<p>Hello, I am a freshman student at Temple University following the pre-med track, and eventually plan on applying to medical school. I'm a neuroscience major, and am planning on transferring to a better college for undergrad, preferrably to a university with a bigger emphasis on sciences/pre-med. I have approx a 3.8 GPA, 200 volunteer hours, and a bunch of other EC's. What are some suggesstions for relevant transfer colleges within my reach?</p>
<p>What do you mean by saying, “a bigger emphasis on pre-med”?</p>
<p>What classes and grades did you get last semester?</p>
<p>Why do you think that Temple isn’t good enough for a pre-med student? </p>
<p>Are your parents willing to pay the costs for you to go elsewhere?</p>
<p>What I mean by a bigger emphasis on pre-med, is just a college that is more generally known for its sciences departments. I don’t think Temple is a bad school for a pre-health profession student, as it actually does have very competitive post graduate programs; however, I was just looking into schools that are a little better and maybe even more competitive like Johns Hopkins for example (even though it is probably out of my reach). Depending on the college and if it is really worth it, my parents are willing to pay the costs.</p>
<p>^^^
This seems like a very risky strategy. Right now, you have a med-school-worthy GPA (3.8) at a school that you have deemed as less-competitive.</p>
<p>Let’s look at this logically…you have a 3.8 at Temple. What kind of GPA do you think you’d get at Hopkins? (visuallize shooting yourself in the foot at the cost of $100k+).</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins, or something on the level (maybe a little lower), may be harder to attain a 3.8 GPA for example; however, would my chances of getting into a better medical school be increased? Additionally, all grades, and “strategies” aside for a second, I’m also interested in a better school strictly from an educational perspective. An education from an ivy doesn’t compare to one from Temple. I mean, they do compare, literally, but there is a reason why a college ranking systems exists, and why ivys are ivys, (not just for sports). In other words, I would like a more educated education, if that makes any sense, just for personal enrichment.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins, or something on the level (maybe a little lower), may be harder to attain a 3.8 GPA for example; however, would my chances of getting into a better medical school be increased</p>
<p>No, your chances would be hurt by having a lower GPA. </p>
<p>Your goal is med school. Don’t step on your goal by focusing on things that are irrelevant to the big picture.</p>
<p>So basically you’re saying that medical school admissions committees don’t realize/understand that a certain GPA is harder to achieve at certain colleges, and that they don’t really care about which college you are coming from?</p>
<p>Because, from a personal evaluation, I believe that my grades would not vary as much, or deviate significantly from where they are at any college. Professors may end up being different/harder, but besides that, bio is bio, chem is chem, and calc is calc at any college–the content does not change.</p>
<p>*So basically you’re saying that medical school admissions committees don’t realize/understand that a certain GPA is harder to achieve at certain colleges, and that they don’t really care about which college you are coming from?
*</p>
<p>Yes. SOMs will not care whether you’re coming from JHU or Temple. So, they’re not going to say, “Oh, he’s got a 3.4 from JHU, that’s ok. That’s much better than a 3.8 from Temple.”. Uh no.</p>
<p>Well, that’s assuming he’d get a 3.4 at Hopkins. Chances are the GPA difference wouldn’t be that much. OP, if you’re sure you can maintain a similar GPA at a higher ranked school, I’d say go for it. The truth is, top med schools are filled with students from top colleges. That’s probably because students from top colleges are better med school applicants, but I think med schools also prefer applicants from top schools (even if they say they don’t). Remember, the process is subjective, and the people making admissions decisions are human; it’s not easy to look at at a Hopkins applicant with a 3.8 and a Temple applicant with a 3.8 and not be more impressed with the Hopkins applicant (assuming all else is equal).</p>
<p>Now, that said, it’s not worth transferring just because you think it will help you get into med school. The truth is it probably won’t make that much of a difference in terms of med school admissions. But I don’t think getting into med school should be the sole goal here. College isn’t about just getting to the next step; it’s about growing, learning, and thinking. Figure out what you want in a college, figure out which college offers that, and make a decision from there. For what it’s worth, I think top schools are worth the investment in time, money, energy, and stress :).</p>