<p>1) Where you go to undergrad matters much less than most of the things you do there.
1a)"I want to make sure I get a spot in a top research lab." Actually you probably don't. Top research labs are typically huge and you will be considered a waste of time by everyone there. The mentoring and education you receive as an undergrad in a research lab is far more important than your productivity</p>
<p>2) If you got into a BS/MD program, you're on the trajectory to get into med school in a few years anyway, so keep that in mind if you like an undergrad far more than the BS/MD program.
2a) At this point, you don't even know for sure if you'll end up there, or if you will change your mind altogether, so going to a school "just for premed" is probably not a great idea.</p>
<p>3) Don't break the bank with undergrad--med school is expensive.</p>
<p>4) You don't "receive" bad grades, you earn them.</p>
<p>5) Remember whom you are asking for advice here: A bunch of strangers on the internet with no real experience or knowledge other than our own personal journeys (and certainly no knowledge about who you are as a person). I and the other students went to one college. I have no idea how the departments at two other schools are. The parents maybe got exposed to 2 or 3 schools but not as students, just hearing 2nd had from their children. You should be talking to your parents, teachers, recent alumni from your high school, college counselor, etc, not us.</p>
<p>6) Read the stickies, they are there for a reason
6a) "But I read the stickies and they don't really apply" Yes they do. Read them again and think a little longer</p>
<p>7) Don't worry about your major. You don't need to pick it yet and above all else, enjoying what you study is the key to success and far more important than anything else. Having a good work ethic and good study skills are much more important than what you know.</p>
<p>Now stop posting (or at least keep it to high school student topics) so that we can post about actual pre-med stuff here.</p>
<p>8) Beware a college’s published medical school admissions rate. There are so many ways to fudge it that the number can quickly become meaningless. Here are some examples</p>
<p>School A publishes a 95% acceptance rate
100 students desire medical school, 50 are denied a committee letter, 49/50 (95%) get in, but the true admissions rate is actually 49/100 or 49%.</p>
<p>School B publishes a 95% acceptance rate
100 students desire a medical career, only 10 of them are headed to US MD schools. 40 are going to DOs, 25 to foreign MDs, 10 to PA school, 10 to NP school. 95% are headed to “medical school” but only 10% are going to the school you think it is.</p>
<p>School C publishes that 95% of their pre-med students are attending one of their top 3 choices.
95% of students really did get in, but the top 3 thing is based on a questionnaire at the end of the year that asks “of the medical schools that you were ADMITTED to, are you going to one of your top 3 choices.” If you were to have asked at the beginning of the cycle “of the schools that you are APPLYING to, which are your top 3” and then used those answers to calculate the percentage, it would actually be that only 40% are going to one of their top 3 choices.</p>
<p>School D states that 95% of their pre-med students were accepted to medical school.
Of the 100 pre-meds, 50 of them are in a combined BS/MD program. Of the 50 who actually applied to medical school, 20 are going to US MD, 15 are going DO and 10 are going foreign MD. The true acceptance rate for people applying to US MD schools is really 20/50 or 40%.</p>
<p>IWBB–great posts. But you forgot to mention the “great school for premed” school where 200 kids choose it for pre-med–and 100 of them are “weeded out” long before they even get to apply for a committee letter, or apply to med school.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much. This was actually really reassuring. I didn’t want to come off as the type that would seem annoying for posting such questions. Haha I just tend to worry about things- alot. One of my biggest concerns is with how big state universities are (I come from a small private school). But it seems like it doesn’t really make that much of a difference… You still gotta work your butt off anyways. Thanks again!</p>
<p>I have 2 kids: one went to a big state flagship one went to a medium sized (<10,000 students) private research U. Both have had opportunities to do research, form strong mentoring connections with their profs, participate in ECs, work as TAs and paid tutors for the university, and find their own unique group of friends.</p>
<p>Both will likely end up attending the same med school. (One is already there and halfway finished.)</p>
<p>Were their experiences different? Of course they were–very different kids with very different interests. </p>
<p>But both received an excellent education. And both had the opportunities to engage in meaningful activities related to their interests.</p>
<p>College is what you make of it. If you’re pro-active and seek out opportunities–you’ll be fine no matter where you go.</p>
<p>A big state school can make a difference on your experience/education but it has nothing to do with it inherently being a big U and is just a matter of how you feel about being at such a place. I graduated from high school in a class of 47 kids and then went to Brown where I was one of 1400 freshman. For me, it was a bit of a culture shock to go from never being in a classroom with more than 17 people to having 300 kids in my chemistry class and going from knowing/recognizing every single person I saw every moment of every day to constantly being surrounded by new people and having faculty who had no idea who I was. None of these things directly impacts your ability to succeed or get into a good medical school but depending on who you are and how you handle it, it could have some impact.</p>
<p>In other words, you should think about the size of the school you’re attending but it’s simply a matter of personal preference, there is no right or wrong choice.</p>
<p>point #9 - Don’t come on here asking for info about specific schools</p>
<p>One of the most important skills you learn in college is how to learn on your own (and it’s a critical skill for medical school). Know that on the pre-med forum here, the odds that someone has intimate knowledge about any particular school is slim to none. The way to find out the pros/cons of various schools is to ask people who go/went to those individual schools and then compare your answers (there are specific forums on this site for many schools). Don’t ask them to compare and think for you, just ask them about their own and then using the info you collect, make your own assessment about what’s better. </p>
<p>I recommend trying to ask questions with “objective” answers as opposed to opinions because unless you know the person answering has the same perspective as you, you can’t trust their opinion. For example, don’t ask if a school prepares you well, ask for examples of things the school did to prepare them. What each student needs to feel prepared is different so a school that does little might be good enough prep for one person while not enough prep for someone else. Don’t just ask if there’s lots of advising or if there is plenty of research, ask for details about how advisors are determined, how often you get to meet with them, what sorts of things they talk about. For research ask them how they got the position, how long it took them to find one. Stuff like that. You want concrete answers that YOU can apply your opinion to, not just blindly follow someone else’s.</p>
<p>The approach I outline in this post is also good for picking med schools when you eventually apply to them too.</p>
<p>Another tip: Realize that things in your life might change. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have ambitions and dreams, and we need them to be able to accomplish things…but it might take a little longer than you expected. Don’t get frustrated; accept it, don’t lose your perseverance, and be open to change.</p>
<p>You are very YOUNG, even though you might not think so now.</p>
<p>Your brain keeps on changing - it’s not truly “mature” until your mid-20s.</p>
<p>One advantage of big state schools is Honors college.
You will NOT have 300 kids in Honors Chemistry. I will have a lot of personal attention from the prof. There is a very good chance that prof. will actually remember your face and name and how you did in his class.<br>
Some kids in Honors even believe that Honors classes are easier despite of elevated requirements simply because there is more you can get out of prof. in your small Honors classes.</p>
<p>I am going to disagree with you. This is a forum for public to seek information, experience, opinion and advice. E.g. What’s wrong in someone asking how is food at Brown? If you have any information that can help the poster, its great. I don’t see any issues asking how is advising, research etc at a specific school. Many students, alums and parents of students will be more than happy to answer questions about their school. </p>
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<p>No one is looking for authoritative information from strangers on a public forum. We are just seeking and giving opinions. It’s naive to believe people blindly follow opinions and make important decision solely on this. Forum is one of many ways to collect information.</p>
<p>My first pullout quote you misunderstand. My point is that if you want to know something about brown you should ask in the brown forum which contains many more brown students and alumni than the pre Ned forum. There section on CC for so many schools. That it is a waste of time to come here and ask about specific programs.</p>
<p>With regard to the second quote, I am on my phone so I can’t see your post count but I am going to assume since I don’t recognize your name that I have been around the pre med forum more than you. Very very frequently people come on here and just post vague questions essentially asking for other posters to spoon feed them everything. My point is to ask more specific questions (on the school specific boards as mentioned above) and not ask us here “which pre med program is better”</p>
<p>Nick,
I think penn state might have one but in general the vast, vast majority of schools do not have “a pre med major”.</p>
<p>I like the opinions of this group so far, and would like some advice. Is UC Berkeley worth the out-of-state debt for someone intending to go on the pre-med track? How is UW-Madison (in-state) for this same track? Which would you choose here? Any feedback would be appreciated ASAP!</p>
<p>^^^^How much debt? At either school? Have you included your travel expenses in your COA to Cal? Have you been admitted to both? And have you looked at the school specific forums for each school here on CC?</p>
<p>^I second that. To me, it makes no financial sense to go to an out-of-state public school and less so (if it possible :D) with a good in-state choice like UW Madison.</p>
<p>Berkeley has major grade deflation and its research facilities are usually reserved for graduate students and juniors/seniors. My cousin went to UW-Madison and is doing a neurology residency at a med school in Detroit. It’s definitely not worth the extra cost.</p>