Son was accepted at all 4 and trying to decide. We were going to pick based on accepted student’s day but no luck! Worst when he visited these schools it was during the summer so he didn’t the real “vibe”.
So unfortunately we are going to have to “wing” it. Wondering if anyone especially pre-med (or pre-med parents) can share thoughts. In particular he picked these schools because he didn’t want to get “weeded out in freshman chemistry.” Secondarily he wants to major in English. We are contacting the schools directly as well but think this forum might be more honest and helpful.
Congratulations, I think these are all great choices for pre-meds.
How does your S rank them in totality? How do the net costs compare?
One thing to consider is the ease of getting patient facing experience during the school year…whether volunteering, or an actual job. Richmond and Haverford probably have the edge there, OTOH many a student from Hamilton and Colby have gone on to med school.
Regarding first-year chemistry, some colleges offer different entry points depending on the student’s level of high school preparation, so this will be an important aspect for your son to consider when he actually selects courses.
All of these schools offer strong programs in core premed fields such as physics, chemistry and biology.
Haverford and Hamilton might offer the most challenging academic environments; URichmond may be somewhat more lenient; Colby might fall in between.
your son needs to look into how the pre-med committee (which these schools likely have) operates at each school. This can be one of the dark sides of college admissions, colleges that aren’t particularly selective in admissions that have amazing med school admission rates. It might look at first like they are working miracles, but the truth is a bit harsher. As Richmond says
Med schools know which colleges have committees, so the lack of a letter is pretty much an automatic deny.
While Richmond is more forthcoming than most, your son should still check about the evaluation process there. After all if anyone can get a letter but they write “not recommended” in it then there is no sense in applying so they can control who applies thru that lever. Some schools do exactly this, one college used to say “The Committee’s level of recommendation and the tone and content of the letter to be written is disussed (sic) with applicants as openly as possible.”
And since this is an advice forum, I’ll post the advice I usually give which is this:
Your son should be thinking about why an M.D? When a lot of HS kids think of a career in medicine it becomes “I’m pre-med!” and happily embark on a track that will take 11+ years of school/training plus enormous debt. Doctors are far from the only ones in the health field that help people. Physical therapists, radiology techs, nurses, speech pathologists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, to name but just a few. as you can see on http://explorehealthcareers.org Unless he’s carefully considered the alternatives and has spent time actually working in a health care setting (which is an unwritten requirement to get into med school and is explicitly required for some other medical fields) its better to think of him as interested in exploring a career as a doctor rather than someone who has already made the decision.
With respect to early assurance programs, Hamilton and Haverford students are among those from a small group of prestigious colleges eligible for early consideration at the highly regarded medical school of the University of Rochester.
Thanks everyone, really greatly appreciate it. mikemac your first posting is very informative and we will add that to our question list. As for being a doctor, I told him he had to pass the dead body, blood and surgery tests before I would go along with this, which he did last summer, in addition to hearing lectures (from doctors!) about what a terrible profession it is these days. He did an internship in the fall at the local hospital. So we only picked colleges that seemed good for pre-med (some had cut-throat weeding classes, some didn’t even have spaces for freshman chemistry!)
mominwashington I did not know that about Colby and Tufts, thanks.
apple23 - The Rochester program is extraordinarily difficult to qualify for.
THink about which school can the easiest land you top jobs
Think about the location, which college is at the best location especially if you want to find a job there after four years
The money label may be true in most cases but the aid office differs by school to school too. Like a state uni thats less competitive in terms of rank likely has a less financial aid package for you. School with higher ranking may has a higher financial aid for you and cancels more and left less in its amount.
Think about each’s national level ranking which affects tons (on USNWR).
Now left you to decide and look on the national rankings .
FYI, my daughter did the early assurance program with Rochester from Carleton. It’s a great program. 10% of her med school class came in through this early assurance program including a student from Middlebury and another from Swarthmore. She is absolutely thrilled with this opportunity because it meant so much less stress during her junior and senior year at Carleton. It also meant she never had to take the MCAT. @RPianoDad which school did your son choose? My son is trying to decide where to apply ED between Haverford, Bowdoin, and Carleton.