<p>I've heard from some people that work at SU and surrounding areas that SU is not a very good choice for Pre-med. I heard that after graduation, it's very hard to get into med school. My S was accepted to SU and other universities that have 7 year med programs and we're trying to decipher which to pick. </p>
<p>I would love to hear your take on this. Thanks. </p>
<p>I am a sophomore on the pre-med track and I believe this goes for any school your son goes to. What you put in is what you get out. If your looking for a pre-med program that babies your child every step of the way and pats him on the back with each completed task then no Syracuse’s program isn’t the one. I was upset about this myself at first I thought what the hell am I paying for if not to get help ,but now I have come to appreciate the those that help themselves approach. First of all it weeds out any pre-meds that are lazy, you cant want to be a doctor without contributing some efforts. Second of all it forces you to be independent and sure of what you want and need and makes you personally go and find ways to complete those goals.</p>
<p>Now for the program, you are aided with things like which pre-reqs to take suggestions about the MCAT etc. but another nice thing I like is the committee letter and mock interview that is done at the end of your four years. The program has a website where starting from freshmen year you are tracking various activities etc that add to your resume. you also add a list of choice schools and you personal statement. They make you do this well before its time to apply so the nice thing is that this is done and one less stress is gone. but like I mentioned before the committee interviews the students based on the criteria he or she would need for their choice schools. They examine everything from personal interview to grades, level of class difficulty, extracurricular, experience,MCAT, reccomendation etc and as a committee decide whether or not you are a good fit for your choice schools. they don’t outright tell you but write a committee recommendation letter, which is a big deal especially if your a competitive applicant.</p>
<p>As for help with anything else making an appointment is easily and highly recommended. At the least they suggest two times per year for fresh and soph year. Info sessions are abundant and another good point is that if your plans change or you decide to take a gap year between college and med school they are more than prepared to assist you, in fact a gap year is encouraged ,but that’s something your son needs to decide for himself as he experiences different thing during his time in university. Another thing many people don’t mention is that we have crouse hospital, a VA hospital, and Upstate medical school right across the street from campus. They have connection to get students into labs or help with clinical experiences and even without this connection its quite easy and convenient to seek out opportunities like this during the school year which I don’t think most school have.</p>
<p>bad points I guess would be the lack of helpfulness if you don’t ask for it. You get help when you look for help, they don’t look for you, regardless if you are classified as pre-med or not. To offset this there are a number of pre-medicine clubs that provide more assistance if needed.</p>
<p>@gemini18 I couldn’t disagree more, and I think the health professions program at SU are very strong, and invest in getting the students out there to do some real work. Plus here’s a fun fact about Syracuse, NY: The two biggest industries are: #1- Education, #2 - Medical. Awesome place to go to school for medicine if you ask me.</p>