<p>I would like to know your views on pre-med program at Amherst vs Wellesley vs Wesleyan vs Smith. My daughter is currently a HS senior, who would ideally like to apply to two of these four institutions. She is interested in pursuing a Neuroscience major, which all four of these offer. I would like to know which ones of the above-mentioned offer the best possible pre-med advising, undergraduate research opportunities and medical school placement. Thank you very much in advance for your views in this matter.</p>
<p>There is an excellent online handbook at Amherst I recommend you read to get an understanding of the process and what really matters. And lest you think they are just beating their own drum, they start out by saying this
You ask about “medical school placement” and thats dangerous territory. One thing to avoid is placing any importance on acceptance numbers. Some schools boast incredible rates, but it boils down to one of two things. Either they start with great students (think Stanford, etc) or the school weeds out students. Look out especially for the “committee letter” which small schools with average students coming in wield like an axe to prevent all but the strongest applicants from applying right out of college; to no surprise, they often boast 90% or better med school “acceptance” numbers for their undergrads. I don’t know whether the ones you mentioned screen or not, but your daughter ought to check.</p>
<p>Now do I think all 4 of those are the same? No. But nobody here has taken the premed classes at all 4 schools and can offer a personal comparison. So unless you get a few bona fide med school adcoms to reply (I imagine they have a an informed opinion because they see apps from all the schools) all you’re going to get here is speculation, hearsay, and reliance on published numbers which have so many variables affecting them as to be meaningless.</p>
<p>Since this is an advice forum, here is advice. There are much bigger differences among the schools (for example all-women at Smith) than there are likely to be differences in premed experience. Have your daughter find which ones she’d like to attend in terms of her college experience, at least as a starting point (and IMHO that should be enough, but I’m sure you’ll get other opinions).</p>
<p>Thanks Mikemac for your very helpful reply and for sharing the “Amherst College Guide for Premedical Students.” I appreciate and agree with your views. I would appreciate it if anybody could please share their direct or indirect experiences at one of these colleges regarding premed advising and undergraduate research opportunities. Also, I would like to know if keeping a good GPA (3.5 and above) is particularly challenging at any of these colleges. I am looking forward to hearing more.</p>
<p>medical school placement</p>
<p>Colleges do not place students into med school. </p>
<p>All of those schools, as well as hundreds of others, are fine for a premed student.</p>
<p>Also, I would like to know if keeping a good GPA (3.5 and above) is particularly challenging at any of these colleges. I am looking forward to hearing more.</p>
<p>The premed prereqs are challenging at all good schools. Those classes are “weeder” classes at nearly every college. Students do have to work at getting AT LEAST a 3.5. </p>
<p>I would say that a 3.5 is lowish for med school admissions for unhooked traditional med school applicants.</p>
<p>A student should be trying for AT LEAST a 3.75 cum GPA and a 3.75 BCMP GPA.</p>
<p>Of course, the MCAT is a major factor in medical school admissions.</p>
<p>Other factors that may differ between the schools:</p>
<ul>
<li>Net price. Medical school is [expensive[/url</a>], so avoiding undergraduate debt and saving money can be important. Pre-meds are lucky to get into one medical school (half of those who make to applying are rejected by all), so they may not have any choice between medical schools to choose a less expensive one. High debt in medical school can make it difficult to afford going into a lower paid medical specialty like the primary care ones.</li>
<li>Convenience of pre-med extracurriculars, such as shadowing and volunteering in medical contexts. E.g. how much of a commute is it from the student’s residence to the hospital one shadows or volunteers at?</li>
<li>Higher [url=<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/]grade”>http://www.gradeinflation.com/]grade</a> inflation](<a href=“https://services.aamc.org/tsfreports/select.cfm?year_of_study=2014]expensive[/url”>https://services.aamc.org/tsfreports/select.cfm?year_of_study=2014) relative to the selectivity of the school. Being a pre-med at Princeton (average GPA of [3.28</a> in 2008](<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/Princeton.html]3.28”>Princeton University)) is likely tougher than being a pre-med at Brown (average GPA of [3.61</a> in 2007](<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/Brown.html]3.61”>Brown University)).</li>
</ul>
<p>The previous few posts are quite accurate.</p>
<p>Agree that 3.5 is lowish for getting into a med school.</p>
<p>BTW, I always suspect that, in addition to its grading policy, a part of the reasons why the average GPA at Princeton is lower because they may have a higher percentage of Physical Science or engineering minded students (at least these students are like this when they are in high school) as compared to other ivies. Those high power professors do not care about premeds. As long as they could find very few super stars in the academia in a year, or even in multiple years, they are pleased. The old saying “physicists are famed in eating their own” may have some truth in it. But premeds there usually do not major in physics (and the majority of premeds may not bother to major in chemistry at either Princeton or most of top private colleges.)</p>
<p>On the other coast, I also suspect that because there may be more engineering or science majors at Stanford (after all, well too many new immigrant’s families are in California and the Silicon Valley is close to it) as compared to other comparable private colleges, a higher percentage of premed students tend to take some of their prereqs at other colleges in the summer. But this is just my speculation.</p>
<p>To put it bluntly, I guess many med schools do not like their class to be too “homogeneous” - full of science nerds.</p>
<p>^^The correct version is “physicists eat their own young”—and D1 (a physics major, though not at Princeton) will attest to the truth of the statement.</p>
Wellesley has grade deflation, so that GPA might be harder to get than anticipated. I’m not sure about the others. All of them are challenging schools, however.