<p>Please help...</p>
<p>Temple (full tuition) vs. Pitt (in-state tuition)</p>
<p>I am concerned about the quality of science classes at Temple. Recent alumni have warned that some science classes do not cover enough material or material properly to prepare students for MCAT. I don't know what to do...</p>
<p>Colleges classes ≠ MCAT prep.</p>
<p>No college science class anywhere has as its purpose MCAT preparation. </p>
<p>You do MCAT prep on your own. </p>
<p>If you want to see the list of topic covered by the MCAT, go here:</p>
<p><a href=“Taking the MCAT® Exam | Students & Residents”>https://www.aamc.org/students/download/377882/data/mcat2015-content.pdf</a></p>
<p>do you mean Temple “FREE” Tuition? I think free tuition is a big plus.</p>
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Recent alumni have warned that some science classes do not cover enough material or material properly to prepare students for MCAT. </p>
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<p>Did these alums go to med school? </p>
<p>I don’t believe what they’re saying. </p>
<p>UG classes give certain background, I do not think that they are meant to prepare for the MCAT.
Usually they study for several hours / day for at least 6- 7 weeks for the MCAT. Frankly, my D. could not even afford that. She was very busy and had to start preparing sometime in November for exam in May. While classes help, nobody relies on material in class, they all prepare for the MCAT using MCAT prep. material and some are taking prep. classes (my D. did). The only section that D. did not need to study for the MCAT was Gen. Chem. But it was a specail case of her being an SI for Gen. Chem prof. for 3 years. Well, she could not improve her Verbal section, but others mysteriously are preparing and improving even this one. She study hard for all others.<br>
And as a Medical Student, she mentioned numerous times that while UG give certain background, the UG classes are NOT preparing for academics at Med. School. It is probably the reason why Medical Schools do not care about UG major, any major is fine.
Another point is that my D. was on full tuition Merit at UG and it is certainly helping her to be loan free after she graduates from Med. School. The free tuition UG made us able to pay for her Med. School. </p>
<p>MCAT science is barely above AP level (exception being orgo). No way Temple’s science classes are inadequate. As WOWMom says, college is not MCAT prep: <a href=“Premeds in Search of MCAT Prep Say Harvard Classes Provide Insufficient Instruction | News | The Harvard Crimson”>http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/5/16/mcat-test-prep-premed/</a></p>
<p>^ That has been one of the knocks recently that they take on the poorest people and give them free tuition, room board etc but when the time comes for them to take LSAT/GMAT/MCAT, they can’t afford to spend the money for the coaching institutes and Harvard has not provided them free options for training them.</p>
<p>Essentially colleges don’t prepare students for reasoning tests, they are on their own.</p>
<p>"MCAT science is barely above AP level " - Wishful thinking, but nobody can stop you from dreaming, dream on, it may come true some day!!!
Anyway,there is no way one can rely on some institution / classes /whatever in regard to academics. Got to be self-reliant if going to Med. School. There is no other way. So, to say that one does not have money to prep. is no help at all. As an example, my D. just passed all her MCAT prep, materials to another person behind her. He passed MCAT with flying colors (no classes, spent no single dime on prep.). More so, he passed all of them to the next person, who accomplished the same successfully. Well, with new MCAT, this type of prep. will skip one cycle, but then it can resume.<br>
Forget blaming anybody, will not work. Find the way to do it, having money or not, only hard work will determine success, no talents, no money will.</p>
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<p>Not really sure what you mean by that. The science on the MCAT is college intro level stuff which is what the APs are…</p>
<p>^^^
I think he means that since the science on the MCAT isn’t high level, there’s no way that Temple’s classes aren’t meeting that level.</p>
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<p>A student who is smart enough to get into a top school, should be smart enough to self-study for the MCAT or LSAT. Many middle class kids can’t afford those classes either. You don’t need a test prep class to get a med school worthy MCAT score. My son never even studied for the MCAT; he took it cold. If he had studied, he wouldn’t have taken a prep class because I wouldn’t have paid for one (lol…because I know that he wouldn’t have gone to it). </p>
<p>My daughter didn’t take a prep class but paid for AAMC tests and some books. That alone cost north of $500. Even that is a burden on someone attending a top school with no bills because they are told not to borrow any money. In some cases they might just be better off in schools where they are expected to borrow some money.</p>
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That alone cost north of $500. Even that is a burden on someone attending a top school with no bills because they are told not to borrow any money. In some cases they might just be better off in schools where they are expected to borrow some money.</p>
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<p>Told not to borrow money?? Top schools have no business saying that. They are free to not put loans in FA pkgs, but they have no business telling students not to take out loans to cover any student contribution or EFC. They can say that all they want, but if a student were to tell them, give me a fed loan, they’d have to do it (unless they are one of the VERY few schools that don’t give any fed aid…and I don’t think that includes ANY top schools).</p>
<p>If a low income student has a no-loan pkg but is told to have a “student contribution” (summer earnings) of $2000, the student should take that $2k as a loan, and also work over the summer and bank that money.</p>
<p>mom2, I’m the poster who said MCAT’s are barely above AP level. I was asking what MiamiDAP meant when he told me to keep dreaming because it might come true someday…</p>
<p>So… The consensus is Temple. Thank you. </p>
<p>Yes… I meant that I have received a full tuition scholarship.</p>
<p>Full tuition? It’s a no brainier! The money you save can be used to possibly take a test prep course & help to pay for med school app process. Which can be quite expensive. Having no UG debt will be so liberating.</p>