<p>I am accepted to both UChicago and Cornell and I don't know which place is better for me to do pre-med. Can anyone give me some advice?</p>
<p>I can’t speak for Cornell but I can say a lot about UChicago since I’m a current student. Feel free to ask specific questions. Right now, it’s rather vague but I can tell you that I’m loving it!</p>
<p>Hi @sa0209 </p>
<p>How hard are the science courses? How tough is the work-load at UChicago? Is it very difficult to be a pre-med or pre-dental at UChicago because of GPA deflation? How is pre-health advising at UChicago? I heard that pre-health advisers at UChicago encourages students to take challenging courses, which are GPA killers and could hurt students’ chances of getting in top medical schools. Is that true?</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>1) How hard are the science courses? Well, there are two aspects to this: the inherent difficulty of the course/material and the grade the professor curves to. The courses (gen chem, ochem, other premed prereqs) themselves will challenge you and you’ll have to invest a lot of time. But honestly, these classes have certain concepts that have to be taught wherever the school is. I have friends at my state school who seem to be working harder than I am. I see people struggling at UChicago and I see people effortlessly getting good grades. Long story short, it’s what you make of it. GenChem and OChem curve to a B on average. Some state schools curve to C+. Will be tough but intellectually satisfying. </p>
<p>2) Advising is stellar (after a major rehaul a couple years ago. older alums are not the best ppl to ask regarding this question). I cannot express how admirable UCIHP is. They have the warmest hearts and are always eager to have a conversation about anything. They simply love seeing their students. They are excellent at guiding students towards the appropriate path in that they really listen to what the student wants and help to facilitate achieving the goal. Their proactivity is manifest when I I periodically get emails from my adviser recommending certain internships or interesting events based on my specific interests. They also keep everyone aware with weekly updates. They have open office hours 2 hours every weekday. They really get to know you as individuals so that you don’t feel forced into doing something that you are unsure about. Every decision is tailored to your dreams and situations. Relationships are very friendly; doesn’t really feel like a “professional” relationship due to the sense that you are in the hands of a friendly, compassionate expert.</p>
<p>Individually, they all bring extensive advising experience. The director was in charge of medical school admissions the UChicago’s Pritzker Medical School. We have a very talented group of individuals.</p>
<p>UCIHP as an office also does fantastic programming. They not only have a new lecture series called “On Being a Doctor” with notable physicians, but they also have a large Health Careers Symposium. They teach students about the social side of medicine (health disparities, Affordable Care Act, health literacy, etc.) through the Katen Scholars and UCIHP Fellows, they teach students about the doctor-patient relationship by bringing in master clinicians, they partner with the Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence to teach students what medicine is like and should be, they have a Health Policy track. The list goes on and on. It’s quite astounding really. Except for saving students from professors who curve to a low grade, they really provide everything you need to get into medical school. Their level of ambition, focus, and inspiration has to make them one of the most engaging pre-professional offices on campus and probably the nation. </p>
<p>3) I’ve never heard of the advisers pushing grade-killers onto students. Actually, they don’t really force you to do anything you don’t want to do except for medical school prereqs. Not sure where you heard that.</p>
<p>Grade deflation: I think people make it out to be a bigger deal than it is. I feel like most students use this an excuse to justify less-than-stellar grades by using this deflating stereotype… Sure, some humanities professors will only give one A per section, but others give almost all A’s or A-‘s. I’m fairly certain our sciences courses are curved much more generously than state schools. Sure, it’s not Harvard where half of students get an A or A- in every class, but getting A’s is not impossible. I know many students with 3.9+ GPA’s. And let’s consider that Harvard Med Schools’ incoming class has an average GPA of 3.8. Like I said before, your grades will be reflective of what you put into it and not of a grade-deflating school. </p>
<p>That being said, don’t listen to what I said and expect that you’ll cruise through to expect a good GPA like you did in high school (most UChicago students expected an A and didn’t have to work exceptionally hard for it). You’re going to work for your grades. And if you’re right for UChicago, you’re going to enjoy those intellectual struggles (well, maybe not always!)</p>
<p>For med schools, its the GPA that counts. Chicago has GRADE DEFLATION, esp in CHEM. They teach you more than any other school in nation. Just to give you a perspective- If you were to take an Ochem course in UChicago, compared to Harvard in summer, then UChicago will take 3 more weeks to complete. Uchicago is Research focussed, not pre-professional focussed.</p>
<p>It’s important to realize that grade deflation is something separate from course rigor. I agree that the chemistry material goes more in depth than that of some other schools. The quantum mechanics of UChicago’s gen chem come to mind. However, I don’t really see the grade deflation though. Chemistry still curves to a B in most cases. Some of the gen chem professors curve with a B+ as the median. This year’s organic chemistry professor curves to a B+/A- as the median. This is very, very generous. This means that almost half the class gets A- or A.</p>
<p>Classes rigorous? Yes. Grade deflation? I don’t think so.</p>
<p>I found this from a quick google search. <a href=“What do they curve to at your school? | Student Doctor Network”>http://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/threads/what-do-they-curve-to-at-your-school.972039/</a> Seems like most schools curve to a B- or C+. In my opinion, UChicago has it easy in terms of organic chemistry grades.</p>
<p>@sa0209 Thank you for your input! I have decided to attend UChicago! Just a quick question: do pre-med students use AP credit to pass out of the lower-division courses and take a more advanced course in the same subject or do they still opt to take the lower-division courses? How do pre-med students usually deal with AP credit?</p>
<p>For math, people generally skip as much as possible. For chemistry, most just take general chemistry anyways even if they have a 5. It’s taught more rigorously anyways so it’s probably a better decision in the long run. Some of these people will take Honors Gen Chem. Others go straight into O-chem or just don’t take chem their 1st year and take ochem with everyone else their 2nd year.</p>
<p>Regarding other departments, there’s not that much you can do really. And good to hear that you are going to attend UChicago. You’ll have a blast.</p>
<p>is gen chem a harsh weeder class or is honors gen chem a better choice? is it the same with orgo? i’ve heard that the honors orgo professor is better than the regular orgo, but i’m not quite sure. </p>
<p>Most of the people who are “weeded out” end up not being “science people after all” or decide that their heart isn’t into the whole pre-med/science thing. The class itself isn’t really designed to weed people out since it curves to a respectable B or B+. The decision is really a matter of personal choice on the depth of the material you want.</p>
<p>Worry about orgo in one year. You’ll have enough on your plate to think about regarding 1st year! Professors change every year.</p>
<p>Alright @sa0209 ! Thank you so much!</p>
<p>Cornell… It’s much more well known and it’s an Ivy league school, three years ago you probably wouldn’t even be asking this question (or have even applied to UChicago in the first place), look at how much there stats have changed in the past 5 years due to marketing effort, this could change. Cornell will always be a prestigious Ivy league school.</p>
<p>@sa0209, I beg to differ. B or B+ is not respectable if you are a pre-med student. Further, If you are a bio or any other science major, imagine what these kind of grades do to their pre-med chance. I know several kids in Uchicago and Cornell who are science majors. However, their goal is to to be able to take pre-meds. Unfortunately, these kids get weeded out from pre-med, if they don’t have the right GPA. These were some very bright kids who applied great rigor to these science majors. They will either start switching majors (unfortunate) or will end doing up research. </p>
<p>Now contrast other kids, who simply take pre-med track - get their B’s or B+'s in the science curriculum and then massage it by taking easier classes (non science/math). </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the wrong kids get weeded out. </p>
<p>Be very focussed about what you want. If science is your passion or med school is your passion? You will have to be very clever about it if you want to join Uchicago. </p>
<p>Congrats on getting into Cornell!! It’s an amazing school for pre-meds I would definitely go there.</p>
<p>^ I agree Cornell is the better option</p>
<p>@sa029, </p>
<p>"This year’s organic chemistry professor curves to a B+/A- as the median. " Would you mind sharing who this professor is? You can pm me if you want. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>