Hi,
My son got into Creighton University honors program (plus their pre-professional program CPPSP in Medicine), He’s interested to pursue medicine, few other choices we are considering:
Gonzaga University
Syracuse University
Univ of Pittsburgh
Given the cost for the above list is more or less same, we need help to narrow down.
Would appreciate your response
Where does he feel most comfortable - that’s likely where he should attend.
He also should learn about access to shadowing opportunities - Pitt will have, likely Syracuse…how about the other two?
In the end he needs good grades and a good MCAT - so all four will work.
Which he prefers matters most.
Creighton has a med school and they seem to have shadow opportunities. CPPSP in Medicine also guarantees an interview in their medical school. So, not sure how much weightage we need to give to this program
I would suggest that your son take pre-med out of his college equation choosing. Fact is…one can take the required course for medical school admissions at every four year college in this country (arts conservatories excluded). So…what should he look for? He should consider the other characteristics of these colleges.
Things like that. Pick the college where he will thinks he will the happiest…because happy kids do better than unhappy ones…and if he does apply to medical school, he will need a great GPA and sGPA.
He will have the ability to shadow on school vacations or near each of these colleges.
A guaranteed interview doesn’t guarantee admission….does it? Plus…is your son sure he wants to spend the next 8 years in Omaha, Nebraska? He might love it there…but he might not.
Did he get into the equivalent honors programs at the other schools? The key is to find a school where he can be a star player, not the most prestigious school. An interview does not guarantee admission to med school and are there additional qualifiers like minimum GPA/MCAT thresholds one has to meet to trigger the “guarantee?”
Yes, I think they have some list to meet for the interview, like:
Do you folks think that with the above list, one might as well try other med schools anyways, this CPPSP program doesn’t add much ?
The other thing I read/heard some where is that the Creighton undergrad students have a bump/advantage in getting into their med school, however, I don’t know much about this.
Creighton is in Omaha. It’s a good-sized city. A quick internet search shows that USNWR indicates there are 23 hospitals there (some of which are for rehab, pediatrics, etc.). Jesuit schools (like Creighton) also tend to be very well-respected in academic circles. Creighton is a fine choice.
That said, Syracuse, Gonzaga, and Pitt are also fine schools. There are definite differences amongst them, though. What’s important to your son? Has he visited all of the campuses? What did he think? Is Creighton the only honors program he was granted acceptance to?
Pitt has about 24k undergrads
Syracuse has about 15k undergrads
Gonzaga has about 5k undergrads
Creighton has about 4500 undergrads
Gonzaga and Creighton are both mid-sized Jesuit schools, but one is in the Pacific Northwest with all the outdoor nature opportunities while Omaha is midwestern and a financial hub. Pitt and Syracuse are both much larger schools. Have you looked at class sizes at all of these schools? Will that sway your son one way or another?
I personally think that access to shadowing opportunities are over rated. Those can be either done on holiday breaks or summer. My daughter had zero shadowing during the school year but did it on breaks. There are way more important things to choosing an UG than shadowing opportunities. Daughter contacted Alumni from her school and got it immediately.
We’ve visited Creighton and Syracuse. Haven’t visited the other two. My son feels Creighton campus is relatively smaller (I agree).
Regarding the honors program, he got into Boise state honors and price is also relatively cheaper compared to other schools, however, he doesn’t seem to that keen on Boise.
Yet to apply to Syracuse honors program, their deadline is April 15th. Didn’t apply to other two honors program.
Syracuse has an early assurance program with Albany Medical College after sophomore year. If accepted, MCAT is waved. Honor students have an advantage.
Creighton is very ‘medical’ oriented. I know a lot of dentists who went to Creighton. Also, since CU doesn’t have medical stuff at the Boulder campus, a lot of undergrads from Colorado who wanted the 4 year college campus experience went to Creighton for nursing or pharmacy or other medical stuff. I don’t think there is as much of that anymore since the CU medical campus has more of an undergrad feel to it or student go to CU Denver and combine that with the medical campus. Also Regis, another Jesuit school, now has nursing, pharmacy, PT and some other medical programs.
But yes, Creighton is well known for medical preparation.
If he is accepted into the program, then it is definitely an advantage. Many such programs offer opportunities for volunteering, research and MCAT prep. If he has that option at Crieghton but not at other schools right now, then I would definitely take that into consideration.
Creighton is a fine school for medicine and allied fields.
Folks, Thanks for the info.
@Sal_Mason, We looked at the Syracuse EAP program, in fact, attended the Syracuse info session about this program. They mentioned that it’s highly competitive and declined to give any info about the number students generally getting accepted into this program. They seem to steer the conversation more towards the regular path
Moreover, it looks like Albany Medical College has similar partnership with few other colleges in the region, it appears to be a pretty long shot. Do you have any more info about this program (like avg number of students getting accepted each year from Syracuse)?
Sorry, I do not. My daughter was planning to apply to both Albany and Icahn her sophomore year, but then changed her career path altogether.
Keep in mind that medical school is highly competitive no matter which undergraduate school he chooses. Applicants are under enormous pressure and are expected to show hours upon hours of research, shadowing, clinical employment/ volunteering and general volunteering on top of high GPAs and high MCAT score. Only 43% of applicants are ultimately accepted and the pressure is unreal. Therefore, if your son is serious about studying medicine, he should explore all opportunities available to him, yet, regardless of which path he opts for in the end, he will always face a high number of competitors.
Since the OP also has a Syracuse thread, let’s leave any Syracuse discussion out of this thread.
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