I have a list of schools that I like to get in, but can someone help me rank these school for pre med track? Also, is neuroscience a popular major for pre med? Thanks!
JHU
Georgetown
wash U
Emory
Michigan
UNC chapel hill
Duke
Tufts
Cornell
vanderbilt
Rice
Notre Dame
Davidson college
carneige mello
Northwestern
Penn
UVA
university of Chicago
Without knowing your stats it is a waste of time to rank schools that are out of reach for you.
The undergraduate school you go to generally does not matter, unless there is a hook (as some suggest there is at JHU) that gets you better access to the associated Med School. Good grades, MCAT scores, and clinical experience matter.
I will say the same I replied on your other post…rank by what criteria? Admission selectivity? Med school placement? Cost? Figure out the fit first.
Getting into med school is far more a reflection of YOU than the school you attend. Any of the schools you list would be fine (as are countless others). Neuroscience is common (and perfectly fine as a major).
If you want to see what one med school publishes about their incoming class (aka - a reflection of those they accepted), read this. Change the year in the URL and you’ll notice several commonalities they look for.
https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/MediaLibraries/URMCMedia/education/md/documents/2021-profile.pdf
I’m not aware of another med school that gives the public such useful information, but if they did, I bet it would be relatively similar…
If you want to go pre-med then think about:
If affordable they would all be excellent choices. The harder part is getting in.
That is a very top heavy list of undergraduate colleges…let’s put it this way…there are a lot of top students who don’t get accepted to some of these schools. They have pretty low %age of admitted students.
Right now…presumably, you are in High School. Lots of students think they want to be pre-med. of that group…a good chunk never even apply to medical school. Of those who do apply to medical school, not everyone gets accepted.
@WayOutWestMom I think you can best articulate what this student needs to do to get into medical school.
And perhaps you can comment on “ranking” this list in terms of which schools are best for medical school wannabes.
I personally say…they are all even.
Just about an college in the US will “prepare” you for med school.
Med school pre-reqs (except biochem) are all intro level classes you could take at a CC. Getting a med school acceptance is based upon what you do & accomplish during college, not where you go to undergrad.
One of my kids went to a expensive private college like those on your list (she got a big merit award); the other went went to our huge, but cheap, state U. Both had great research experiences; both TAed and tutored; both received wonderful mentoring from their professors (and strong LORs for med school); both hit all the checkboxes for med school–leadership, clinical experiences, community service. Both had multiple med school acceptances and both eventually attended the same med school.
So ¯_(ツ)_/¯
any of those colleges can get you to med school, but the actual onus of making you a viable med school applicant is on you.
My recommendation:
minimize undergrad costs so you (and more importantly your parents) are taking on little or no loan debt for undergrad. Save the $$$ to pay for med school.
pick a college you would be happy to attend if you weren’t a pre-med–one that offers a variety of other majors you’d be interested in. (75% of freshmen pre-meds never actually apply to med school)
pick a college where your stats put you in the top 15-25% of accepted students. (Remember you’re suddenly going to swimming in much more competitive talent pool. You need lots & lots of As to get a GPA med schools will like.)
P.S. neuroscience is a very common pre-med major and, like biology, the career outlook for neuroscience majors who don’t get accepted to med school is poor
Here is my stats. Is it helpful to see my chance to get in any of these schools?
academics:
gpa: 3.85 unweighted; 4.5 out of 4.8 weighted
ACT: 35
PSAT; 1500
9 aps: most of them 4 and 5
SAT II: chem 800; two more will be done in June
EC:
founded and president of a community service club to help intellectual disabled kids. initiated spread the word to end the word movement in our local school district, high school, middle school and elementary school https://www.r-word.org/
Regional president - FBLA (state 1st place of fbla EVENT; compete national in June)
layout editor school newspaper
officer - French honor society
officer - future Doctors of America club
cancer center selective internship
research intern @ local hospital
research intern @ a neurological institute
volunteer @ ambulance squad
Paid job @ a local pharmacy
Well…let’s put it this way…you have to get accepted to one of those undergrad schools. So…apply and see.
None will give you a bigger “edge” than any of the others.
You need one sure thing school on your list…which means it has to be a place where you will very likely be accepted, it’s affordable, and you would be happy to attend. Which school do you think that is on your list? I don’t see any absolute sure things for admission…even with your very good stats.
Can your family afford to send you to these undergrad schools?
Who will be paying for medical school? TBH, it’s usually Loans…loans and more loans.
What is your instate public university option?
My parents want me to go to Canada for undergrad. It’s cheap and there are top schools. I am concerned about
alum network though.
Alum network for what? I thought you wanted to go to medical school?
No issues getting accepted to U.S. medical schools with Canadian undergrad degree?
AMCAS, TMDSAS and AACOMAS all will accept & verify transcripts from all Canadian colleges.
So no issues. (Except those faced by all med school applicants–the intense competition.)
@dragon1128 I suspect you have a chance at any of those colleges on your list and suggest you also add Pitt as a potential safety. Pitt is considered terrific for neuroscience and pre-med here in PA, offers rolling admission (so you know you’re in), and can offer really nice merit aid to top candidates.
Another school with potential for merit aid not on your list is the University of Rochester, but they’re more competitive and don’t have rolling admissions.
With some schools, the merit aid you could get (if you win - and your application looks competitive) would beat the cost of Canadian schools. IMO, it’d be worth trying to compare. If your family doesn’t have financial need (run some NPCs to check - not just FAFSA) and you want to save money, drop all from your list that don’t offer significant merit aid.
You would get quite a good merit offer at Alabama too. And UNM.
I love to hear schools that offer merid aid. Can i possibly get more names in New England and Mid Atlantic?
I’m pretty sure there aren’t any schools in New England-Mid Atlantic region that offer guaranteed merit scholarships like UNM and Alabama do. Merit awards will be competitive and you may need to drop down a level in selectivity from the schools you’ve listed in your first post to score merit money.
Penn, for example, doesn’t give out any merit money at all. WashU is notoriously stingy with merit.
You might try posting in the FA forum & ask about merit awards since the posters there will be more up to date on what schools are offering.
You can try applying to several of the other schools on your list and hope to win a competitive merit award, but if finances are a concern, you’ll need to cast a wider net and be willing to expand your geographic preferences.