<p>Hey, can I get some opinions for Princeton in terms of premed?
Do you have to major in bio or chem?
can an electrical or civil engineer (bse) major from Princeton have an equally good shot at top med schools, given good MCAT scores etc.?
All you would have to do is take bio and chem classes and do good on the mcats rite?
I heard that Princeton has a 90% med school acceptance rate, and its considered amazing.</p>
<p>-thanks in advance...</p>
<p>bump........no answers?</p>
<p>no one?.....</p>
<p>Princeton's medical school acceptance rate is about as good as it gets. Not only in absolute percentage, but in the numbers who go to top medical schools. Two warnings: 1. This is really the results for the kind of people who get into Princeton in the first place. They are some of the top students in the country coming out of high school, so no surprise that they are among the top students coming out of college.
2. Princeton has been cutting GPA's. So the data available applies to people with higher grade point averages than new Princeton students are likely to get. The med school acceptances might come down to earth as fewer A's are distributed.</p>
<p>You can major in anything and go to medical school. There are a handful of required courses. If you major in science, you will take at least some of these as part of your major anyway.</p>
<p>However, majoring in engineering is definitely the hard way to go. It is much more work than most other majors, and many end up with lower GPA's. So it may not enhance your medical school prospects. If you go to Princeton, speak with knowledgeable people from the start about choice of major. Remember, if you are going to medical school, then, unlike other undergrads, you do not need a marketable degree from college. All you need is to get into medical school.</p>
<p>afan is right about majoring in anything and getting into med school. You just have to take the required courses for med school on the side and do well. One of the college seminars we went to said that one of the most popular majors for getting into med school recently has been English with the science requirements completed alongside. My D's pediatrician graduated from Princeton in East Asian Studies, then went on to a UC med school, then interned at one of the most prestigious Children's Hospitals in the state. Two other doctors in the group each graduated from Harvard with degrees in English, then on to med school at UC and Columbia respectively. Our ophthalmalogist graduated with a degree in one of the humanities from Stanford, then on to med school and is now on the Board of Directors at a well known teaching hospital. So whatever your major, get some good pre-med counseling, take the med school requirements and do well in them.</p>
<p>The above is worth a look as it summarizes Pton's experience. The Health Professions office should be able to answer your questions. 95% acceptance rate!</p>
<p>Thats a great link and it proves that the new grading policies have not hurt premeds from Princeton too badly, thanks for the info.</p>
<p>thanks for the info...</p>
<p>Would computer science engineering and premed together at princeton be too tough?</p>
<p>Because that's what i'm plannning to do...</p>
<p>Vpat06 The grades shown in the Health Professions presentation are for last year's applicants. The new anti grade inflation policy was not in effect for this group. The conclusion is that med. schools don't evaluate a B at Pton the same as at an average school even before the grade deflation policy. The key question will be whether the med schools will give even more consideration to Pton applicants in the post grade inflation world of Pton. It is interesting that the other elite schools have not adopted such an anti grade inflation policy. Finally, the majority of the applicants were either some form of science or engineering majors. These fields never had the grade inflation Pton's new policy was created to correct...simply put, these department will not have to change a thing. Therefore, I don't expect much deflation in this groups GPA averages.
insecure101...Premed is not a major and therefore won't conflict. If you have a boatload of AP 5s, you will only have to take a few courses to be able to sit for the MCAT exam. Organic Chemistry is the course that seems to be the pre med killer.</p>
<p>i heard dartmouth is a better answer. Just trying to be helpful here</p>
<p>I don't know anything about Dartmouth but Pton's office for Health Professions is extremely knowledgeable and helpful in advising undergraduates. They have the 'inside baseball' knowledge of the world of medical admissions that most lay people completely lack.</p>
<p>Note that Princeton students, being Princeton students, tend to have very high MCAT scores, which help pull up acceptance rates for some with lower GPA's. Whether this will continue to compensate as GPA's go down remains to be seen.</p>
<p>If you want to go to med school, it is not a good idea to make a decision that you expect will lower your GPA. As you can see from the numbers, not that many premeds at Princeton majored in engineering, for reasons noted above. That said, it is a terrific program in computer science, and if you change your mind about medicine, you then have a marketable degree. Remember that most people who enter college as premeds end up never applying to medical school. So picking a major that leads somewhere you might want to go is useful.</p>
<p>exactly,
medicine and computer science engineering are top fields today...
only thing im worried abt is admission into the computer science engineering department, how are these stats? (ill apply ED):</p>
<p>95/100 GPA
under the toughest courseload
top 2% out of 400
ECs: some board positions, math fair medals, regional Computer science awards
given good essays and a nice statement of interest and recs
sat IIs: 750~
sat: 2250+</p>
<p>are my chances lookin good?</p>
<p>Admissions conversations can only be discussed in probabilities. Yours look good but still only a probability not a certainty. Finally, if you do get in consider Integrated Science. Computer science, mol. bio, physics and chemistry integrated into one course for two years. Only attempt if you have rock solid credentials (strong math, AP physics, some computer programming, etc.). Perfect blend of two disciplines you are interested in.</p>
<p>wsox, thanks a lot...
I was considering that class, for my BSE statement of interest would it be wise to write about how i want to "mix" computer science and biochem?</p>
<p>The integrated science program is not part of the engineering school so I don't know how they would look at it. In general Pton is very big on integration. For example at the neuroscience research center, biologists, chemists, engineers, computer scientists, psychologists and others swork together on common problems. Read about the integrated science program by searching the pton site. I think it is always wise to read a lot about a topic to show initiative in your essay.</p>
<p>Med schools take into account low GPAs for engineering degrees. They know that a 3.9 in an English major doesn't neccesarily indicate higher performance than a 3.2 GPA in an Engineering major.</p>
<p>just wondering....has anyone ever maintained a 4.0 GPA at princeton?</p>
<p>its important to realize that Pton only endorses ~ 120 med school applications. their 90% acceptance rate statistic is such because 90% of the endorsed 120 are accepted. i know that in other schools, there are med school applicants that apply to med school but are not endorsed by their university (because of low stats/chances of acceptance). i don't know how this scenario fits into princeton, i.e. there may be ppl who apply but are not endorsed and thus are MUCH less likely to be accepted by a med school.</p>
<p>if princeton endorsed all of their med school applicants, their matriculation rate would prob be < 90%</p>
<p>
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just wondering....has anyone ever maintained a 4.0 GPA at princeton?
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</p>
<p>insecure101, to answer your question, I'm sure people have. I remember seeing a profile of the valedectorian from Princeton once, and he got all As and A+s. Of course, the vast majority of students, even at a place like Princeton, will find themselves adequately challenged trying to maintain a 4.0</p>
<p>Another very crucial thing to keep in mind is the fact that this was in the pre-35% rule days (the recently implemented policy that in a class, only ~35% of students shall get As). This new policy makes it much harder to get As, in the humanities classes at least; apparently, it's always been very hard for engineering. I think that the students who would normally be valedectorians will end up doing as well, but for the vast majority, this will make it even harder to get straight-As.</p>