I am a rising senior in HS, on the fence about being premed right now. I might just be prehealth (and pursue PA school). Or I might not go into health at all, and pursue education with young kids, something I’m passionate about too. Thus in college I want to double major/minor in neuroscience/biopsych & smth with children.
I know that to get into med school, I need a high GPA, be in the top of my class, thus I’m better off going to like just a state school/not a prestigious one. (I live in CA, so I was thinking of UCs/cal poly slo?). also the cost would be more manageable instead of an elite private institution like NYU.
HOWEVER, my parents and I know I am extremely indecisive, and I will likely change my mind in college. So my parents say to go to a T30 college, because if I change my mind and end up going in business or something, the top colleges have excellent majors/programs across the board, and more internships/opportunities too. BUT if I am premed, SHOULD i be looking at T30s? (and my parents are kind enough to fully finance my college, so i need to take their opinion under consideration…)
other notes: 3.95 gpa 1520 sat, cum laude. i am looking for cheaper places (i dont qualify for any aid; my parents’ income is >200K), either in CA or east coast next/in city. no religious affiliation, size: not too small. i prefer a school with an actual campus. i also want intramural sports, good food, good dorms, not too much of a core curriculum.
Pre med is not a major. Just an advising. Most take a science bit you can do any major. You will need certain science courses for med school.
You are 17. It’s normal to be indecisive.
With a 3.95 look to U of Az. ASU to a lesser extent. Then Alabama, MS State and Ole Miss. Miami of Ohio and U of South Carolina also have wonderful merit. UAH too. Nebraska as well. Lots of these schools have many many many smart kids.
Not exactly CA and East Coast but that’s where the merit is. Look at ASU and College of Charleston as well. Look to the Honors Colleges.
Of course you have wonderful publics in California.
You may look at Wash & Lee. Get on their email list. You’ll get a free app. 10% of kids earn the Johnson Scholarship. Look it up. Geographic diversity may help.
If your parents can easily finance any college you like (no loans), then look at whatever college you feel you will fit in well at (size, location, etc) as you’ll do best where you are the happiest plus it should be a terrific experience. Neither med schools nor any job with young children will care what name is on the diploma.
If your parents are financing with loans or haven’t looked at what colleges cost today and once they do they faint, then look for lower cost schools because, again, neither med school nor any job with young children will care, but med school is also super expensive (more than college usually) and jobs with young children rarely pay high salaries.
To help others suggesting colleges, do you have a preferred size, location, religious affiliation, or similar that appeals to you? If not, go visit some near you (if they are open for visits) to start getting a feel for the vibes, then update the post here.
Even among Top 30 colleges there are vast differences in atmospheres making me doubt a student who likes X will automatically also like Y just because they are #s close to each other.
Note that there are two UCs ranked higher in USNWR than #30 NYU. So you can meet both the “just a state school at lower cost” and “T30” if you get into one of them.
Of course, getting into one of them (or other “T30” schools) is not assured.
California UC’s and CSU’s are test blind for the 2022 admission cycle so your competitive SAT score will be not be considered.
Neuroscience/Biopsych are majors found at the UC’s and not at the CSU’s like Cal Poly SLO or Pomona. Child development/Education majors are commonly found at the CSU’s but for the UC’s you are looking at either a minor or an emphasis under a Psychology major or Graduate studies in Education.
The CSU’s admit by major while Psychology/Neuroscience type majors can be found in the College of Letters and Sciences which does not admit by major and could give more flexibility if you are undecided.
As stated above, you can major in any subject as long as you take the PA or Medical course requirements. Great that your parents are willing to pay for any college but if you are looking at Medical school or PA school, they should budget for 6-8 years of college and not for 4.
UVermont would be a safety and mostly meets your parameters.
Santa Clara, USC should be on your list (match, reach) and would allow you to switch majors easily.
Penn State’s Bio Behavioral Health college would be right up your alley: it includes both a premed track and a Child/family concentration.
Teaching PK-K can be rewarding but is low paid, so an option for you might be to pick a university where TFA recruits, major in anything, spend 2 years teaching, then decide.
Run the NPC on all of those with your parents and check from their reaction whether they truly can afford 4hem all.
I don’t know what the CA requirements are for teachers education, but here in CT, you are required to major in a content area and take the required teacher certification courses as well.
So…major in biology or something that has a bunch of the required courses for medical school applicants, and your supplemental courses can be in early childhood or whatever certification requirements. You may find that it will take longer than four years to fulfill both prerequisite for medical school courses AND all the courses you need to become a teacher.
If you intend to apply to medical school, you also want to attend a college and have the time to do some shadowing, and volunteer work. So keep that in mind as well.
you are academically competitive for a T30. So are many more kids than they can take. Your odds rise or fall dramatically depending on your ECs, recs, and essays.
As for premed/PA, you should try to get some volunteer experience this year if things open up after covid. It is required for admission to most medically related programs (sometimes there is an hour requirement such as PT school, sometimes it is an unwritten requirement such as med school). By starting now you’ll get an early feel of whether it is right for you.
Just so you know, the pathway to being a PA isn’t quite as straightforward as medicine. To get into a master’s program for PA, you usually have to have a minimum number of clinical hours (typically around 1,000-2,000, which is about 6-12 months of full-time work or 1-2 years of half-time) providing direct patient care. For example, see what Emory’s requirements are:
A minimum of 2,000 hours of patient care experience is required with direct, “hands-on” patient contact (e.g., EMT or paramedic, health educator, RN, patient care attendant or nurse’s aide, clinic assistant, medical Peace Corps volunteer or other cross-cultural health care experience, medical technologist, therapist, clinical research assistant, etc.). These hours of patient care experience must be completed at the time of the submitted application.
So if you went to a traditional college and was a pre-health major, you’d have to find some way to get training to do direct patient care - you could be an EMT or paramedic part time while in school, or you could go to a second-degree BSN program and become a nurse, etc. - before applying to the master’s program. Simply volunteering in a hospital or clinic is not enough - your role has to be direct patient care.
That said, thoughts:
The UCs are definitely prestigious schools. Cal Poly SLO is a well-respected college as well. You’re not losing anything by going to those. Public (“state”) school is not shorthand for mediocre school.
You should go where you want to go to college and where your parents can afford. You can get into med school from almost any college. You can also get into a variety of other jobs from almost any college. For the majority of fields, the ranking of your undergrad college is not as important as people make it out to be.