I’m currently pre-med with my major undecided, but it will probably be english. My bio, calc, stat, and psych requirements are covered by AP creds, so my only pre-med class for my first year is chem, which is the only other prereq I need for the upper level premed courses like ochem.
My classes this year were an honors program philosophy course (B+), int. politics (A-), gen chem (B+…89% /:), and english lit (A), so I got a GPA of 3.53. Next semester I have courses I expect to/will now work my ass off to get all A’s and A-'s in, (hopefully including chem since the 1st semester prof was notorious for being impossible to understand and having a C- class average).
I know for a good med school, a 3.7 should be the aim (along with a great MCAT score, ECs, etc), but when an A- is only a 3.7 and a B+ is a 3.3, from how I see it, I’ve basically botched my science GPA and need all perfect grades next semester to get at least my overall back up to a 3.7. I know it’s still early and there’s nothing I can do to change the grades, but I’m just wondering how much the first semester has set me back in the long run?
Also – would having gone to a certain school for undergrad help at all with getting into its medical school? I know for schools like Penn and Brown that that’s the case. GW has an early selection program for undergrad students who can get into the medical school at the end of their sophomore year, but I haven’t heard about any other edge for undergrad students with the GW med school – is that a general trend with schools? Or will it make virtually no difference? Thank you
Don’t count on this. Medical schools generally expect you to take additional upper level math & sciences (with labs) to supplement your AP credits–particularly in bio. If you apply with mostly AP credits for your pre-reqs–your application will be DOA.
Welcome to the wonderful world of college science classes! That class average is not unusual. You’re expriencing what is called “weeding” where in each successive semester disqualifies students from moving on to the next course. Science is a Darwinian “survival of the fittest” field of study–and not just for pre-meds.
Not really. In fact, at some schools it may actually disadvantage you. If the undergrad has a strong BA/MD program and the med school class size is small, then it’s actually more difficult to get admitted to the med school as a regular student because the adcomm wants to diversify its incoming class. (BTW, Brown fits this description. Half of its incoming med class is accepted through PLME. This skews the admission data to make it appear Brown favors its own grads in med school admission–which it does, just not in the way you think it does.)
The advantages to attending undergrad associated with a med school are minor, mostly in the form of having the adcomm be familiar with your recommenders (which is a double-edged sword) and the in the convenience of having a clinical site nearby for volunteering. An associated med school may also offer some lab-based research opportunities you may not have at a small, more remote undergrad (like a rural LAC).
Also be careful you’re not conflating the size of an undergrad with a perceived advantage in med school admission. Large state Us often appear to dominate in admissions at the in-state public med schools simply because so many of their grads apply. (See AMCAS FACTS Table A2–[Undergrads supplying the largest number of applicants](https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/86042/factstablea2.htm))
GW offers early assurance admission program. So do a number of other med schools, including Rochester, Mt Sinai, Toledo, Wake Forest, Tufts. Google “early assurance med school” for a more complete list. Be aware that the number of students admitted through early programs at any med school is quite small, typically around 5-10/year.
to be a competitive applicant, the rule of thumb is that for every AP credit in a pre-req you receive, you need to take an equal number of credits in upper level courses within the same department as the AP credits.
IOW, if you received 8 credits in bio via AP scores, then you need to take at least 8 additional credits in upper level bio with labs to supplement your AP credits. You probably should to do the same for math & social sciences.
Why? Because
med school admission is all about “what have you accomplished lately?” Old classwork, esp classwork done in high school, doesn’t cut it with adcomms.
adcomms want to see how well you stack up against your college peers in terms of achievement (grades) in key areas. AP credits don’t give a you a grade–just a credit or no credit. Adcomms like comparing apples to apples
@WayOutWestMom Sorry, I should’ve been more clear on what I meant. I wasn’t saying that I’ll be done after having gotten the bare minimum requirements out of the way.
Most pre-med kids that I know first year are taking intro level calc, bio, and chem classes as prereqs for ochem and physics next year, unless they have AP credits, in which case the extra room is used to get some gen-ed or major requirements out of the way. That was why chem was my only science first semester.
I’m planning on taking numerous upper level bio ones for sure, but they all require ochem as a prereq, which I won’t have until next year. I’m using the APs as prereqs for the upper-level bio classes and for physics, and am taking either social or abnormal psych next semester & along w/ sociology, which I know is on the MCAT.
@WayOutWestMom While there are plenty of med schools with either no bias or a bias against accepting their own undergrads, there are several well-known examples of schools that have a bias towards their own when you look at the acceptance percentages.
-The medical school of my own alma mater, Stanford, has historically accepted a MUCH higher percentage of Stanford undergraduate applicants than the national average. It is, in fact, several times higher than their overall acceptance rate. This is the acceptance rate, NOT just the matriculation rate (which is also higher). This is based on data provided to us from Stanford UAR.
-Anecdotally, alumni of Harvard and Yale Med tell us that the majority of their classes attended either Harvard & Yale or Yale & Harvard for undergrad, respectively, and it is again not fully accounted for by correction for yield.
-My own medical school, another “top 10” which I won’t name, accepts a moderately higher percentage of in-house applicants.
Of course, this is before attempting to correct for the average “strength” of an applicant with an undergraduate education from one of these reputable institutions, compared to the average national applicant. But I would argue this is not a confounding factor, based on the way the question was asked about in-house bias (i.e., regardless of the reason for said bias).
Regardless, the answer to @lem0nworld 's question depends on which institution he/she is referring to. In case you’re curious @lem0nworld , the in-house bias exists with residency & fellowship for many (sub)specialties at many institutions.
Interesting thought on what % a med school has matriculated from its own undergrad.
On SDN, many said Brown favors its own undergrad because 34% came from its undergrad, which is possibly the highest among all med schools. BUT, if you look closely at MSAR data, 48 out of 144 came from Brown’s combined program (PLME), so the truth is only 1%.
The other 6 Ivies don’t have combined program (MSAR reported 0), so Harvard has highest 20%, Yale 16%, Cornell 13%, UPenn & Dartmouth both 12%, Columbia 11%.
For schools that have combined BS/MD programs, Drexel has 12% - 12%(32/262)=0, BU has 23% - 14%(25/180)=11%, Northwestern has 25% - 11%(18/164)=14%, Rochester has 15% - 7.6%(8/104)=7.4%.
Remember this is all matriculation data, acceptance data (people accepted but go elsewhere) may be higher.