Northeastern for pre-med?

We’re going to (re)visit Brandeis and Tufts this fall, and also take a peek at BU. But one school we had never considered for a med-school hopeful is Northeastern. I know it’s risen crazily in the rankings lately, but is it a school strong in the sciences? Does the coop program supplant the now-popular gap year before med school? Thanks!

Northeastern is a fine school. If the student co-op jobs are something medically related, this might be helpful. Otherwise, I’m not sure that would matter for medical school applications.

All med school applicants do NOT take a gap year.

And lastly, a student can apply to medical school with a degree from ANY college…as long as they take the prerequisite courses required for medical school applications.

@WayOutWestMom your thoughts?

If finances are a consideration, and loans for undergrad school will be needed at any of these colleges…think twice. There is precious little aid for medical school except more loans.

Virtually all decent univs are “strong in the sciences”, at least for anyone who’s premed. Premed prereqs are mostly lower division, run of the mill, generic BCPM classes. Biochem is the only upper division and that’s pretty much a staple as well.

Just pick a school that the student likes, a school where your child’s stats will be VERY strong, and a school that won’t cause much/any debt.

Yes, and not all med students take a gap year. My son didn’t and he graduated from med school in May. The co-op could be fine if it’s somehow related to science.

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He has a 33 ACT and a weighted GPA of about 4.1 overall (probably about 4.2 this year and 3.9ish his first two years). He’ll have at least one fantastic teacher recommendation, and he’
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Pick a school where an ACT 33 is about the top 10% of the school.

@thumper1 has it right.

Minimize undergrad debt if your student is planning on applying to med school. Prestige of undergrad is only of minor importance for a med school application. GPA, MCAT and ECs are all much, much more important. Major is not important for med school applicants–only that they have successfully completed the pre-reqs with strong grades.

Internships and gap years are totally different w/r/t med school applicants.

Internships are jobs–these are of minimal value to med school applicants unless the internship is in a medically related position where there is direct patient contact.

A gap year is year (or more) delay taken after college before or while being the process of applying to medical school. Students take gap years for variety of reasons, including just wanting a break from academics, to improve ECs, to earn money to pay down undergrad loans/finance the cost of applying to med school (which can cost as much a $10,000) or to allow senior year grades to be included in GPA calculations.

About 1/3 of traditional med school applicants take a gap year. It’s not universal.

Other threads indicate this family expects to be full pay for undergrad.

Just a thought…perhaps this student could,get significant merit aid someplace for undergrad, and then family resources could be used to help with grad or professional school down the road.

I know for sure that Northeastern students co-op at Boston"s top hospitals. I would place BU ahead of Northeastern in the sciences. The basic sciences like for example biology and chemistry have more faculty, grad students, and funding than Northeastern. I think either one would be a good choice for premed.

My daughter graduated in science from Northeastern but I agree with mom2collegekids that almost ANY decent school will have a good enough science program for premed purposes. Co-ops are very good for giving students fairly extensive lab/research background, and you can absolutely go straight from Northeastern to med school without gap year. In fact, my daughter’s best friend at Northeastern did just one co-op, did summer school and still graduated in 4 years – then went directly to Tufts medical school. It can be done.

You can major in anything and go to med school. And as you know, most schools don’t have a “premed” major.

The prerequisites for med school can be done as an undergrad, in the major or outside of the major- or in one of the many post-baccaulareate programs for that purpose (Goucher for instance).

So many young people want to be doctors in late high school but often they change their minds when they get a more sophisticated perspective on career options. Northeastern’s coop program would, I suppose, help with that though students at many colleges do internships during the school year or summer.

It seems to me that one more consideration (to be considered along with cost and med school acceptance rate) is how the college handles the med school committee letter. Will they recommend everyone? Will they only choose the top few? Something in between?

http://www3.amherst.edu/~sageorge/outcomes.html

You can see that the above is from an older page but the 2016 results weren’t very different, 84%got in (I believe on the first try but that’s unclear in the annual report - page 8 at https://www.amherst.edu/system/files/media/LoebCenter_AnnualReport_2015-16.pdf and I do not think the policy of recommending anyone they think can handle it - something lie 99% of students who want to do it - has changed).

Amherst is one that recommends a gap year but not for everyone. They just think it generally allows candidates to make a stronger application.

As above, ANY school will do. The most important thing is to have a plan B, ie something other than medical school. Many students will change their minds once they experience college. Some will not handle the sciences well, others will lose interest and some who want it will not get in.

That said, students at top tier schools will have an advantage over those from bottom tier schools. Notice- top, not elite, tier. Look at schools for the overall educational- academic and social fit. Finances, too. If medical school is planned be sure to avoid loans in undergrad. Remember to choose the major most interested in, not one you think is “best”. Eons ago I majored in chemistry because I liked it, other medical school classmates had a variety of majors. Most choose a STEM field because they like it. There is also an overlap of meeting a science major’s requirements as well as those for medical school admissions. But- undergrad is the time to indulge in your passion.

Many medical students will go to their public U’s- often the flagship. Remember that your best chance of getting into a medical school is instate. I wouldn’t know about those myriads of east coast private schools, however.

I don’t get the gap year in general. Why waste a year finding something temporary instead of continuing? I thought many were those who did a year in between not get in at first.

There is plenty of time for the student to figure things out once they are at their school. Remember it is the student, not the parent who is in charge of college applications and college. No “we”, but s/he is doing it.

@wis75 the reasons put forward seem to be aimed at those who aren’t sure they want to be doctors when they start college, or want time to prepare for the MCAT, apps, getting experience, etc. There must be a lot doing it if the average age of med students is that high?

That experience could certainly be gained in co-op experiences at Northeastern. They generally take 5-6 years anyway.

Northeastern student here - I know multiple pre-med people doing co-ops directly in hospitals. It sounds like it’d supplement a gap year type plan well and structure it a bit more as well.