pre med at dartmouth?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

im a junior who’s interested in dartmouth, I visted and fell in love w the campus. However, I am aware that Dartmouth is very highly ranked w departments such as econ. I was wondering how Dartmouth is from a pre med standpoint. I like the idea of a smaller pre med community and a collaborative learning experience.

2

A wee bit late in responding, but here’s my take and a few resources that will help you to learn more about it on your own.

  1. It's actually called Pre-Health at Dartmouth because it covers advising for other health professions (e.g. veterinarians). If you want, you can go talk to an advisor as soon as you arrive on campus as a freshman which is nice. Among other things, they will help you with course selections so your D plan goes smoothly, advise you on how to gain clinical/research experience, help you search for leave term opportunities, etc. They obviously guide you through the entire admissions process as well. Also, due to the fact that the office deals with relatively few students, you get to choose who writes your composite letter. This probably does not mean anything to you right now, but most schools have a random person in the pre-med advising office or a commitee do it for you.

http://www.dartmouth.edu/prehealth/

  1. The Nathan Smith Society is the student-run pre-health organization. They organize events, facilitate various networking opportunities, and run the Shadowing Program, which lets undergrads follow doctors at two local hospitals.

http://www.dartmouth.edu/nathan-smith/

  1. There are lots of research opportunities for undergrads at Dartmouth and in some cases, it can begin as early as your freshman year (e.g. Women in Science Project (WISP). Unlike most universities, Dartmouth relies heavily on undergraduates for research, so there are lots of opportunities. You just need to be motivated enough to find a lab and then do the work!

http://students.dartmouth.edu/wisp/
https://students.dartmouth.edu/ugar/research/getting-started

  1. Over 1000 students are on the Nathan Smith Society e-mail list, so there are quite a few people interested in Pre-Health. Eventually, about 180 or so apply (~15% of a graduating class) and 90% are accepted into med schools.
  2. Most of the hospital opportunities around Dartmouth focus on primary care, so if you're interested in research, you will probably need to do it away from campus during your leave term. The nice thing about the D-plan is that your leave term does not have to be during the summer when most hospitals are inundated with internship applications.
  3. Most medical schools today are looking for well-balanced applicants who excel not only in STEM, but in social sciences and humanities as well, so your varied interests and strengths will be to your advantage. If you are thinking of majoring in Neuroscience to increase your chances of getting into medical school, I don't think that's wise. Pursue it because you are passionate about neuroscience.

I’m sorry if the list seems all over the place. I’m just thinking of bits and pieces that may be of use to you. Hope this helps and best of luck to you.