<p>Pre-med here is considered to be the hardest among any pre-professional track or major, and the general trend is that premeds here will usually try the hardest yet still have relatively low GPAs. And like premed at any institution there’s gonna be a high dropout rate, but this is especially apparent at Emory because of a large number of incoming freshmen that are premed (about 1/3). About half of them will drop out before the end of junior year (when med schools applications start), either because they bombed a prereq science class, got a mediocre grade in a science class and have perceptions about how hard premed will be down the line, or simply find new interests in other fields.</p>
<p>And among those that apply, the number getting into med school is actually much lower than you would expect for a top 20 university, although it has been increasing recently due to better student planning and mentoring, such as through help from the newly created PHMO. 46% got in to at least one med school for 2009, and 56% for 2010 (they haven’t released the 2011 numbers yet) according to those who let AMCAS release their information to Emory’s Career Center, which is certainly a big increase but still far from the 70-90% acceptance of many ivy premeds. The Career center gives a more specific breakdown of their GPA and MCAT ranges here:</p>
<p>2009: <a href=“http://www.career.emory.edu/parents/pdf/Applicants_Emory_2009_Matrix.pdf[/url]”>http://www.career.emory.edu/parents/pdf/Applicants_Emory_2009_Matrix.pdf</a></p>
<p>2010: <a href=“http://www.career.emory.edu/parents/pdf/Applicants_Emory_2010_Matrix.pdf[/url]”>http://www.career.emory.edu/parents/pdf/Applicants_Emory_2010_Matrix.pdf</a></p>
<p>Notice they don’t actually tell you the average mcat or gpas, but from some estimation on those charts (using a weighted “midpoint” approach) the average applicant mcat was 29.0 and the accepted mcat was 31.4 in 2009, and the avg applicant gpa was 3.45 and tbe avg accepted gpa was 3.61 in that same year. In 2010 those respective numbers were 29.9, 31.6, 3.51, and 3.65 </p>
<p>Notice that the avg accepted gpa and mcat only increased a little, probably due to the med school spots across the country becoming more competitive every year, while the avg applicant gpa and mcat increased much more, which would explain the higher acceptance rate. </p>
<p>The numbers should tell you the obvious, which is that med school spots are becoming more and more competitive on top of an already tough process, so only people near the top will get in to even a med school at all (most can forget about getting into a med school ranked a lot higher than their undergrad instiution) just to pay them $40-50k/year in tuition for 4 years. Contrast that will grad school spots, where most people will EASILY get into a higher ranked institution than their undergrad, and even then you get don’t pay any tuition but instead get paid $20-40k/year to get a PhD.</p>
<p>So long story short, don’t go premed unless you are a good or stellar science student (it’s ok to have other interests but you do have to be good a science), are willing to put in the effort. Those that don’t get in either: a) have low gpas or mcat (less than 3.5/30 and you probably dont wanna apply MD (maybe DO or Carribean if they’re not that low) b) are missing crucial ECs such as clinical volunteering and shadowing c) apply too late because they’re too busy trying to cram in a prereq or take the mcat (med schools interview on a rolling basis), or d) overestimate themselves and apply to only top schools.</p>