<p>Hey I was accepted into northeastern u, wake forest u and bc...I was just wondering what college would be the optimal choice for a pre med. Are the medical school acceptance rates similar for all these schools? And what would be perks of each place...like northeastern has coop but wake forest has an affiliated med school while bc is probably the most well known one of these three...thanks!</p>
<p>Hey there. I’m going to give my own opinion solely based on Northeastern (as I was admitted, paid my deposit, and plan on attending this fall as a Behavioral Neuroscience major/pre-med). I completely think co-op is what will make an individual stand out among the many other med school applicants, especially if you are some sort of science major as they often do coops/research at ivies (on my tour I met an upperclassman who was cooping at Harvard, doing some interesting research) medical labs/prestigious hospitals in the east, and around the world. From what I hear it not only looks good on the resume as a unique college experience, but it also helps you form connections to organizations which may become valuable in later years, say for job opportunities.</p>
<p>This is my personal opinion: I do not think coop (paid job) will make any advantage to med school.Only volunteer and shadowing will make advantage to med school.</p>
<p>Which is complete nonsense.</p>
<p>There is no medical school that is going to look at a co-op and say ‘meh’. At the bare minimum, they’ll be aware that you are mature enough to handle a job for six months. In addition, if you’re smart about your co-ops, you can wind up with several semesters of full time research experience, which is definitely something medical schools like to see - research experience is basically considered a necessity for medical school applicants, and co-op is an excellent time to acquire it.</p>
<p>Northeastern has an early assurance arrangement with Tufts Medical School…you need a 3.5 minimum gap and healthcare related experience (coop would be very helpful with this).</p>
<p>Besides co-op , there are a lot of other opportunities for research, shadowing and volunteering. Being so close to all of the hospitals is a plus too.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the Tufts program maggie is describing is either ending after this year, or did end this year.</p>
<p>I would check out CC’s Pre-Med forum-- they have a stickied thread with how pre-med should factor into your college decisions.</p>
<p>The conventional wisdom for med school applications is keep your undergrad costs low, get a high GPA and a high MCAT. Dig deeper into school claims about med school admission rates, as some schools have a very tough weeder reputation so that by senior year, only extremely well qualified kids remain to be applicants. Some schools also have a committee for recommendations and again only the top of the class is passed through. Thus they can claim 90% med school acceptance rate.<br>
WF is known for grade deflation. It is a great school, but if you need to get the highest GPA, I would investigate this reputation closely.</p>
<p>I second to bhmomma. Keep the cheapest one (public state school) is the best option for undergrad to save for med school later ( very expensive). If you can prove that you are good, it does not matter if grade deflation or not because after all it is a curve for you to challenge. Remember med school is a very challenged school, if you can not make the curve at the undergrad, how can you survive the med school? I know lot of med students did not make it after the first year in med school because they were not challenged at the undergrad enough. There is a reason for weeding out the weak at the undergrad level.</p>
<p>bhmomma I did hear that about WF too (grade deflation) and a friend of mine who goes there talks about the difficulty of the pre-med program – WF doesn’t seem like it will be my pick for this reason along with location…on the other hand, is boston college or northeastern known for grade deflation/inflation? And would the prestige of the university matter to medical school admissions people (assuming I would get similar grades at each)…thanks for the responses</p>
<p>I copied from another post
Not all “A"s are equal—<<<applicants from=”" schools="" known="" for="" grade="" deflation(princeton)="" are="" looked="" at="" differently="">>></applicants></p>
<p>Absolutely! (and you can throw Reed and UC Berkeley/UCLA/UCSD into the mix of grade-deflated schools)</p>
<p>When I went to my med. school interviews, every single school at which I interviewed (Penn, Duke, Yale, NYU, Columbia, Baylor, Harvard (where I went), UCSF, Univ. of Chicago, etc.) made more than passing mention of my GPA (in two very disparate majors), in the context of coming from a school renown for its grade deflation.</p>
<p>Northeastern is the better choice. The superior academics at northeastern will adequately prepare you for medical school. Northeastern is known everywhere. Wake is typically known better in the southeast only. As long as you study for the MCAT and maintain at least 3.5 GPA out of 4.0 you will get into medical school.</p>
<p>@studdybuddy1…what about comparing boston college and northeastern? how do those two compare? – being from the same area.</p>
<p>As a current pre-med student at Northeastern, I’d say go where you think you’ll do the best. So far, my coursework has been challenging but not unmanageable, it’s easy to do well if you understand how you learn and put the effort in. Honestly, don’t worry about prestige of your undergrad, where you do your undergrad only matters a tiny bit, it’s more of what you do at your undergrad that makes the difference. I chose Northeastern because I felt at home here, and I thought I would have more opportunities via co-op, and so far I have not been disappointed. For everyone it’s different though. Also, if you’re going to be putting yourself in serious debt by choosing one school over another, think twice about going there, medical school debt will just put you deeper in the hole. </p>
<p>As far as my experience at Northeastern, it’s been great. I’ve had really good professors and I’m doing well in my classes, it’s hard at times, but not impossible. I’ve been able to land a research position with a former professor and have presented research at a few conferences. Also, Boston is an awesome city with some of the best hospitals in the country. I haven’t been on co-op yet, but I’m looking forward to it. But no matter where you go you just have to make an effort to seek out research/clinical opportunities and you’ll do just fine.</p>
<p>Thanks meghanupsidedown…after weighing my options I think I am choosing Northeastern! (basically the topics you talked about were the main reasons i am choosing NU) cant wait!</p>
<p>Hey meghanupsidedown, I’m a future NU pre-med student but I’m torn between majoring in biology or behavioral neuroscience. I was wondering what you were majoring in? Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m behavioral neuroscience, pre-med. I chose BNS because I liked the content, but it actually works quite well with the shift in pre-med requirements. They want you to be more well-rounded course-wise, it seems like, which means including statistics and social science courses, both of which are part of the BNS curriculum. I think the only pre-med requirement not covered by the major is physics.
In terms of what looks better for med school applications, I don’t think it matters. Some people think neuroscience will make them stand out as unique, which isn’t really the case. Bio is the “classic” pre-med major, because it gets the job done.
Do whichever you think fits your interests best. If you’re not sure, there is a lot of overlap in requirements, so early on it would be quite easy to switch if you change your mind between them.</p>
<p>It’s all the same in the end. Even the minor differences are not calibrated to sway the decision one way or another unless you’re applying to Hopkins or HMS. </p>
<p>Strictly speaking from empirical observations, my fellow classmates hail from Umass, Loma Linda, Harvard, and Michigan. My mother studied somewhere in Vietnam after graduating from Yonsei in S.Korea and ended up in HMS and residency in Ford Hospital. </p>
<p>One of the school listed doesn’t even rank in top 100 in any field. </p>
<p>DO your best in MCAT. DO your best in residency. School prestige matters very little.</p>
<p>I majored in Sociology. Just took entry level courses for the various sciences to fill out my graduation criteria. I am currently a third year UMASS medical student.</p>