<p>I know that MIT is a very difficult school, but I am fascinated with the academic atmosphere in MIT and I want to go to medical school and I just want to know if there pre med is difficult and if it is hard to get into medical school from MIT.</p>
<p>P.S Are MIT Pre-med Classes Hard?</p>
<p>MIT premed classes are hard, because most classes at MIT are hard. Classes taken by many premeds are no exception.</p>
<p>You can see statistics for MIT premeds [url=<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/career/www/infostats/preprof.html]here[/url”>http://web.mit.edu/career/www/infostats/preprof.html]here[/url</a>]. In 2008, 82% of MIT undergrads who applied to medical school were accepted; that number jumps to 95% if the applicant had a GPA above 3.3.</p>
<p>If your only goal is to go to medical school, there are easier places to do it from than MIT. But if your goal is to go to medical school after getting a fantastic undergraduate science education, then MIT is a great place for you.</p>
<p>My D is premed at MIT. Yes, the classes are hard but getting a reasonably high GPA is definitely achievable. At the end of sophomore year, she has a 3.5 GPA and she is no math or physics genius. The good part is that you are generally done with all premed requirements after sophomore year. Also, your GPA tends to rise as you take more classes in your major. Drop date is very late in the semester and you have options such as exploratory that allow you to drop a class AFTER the final if you are unhappy with your grade. There are no weed-out classes or competition for grades. </p>
<p>As Mollie said, I am sure she could have attended easier places, but she would never have had the research and educational opportunities she has been offered at MIT. That is taken into account by most medical schools as many MIT students get admitted to the top medical schools in the country, particularly those with a strong research emphasis such as HMS.</p>
<p>I think its much easier to be premed at MIT if you know what you want going in, and you have a plan in place to get there. Make sure that your schedule each semester is reasonable. This means being very careful not taking more classes than you can reasonably manage, balancing easy classes with hard classes each semester, and taking a UROP for credit if you want (which is usually considered an easy A). As cellardweller said, the late drop date is also a huge blessing - evaluate your progress as you go through each semester, and if you aren’t doing as well as you should be in a class, don’t be afraid to drop it. Also, seek help when you need it - I think that’s one of the most important thing anyone at MIT can learn. If you do that, I think you’ll be fine being a premed at MIT. Sure, it won’t be easy, but MIT isn’t meant to be easy, its meant to challenge you and make you think and learn and grow. If that’s what you’re looking for, you’ll have a great 4 years.</p>
<p>I’m a premed at MIT and also just finished my sophomore year, like cellardweller’s D.</p>
<p>Looking back, I would say that if you purely only care about med school and nothing else, then don’t come to MIT - you’ll work your butt off and many times you’ll look at your premed peers in certain grade-inflated Ivy schools and wonder why you bothered to come to MIT in the first place.</p>
<p>However, MIT definitely has an amazing learning atmosphere and the amount of opportunities here are simply amazing (not even to mention your classmates! - you’ll be working with many of the brightest scientists of the next decade). Another thing that I think people hasn’t brought up yet is that I’m very happy that there’s a really supportive atmosphere among MIT premeds (I’m a Bio major so I share classes with a ton of premeds). A friend I know goes to Hopkins, and her Bio Lab experiment actually got sabotaged during the time she went out to get dinner because of the cutthroat environment there. =/ (she’s no longer premed due to stress)</p>
<p>My GPA is 3.6/4.0, and I calculated that if I am to apply next year, I’ll never get past 3.8 even if I get straight As in my classes next two semesters (note: I’ve never gotten a straight A semester at MIT). Sometimes I look at my friends who are getting 4.0s at less-intense schools (and still getting 8 hours of sleep every day), and wonder why I came to MIT…</p>
<p>…but when I compare our orgo tests and realize that the hardest problem on their test is merely one of the “freebie” questions on our 5.12 exams, then everything becomes pretty clear. =D</p>
<p>ps. Don’t worry too much about the premed requirements, since a ton of them will be covered by the GIRs already. Also, if you know your GIRs, the MCAT will become pretty easy :P</p>
<p>Another note – if you’re a premed who is <em>not</em> the sort to do most of what you do just to get the grades and credentials for medical school, the atmosphere at MIT may be necessary to keep you sane – a friend of mine studies some form of biology (for the love of it) at my school, and he essentially says he doesn’t speak to the premeds in his classes, very few exceptions – most of them talk about nothing but how many points they missed or didn’t miss on the last exam. Maybe the atmosphere is different at MIT, and for some that atmosphere is truly healthier.</p>
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<p>This is probably more along the lines of what premeds are like at my school. It is rather sad.</p>
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This is sort of a reason a “typical premed” should think twice about coming to MIT, though – student culture embraces doing interesting work and learning over getting perfect grades, and in general MIT virtues are not premed virtues. So students who love MIT’s culture but happen to want to go to medical school can be very happy, but the so-called typical premed would not be happy at MIT.</p>
<p>Of course, I think the MIT-type premed is a healthier thing to be, and makes a better doctor. And the MIT alums I know at HMS are, in general, much less likely to be giant toolbags than the average HMS student.</p>
<p>I went through pre-med/biology at MIT and then on to medical school several years ago. The most difficult classes for me were the required physics and math courses. But, I took them all my freshman year which was pass/fail so it didn’t bruise my GPA too much. Despite the difficulty, I got throught them all and enjoyed the supportive environment from my roomate, profs and TA’s. </p>
<p>Then from sophomore year on, I had a blast. I was taking Biology and Humanities classes that I enjoyed, doing a UROP and my GPA did fine. I even found time for intramural sports, exploring Boston, Red Sox games, skiing in Vermont and 8 hours of sleep! It’s true that some of the engineers are a bit weary after 4 years, but a premed does not need to go that route.</p>
<p>Overall, the first year is tough for a pre-med/biology major at MIT, but that year (or semester now) is pass/fail and it’s all downhill from there. It’s also great to be surrounded by collaborative engineers rather than cutthroat pre-meds common at other schools. When you factor in the very high acceptance rate to medical schools, I think MIT is a great place to prepare for medical school.</p>
<p>Right, a typical premed probably should think twice about going to MIT, and those who aren’t typical premeds should really think twice about where they’re going at all, given more often than not they’ll run into the typical premeds all over the place, and become annoyed that nobody around them wants to talk about the same things.</p>
<p>I am a huge science freak and I love the science classes at MIt, that is why I thought it would be a great starting point for me if I am going to medical school. I have a couple of questions: How hard is it to get a 4.0 GPA Or 3.5 GPA at MIT. Also, does MIT have a cut-throat pre-med atmosphere like at harvard university?</p>
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This depends on your major, the classes you choose to take, and on your personal intelligence and work ethic – it’s impossible to answer.</p>
<p>Numbers-wise, very few people get perfect 5.0 GPAs at MIT. The average GPA of MIT seniors is around a 4.2 (3.2 on a 4.0 scale), but that (obviously) includes engineering majors in large numbers. Most MIT premeds are biology majors, and it’s generally considered easier to get good grades in biology vs. most of the engineering majors.</p>
<p>Getting a 4.5 GPA at MIT is hard, but not uncommon.
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<p>MIT has less of a cut throat atmosphere for 2 quantifiable reasons:
<p>I doubt Harvard has a cut throat atmosphere for similar reasons to MIT. The cut throat atmosphere tends to be at state schools or in lower ranked private schools where the medical school acceptance rate is lower and there is “weeding” of students who want to go to medical school.</p>
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<p>That is not necessarily true. Johns Hopkins and Duke have high acceptance rates to med school and still have reputations as cut throat for premeds. Plenty of weeding going on. </p>
<p>What makes MIT unique is its collaborative culture. No matter what your field of study, you work in groups. Absence of ranking, honors or grading on a curve also reduce the pressure on grades. At Harvard nearly 75% of students initially enrolled in engineering switch to other majors before graduation. I don’t know what the actual weed-out rate is for premeds but it certainly is substantial if one compares the number of students declaring themselves as premeds on enrollment and the number actually applying to medical school.</p>
<p>I am also an MIT premed and while it’s true that it’s hard here, I would have regretted it going elsewhere. MIT has the resources (advising, clubs on campus, MGH, etc) that will enable premeds to get into med school while at the same time providing an environment that fosters collaboration, something that I believe should be at the heart of every doctor. MIT also trains you to think analytically and critically, again important skills for a physician. So yes, while I would be getting a better GPA had I gone to a less tough school and maybe go to a better med school, I will end up being more prepared to BE a doctor and ultimately be a better one with the education I receive here.</p>
<p>Prospective MIT pre-med students should not worry too much about the perceived “grade deflation” or academic difficulty at MIT compared to other top schools if you plan to do the typical biology/premed route. In my days at MIT, the biology and humanities classes seemed to be B+ centered which is similar to other top schools. In contrast, engineering majors were filled with C students. </p>
<p>As Molly pointed out, most of the notorious difficulty at MIT is centered around engineering majors, especially electrical enginering/computer science which represents a massive percentage of students. Unless you are a genius or are sadomasochist, it’s not a good idea to be a pre-med in electrical engineering. If you stick to biology or cognitive science you should be able to do pre-med and have a life!</p>