Hello
My S has been fortunate to get admissions from Carleton, Reed, Muhlenberg, Gettysberg (LACs) and regular colleges like Baylor, SLU, Northeastern and BU. He is currently waitlisted in Colby, Colgate, CWRU. Colleges with some level of decent merit scholarship (Muhlenberg, Gettysberg, NE, SLU, Baylor).
Would like some recommendations on what’s the best school for Premed from the above list (few of them) so that we can shortlist and go from there
Thanks for your time
That’s a very high quality list you have! Congrats!
There are several issues to consider:
1.
In my freshman year at Cornell - 30% of freshmen started out as pre-meds, but only 30%
of those ended up applying to Medical Schools. So it’s important to enroll in a school that
has multiple strengths in case your DS ends up wanting to do something else with his life.
Not sure Medical Schools would actually care where you DS goes for undergrad, as long as
it’s a rigorous enough program that satisfies all prerequisites. Only the grades will matter.
(so important to chose a school that’s not infamous for grade deflation)
Costs of Medical Schools are astronomical. Therefore, it’s not wise to incur the extra costs for the undergraduate education if they are avoidable. So try to pick the cheapest option.
If you would like, you could consider the college suggestions in this site:
If your son is seriously interested in medical school, then you need to budget for eight years, where the last four years are expensive (think over $80,000 per year at current prices, plus 5% per year inflation). Avoiding debt for undergrad is essential.
What @dimkin said about Cornell is approximately true at other universities: Most students who start freshman year as “premed” end up not applying to any medical schools. Most students who do apply to medical schools do not get in anywhere. Getting accepted to medical school is tough.
No one in my family applied to or went to medical school. However, both daughters had majors that overlap a lot with premed requirements (one starts a DVM program in September, the other has been doing medical research). They have plenty of experience with premed classes. The classes are going to be tough at any university. The classes are going to be full of very strong and very serious students at a very wide range of universities. If you want to end up in the top 1/4 of the class, there is something to be said for attending a university where you show up in the top 1/2 of all accepted students. There will be exams with the class average in the 40’s among many very strong students. There will be students who get 80’s or 90’s on the same exam. Some premed students are really amazing. I want them as my doctor when they get older.
Experience working in a medical environment will also be very important. It will be very useful if your son can get some opportunities to volunteer at a hospital or similar environment.
What is he looking for in terms of environment? Baylor and BU have completely different weather, some of the schools are in large cities while others are in rural areas, and the LACs are considerably smaller than the others. His preferences will help narrow the list. Also think about if any of the WL schools are worth waiting for. If his “favorites” are all WLs currently, then narrow the others down by size or location.
I agree wholeheartedly about budget. Putting him or you at financial risk is unwise. If he can’t start contributing to his 401k until he’s 40 for example, he’ll be at a great disadvantage, no matter what specialty he considers.
That said, there’s a BIG difference in experience between say Reed/Carleton and Baylor/BU/NE. I’d think that a student would have a preference for one style school or another.
Kind of interesting, having Baylor on the same list as Reed!
Anyway, if your son is so flexible that he’d be happy at one of the most liberal small colleges in the country, and at a religious Baptist college in Waco, TX, which is quite conservative, then I guess he’d do fine anywhere!
But I agree, cost is paramount, unless half a million or more for undergrad and med school is nothing to you. Plus, since Baylor is quite different from all the other schools on his list, he should really consider if he’d be happy there.
Which seems best to him, Baylor (where faith is taken seriously, politically proudly conservative) or Reed (atheists welcome, politically proudly liberal)? He should be able to cross one out easily.
All are academically good, there won’t be a problem for a premed.
So, the issue is going to be:
Northeastern is very preprofessional; it has an advantage with the co-op system (but obviously premeds find ways to volunteer even without co-op!)
BU has grade deflation so it’s a bad choice for premeds.
Carleton is intense, intellectual, quirky.
Gettysburg is academically strong, relatively conservative, very Greek.
Again, he should feel that one is a better fit.
Muhlenberg is less academically selective, known for premed, theater, Jewish life.
I had never heard that Muhlenberg had a strong Jewish community - apparently, this is a fairly recent development. It turns out that it’s about 30% Jewish. It’s a Lutheran school, with a strong Jewish community.
I go to northeastern and have many friends who are pre-med and they’ve had co-ops at the ER at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, Dana Faber Cancer Institute, etc. There are TONS of incredible hospitals right around campus and throughout Boston so the opportunities are endless. And, a 6-month full-time co-op at them are incredible experiences.
Side note that may be of interest:
Muhlenberg got a Hillel affiliation in the 1990s and they’ve been solidly at the top of the Hillel list for a while so that there’s no risk it’ll “backslide”.
It is always well ranked in terms of % of Jewish students, like Goucher, Tulane, Oberlin, Clark… It’s no longer known as a “Lutheran” school the way St Olaf, Luther, Gustavus Adolphus or Concordia-Moorhead are (and even St Olaf is changing on that account).
Update: We went with Northeastern for now, given the scholarship amount + CoOp opportunities along with possible research opportunities in Boston Area in premedical field. Still waiting to hear from NYU & Wake Forest on waitlist