Interested mostly in how easy it is to get involved with pre-med related activities early in ones college career (freshman-sophomore year) including research, working/shadowing at a hospital, and any sort of clinical experience one could get. Details about if these spots are limited/really competitive or if they are abundant and easy to get involved with would be helpful. Also, is there any major grade inflation/deflation I should know about? The size of the classes for the big pre-med classes I should know about? And about the overall pre-med advisory as a whole?
I am an instater and have lived in Michigan for years. I know many people that went to UM for pre med and where they ended up so this isnt false information.
There are billions of pre med opportunities. You can start research from first year. It is a competitive atmosphere and the spots are taken quickly. There is EXTREME gRade deflation. The average gpa is 3.1. Less than 15% of the class has As. Not completely sure on the percent, but around there. Pre med advisory is much better than most schools, but they will pay more attention to you as an applicant than a student. That is a fact.
I would have gone to UM but didn’t even though it was tempting. I only know two that ended up at reasonably good med schools and one took drugs and they would stay awake for days. They both had 36 ACTs and were popular, seemingly overachieving people in high school. Another completely failed out and ended up getting married. Another girl got a master’s at Columbia, another at Harvard.
Not trying to discourage you but I want you to know. Many people innocently go because of the name but there is a ton of sacrifice. Professors won’t even know your name, the intro classes are that big
At the same time,.the pre med.opportunities are a million times more abundant than at any other michigan school. You will be forced to work hard.
I hope this helps.
" I know many people that went to UM for pre med and where they ended up so this isnt false information."
Your story is anecdotal. Unless you have known hundreds of UM students, and the likelihood of that is rare, you cannot make assumptions based on the few (I count five from your post) that you did know who attended. Four of the five you mentioned ended up going to graduate school. That indicates to me that they seemed to get through Michigan just fine.
Sorry to be blunt but this is a sack of horse shit. On average 20-25% of kids get an A in pre-med classes. Not 15%… I’m saying this from first hand experience and actual stats released to us.
Grade deflation? Where the hell did you get that from? I know it exists in Econ, but I’ve NEVER had an exam or grade that was curved down. Yes the classes are hard, but because of that they curve up on exams, as opposed to down. The average for the hardest pre-med classes will always hover around B-/B. Hell for some classes theoretically everyone can get an A (even in Organic Chemistry).
Pre-med advisory is fine. I’ve given a few visits and they know their stuff. It’s not spectacular but they do their job. The department also will keep students in touch with summer opportunities and internships. The Career Center at UMich also will review your resumes, Med School applications/essays, etc. There are also workshops for practicing interviews as well. The pre-health department at UMich certainly does care about their students.
And your last point about good med schools is also full of crap. I know of people who are going to UChicago, UPenn, Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Northwestern medical school, and 50 students from UMich were accepted into UMich’s medical school (the highest of any school).
And with the professor deal, it is just like at any college. If you dont make the effort to get to know them outside of class, well no shit they aren’t gonna know your name. It doesn’t matter how big the class is, the more involved you are with the professor the more likely they will get to know you. If you sit in class and stay silent everyday, it doesn’t matter how big the class is, they won’t who the hell you are.
Point being that being a pre-med student at UMich is advantageous in many ways and yes it is hard but what you are saying is just full of absolute lies and crap.
Thanks everyone.
I can tell you that thousands of freshman come in saying that they are premed. Only a few hundred students make it to submitting an AMCAS application.
People jokingly say half of LSA students are pre-med, the other half is targeting Ross.
@hailbate Grade deflation also definitely exists in some/most engineering classes. I am an LSA student, and the engineering class I am in curves to a B-/C+ Average (grades are curved “up”, but that is because so many people perform that way on exams). The Econ 101 curve is not nearly as bad (25% A/A-, 33% B+/B/B-, and the rest lower). Let’s also not forget the math department, which is also known for grade deflation. But, then again, pre-med students would normally avoid Engineering/Math Classes- for this very reason.
As for premed opportunities, I agree grades are really tough to secure (especially if you decide to be intellectually curious instead of GPA grubbing and taking the easiest classes), but UofM offers tons of opportunities with stuff like premed frats and research. You can do research your freshman year even- with programs like UROP and MRC.
To be clear, roughly 20% of LSA students apply to Ross (the rest of the applicants are from the CoE and Kines), while approximately 15% of LSA Freshmen declare an interest in premed. So all in all, only a third or so of the incoming freshmen class will be premed or pre-Ross. I would estimate another 20% are prelaw.