<p>I'm looking through dozens of colleges...and basically I have no idea what i want. I've realized i'm not even sure what would be best for me and i'm basically limiting colleges based on their websites!</p>
<p>My major is undecided, though i've limited it down to Computer Science, as I am good with computers and like them, and Pre-Med because i am interested by the human body and would love to help people with my life (if i was a CS major i'd probably become an activist in greenpeace or something else to help people). </p>
<p>Anyway, i'm here with two completely different major choices and i've found that generally colleges with good cs programs usually aren't great premed schools and vice versa as i've found. </p>
<p>and well i have no idea how to pick a college from here, and when i go through the searches, i am finding that i don't know if I want a small or large college, or if I care about selectivity or such...I know if I decide premed i would like a good college that would help my med school application. And other than that i'm at a loss of what to look for. Any advice? Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>One easy way to winnow your search is to consider costs. What is your family’s budget for college and are your stats good enough to attract significant merit aid? You can’t attend a college you can’t afford, so figuring out a budget will start you on the right track.</p>
<p>You can major in anything (including computer science) and do pre-med alongside.</p>
<p>It seems to be a very common misconception that one has to major in biology to do pre-med. The result is a flood of failed pre-med biology major graduates each year, ensuring poor job and career prospects for biology major graduates because there are so many of them (most pre-meds get into zero medical schools).</p>
<p>Note that a “good pre-med college” has the following characteristics:</p>
<ul>
<li>Low net cost to save money for medical school.</li>
<li>Pre-med courses that prepare you well for the MCAT.</li>
<li>High grade inflation relative to student competitiveness.</li>
<li>Convenient pre-med extracurriculars.</li>
</ul>
<p>Good schools for computer science have good selections of the upper division computer science courses like:</p>
<ul>
<li>Algorithms and complexity</li>
<li>Theory of computation, languages, and automata</li>
<li>Operating systems</li>
<li>Networks</li>
<li>Compilers</li>
<li>Databases</li>
<li>Security and cryptography</li>
<li>Software engineering</li>
<li>Computer architecture and digital design</li>
<li>Electives like graphics, artificial intelligence, etc.</li>
</ul>
<p>Ah, wbmusicify, we have much in common. Right now, I’m straddling CS/engineering/pre-med and am looking at the usual suspects for those.</p>
<p>Also, if you’re looking at pre-med (I want to be a surgeon!), you probably want to look at colleges’ special med programs. No need to take the GMAT. No need to worry about getting into med school. </p>
<p>-BU’s 7-Year Liberal Arts/Medical Program: You graduate in 7 years with a Bachelor of Arts in Medical Science from the College of Arts & Sciences and a Doctor of Medicine from the Boston University School of Medicine.
-Brown’s Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME): You graduate in 8 years. From the site: It “combines undergraduate education and professional studies in medicine in a single eight-year program. The PLME is the only combined baccalaureate-MD program in the Ivy League, and a major route of admission to the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University” [Program</a> in Liberal Medical Education | Program in Liberal Medical Education](<a href=“Program in Liberal Medical Education | Medical School | Brown University”>Program in Liberal Medical Education | Medical School | Brown University)
-For the slight chance that you live in NYC, you can apply to CUNY Sophie Davis, a 7-year med. program that trains you to become a physician. [Sophie</a> Davis School of Biomedical Education Home](<a href=“http://www1.ccny.cuny.edu/prospective/med/]Sophie”>http://www1.ccny.cuny.edu/prospective/med/)</p>
<p>Keep in mind that these programs are highly selective. (I think they have admit rates lower than all the Ivies.)</p>
<p>You sound like a good candidate for a small LAC–preferably one where your stats are at the high range, so you are eligible for merit aid. Many LACs do a great job preparing students for med school. They may have more limited CS offerings but usually enough to get you the training you need.</p>
<p>Thanks all! I’m currently searching for those colleges in my area with a premed special programs. My only concern with premed is that I would not get into med school, and as ucbalumnus said i would end up with a useless (to me) Bio major. Yet as you also pointed out it might be good for me to start looking at premed alongside CS major, that sounds like what I might end up doing anyway. As far as getting into med school, i’m currently only a 3.45gpa but i’m working on improving that in the future, and My big concern is that whatever school I pick would not be enough to prepare me for the MCATS and such to get me into med-school, and so I would be willing to pay a higher price tag for a better premed school if it would give me a better shot at becoming the doctor I would love to be. And sally I haven’t looked into any LAC’s at all, I discounted them assuming they were not as great educators for a science search, but maybe that would be worthwhile to look into. Thanks!</p>