<p>I've heard bad things.<br>
But I love UChicago.
If Med school is my target, then is UChicago the right place?
Or is WashU St.Louis a better option?</p>
<p>But i love Uchicago...............:'(</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/674547-maximizing-med-school-acceptance-success-chicago.html?highlight=premed[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/674547-maximizing-med-school-acceptance-success-chicago.html?highlight=premed</a></p>
<p>I’ll just go ahead and say that it largely depends on the classes you decide to take. Plenty of people can actually coast along fairly easily here by taking the “easy” classes. It’s just that most people choose not to do so. The same thing applies for WashU, really. One of my friends is a pre-med at WashU, and she has around the same amount of work as I do. She could’ve had an easier time by choosing easier classes (or an easier major . . . BME engineering, anyone?) but for whatever reason she decided she liked being challenged and stuck with her schedule. So it’s really all about the classes you take.</p>
<p>Well, for starters, you should probably look at placement statistics for both institutions (obviously, you’re going to have to assume that you do relatively well on the MCAT’s). Second off, you should be able to make sure that you can get research opportunities. I mean, if you can get into a highly regarded lab and get your name on even one paper that is going to be published in Nature, Science, etc. (obviously, you’ll probably only get one if you’re lucky as getting a paper published takes forever), then you will most likely be getting invited to many interviews come med school application time. Third off, I’m not sure about this next point, but I’ve heard that pre-med is a GPA killer at UChicago and a low GPA and acceptance into a good med school = not happening (if you can get 3.2+ then you might be fine, but even then it’s iffy). I don’t know why you would do pre-med anyways. Do another major and just take the bio, biochem, etc. classes that you need for med school and your GPA will not only go up, but you’ll have more time to dedicate to research (and you might get more sleep!). And before you just disregard my advice because you see that I am just a high school senior, my dad was on the admissions committee for med school at, supposedly, one of the top 15 med schools in the country, so I basically got all my info from what I picked up from him. But, there’s prolly someone on these forums that knows this stuff better than me, so I’d trust them over me lol.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot guys, (motion- all advice is good, and you look like you definitley know what you are talking about lol)</p>
<p>I kind of like Chicago more as a school(the core basically), but I am really scared that I will get my *** kicked at Chicago whereas I feel a s if i work my *** off at WashU, i can manage a 4.0, or something along those lines. —> Is this true??</p>
<p>Annd if i major in something else at Chicago, what would that be? I mean, i want to major in Bio, but are you guys saying that would be a killer?</p>
<p>ANd if i dont major in a science, wont med schools think I am not dedicated to medicine?
And waht are “Easy” majors??</p>
<p>^I wouldn’t think so. Many students do it and still get into top med schools. All you have to do is get good grades in any med related classes you take, score highly on the MCAT’s, and dedicate lots of time to research. If I were on an admissions committee for med school, I’d take a kid whose shown his dedication to medicine through doing actual research as opposed to a kid who just decided to do pre-med. Anyway, by the mere fact that you’re applying to med school and implicitly agree to go through the hell that it will be shows that you’re dedicated to medicine.</p>
<p>no easy majors at uchicago, part of the schools mentality</p>
<p>CollegeAccept - I wrote that thread about maximizing med school success based on my experience of having attended Chicago in the mid-90s. In the past decade, Chicago has seen drastic change in its admissions statistics and composition of the incoming class. Frankly put, Chicago students today are stronger as a group than Chicago students when I attended the U of C.</p>
<p>In my day, the college needed warm bodies to fill seats, so there was a wider disparity in ability. Now, with the gradual introduction of grade inflation at Chicago, coupled with stronger, more savvy students, I think the situation has changed. </p>
<p>I still think, to succeed in the med school admissions game, you need to be savvy. If you JUST want acceptance to a top med school, it may make more sense to go to a Brown or Wash U. If you really enjoy the U of C experience and are prepared to work hard, I’d heartily recommend Chicago - just make sure you make good decisions when you’re at the school. </p>
<p>What do I mean by this? CONSIDER taking O-chem at another school, not necessarily taking the hardest math sequence, or taking the more practical physics sequence while you’re at Chicago (if you’re not a huge math/science person). Contact the pre-med advisor early, and be mindful of your GPA. Study very hard for the MCAT. Chicago, just by virtue of being on the trimester system, is more of a grind than a Brown or Duke or whatever, but if you love what the school is about, you can excel at the med school admissions game and enjoy the U of C.</p>
<p>In short, in the past, I think students felt the U of C was working AGAINST them in their hopes of getting into medical school. Now, I think the culture of the school has changed quite markedly.</p>
<p>Any current students want to chime in here?</p>
<p>One other quick note - the biggest thing I would hope for is more transparency in this entire process. If at all possible, or if you have friends at these different schools, go look at the hard data of med school placement. Of course, take the data with a grain of salt, but if there is disparity in the data, you can draw some conclusions. </p>
<p>For example, Penn has the basic data for its law school-bound alums on its website:</p>
<p>[Career</a> Services, University of Pennsylvania](<a href=“http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/gradprof/law/law_stats.html]Career”>http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/gradprof/law/law_stats.html)</p>
<p>I remember looking at the numbers they had from years back (like 2001-02), and seeing a huge disparity between Chicago and Penn back then. Chicago sent maybe 3-4 students to Harvard Law, Penn was sending maybe 20. This suggested a lot - the top Chicago students probably preferred academia to professional school, about 3 times the number of Penn students were applying to law school in comparison to Chicago, and the like. Overall, though, it implied that Penn had a much stronger “pre-law” culture, filled with kids who were savvier about the process, and were probably more apt to know what classes grade-inflated, etc. If I was hell-bent on going to law school a decade ago above all else, Penn would then be the more sensible choice. </p>
<p>If you can see data like this for the schools you are considering, and you have a sense of how much you want to go to med school (in comparison to your love of Chicago), definitely do the research.</p>