<p>Hey guys,
So ever since I applied MIT's been my "dream school" and I was thrilled when I got in. Now that it's time for me to commit, though, I'm having second thoughts about whether it's right for me. I'm planning to be a pre-med, course 7 major.
Here are some of my concerns:
1) Money -- this is a big one, since I'm not getting financial aid but it would still be quite a huge burden on my family. Practically speaking, is it worth it to pay over $200,000 for MIT only to have to pay the same for medical school?
2) People always say that MIT is a horrible place for pre-meds because it kills your GPA, competition is cut-throat, you don't have much time for research, volunteering, and other "premed checkoffs," etc. Is this actually true?
3) I really want to be able to "branch out" more in college -- join a chorus, work on the newspaper, spend a lot of time on lab research, etc. I'm afraid that in MIT I'll be spending so much time on schoolwork that I won't have time for all the extracurriculars I want to try.
4) I'd have to spend more time than I was planning on calculus and physics requirements. (The vast majority of my AP credits would be useless.) I really don't like math/feel that I might do badly in those classes freshman year. How many people at MIT are not actually that good at math?
5) Socially, I'm not sure I'd fit in. I didn't really like CPW (but then, I also had to arrive late, so I think I might have missed the whole getting-to-know-you part and just felt kind of lost and out of place most of the time.) I don't at all enjoy parties, I think I'm more of a quiet type. I'm afraid that I might not find friends at MIT, especially what with all the stress.</p>
<p>If anyone has had any experience with these issues, any advice would be great. Just to give you some perspective, I'm looking at a few BS/MD programs and full scholarships that would be a much more "practical" way to get my MD, but they're at schools which are nothing like MIT in terms of rigor. Please help!</p>
<p>No one here can tell you whether you’d be happy at MIT or not. But it looks as if you’ve begun the process of identifying some pros and cons. For some people, it helps to develop such lists for each institution and begin to make comparisons. </p>
<p>Your concerns about money are valid if your family can not afford to send you to MIT and/or help with med school. Sit down with your folks and talk this through. Bear in mind – every student admitted to MIT turns down merit offers elsewhere to attend. Is it worth paying over $200,000 for MIT only to have to pay the same for medical school? If your family can afford it, then yes – it is definitely worth it. If not, then no.</p>
<p>Some of your concerns are not valid, however. MIT is not a horrible place for pre-meds; the school sends a high percentage of students into med schools. There is no cut-throat competition at MIT; the culture is collaborative. If you manage your time well, you’ll have time — and more opportunities than elsewhere – for research. </p>
<p>It is true that MIT is academically challenging. But most students also have time to join a chorus, work on the newspaper, engage in research, and so on. </p>
<p>You would have to spend more time on calculus and physics than at many other schools. You say you “really don’t like math,” but even at other pre-med programs, you’d have to take a second semester of calculus and a statistics class in your field, I imagine.</p>
<p>If you really didn’t like CPW, and felt “out of place most of the time.” That is also something to consider. That’s what a visit is for – to find out if the school is a good fit for you, or not.</p>
<p>Not every pre med wishes or wants to continue on to med school.
Not every pre med is accepted to med school.
Very very few med students are from MIT undergrad school.</p>
<p>I don’t think it will be that bad GPA-wise if you major in course 7. First semester is pass/no record, and if you want you can take some of the GIR’s in the summer at other schools so GIR grades should not be a huge concern.</p>
<p>It’s ok! Lots of current students (like me) kinda hate CPW! Its so not what MIT is normally like… or at least its not at all what my life is like here.</p>
<p>Regarding meeting people and making friends, if you are planning to do some extracurricular stuff, instant friends! :)</p>
<p>My advice is to start listing why you want to go to MIT (the benefits). You listed the costs–the $200,000, the weaker social life and humanities–now can you name any benefits that outweigh them?</p>
<p>… hurr? MIT is hard, but I have never experienced or heard of an MIT person describing this place as cutthroat. It’s too hard to try to go it on your own. We’re an incredibly collaborative environment.</p>
<p>That said, getting a premed-good GPA will mean a lot of work, but you’ll certainly have time for other things in your life.</p>
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If you were only attending parties, you got a very slanted view of MIT There are many quiet types, many tinkerers, many readers, many athletes, etc. The thing I find nice about MIT is that there seems to be pockets for people of any interest. (Maybe you could list some of yours and we can point the way?)</p>
That’s actually quite untrue – about 5% of each class goes directly to medical school after graduating from MIT, and another 5ish% will end up in medical school after working for a few years.</p>
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You won’t have time for all possible extracurriculars, but you will almost certainly have time for something fun, research, and hospital volunteering. </p>
<p>Look, MIT’s tough. The average courseload is supposed to take 48 hours per week (4 classes at 12 units each = 48 units = 48 hours). 48 hours a week is certainly a good chunk of time to be spending on school, but there are a lot more than 48 hours in the week. If you prioritize doing something, you can find a way to work it into your schedule.</p>
<p>Mollie, reread my post. Are you saying that med schools have a high proportion of MIT’s? Or that a relatively high number of MIT grads go to med school, which is not what I posted.</p>
<p>Mollie is saying that a relatively high number of MIT grads go to med school (5% directly after graduation, and another 5% end up in the health fields in general). Additionally, MIT has very high admit rates for med schools - I don’t know the numbers off the top of my head, but they’re thrown around this board a lot, and they’re well above the national average.</p>
<p>So yes, Mollie is disagreeing with you. <em>And</em> she’s citing actual numbers!</p>
I read it the first time, I just disagree that ~200 MIT alums in American medical schools at any given time was “very very few”. </p>
<p>For that matter, I don’t see why the percentage of American medical students who are MIT alums is relevant at all – I mean, the percentage of medical students who are alums of any school will be small, since medical students do come from all over. But that doesn’t support the hypothesis that it’s unlikely for a student to get into medical school from a given undergraduate institution.</p>
<p>Re-reading my original post, my statement that I “really don’t like math” was quite badly-expressed. To revise: I really do enjoy my math classes and math-based extracurriculars like Math Team. With that said, my school’s math curriculum is not very rigorous (AP Calc AB is the highest class offered.) What I meant when I said I “really don’t like math” is that I’ve never really considered studying math in-depth in college. At a less rigorous school, I would probably choose to take math courses out of interest, but I must admit that I’m a little intimidated by the prospect of studying calculus at the level and depth expected by MIT. I feel that an MIT admit should filled with excitement about **ALL **of MIT’s GIRs, not just excited about some of them and apprehensive about the rest.
(Sorry about that long-winded explanation; just wanted to clarify my original stupidly-worded statement.)</p>
<p>EmpireAnts, thanks for the clarification about CPW. It did frustrate me that it was basically a four-day long festival instead of an actual preview of what MIT is like on a normal day. (I know CPW is an MIT tradition, and lots of people seem to love it, but I don’t think it’s very helpful in the college selection process.)</p>
<p>For everyone who replied to my worries about pre-med at MIT:
To clarify, I don’t think that going to MIT makes it harder to get into medical school…quite the opposite, in fact; it’s probably the best possible preparation! I’m just not sure if it makes sense for me to go to MIT when medicine is my primary interest. (And of course, when MIT won’t be my final degree.)
Also I think my use of the phrase “cutthroat competition” was misleading…I know people at MIT are really collaborative, that’s one of my favorite things about the school. “Cutthroat” was just the phrase my alumni interviewer used when saying that MIT students are compared against each other for admissions to top medical schools, so the competition is “cutthroat” in the sense that you’re competing with some brilliant people.</p>
<p>Finally, I have another question for any current MIT students. I’m planning to visit again next week, and I was wondering which classes you would suggest that I attend. Which classes are your favorite? Which did you find particularly difficult or frustrating?</p>
I don’t think that’s really true, and the reason MIT requires all the GIRs is that the professors believe those courses are important for the development of future scientists and engineers and thinkers, but they know that many/most people wouldn’t choose to take all of those courses if they were left to their own devices. Speaking for myself personally, I certainly wouldn’t have taken physics if I had gone to my second-choice school. (And my education would be the worse for it.) Many of my engineer friends wouldn’t have voluntarily taken biology or chemistry. A lot of people wouldn’t choose to take eight HASSes.</p>
<p>At any rate, if you’re interested in going to medical school, many of the GIRs are premed requirements anyway. Medical schools do require that you take college-level calculus, and AFAIK some don’t accept AP credit. </p>
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What do you think is the conflict between being educated as a finely-tuned scientific thinker and wanting to become a physician?</p>
<p>OP,
My nephew is now in 1st year med, from a UC school. My sister and H are lamenting concerned about the cost of med school {$260,000, 4 yrs} as compared to instate undergrad at UC . If you can understand my post [3], that you don’t have to attend MIT inorder to get into med school. </p>
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<p>Take the full scholarships or even the partials that have the med school attached.</p>
There are many quiet types, many tinkerers, many readers, many athletes, etc. The thing I find nice about MIT is that there seems to be pockets for people of any interest. (Maybe you could list some of yours and we can point the way?)</p>