I’m currently considering my options for college, and which school will provide me the best situation for a biology or neuroscience major pre-med. Due to various factors, I’m mostly between Ohio State U, U of Pittsburgh, and Loyola U Chicago. Although there are price differences (OSU being the least expensive, Pitt being the most), price is not the determining factor as my parents are willing to pay for any of these. Also, if Pre-med doesnt work out, I may go biomedical engineering route. Here’s my breakdown of each:
Loyola: I love Chicago and would be very happy there. The opportunity they have offered me (honors, research) already have encouraged me to consider. They also have a very helpful pre-med committee that would help the process (letters of rec, advising). However, I am worried they might not prepare me for the MCAT as well, or provide enough research opportunity as they are not a well ranked school relative to the other two. Also, their engineering program is basically nonexistent and I would have to transfer if I dropped pre-med.
OSU: There’s no doubting the opportunity it will provide. However, I’m concerned that the lack of a committee will make the process harder, especially with such large class sizes (harder to get to know professors/get LoR). I got into the Scholars program I wanted (big pro) and I like how modern the campus is (dorms, rec, library). Finally, if i were to change routes, I am impressed with their engineering program. The biggest con is the overall feeling I get from OSU is not good. To me it feels like an extension of where I currently live and am trying to leave behind. This fault seems to overcloud many of the positives.
Pitt: It combines many of the pros from both above (opportunity, good engineering, smaller class size, overall feel, pre med committee, etc). The only real downsides I see are the outdated dorms and the price. While not a huge deal, I feel kind of ridiculous justifying Pitt over OSU when it costs double to attend.
If someone could provide me with opinions on which option would be the best for my situation, that would be awesome.
to be blunt, you seem to hold a lot of misconceptions about the premed process.
you think the pre-med committee is helpful. Wrong there. At many schools, including the two that you mention, the committee letter is evaluative instead of informative. It’s meant to keep kids from applying. Look at the Loyola request you fill out
With Loyola enrolling average kids (the 75% percentile of each part of the SAT is 630 according to their CDS) the way they get decent med-school admit numbers is by dissuading weaker students from applying. And you can’t decide not to supply the letter; well, technically you can, but the adcoms at med schools understand you’d only do so if you didn’t like the contents and act accordingly.
“they might not prepare me for the MCAT” Seriously? It’s a test of basic knowledge covered in any lower division science series. Also its interesting you put the burden on them to “prepare” you rather than on your shoulders to, well, learn the material.
OSU “I’m concerned that the lack of a committee will make the process harder.” If you’re not a top candidate many committees will write a dis-favorable letter depending on their cutoff; Holy Cross is a great example. At OSU if your chances are 20% or even 5% you still get to apply and let the med schools decide. This is harder? Perhaps you say this because you think there is no advising; wrong again. They have advisors. And it isn’t like the committee advisor is going to whisper secrets into your ear; read about the med-school process (such as “PreMed Essentials” at https://www.rhodes.edu/content/health-professions-advising-hpa and you know what there is to know).
OSU " large class sizes (harder to get to know professors/get LoR)" Once again, as in (2) above, you seem to be counting on someone else to do the lifting for you. Want to know some profs? Go to office hours, get involved in research.
“The only real downsides I see are the outdated dorms and the price” So cool living conditions are a factor in your decision? Are you planning a vacation or an education/career here?
Perhaps my opinion is biased since I’m considering this school as well, but I’d go for Pitt if I were you. For the outdated dorms, I don’t think it’s that big of an issue unless it is very important to you. As for the price, it is rather expensive, but doctors or engineers, assuming that you’re doing fairly well in subjects related to those majors, usually earn enough money to pay back student loans without too much effort.
Even so, it’s still a somewhat risky choice, so I’d definitely think about it more.
In my opinion, Loyola is the worst choice on the list, since you ALWAYS want to have a backup plan- which, in this case, is a problem. Ranking is usually not that big of an issue if the college is already well above average; what matters the most is the ranking of the college’s majors that you’re interested in. And since you are worried about research opportunity, this might become another potential problem.
I’m sorry if my post seemed to imply certain misconceptions. I realize a committee is not a magical guarantee to med school, however it does provide more assurance (according to Loyola, a large percentage of those who get committee letters get into med school). I’m not taking hits at OSU Bc I’m trying to find an easy way to med school, as that does not exist. But I think it’s important to go to a school that may facilitate the process more Bc it is so comprehensive (and shouldn’t that be what you look for in a school for pre med?). As far as the last point, obviously conditions of the dorms don’t factor in as much as the academic stuff but I strongly believe in viewing a university holistically when trying to decide where I will be the most successful.
That’s my idea of average. And the SAT is the quintessential standardized assessment, is it not?
“The 75% percentile you referred to is the 91st percentile roughly”
Not exactly. Looking at the Collegeboard data above, 630 is the 85th percentile verbal and 82nd percentile in math. So the top 25% students at Loyola are barely above the top 25% nationally.
I would probably eliminate Pitt because if you are going the big state school route, I’d go for the less expensive option. I’d choose between Ohio U and Loyola based on your own preference. I would also research if it would even be possible to do an internal transfer into engineering at Ohio U or Pitt – those types of transfers are often very difficult.
@ScaredNJDadI Seems to late to throw in new schools for the OP. The OP did not apply to nor is he/she considering Creighton.
I’m puzzled why you can’t connect the dots here and see what you just wrote means that the school deliberately gives favorable letters to its better candidates. The rest don’t apply and their acceptance rate is 0%. At schools not offering committee letters or just writing an informative letter all the better candidates get in just like those with the positive letters and at least the rest still have a chance. Maybe you think if you’re sincere about wanting to be a doc and a good guy they’ll throw you a bone and write that nice letter even if your chances of admission aren’t that great. But, hey, you make the choice of where to go and bear the consequences. I hope it turns out well no matter where you end up.