<p>I'm wondering how Princeton helps its premeds... </p>
<p>What are the positives? (do they have shadowing programs available? How are medical research opportunities? medical related activities on campus? Volunteering opportunities?)</p>
<p>What are the negatives about Premed at Princeton? (Competitiveness of peers, as in trying to harm your grade for curving purposes?.. Grade deflation?)</p>
<p>Any comments would be more than welcome.</p>
<p>PS: I'm posting for a friend.</p>
<p>
Princeton does not have medical school. Harvard Yale Columbia Stanford UPenn Cornell
medical schools give extremely strong preference to their own undergrads first.</p>
<p>“Princeton does not have medical school”</p>
<p>Uh… jomjom, I don’t see why it would have any effects. HYS etc… med schools actually have reputations to select AGAINST their own students. </p>
<p>To others, How is the advising at Princeton for premeds? And the flexibility at which you can take courses? Do the upper level courses tend to be less grade deflated than the intro, and infamous “weed out courses”? (If you don’t know about it, it is well known that intro classes at other schools tend to have really harsh curve so that students that can’t cut it in the majors <em>premeds</em> will be weeded out.)</p>
<p>Why is the avg GPA at princeton so low compared to HYS Duke, etc…? Most of the other schools have avg GPA at 3.5-3.6, which the avg GPA at Princeton is 3.3…</p>
<p>It’s because the grade deflation policy limits the number of A’s each class can give. I think it’s around ~30% or something. I don’t really know how medical schools work… but if it’s true that they put a lot of weight on your GPA, Princeton may not be the best place to do pre-med. But, if you’re already brilliant, grade deflation isn’t going to affect you, so it would not be too bad actually.</p>
<p>To give you an idea of how grade deflation works, in most classes everything is about how well you do relative to the average score. For example, my ORF 245 (a statistics class) last semester had midterm 1 (avg: ~50) and midterm 2 (avg: ~60), COS 217 (computer science class) had midterm avg ~66. For these classes, A- would fall around the ~85-90 range I think, with A around 90+ range. On the other hand, my MAT 204 (Linear Algebra) class this semester had midterm with avg ~92, with over like 25 people (out of ~70) getting higher than 98. A- is like ~95+ and A was 99+. Unfortunately, I don’t have any examples about pre-med classes since I didn’t take any.</p>
<p>Princeton offers PreMed Advisory services and has a premed club. Well over 90% of Princeton applicants get into medical school. Given the strength of Princeton’s students and science programs, those that don’t are probably not that serious about it anyway.</p>
<p>JomJom, do you any evidence supporting your claims? Can you produce a policy statement from one of those schools indicating they give preference to their own? I THINK NOT.</p>
<p>I have a list of Harvard Medical students(HMS) and their undergrauate origins.
and it shows that HMS student body is dominated by Harvard Undergrads. </p>
<p>I also have Yale Med student list and it also shows that Yale undergrads are the most represented. </p>
<p>UPenn MEd also announced that (2-3 years ago), they admitted more UPenn UG than any other UG. </p>
<p>Columbia Med directory also shows med student with UG origins and again Columbia UG are the largest group.</p>
<p>Same story for Cornell.</p>
<p>No data for Stanford. but I am sure they will admit more Stanford UG than Princeton UG.</p>
<p>Jomjom, you are pointing out the obvious. Clearly, more harvard UG will apply to Harvard med than other schools, and thus will be overrepresented. Secondly, the avg. premed at harvard will be much, much more qualified than the avg. premed. So obviously again, they will gain acceptance at a higher rate. The same for other institutions.</p>
<p>As was just stated, we all know med. schools typically receive large numbers of applications from their undergraduate population, but where where is it written that those students will receive favored treatment??
You should look for substantiation before making such comments. I challenge you to find such a statement from one of the med schools you mentioned!</p>
<p>No medical will publically annouce that they prefer their own UG.
However, where is the proof that a med school receive more application from their own UG ? Maybe they receive less application from their own UG ?</p>
<p>Since most applicant have similar GPA, MCAT scores,
it is very important to get the recommendation letter from someone known to the the admissions committee, such as one of their faculty member or premed advisor from the same school, who can easily contact the members of admissions committee. </p>
<p>It would be very difficult for Princeton UG to get a letter from Harvard faculty.</p>
<p>Jomjom, when you make a statement you need to be able to prove it.</p>
<p>PS. Your comments about the process are ridiculous. Students from around the world are accepted every day. Stick to what you know. Whatever that is.</p>
<p>when you make a statement “med. schools typically receive large numbers of applications from their undergraduate population”, you also need proof. </p>
<p>Are you sure “Students from around the world are accepted” to US Medical School ? At Harvard Med 100% received UG from US college. The admission process that I mentinoed in #10 is very realistic. You can ask the premed advisor at your school.</p>
<p>Yes, because obviously all Harvard undergraduates who apply to med school are getting letters from relevant faculty. And I’m sure the pre-med advisors at Harvard are busy all day calling the admissions committee for each student applicant, you know, because they have so much power, and because that means soo much if everyone hypothetically did it.</p>
<p>Anyway, at Princeton, there are Pre-med advisors who are very helpful. I would argue that grade deflation actually has had less of an effect on pre-med grades than people think because science/math classes (MOL, CHM, PHY, MAT) have always historically have their own standard curve that capped A/A-s at ~35% anyway. They aren’t really affected by grade deflation. There are lots of research opportunities that are easily gotten through the departments.</p>
<p>Yeah, I think grade deflation is something of a false-worry for students who’d take classes in the sciences/engineering anyway. Your grade distributions will stay pretty much the same as they always have, simply because even before grade deflation was instituted as a policy, there was never much inflation in those classes to begin with.</p>
<p>Responding to jomjom is useless. His continued, unfounded attacks are a violation of CC rules. I suggest reporting him to the CC Adminitrator.</p>
<p>Bottom Line:</p>
<p>There isn’t a med school in the country that doesn’t see Princeton as described in the following College Guide:</p>
<p>“Choosing the Right College” 2008 - 2009 edition (an ISI Guide) </p>
<p>Subtitle: The Whole Truth about America’s Top Schools </p>
<p>This newest college guide, touted as the nation’ most comprehensive, promotes Princeton as the nation’s best undergraduate university and “most exclusive club” among universities. Further referring to Princeton as “the undergraduate’s Ivy” being “almost always rated the number one school in America”. </p>
<p>Princeton is described as being “as close to the intellectual ideal for undergraduates as one can find in a top research university”. </p>
<p>Amazon.com: Choosing the Right College: The Whole Truth About America’s 100 Top Schools: Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Jeffrey O. Nelson, Gregory Wolfe, William J. Bennett: Your Store </p>
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