Hey guys, new to CC so sorry if this isn’t the proper way to write a forum. Basically, I wanted to know if NYU would be a good school to do premed? I’m currently a NY resident. The reason I am asking is because I have been told that it doesn’t matter where premed is done, but I’ve also heard that it does. NYU is a school that I am considering because it has a sports team that I can make it on, as well as being located in NY, and from what I understand, good academics… Also, how does science programs (specifically Biology/Chemistry) at NYU compare to other schools like BU, Cornell, or Columbia? Thanks in advance.
Big question is, how does cost compare with other schools you may attend (including SUNYs)?
Medical school is expensive, so saving money and minimizing debt in undergraduate can help you have less debt at the end of medical school, so that the smaller debt will be less limiting on your career and life choices.
not too worried about cost. do you now anything about nyu’s science programs?
And another factor in pre-med is trying to maintain a high enough BCPM GPA. You do not want a school that practices grade deflation.
BU and Cornell have top rated medical schools, but their undergraduate schools practice grade deflation.
The prestige of a top undergraduate school does not matter if you can’t maintain at the minimum a ~3.6 GPA. There will be no boost if the GPA is too low. And other factors (shadowing, clinical experience, research, volunteering, MCAT) need to be factored into the overall picture.
Gotta agree with ucbalumnus here. What’s your college budget?
Pre med pre-reqs–with the exception of biochem–are all lower level/intro science classes that are offered at just about every college in the US. The name of your undergrad has very little effect on your ability to get accepted to med school. It’s your achievements during college that gets you accepted.
And no undergrad “prepares” a student for the MCAT. MCAT prep is 100% on the student.
BTW, the myth that med schools ‘adjust’ GPAs from certain colleges to allow for alleged grade deflation is just that–a myth.
You also need to consider that about 2/3rd to 3/4th of students who consider themselves to be pre-meds as freshmen fail to apply to med school for a variety of reasons.
NYU has a Top 5 medical school, but there is no boost from getting your undergrad there since the average entering GPA is 3.9.
If you get a high enough GPA/MCAT score and have stellar medical related extracurriculars, that is fine regardless of your undergraduate school.
“not too worried about cost”
Figure on a bit over $70,000 for a year at NYU, times four, plus inflation, you might be looking at about $300,000 for four years at NYU.
Four years of medical school is likely to be a bit more by the time that you get there.
If you are okay with spending $650,000 over eight years, without taking on any debt and without straining your parent’s life style, then don’t worry about cost. Otherwise, you need to pay attention to cost.
Of course, if you actually want to get to medical school then you should think about grade inflation. You will likely discover that premed classes are significantly more challenging than you might be expecting.
@jkdlle3213 I would not spend 300k to get my pre-med requirements done at NYU even money was not an issue. Unless you intend to do a PhD in Biology or Chemistry, the ranking of these departments at BU/NYU/Cornell/Columbia does not matter.
My opinion…if your parents can afford $72,000 a year for an NYU undergrad education…put half of that money in the bank and use the other half to attend a SUNY. Then you will have some money left to help fund medical school if you actually get there.
That $30,000 or more that you will save on undergrad school can helpful fund medical school. Otherwise…you are looking probably at loans…loans and more loans.
Unless you are one of the less than 5% of applicants who gets accepted to NYU Med school which is now tuition free. BUT you will still have living costs…and those are no bargain in NYC.
Save your money.
It’s always good to have a backup plan if medical school does not work out. If you are considering a Biology major, you should think about a track in Computational Biology/Bioinformatics. Take enough classes in CompSci/Math to fulfill those requirements and perhaps earn a minor or double major in Computer Science.
For pre-med, I’d compare NYU to BU, they both super expensive (bad financial aid), harsh weeder class grading (chem/bio), large class sizes. So if you/your parents are ok with paying high tuition for large classes/harsh grades, NYU/BU are the ones. CUNYs would be a better option in terms of cost… Hunter has pretty large pre-med population and competition can be tough…Brooklyn College might be better.
For pre-med in Ivies, Columbia could be worst (right after Princeton) due to its core requirement/harsh grading. Brown/HY are the better choices, with Cornell/UPenn/Dartmouth in the middle.
If your parents don’t mind the private college tuition cost, small LACs are the better choice for better pre-med advising/support, less harsh grading, smaller classes.
One thing to consider about Cornell–the undergrad is in Ithaca, not NYC. Ithaca is rural and opportunities to shadow and engage in clinical volunteering are rather sparse.
some other points to consider about Cornell, from past CC posters:
CC poster @miaroxs:
"Cornell offers:
- Extern program and mentorship programs during school year (Spring break, winter breaks) and you can always get clinical experience during Summer months
- Urban semester for summer as well as Fall or Spring semesters - you can shadow, do research internship and a service project in NYC for an entire semester
- Access to any type of research (great choices for hard core science or even interdisciplinary research, you can also work with professors in vet school which is on-campus)
- Access to a lot of pre-professional groups/clubs (GlobeMed, Medical Brigades, pre-med frats etc.)
- Excellent humanities courses in addition to strong pre-med courses
- Global Health minor (field experience in Africa/India)
- Health policy minor"
CC poster @norcalguy:
"Cayuga Med is a short bus ride away (the 21 bus I think). Cal Wood, the volunteer director, is a really cool guy. He will try to accomodate you as to the department you want to volunteer in. Getting volunteering is not a problem. Anyone who wants a position will get one.
The really great thing about Cornell is that it has two formal shadowing programs that will pair you up with physicians to shadow. Most other schools don’t have this so you’re stuck cold-calling/emailing random physicians asking if you can follow them around. Cornell has a Mentorship Program through Gannett and an Externship Program that will help you find physicians to shadow. These physicians volunteered for these programs so they’re actually happy to mentor a premed.
I applied for both programs, got into both programs (they’re not very selective) and had a great time. The second doctor I shadowed was particularly gracious. He drove out of his way to pick me up from my apartment, bought me lunch each day that I shadowed, and even offered me some of his Cornell hockey tickets. "
@norcalguy again:
“The only advantage I can see from having an affiliated med school nearby is that you can do clinical research. But, the vast majority of premeds simply aren’t equipped to do clinical research in the first place and don’t do clinical research. So, if you’re just going to end up growing mammalian cells in a petri dish, it’s pretty much a similar experience whether you do it in an university lab or a med school lab.”
CC poster @nesh1080
“I’m pre-med and will be shadowing a bunch of doctors (most are Cornell alumni) at the med school in NYC over the summer …”
Note that these are old posts (and not my posts), I can’t guarantee everything is the same now. FWiW, I think it is the case that relatively tons of Cornell students attend medical school. I think one can actually find these numbers somewhere, like on some medical school admissions site.
You can. Here-- http://www.career.cornell.edu/paths/health/medschool/charts.cfm
However, pre- med hopefuls should note 2 things–
-
the data is old ( the most recent is from the 2015-16 cycle).
-
And, more importantly, the data ONLY reflects those students who persist in pre-med until junior/senior year AND receive the endorsement of Cornell’s health profession committee by receiving a committee LOR.
HP committees act as gatekeepers at elite schools (all schools really)-- unless the committee believes the student has a strong chance at gaining an acceptance, the student will not receive a letter. While it is possible for a student to apply to med school without the endorsement of their undergrad’s HP committee, adcomms view the lack of a letter as a ‘red flag’ on the application.
Just one of the many, many ways colleges & universities manipulation their ‘accepted to med school’ numbers. Any data published by a college should be viewed with a good deal of skepticism.
Couple years back, there was a parent who posted here on CC about his son, a Cornell grad with 3.5 GPA who applied only to med schools in NYC (Manhattan?) and didn’t get into any…the parent seemed pretty upset about paying so much tuition for an Ivy with such result.
re #13, I don’t see from that link the # of Cornell grads who are entering medical school in any particular year, which is what I meant in #12. Maybe it is there someplace. I was thinking I saw such data, how many from various schools, on some medical admissions website.
For those looking at various school data, in the past at least t it was reported on CC that Cornell only included MD programs, not OD programs… Also there were CC posts describing how the data was not consistently reported between schools. Also some schools require the afore-mentioned committee endorsement, some don’t. IIRC.
More importantly, not everyone who attends a particular university deserves to get into medical school, or get a job in investment banking, or attend a top law firm. There is a distribution of talents and abilities at many schools, every person attending there is not equally capable for a particular future path. That is true for Cornell, for sure, and it is also undoubtedly true for NYU. Moreso than other more homogeneous institutions that do not have so many diverse colleges with different admissions standards and cohorts.
re #14, a relative of mine is having a similar experience pursuing a particular job. She wanted it in the northeast but may wind up in a horrible place in the Midwest. If she gets it at all. It’s tough out there. Best to spread a wide net. There are no guarantees, for these most selective future destinations or jobs.
NYU is a fine school for pre-med, and if being a member of their sports team and its NYC location would help achieve for you that elusive academic/social balance that is college, that’s a good reason to attend. But all the schools you list are fine schools. And all attract really smart motivated people who make pre-med the extremely competitive world that it is.
Anyway this is not really my field of expertise, I just read some stuff about it on CC that I passed on. So I will sign off of this thread,
People with more interest might search for past posts by @norcalguy, who sadly no longer posts here.
(Probably because he is busy being a doctor…)
@monydad OD is Doctor of Optometry. Is that what you meant…or did you mean DO…Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine.
Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine.