<p>What would it take to get accepted?? What makes a candidate stand out and get accepted??</p>
<p>I'll be attending UW Tacoma this year as a freshman and I want to to take pre-med. </p>
<p>Coming from UW Tacoma, how hard is it get accepted there to Harvard??</p>
<p>It’s really competitive. Your going to need to do extremely well during undergrad and score high on the MCAT to even have a chance. Why do you want to go to Harvard medical school? Prestige? It doesn’t matter what US medical school you go to; they are all really good.</p>
<p>The average MCAT score at Harvard Medical School is in the mid-high 30’s, on par with schools like Johns Hopkins and Washington University. It is very difficult to achieve scores like this unless you really prepare hard. Obviously you need to keep your GPA up as well, and this may make you competitive for a school like Harvard, although it is not a guarantee.</p>
<p>Getting accepted to any U.S. allopathic (MD) medical school is extremely difficult and only a fraction of the students who enter college as premeds end up getting any acceptances.</p>
<p>Get a 3.9+ GPA, some great extracurriculars, and a 40+ MCAT and you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>Just so you know, it likely doesn’t matter where you go to medical school, as long as it is a MD program. My friend got his MD a “lower ranked” school and is now a surgeon at the University of Illinois in Chicago. He’s a good doctor that is well liked by the residents and chief. Does it really matter where you go? As long as you get in somewhere.</p>
<p>^ It doesn’t even have to be an MD program. Lots of successful doctors go into DO schools and get great specialities and residencies.</p>
<p>It is very hard to get into Harvard medical school.</p>
<p>MD > DO in terms of prestige, quality, respect, and such. Aim for MD, because rarely students wish for DO in the first place, even though their futures are similar</p>
<p>^That is not true at all. MD is NOT better than a DO they are both the same. Whoever said that is living in the prehistoric times and doesn’t know anything about the rapid changes in the medical field. I have known DOs that are highly respected and have less malpractice cases than MDs. As compared to MDs, a lot of DOs have better bedside manner and really listen to their patients. More love what they do. Although, I agree that there are DOs out there who only applied to DO medical school because they did not get into MD school, but that number is small. DO can do exactly what an MD does, but they have more treatment options given to their patients such as OMM (Osteopathic Manipulation Medicine). Medicine has changed a lot and so are what patients want so you will find more and more patients under the care of a DO. MD and DO are both promising titles, it just depends on your philosophy in medicine you believe in will help your patients. If you want to be an Osteopathic Physician (DO) then do so. You will still be a doctor and don’t listen to the negativity. I would rather have a doctor who wants to be truly a DO than a doctor who wants to be an MD for the wrong reasons. I would hate for that person to be my doc.</p>
<p>Lol that’s like saying DDS is more prestigious than DMD.</p>
<p>Lol, exactly. Nonsense!</p>
<p>Anyways, if you want to go to Harvard, you can do it. Work hard at it and reach for a a high MCAT score and GPA. I am in medical school now, and you will need those studying habits and serious determination here I guaranteed that.</p>
<p>Suggest you go to the HMS website and look over the info. There are two tracks, HST and New Pathway. HST requires more rigorous math and science undergraduate coursework. </p>
<p>Consider MD/PhD programs, and check out their recommended preparation on SDN. </p>
<p>As a freshman, there are some course level decisions that could affect those choices, so think it through. </p>
<p>HMS acceptance rate is about 3%, weighed heavily toward HYPSM</p>