<p>"While I agree, Mini, that you can major in anything and go to med school so long as you take the required courses, I think that it is unrealistic to assume that the majority of kids who would be pre-med would not want to major in a science of some sort."</p>
<p>Perhaps agreed, but it doesn't mean they're successful at it (or any more successful than the music major, as the Williams data suggests.)</p>
<p>As for weeding out, the top student at a good state u. is going to do much better at med school applications (and will likely have had more in the way of research and mentoring opportunities) than the middling student at, say JHU (could have been exactly the same student), and won't end up in med school saddled with debt.</p>
<p>There are a myriad of good reasons to attend a top college over a decent state u. I just don't think future med school admission is likely to be one of them..</p>
<p>Thank you for your references to the Princeton threads about med school admissions. I am continuing to search for differences between a school like MIT and one like Yale. But we have decided that the best thing for my son to do is to bite the bullet and go out and visit MIT during its campus preview weekend. It is hard to go from the west coast to the east coast for these weekends and the school certainly do not make it easier by spacing them out like they do. I guess the spacing makes sense for the east coast kids, but it is tough for us on the west coast (especially since we don't live in a big metropolitan area with lots of flights.)
Thanks again everyone for all your postings. It has given us food for thought.</p>
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<p>And, I agree on the "other risk." I had 90,000 in debt when I finished in 1982...you can bet it has impacted my life. Biggest mistake I made was going to an Ivy League medical school, when there would have been no difference in my life outcome of going to my state medical school....<<</p>
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<p>Robyrm, you ought to copy that about a hundred times and post it all over the kids' threads. Don't get me wrong, Ivy League med schools are great institutions, it is just so hard to explain to high school kids how little "added value" there is to a private med school education vs a public school. The study that keeps getting posted here about the top feeder schools to the top med/law/business schools always makes me laugh. Business school and law school, yes, it probably makes a difference - med school, WHO CARES?! By the way, public med school then recruited for an Ivy hospital residency, turned it down, can't say if it would have mattered or not.</p>
<p>Good luck to your son! I'm a pre-med student (although thinking about MD/MPH for public health, really) at Yale right now. If your son got into MIT, he probably has a good science background, especially if he is thinking about medicine. If he chooses to attend Yale, I recommend the Perspectives on Science program, which includes a research stipend for the summer after freshman year. My science classes so far (including 2 semesters of orgo) have been challenging but not horrible by any means.</p>
<p>If you've narrowed down his options two either MIT or Yale, I guess this isn't so much an issue. But I'm going to graduate from Yale with about $15,000 in student debt, not mentioning the tens of thousands my parents will have taken out. (Yes, it stinks being a middle class student on financial aid.) I'm actually quite scared right now of the future because med school is going to be so expensive when I attend that I'm looking to get saddled with tons of additional debt. And then salaries in the non-profit or public service sectors aren't particularly high. I guess this is complicated by the fact that I live in Augusta, GA, which is the home of the major public medical school in GA. I <em>really</em> don't want to come home for med school...</p>
<p>Smartazz - read my post above, dig out Oldman's post on the "Will there be another Brandeis" thread. Coming back home may not be "fun" but it will be the very smart thing to do. Graduate high in your class at MCG, and you will get a choice residency out of state, and you won't be totally drowning in debt. Doesn't Emory give some tuition break for in-state, guess not? Med school debt can so limit your specialty choices - society needs MD/MPH students, you need to be free to make that decision.
I'm sorry to get on the soapbox, but I do feel strongly about this. Also, a few home cooked meals will look really inviting after 36 hours on call, believe me!</p>
<p>At the time I was applying to Med School we had a very weak state med school, it was being "restructured" and I think it justifiably scared me off...but I still wish....</p>
<p>In my residency, at a choicy named program, there were 16 in my internship group. Half were from HYPMS places as undergrads, and half were from state medical schools- exactly divided down the middle. </p>
<p>HOnestly, I knew very early on that I didn't care about being a Prof at a big name medical institution ultimately. I knew I was going to practice medicine in a community of some sort. The elite medical schools are not necessary, and in some ways not sufficient for training in this area.</p>
<p>On the other hand, and this is contradictory to what some people think, I wouldn't have traded my pricey undergrad education for anything. I learned to analyze, problem solve, work hard, think critically-- and this has proved invaluable in all stages of my subsequent education, training and employment. </p>
<p>As for "coming home" for medical school...you have so little time, so much to do, you will barely know what city you are in...and the home cooked meals will be welcome (remember, you will also be broke).</p>