<p>what are the best LACs for pre-med programs and med school acceptance rates?</p>
<p>Any school can be a good pre-med school. There's no formula - simply go where you think you'll thrive. </p>
<p>That said, I know that Amherst has really high acceptance rates. And Miami Ohio, which is kind of like a Liberal Arts University.</p>
<p>I've heard Holy Cross is good for pre-med. I second Amherst also.</p>
<p>Oh! I forgot about Holy Cross. Good one. :)</p>
<p>Colgate has amazing science facilities</p>
<p>Haverford has something of one of the best med school acceptance rates... i would assume that correlates to a great pre-med program.</p>
<p>jdid9, you've already made a tactical error in your approach to your search. Acceptance rates mean nothing; its like buying a car by choosing the dealer that gives the best price for your trade in.</p>
<p>Med school acceptance rates can be manipulated. One approach is the "weed-out" in which required courses for pre-med have a tough curve. Only the best kids get good grades, the rest are discouraged and change career goals. </p>
<p>Another common way to manipulate rates is via the committee letter. Med schools require what is called a "committee letter" from your college which summarizes your classes and recommendations, if they offer it. Most colleges outside of large U's do. The trick to getting a high admission rate is to tell those judged as weaker candidates the college will not recommend them in the letter.</p>
<p>This is why you see otherwise obscure schools with rather ordinary students (as reflected by SAT scores, for example) boasting an impressive rate. They're not doing something magical, they're just pre-screening. Amherst has a great writeup on applying to med school with lots of good advice that you should read, and they say in part
[quote]
Amherst College has no magic touch that automatically elevates a student's chances of entering medical school simply by virtue of the student's coming to Amherst; no college or university has that kind of magic touch.
Amherst</a> College Guide for Premedical Students
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If you want to pursue medicine, get a book on applying to med school and read thru it so you understand what the schools will be looking for. The link above is a start; a book goes into things in greater depth. When in college, be sure to do the things it takes (good grades, volunteer work, a science lab job is a plus, etc).</p>
<p>Well said. Mikemac is totally right. Acceptance rates can give you a good idea when it comes to which schools are good pre med schools, but they are totally manipulated.</p>
<p>First off, Mikemacs dose of healthy skepticism should be headed. Amherst gets a star for admitting that it has no magic touch that automatically elevates a student's chances of entering medical school. No school does.</p>
<p>Secondly, there is no such thing as a pre-med program. You are no less likely to be admitted to Harvard Med with a degree in bioengineering than in creative writing. In fact, it has become somewhat voguish of late to open admissions doors widely to humanities and social science majors.</p>
<p>Thirdly, if this is a question about LACs and strength in the sciences, that is a different story (but this certainly DOES NOT correlate with medical school admission rates). If that is the question, schools like Swarthmore, Carleton, Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Wesleyan, Williams, Grinnell, Reed, Haverford, Wellesley all offer great programs. Most other strong LACs will offer biology programs of similar quality. The physical sciences may not be as universally strong. </p>
<p>Finally, if you want to figure out where you should go to give yourself the best chances for medical school, think about going where youll be happiest. If youre committed to a goal and willing to put in the work, happiness may be the biggest boost to your chances, not your colleges US News ranking.</p>
<p>Williams has one of the best phD programs in medicine of LACS</p>
<p>In response to what wbwa said:
First, there is such a thing as a pre med program. It is a fairly new concept and more and more colleges are offering it. I happen to be in the pre med program at Holy Cross (I think someone mentioned Holy Cross earlier in this thread as a good LAC for aspiring medical students). There is no such thing as a pre med major, however.</p>
<p>Secondly, acceptance rates are indeed manipulated and skewed in order to get students to apply. One of the main reasons I chose Holy Cross as a school is because I was told it has an acceptance rate of 85% (more than twice the national average). My acceptance letter to Holy Cross told me that although I got into the school, I was denied initial entry into the pre-med program. This is a common tactic used to weed students out of the pre med program. I decided I would find a way to make it into the program after my first semester through hard work. (I was one of very very few students who made it into the pre med program after being initially denied) </p>
<p>About 70 freshman start out in the pre med program. Only about 10 of those students actually have what it takes to stay in the program throughout all 4 years. (Nobody is kicked out of the program, but kids are recommended to drop out if they don't maintain a certain GPA.) So there is a serious weeding out process. Of those 10 who make it through all four years, about 8 make it into med school. So if you survive the process, you've got a really good chance at med school.</p>
<p>*The numbers I used in the third paragraph were estimates. I don't know how many students in each class are in the program, but my point is that very few students actually stay pre med.</p>
<p>Any strong LAC will serve you well for this. One school with good % admits (it's a small univ, but I can say, having visited three times, it feels like an LAC) is Brandeis.</p>
<p>Holy Cross's admission rate is is 34%. If you looked on Sparknotes, they lie!</p>
<p>We're discussing acceptance rates into med school, not into Holy Cross. According to Holy Cross's website, its 87%. But that doesn't account for the "weeding out" factor I previously mentioned. Here's the pre med website.</p>
<p>stewmaster:</p>
<p>The "pre-med program" you describe at Holy Cross appears to be nothing other than a rationalized weed-out program. You are very lucky to have "made the cut" given the school's clear message that they will offer varying levels of support to candidates based on their vision of a student's probability of successfully gaining admittance to medical school.</p>
<p>I take great exception to colleges that openly or covertly do this. It is the advisor's responsibility to support a student's application and, at the same time, offer some reality testing with regard to likelihood of success. But it's one thing to tell someone their probability of acceptance is small, it's another thing when, by limiting support for an application, a college also contributes to failure or forces the hand of an applicant to never proceed. Advisors with
a wealth of experience can only be so all-seeing when it comes to this process. Advise the student, support their decision, then sit back and let the chips fall where they may. Med school decisions are about as predictable as college decisions. No one should be playing god.</p>
<p>You have to wonder about a college that accepts someone but refuses to let that incoming frosh into their premed advising program! And even if they let you into the premed program at Holy Cross, no guarantee you're going to be part of that 85% success rate. As they note in their link at <a href="http://www.holycross.edu/departments/pre-med/website/committee.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.holycross.edu/departments/pre-med/website/committee.htm</a>
[quote]
The full committee then evaluates the materials and decides the appropriate level of recommendation for each potential applicant, as well as the tone and content of the recommendation letter.
[/quote]
In other words, you've gotten past the hurdle of getting into their premed program (which you HAVE to do or else they won't write a committee letter, and without a committee letter from a school that writes one med schools won't consider your app). Now you're evaluated one more time so they can keep their admit rate high. You might end up being told you'll be "recommended with reservations", or flat-out "not recommended". Either is a death knell for your app and most people know enough not to even bother.</p>
<p>I'm glad stewsmaster gave the example of his school. It points out how admission rates are easily manipulated.</p>