Notre Dame VS Rochester VS Boston College

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Hey guys- it's reaching the end of April and I desperately need to choose a college. Truthfully, I'm really leaning towards ND with UR in 2nd place. I would also like to mention that I got into UC Davis, Santa Barbara, and Irvine- should I even consider going to these schools? What about Boston U? is it good for pre med? Please assume I got a good financial aid package to each school and just consider the pre med experience.</p>

<p>Give me some big pros and cons!!! I don't care about location, sports, etc. I want a good experience that will boost my chances of getting into med school.</p>

<p>Thanks for all your help!!! I'm desperate :S</p>

2

<p>Is that Boston College or Boston University?</p>

<p>If you don’t care about sports/location and money is not an issue, Rochester would be a great place for premed. Lotsa opportunities.</p>

3

<p>I’m a big fan of UR for pre-med. I have one there. And she’s had fantastic opportunities.</p>

<p>But realize that 40% of the freshman class identify themselves as pre-meds; however, students to tend to cooperate with each other instead of cutting each other’s throats.</p>

4

<p>hey guys- thanks for the advice. bluebayou- i got into both bu and bc.</p>

5

<p>I do like URoch…</p>

<p>But I love Notre Dame…because it’s Notre Dame. </p>

<p>What about the non-academic aspects in your life? </p>

<p>Does your family have a preference? A lot of Californians love N.D.</p>

<p>the alumni network is amazing.</p>

6

<p>Thanks, mom. Question- what exactly does the “alumni network” do for you? Everyone has been mentioning it but what is it exactly…? I love ND too!!! :D</p>

<p>WayOutWest- is there anything in particular you like about UR’s pre med??</p>

7

<p>Alums can be really helpful in looking for jobs, but as a premed perhaps not so important.</p>

<p>Probably a small factor, but Boston maybe easier to get to from California-- nonstop flights from the big cities. ND and Rochester would require change of planes.</p>

<p>Did BU offer you any money? It’s a very urban school. Reasonably strong in the sciences, but I’d say that Rochester is stronger. BC has a Core curriculum which works well for students who are strong across disciplines. Boston has a lot of high tech/pharma firms offering research opportunities.</p>

8

<p>bluebayou- I don’t live in CA…I live in Alaska :)</p>

<p>BU did not offer me as much as ND and UR did…I don’t know about BC yet though. DO you think research opportunities are extremely important in a resume for med school? I know ND does not have many…</p>

9

<p>sry, I saw that you applied to several UC’s so I assumed that you were instate. Unless you have a personal reason to be in California, I’d vote for any of the privates over paying OOS rates to attend a UC.</p>

<p>From what I’ve read on cc, research is critical for top med schools bcos they are primarily research institutions. And, many students have some research on their CV – I couldn’t find the number, but I’m sure others know it.</p>

<p>Boston also has plenty of community/clinical volunteer opportunities as well.</p>

10

<p>dang it :confused: i really like ND but if that kind of stuff is very important…</p>

11

<p>UR SOM and its teaching hospital is across the street from campus–easy & convenient to do volunteering and shadowing. </p>

<p>There is some faculty cross-over between the med school and River Campus–meaning some med school profs teach upper level bio, neuro, health policy, psych classes.</p>

<p>Huge of amount of funding for biomedical research–highest amount of funding of any US college of an equivalent size. Plentiful opportunities to get into the lab if you’re interested. </p>

<p>UR is one of the few schools that offers research funding to undergraduates to conduct independent research projects. </p>

<p>School is small enough that it’s easy to get to know your professors and TAs well. (Good for getting LORs.) </p>

<p>UR writes committee letters, but will write a letter for any student who requests one (provided they meet the deadline for requesting one.) No screening or dissuasion of weaker applicants.</p>

<p>UR has no core curriculum–which makes it easy to double major, double or triple minor or some combination of the above.</p>

<p>School administration is friendly, responsive to concerns of students & parents, and just nice–I just don’t know any other word for it. The people are nice. </p>

<p>Students are smart, engaged, friendly and cooperative (rather than competitive)–and there are no “gunners” pre meds to make your life miserable.</p>

<p>I have bunches of “UR is nice” stories. (Like Student Health recently waived D2’s co-pays on her overseas immunizations since she’s going as a medical volunteer with a NGO.)</p>

<p>P.S. If you’re from Alaska, you’ll find the Rochester winters pleasantly balmy. D2 has a good friend at UR who is from some small town near Denali. He thinks winters in Rochester are pretty tame compared to home. He actually walks around in shorts and a hoodie most of the winter.</p>

12

<p>

Notre Dame does have research opportunities… </p>

<p><a href=“http://undergradresearch.nd.edu/[/url]”>http://undergradresearch.nd.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://undergradresearch.nd.edu/6-profiles/rush.html[/url]”>http://undergradresearch.nd.edu/6-profiles/rush.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://undergradresearch.nd.edu/6-profiles/trimble.html[/url]”>http://undergradresearch.nd.edu/6-profiles/trimble.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://undergradresearch.nd.edu/6-profiles/cassou.html[/url]”>http://undergradresearch.nd.edu/6-profiles/cassou.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Those last three are example students on the bar at the top, there are tabs for different fields that will yield links for many more research examples. Please read through those entries, they’re very interesting. Students being funded and given credit for doing some pretty amazing things.</p>

<p>If you’re a good student and want to do research, then you most certainly can.</p>

13

<p>WayOutWest- NOOOOOOO! Haha, I really appreciate your advice but you made it that much harder to make a decision!!! Ugh, I kinda made up my mind about ND but now…I can’t decide! AHHHHHHH there are too many good things!</p>

<p>Thank you Billy! I’ll def look at those links</p>

14

<p>I just gave you a few; there are a bunch, in many different fields, receiving guidance from PhD holders and funding from the university and third parties to do graduate level research as undergrads.</p>

<p>And of course, these are just examples. Many more than the several who are listed do research.</p>

<p>Edit: Also, here’s a video from their website. It’s only two minutes long, but it talks about Medicine: <a href=“http://video.nd.edu/370-fighting-for-the-advancement-of-medicine[/url]”>http://video.nd.edu/370-fighting-for-the-advancement-of-medicine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>And quality of overall research is high. Unprecedented publication of 4 articles in Science in one month: <a href=“http://video.nd.edu/375-notre-dame-researchers-published-in-science-4x-in-one-month[/url]”>http://video.nd.edu/375-notre-dame-researchers-published-in-science-4x-in-one-month&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Undergraduate student plays “major role.”</p>

15

<p>Thank you so much Billy!!! I think I will choose ND :D</p>

16

<p>ND is a special place…and yes, you will have research opps there.</p>

<p>[YouTube</a> - Fighting for the Lives of Children](<a href=“Fighting for the Lives of Children - YouTube”>Fighting for the Lives of Children - YouTube)</p>

<p>[YouTube</a> - Ara Parseghian Interview with NBC Sports](<a href=“Ara Parseghian Interview with NBC Sports - YouTube”>Ara Parseghian Interview with NBC Sports - YouTube)</p>

17

<p>Agree that ND is a special place, but not sure if its a good fit for someone not interested in sports. (ND has even taken intramurals to a whole new level.)</p>

18

<p>

I think the OP was just saying that location and sports won’t play a part in the decision. However, plenty of people at Notre Dame aren’t athletes and don’t even play intramural sports. Most go to a few home games, at least, though, but that’s more a school-wide event than just for sport.</p>

19

<p>Bluebayou- I do plan on going to the football games and stuff, but sports is not a determining factor for me. ND has an execllent pre med program and I really think I will fit in well there :slight_smile: it seems like a great community.</p>