. So there will be students who decide that this isn’t the best career path for them after taking a few science courses. If you are currently a student who is at the top of your class, with very little effort on your part, you will definitely find that you have to work harder here. You are basically surrounded by others just like you—the best and the brightest! So you have to work a little harder to keep up. But the work-load is definitely manageable once you figure out your study strategies, your balance of time studying vs. time spent on activities, extra-curriculars, socializing, etc. </p>

<p>I have heard that UChicago does not have grade inflation. What does that mean for medical school? Do medical schools recognize this difference? Would it be better to go to a less-rigorous school and have a higher GPA?</p>

<p>You are correct—we do not have grade inflation. When medical schools look at your GPA, they are evaluating the rigor of your undergraduate institution, the intensity of your course-load, and your overall grades. They DO recognize that UChicago is not a school that practices grade inflation, and take that into account—within reason. That is not to say that you can earn a 2.0 at UChicago and expect that to be held in the same regard as a 4.0 at another school. The mean GPA nationally for applicants accepted into MD programs in 2012 was 3.68. The mean GPA of UChicago students accepted into MD programs in 2012 was 3.52. Specific to the sciences, the mean science GPA nationally was a 3.62 and the mean UChicago science GPA was a 3.47. It is clear from those results that the medical schools are valuing the rigor of the UChicago experience when they consider candidates. </p>

<p>What is your acceptance rate for medical school?</p>

<p>Over the past several years our acceptance rate has been between 70-75%. The national average over the same time period has hovered around 45%</p>

<p>What kind of support is available to me as a pre-health student?</p>

<p>UChicago Careers in Health Professions is one of the largest pre-health advising offices in the country when compared to our peer institutions.
We speak to you at Orientation when you arrive, and then as often as you would like throughout the remainder of your time in college. We can help you explore and understand your career goals, gain health-related experiences, look for interesting community service opportunities, great RSOs to be involved with, find research positions, and secure internships. When the time comes for you to apply, we also write you a Committee Letter of support which helps the medical schools understand your overall collegiate experience and what is unique about you as an applicant.</p>

<p>Should you decide not to apply into a clinical program, we also help you explore the myriad opportunities within health care broadly—from consulting to policy to public health to health care economics.</p>

<p>Does UCIHP offer any internship or research programs specific to pre-health students?</p>

<p>Yes! Here are just a few:
The Health Policy Scholars Track is a selective program that you would apply into as a rising second- or third-year student. Once accepted, you have the opportunity to engage with health policy scholars through a monthly seminar series, to explore a particular area of interest within health policy, to engage in courses across campus, and to participate in treks where we visit health policy organizations. </p>

<p>The Clinical Excellence Scholars Track, in partnership with the Bucksbaum Institute and UChicago Medicine is a selective program that you would apply into as a rising second-year student, and has as its focus helping to provide opportunities and experiences related to the doctor-patient relationship. This includes a physician speaker series, a physician shadowing and volunteer program, and two large-scale symposia events. </p>

<p>We also offer two summer research programs, the Katen Scholars Program and the UCIHP Fellows in Community and Social Medicine. Both involve a paid 10-week research experience, the first in bench research and the second in research that focuses on community health and the intersection between the social sciences and medicine.</p>

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<p>James Watson and Francis Crick are considered the two greatest biologists of the 20th century. Their discovery of the DNA double-helix transformed biology and is considered the greatest discovery of the 20th century in biology. One professor at MIT compared them with Isaac Netwon. Watson went to UChicago. (Crick went to school in England.) </p>

<p>You will do just fine if you study biology or medicine at UChicago. You will be part of an amazing tradition.</p>

3

<p>is there a good admit rate for undergrads into pritzker?</p>

4

<p>UChicago,</p>

<p>Thanks for this information. Does UCIHP offer anything like the following found at Brown U:</p>

<p>[Medical</a> Admission Data Snapshot | Health Careers Advising](<a href=“http://brown.edu/academics/college/advising/health-careers/medical-admission-data-snapshot]Medical”>Medical Admission Data Snapshot | Health Careers Advising)</p>

<p>As seen above, Brown provides some publicly available data regarding its med school applicants. This public data set includes helpful information, such as the number of Brown applicants to medical school per yer, general admission rate (81% for Fall 2009, as opposed to the 70-75% cited in the UChicago FAQ), and popular medical school destinations for Brown graduates.</p>

<p>Further, what is the mean MCAT score for UChicago applicants? As a reference, in 2012, Princeton’s mean MCAT score was 32.4, with 80% of examinees scoring in a competitive range (29 - 45). Please see the “statistics” portion of the final page of this faq for info:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/hpa/premed/2012-HPA-FAQ.pdf[/url]”>http://www.princeton.edu/hpa/premed/2012-HPA-FAQ.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Finally, Yale offers a public listing of very relevant statistics, found here:</p>

<p><a href=“http://ucs.yalecollege.yale.edu/sites/default/files/med_school_stats.pdf[/url]”>http://ucs.yalecollege.yale.edu/sites/default/files/med_school_stats.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>As seen above, about 88% of Yale applicants in 2012 were successful. Further, the Yale PDF offers a listing of medical schools accepting more than 10 Yale graduates (with the most acceptances being at Yale Med, Michigan Med, Mt. Sinai, and Columbia Med).</p>

<p>Could UCIHP post the UChicago statistics that are already publicly available at schools such as Princeton, Yale, and Brown? Is this info already available somewhere? This could certainly be of use to accepted students and prospective applicants.</p>

5

<p>@UChicago
I am a high school senior who was admited early and will be attending for sure. How is the university going to prepare future premeds for the new MCAT? Is the premed curriculum liable to change, as it has at a couple other colleges already?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

6

<p>Gailforce:</p>

<p>Putting the James Watson discussion to the side, do you have any info on Duke’s pre-med stats? </p>

<p>I ask because, in comparison to publicly available statistics offered at, say, Brown or Yale, the UChicago data on their UCIHP page, and in the FAQ (while helpful) is insufficient. I’d like more data on this thread regarding med placement by other schools. My suspicion is that Duke has a more robust, successful pre-med culture than UChicago, but I’d like to see data on this. </p>

<p>Prospective students: while the FAQ provided above is useful, if you’re considering UChicago for a pre-med track, please, please ask for significantly more data. UChicago, if you could post responses to the following questions, this would be most helpful for applicants/accepted students. Interested students, please find out:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>How many UChicago students apply to medical school each year, and are successful? For your reference, at any of UChicago’s peer schools, ~5 years after graduation, about 10-15% of a graduating class year are in/finishing medical school. Put another way, some years after graduation, 10-15% of, say, the Class of 2005 at Yale have become doctors. What’s the percentage from UChicago? If it’s significantly lower than at peer schools, why is that? (Be wary of an answer that it’s simply because more UChicago students go the PhD track. Medical school is a popular option at any top college, UChicago included.)</p></li>
<li><p>What are the most popular destinations for medical school for UChicago graduates? Brown and Yale, for example, list the most popular destinations for their graduates. As seen in their data, a significant portion of their graduates not only go on to medical school, but go on to very prominent medical schools. </p></li>
<li><p>What’s the mean MCAT score for UChicago students? Compare this, say, to the information Princeton provides.</p></li>
<li><p>How many students are identified as “pre-med” following their freshman and sophomore years at UChicago, and how many in a particular class are pre-med in the senior year? This should give some evidence of attrition.</p></li>
<li><p>What makes UChicago a compelling place for those interested in the health professions, as opposed to our peer schools such as Brown, Northwestern, Duke, etc.? Try to figure out, even if this is qualitative, what makes UChicago stand out in the marketplace.</p></li>
<li><p>What are the weaknesses in UCIHP’s program? What are they trying to improve?</p></li>
</ul>

7

<p>Wow-- more responses than I anticipated! These are all great questions and most go beyond what I am going to be able to answer accurately. I have asked Joni Krapec to go over the new questions here so that we can answer them specifically and accurately-- she is out of the office until the middle of next week, but I hope we will be able to have a representative from UCIHP join us here to make sure everyone’s questions can be answered.</p>

8

<p>UChicago:</p>

<p>Thank you very much! It’s really great that folks in admissions/UCIHP are conveying info on this board. I’m sure there are a lot of posters looking forward to hearing detailed answers.</p>

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<p>Thank you Mr. Cue7 for asking such good, fundamental questions.</p>

10

<p>UChicago:</p>

<p>Any updates to this thread? Thanks.</p>

11

<p>@Cue7 - Still looking into this! Will post UCIHP’s response within a few weeks. Thanks for your patience!</p>

12

<p>Hi, I am also worried about pre-med at the University of Chicago, especially when compared to its peers as according to Cue7, which are upsetting especially because I love everything else about the school! Can you please give me an estimate of the number of applicants to med school? Although the classes aren’t meant to “weed” out applicants, is there any sort of screening process conducted by UCIP?</p>

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<p>bachatagirl: according to the official UChicago poster, the career office should have responses to these questions within the next week or two. Please be patient and await what will hopefully be comprehensive responses.</p>

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<p>Hi all, I’ve been working with Joni at UCIHP to make sure we get the data previously asked for. It is a busy time in their office as they work with students who are making their final medical school choices; Joni is a new director of UCIHP and the data requested was not previously well kept, but they’re making an effort to gather what you all have asked for accurately! I will post it as soon as we have received it.</p>

<p>bachatagirl, although I don’t have the number of applicants to med school handy, the UCIHP office will support any student, whether current student or alum, who wishes to apply to medical (or other health professional-- vet, dental, etc) school, and there is no selection process for this. Any student who requests such will receive application support and a committee letter.</p>

15

<p>When can we expect any clear answers, especially for the questions Cue7 posted? We’d like to get some data as its almost getting near to making decisions and this info would really be helpful for a premed.</p>

16

<p>Hi all, here are the answers for the questions Cue7 provided (since they seemed to be the most popular requests, I actually just copied and pasted them to our UCIHP director, who answered them directly!)
The UCIHP office is working on a website redesign, which will include this content (and more) hopefully by the end of the summer. Hopefully this info is valuable to some of you still deciding, and for others, watch out for a revitalized UCIHP site with more data and answers to frequently asked questions coming up within the next few months.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>How many UChicago students apply to medical school each year, and are successful?
Each year we have between 90-115 applicants to medical school. Note that this generally represents a blend of current UChicago students as well as alumni who are applying after taking 1-2 gap years. Our acceptance rate over the last few years has been about 75%</p></li>
<li><p>What are the most popular destinations for medical school for UChicago graduates?
Northwestern, University of Illinois, UChicago Pritzker, U Michigan, Loyola, Rosalind Franklin, and Tufts</p></li>
<li><p>What’s the mean MCAT score for UChicago students?
33.5, which is about 4 points higher than the national average.</p></li>
<li><p>How many students are identified as “pre-med” following their freshman and sophomore years at UChicago, and how many in a particular class are pre-med in the senior year?
We don’t force pre-medical students to “declare” their intention on being a pre-med, but we can make a reasonable estimate based on engagement with our office that we have about 175-200 first-year students who are considering pre-med. By senior year, we typically have around 100 students who are still planning on pursuing careers in medicine. This level of attrition is not unusual—at most universities a significant number of entering students are thinking about careers in medicine, then once they are in college they gain exposure to a host of different opportunities for their future and find that another path is a better fit. </p></li>
<li><p>What makes UChicago a compelling place for those interested in the health professions, as opposed to our peer schools such as Brown, Northwestern, Duke, etc.? What makes UChicago stand out in the “marketplace” of health professions options?
Many things! I think, along with our peer institutions, we do an excellent job with providing individualized counseling and advising, hosting visits from health professions schools and alumni in the field, and application support and guidance. There are a few key areas though in which I think we really stand apart from the rest:</p></li>
</ul>

<p>1) We work with ALL health professions—not just those that are clinical in nature. This means we provide advising and support for students interested in fields like health policy, health care consulting, health administration, etc. Additionally, any UChicago student or graduate may access our application advising and support services. We are happy to work with alumni who either considered medical school as students and chose to take a gap year/years after graduation, or students who began to consider medical school only after graduating, as they navigate the medical school application process. </p>

<p>2) We help connect students with externships (1-3 days of shadowing with alumni around the country), and internship programs, including 2 summer research programs here on campus. The Katen Scholars Program, and the UCIHP Fellows in Community and Social Medicine. The former focuses on bench science research, while the latter provides research opportunities in community health, the economics of health care, etc. Both groups attend a weekly seminar and discussion focusing on issues in medicine including access to health care, disparities, economics, etc. The summer research experiences will conclude with our participants presenting a poster of their work. </p>

<p>3) We also offer two selective programs for our students, to help them further investigate and gain experience in areas of healthcare in which they have strong interest. The Health Policy Scholars track is for those students who have a strong interest in careers within health policy, whether in combination with a clinical career or not. The Clinical Excellence Scholars Track is designed for students who have a strong desire to further explore the value of the doctor-patient relationship.</p>

17

<p>Thanks UChicago! This data is very helpful. </p>

<p>The mean MCAT score, at 33.5 - is quite high - higher than Princeton’s in fact (at 32.4).</p>

<p>Four follow-up points:</p>

<p>1.) What info do you have on the GPA breakdowns for applying/accepted UChicago students and alums? Are there the science-specific GPA statistics you could provide? Brown’s was 3.67 for admitted medical students. </p>

<p>2.) Could you provide, as Brown did on their public site ([Medical</a> Admission Data Snapshot | Health Careers Advising](<a href=“http://brown.edu/academics/college/advising/health-careers/medical-admission-data-snapshot]Medical”>Medical Admission Data Snapshot | Health Careers Advising)) how many UChicago graduates attended specific medical schools (perhaps the most popular options) over the past several years? This could give prospective applicants a sense of where we have a concentrated network of alums. (For example, Brown has significant concentrations of alums at Tufts, NYU, Mt. Sinai, and U. Penn medical schools.)</p>

<p>3.) Additionally, I had asked what weaknesses are present in the program, or areas where UCIHP is seeking to improve. What information could you provide on this point?</p>

<p>4.) Can you provide any insight on why only 90-115 UChicago students/alums apply to medical school each year? This data also stuck out at me - at Yale, Dartmouth, and Brown, about 180 students/alums a year apply to medical school. There’s a significant disparity between how many UChicago students go on to medical school, and how many from these other schools go to med school.</p>

<p>(See: <a href=“http://ucs.yalecollege.yale.edu/sites/default/files/med_school_stats.pdf[/url]”>http://ucs.yalecollege.yale.edu/sites/default/files/med_school_stats.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://brown.edu/academics/college/advising/health-careers/medical-admission-data-snapshot[/url]”>Medical Admission Data Snapshot | Health Careers Advising;

<p><a href=“Home | Dartmouth Admissions”>Home | Dartmouth Admissions)</p>

<p>The statistic that only 175-200 first year students noted an interest in pre-med is also quite interesting. This is only about 12-13% of the incoming class (of ~1400-1500 students). For prospective applicants, I note that as many as 20-25% of freshman at other top schools are intent on medical school. Perhaps UChicago, as an outlier from other peer schools, simply has significantly less interest at the start of college. I am surprised though, to see the 175-200 number. I honestly thought 250-350 first year students (as would be the case at other comparably sized top colleges) would call themselves “pre-med” early in college. </p>

<p>Thanks again! This is very helpful.</p>

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<p>Just wanted to bump this thread. I would also love to hear the answers to Cue7’s following questions, although I know that you all are very busy at this time.</p>

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<p>yea i’d also like to hear answers to cue7’s questions</p>

20

<p>Premed questions:

  1. Are premeds better off at an elite rigorous U with no grade inflation or an elite rigorous U with grade inflation? No matter how the grading scale is sold a 3.63 at Brown or Yale sounds better than a 3.30 at UChicago or Princeton.<br>
  2. Are premeds better off at an average, nonelite, noncompetitive, nonrigorous university where they have no risk of being “weeded out” and assured of a 3.8-4.0 GPA? Many UChicago students on the left side of the UChicago bell curve would the highest score at state flagship U.</p>