Pre-Med School Selection Guide

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

I have recently made a college list with potential schools for pre-med that I feel provide the essential opportunities for me to thrive and get all the proper clinical and research experiences needed for medical school. My current list includes:

Early Decision:
Duke

Early Action (EA):]
Harvard
UNC - Chapel Hill
UVirginia
UMich - Ann Arbor
UMiami
Villanova

Regular Decision ®:
Columbia
UPENN
Northwestern
Emory
BostonU
URochester
UPittsburgh
George Washington University
Rutgers

BS/MD Programs:
Brown (PLME)
Case Western Reserve (PPSP)

I removed certain schools such as Penn State and Lehigh University as they did not have neuroscience programs. Tuition is not a concern for me so I was wondering if there are any concerns to any schools on my list pertaining weed out schools or schools that make it hard for a student to stand out as a pre-med. Some schools I am concerned about include Villanova University, UVirginia, and most of the other state schools not only because of the difficulty of out of state applications, but rather due to the enormous class size compared to private research universities such as Emory University.

I feel that this list has a strong balance between tough pre-med schools where you can stand out as an average pre med student to smaller schools where you can boldly stand out among other students.

My current GPA is 4.35 weighted and I am going test-optional as the current global pandemic has intervened with my test-taking. I have lots of medical volunteering and work experiences along with very strong leadership positions such as President of National Honor Society to the Founder and President of my schools HOSA club to even starting a student-based COVID-19 relief organization.

Lastly, I do live in New Jersey so Rutgers is a great pre-med option, but the main campus does not have a neuroscience program preventing me from getting the best pre-med route program possible as I would be required to go to the less popular Newark campus.

I am hoping for any suggestions on schools that I should consider reviewing, removing, or even schools on the east that I should consider for any specific reason that would disadvantage me from having the best possible pre-med experience.

2

There is not a much difference between Neuroscience and Biology BS programs. One takes a few extra courses like System Neuroscience, Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Molecular Neuropharmacology, Molecular Biology and a few course may be from Psychology department ( Cognitive Neuroscience and Behavioral Neuroscience). You can take all these classes anywhere. Premed is a track consisting of a set of prerequisites and a plan when to take them so that one can do well in MCAT. One can pursue premed at any 4 year educational institution.

3

Yes I totally agree with you on the fact that almost every school has some sort of a decent to excellent pre med program. I just feel that with my stats and interest in medicine that I would like to pursue my career at a college that offers strong research and clinical opportunities (having a good hospital or medical school) rather than just any 4 year educational institution being the reason why I am struggling to formulate a final college list.

4

One thing to keep in mind. At the very top universities, very nearly every student arrives having been very close to the top student in their high school. Half of them are at or below average the day that they arrive on campus.

Having been #1 or #2 in your high school becomes “meh” very quickly.

Yes, I do have personal experience with this.

5

OP,

Early Decision:
Duke

Early Action (EA):]
Harvard
UNC - Chapel Hill
UVirginia
UMich - Ann Arbor
UMiami
Villanova

Regular Decision ®:
Columbia
UPENN
Northwestern
Emory
BostonU
URochester
UPittsburgh
George Washington University
Rutgers

BS/MD Programs:
Brown (PLME)
Case Western Reserve (PPSP)

What is your unweighted GPA? Schools don’t care about your weighted. How rigourous is your course load? Your list is very top heavy, for anybody. Your EC’s you list are very vague, and being President of NHS and HOSA are a dime a dozen. Do you have anything that makes you stand out, especially since you are not submitting test scores. Sorry to sound negative, but starting a Covid relief org is a recent thing. Do you have any long term EC’s?

You are doing yourself a disservice by thinking you need to be at a school that has a medschool or hospital nearby. As an UG, your chances of getting meaningful research or clinical activities are better at many of the smaller schools where you are not competing with grad students and the hundreds of new pre med wannabes.

What have you done to show the BS/MD schools that they should admit you?

6

My unweighted GPA is 3.9 and i have taken 13 AP classes. My extracurricular are as listed below (these include leadership positions, volunteering, and work experiences). Please give feedback on my positions and volunteering listed below and if they show BS/MD schools to an extent of why they should admit me.

Volunteering and Organizations:

EMT Cadet | Budd Lake First Aid & Rescue Squad | Budd Lake, NJ | July 2020 - Present

16 hr/wk, 35 wk/yr

Co-Founder and Sergeant-at-arms | Toastmaster International | Randolph, NJ | June 2020 - Present

3 hr/wk, 24 wk/yr

President | National Honor Society | Flanders, NJ | May 2020 - Present

4 hr/wk, 42 wk/yr

Co-Founder and Randolph/Parsippany Coordinator | Students2TheRescue | Hackettstown, NJ | Apr. 2020 - Present

3 hr/wk, 32 wk/yr

Founder and President | HOSA - Future Health Professionals | Flanders, NJ | Dec. 2019 - Present

3 hr/wk, 38 wk/yr

Business Founder and Proprietor | SOODH INC. | Budd Lake, NJ | April 2020 - Present
8 hr/wk, 45 wk/yr

Leadership Team and Fundraising Coordinator | Young Vision Africa | Califon, NJ | Dec. 2019 - Present

5 hr/wk, 6 wk/yr

Courier and Receptionist | Hackettstown Medical Center | Hackettstown, NJ | July 2018 - Present

4 hr/wk, 45 wk/yr

Doctor Virtual Shadowing | Future in Med | Remote | July 2020 - Present
2 hr/wk, 10 wk/yr

Fundraising Coordinator | Good Grief | Princeton, NJ | May 2020 - Present
2 hr/wk, 42 wk/yr

Fundraising Coordinator | Community FoodBank of NJ | May 2020 - Present
3 hr/wk, 42 wk/yr

Work Experience:

Medical Scribe | Envision Healthcare | Newton, NJ | August 2020 - Present
16 hr/wk, 35 wk/yr

Cardiologist Internship | Cardiology and Primary Care Center | Hackettstown, NJ | June 2020 - Sept. 2020

COVID - Cancelled

History of Psychedelics Researcher | CRABH Center for Research on Addiction and Brain Health | Remote | August 2020 - Present
COVID - Publication Pending

Wait Staff/Hostess | Bentley Commons at Paragon Village | Hackettstown, NJ | June 2020 - Present

COVID - Cancelled

7

I will tag @texaspg to give you more information regarding BS/MD programs. Your biggest hurdle looks to be that almost all of your EC’s are new, just a couple of months in length. Adcoms will want to see longer term commitment, not just things you added at the last minute to fill in the EC slots. Are you a rising senior?

8

Yes I am a rising senior and most of these things I was forced to start late as NHS you can only become President senior year along with others like the EMT Cadet position which only accepts rising seniors. Similar with the work experiences.

9

You don’t only have to list leadership positions. Were you involved in any clubs, sports, tutoring, babysitting or anything before this summer? If you attend religious services, were you involved in youth programs? Think outside the box of things you have been involved in. You are going to need more than you listed to have any chance at most of the schools on your list. You have great rigour with all your AP classes, but you need something more for top tier schools. Good luck.

10

I would agree that your ECs are recent and will not make much of a difference at top schools. As far as BS/MD programs are concerned, you need to have stellar stats and great medical ECs. You have very little medical related ECs. At a hospital try to be a volunteer in emergency room where there may be some resemblance of contact with patients and health professionals. You do not have SAT I and SAT II scores.
IMO, you should skip bsmd programs and try for regular MD route. For regular route MD, you will have to do medical ECs all over gain in the college.

11

@JAmin948

Since you are applying only to 2 BS/MD programs, there is nothing wrong with that.

Since some of the EC you would have started in a different role, mention all those hours and start date accordingly. It is natural you are not going to be a President of a club in 9th grade itself. Since you have listed above only from Mid 2020, it gives a wrong interpretation.

It is not uncommon that some students can not get involved in any real clinical settings as a teenager. So nothing wrong. But mention any activity which you have done for a long time.

Assume you got a good score in 13 APs to demonstrate your academic strength.

During UG also, it is not that you have to work exactly in a hospital per se. You choose activity you are passionate and helps under served community or hospice, senior age home. Eventually you need to do shadow but that is a small activity than validating your interest in medicine and demonstrating your long term commitments to some specific activity during the 3 years in UG before you apply to MD.

Not much you can do at this stage as a senior. Don’t get discouraged and apply to your choices.

12

You do not have to major in neuroscience to get excellent preparation for a medical school application. Who told you that?

I agree that your list is very top heavy.

Also, keep in mind that any ECs you did in high school will might help with undergrad admissions but they won’t help one bit with your medical school application. So…any medical volunteering you did in HS…not going to help with Med school. It’s what you do during undergrad that will matter.

@WayOutWestMom any thoughts?

13

Okay thank you so much all! I know that most of my EC’s are not long-lasting from freshman year as where I live most of these opportunities are only available senior year. I am just confused about the part that my EC’s may not be enough cause not to sound off but I personally thought that I had outstanding leadership positions and volunteering.

For medical related, I have being an EMT Cadet, for the hospital I do volunteer as discharger, specimen transporter, and work at the front desk in the ICU.

I do have other clubs that I have been part of since freshman year such as Varsity Robotics and other organizations I have been part of but I feel they aren’t as significant in terms of the positions I have in them compared to the ones listed in my EC’s.

14

Also, for every club I volunteered at, I started as a volunteer and worked myself up into a superior leadership position.

Additionally, out of my EC’s listed above, in your opinions, which 10 EC’s out of those do you believe I should include in my Common App Activities Section based on if you were to choose which ones you think would help me stand out the most. Other long-term activities I have been part of include FBLA (10th-Present), Junior-Varsity Tennis (9th-Present).

15

No I might have misworded that. Neuroscience is a subject I am fascinated about and something I want to study. I am not at all choosing this major because it stands out cause anyways this major and biology are very common majors that medical school admissions see.

16

Several of us who have answered you on this thread are parents of now MD’s. You have misconceptions about the process. Don’t worry about med school now, at all. Just go to college and major in anything you want. If you want to go to med school, just make sure that you fulfill the admissions requirements for that, in college. Do what you want and what will give you a high GPA. Period.

Your longer term activities, robotics and tennis are going to look much better than starting anything in the summer before your senior year. While leadership positions look good, that is only if they are after being in the club/sport/ activity after a long time.

FWIW, my MD kid graduated in Classics. Again, any major works for medschool.

17

OKay thank you so much! Thank you for clarifying on that these long term clubs such as Robotics and Tennis look much better on my activities list than my newly acquired leadership positions.

One question just to understand this process. If I had all these leadership positions lets say sophomore year, do you think I should include these leadership positions such as lets say being NHS president and starting an organization sophomore year over including Tennis and Robotics which I had since 9th grade?

18

You will have many slots to fill in so you will be able to include them all.

19

I’m not going to comment on your chances for the school list you posted. I don’t do chances.

But a few comments–

Adcomms really don’t consider anticipated hours for ECs because they know there is a significant chance an applicant won’t follow through on them. Anticipated hours are largely ignored as meaningless. So any of your very recent ECs are not going to impress anybody, esp for a BA/MD admission.

Also at many of the schools on your list, pre-meds are over-represented in the incoming classes. At several of your schools, 35% or more of first semester freshmen self-identify as pre-meds. There will be lots of intense competition for the As you need to build a strong GPA at those schools. IOW, there will a whole lot of weeding going on…

RE: BA/MD admissions
These programs are harder to gain an admission to than Harvard or Stanford. Not only do these programs require outstanding academics, the admission officers are looking for all the expected pre-med ECs–but especially they are looking for long term community service with disadvantaged groups. And that’s hands-on in-person service–not fund-raising. They are looking for demonstration of personal qualities like altruism, compassion, empathy and cultural competence in applicants as well as the ability to perform academically at a high level.

And I have question about Villanova. You’re applying EA. Is Villanova one of your safety schools? Because looking at your EA list—One these things is not like the others.

As others have mentioned, any activities you do during high school aren’t going to be consider by med school adcomms 4 years from now. Med school admissions is all about “What have you done lately?”

20

I am so sorry for my wording. I did not by any means to exemplify that my current EC’s will have an affect in med school admissions. I know that nothing I do in high school will be looked at by med school admissions as they focus on MCAT, UG GPA, and whatever EC’s I only do during the 4 years of undergrad.

And I get what you mean by that my EC’s are not very hands-on or in-person. I do believe that being an EMT Cadet is very hands on as I am always in situations with people in need on field situations such as a car crash or an elderly having trouble breathing. Also, I am closely connected with patients at the hospital and strongly connected with students in Sierra Leone through my experiences with Young Vision Africa. Lastly, being president of NHS has allowed me to connect with poverty and disadvantaged groups in New Jersey whether it be children and families in grieve and in need of food through my dedication of service.