<p>I am an upcoming senior and am considering the following colleges: Samford university, Harding university, Mississippi College, and Abilene Christian University. I have toured all but ACU. I have loved each college so much and need help deciding high would be the best pre medicine program. </p>
<p>respond to the points in the post by @ucbalumnus on this url:</p>
<p><a href=“Before you ask which colleges to apply to, please consider - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1621234-before-you-ask-which-colleges-to-apply-to-please-consider.html</a></p>
<p>I currently have a 28 ACT but am waiting on my new scores which I predict will be much higher. My GPA is 4.0. The cost restraints are not the biggest issues for my family at this point. I attend to go pre medicine with a biochemistry major. I would prefer a college in the southern US and of a small to medium size (3,000-10,000). I am mostly looking at private colleges, not that i have a bias I just personally have found these more conducive to my learning style. I would love a Christian school, but can bend on this issue for a good program. I do not want a party school though. I am very conservative so it would help for the school not to have uber liberal values.</p>
<p>There are no “pre-med universities.”</p>
<p>Try Trinity University (TX) and Rhodes College (TN).</p>
<p>Really, any school will do that offers the pre-reqs that med school applicants must have. So look at schools that fit all your other requirements because almost all will offer courses that will satisfy the med school requirements. You can use the SuperMatch function in the left column on this page. You can choose size, region, christian, conservative, etc.</p>
<p>To a certain extent… a couple of the schools on your list will make it hard to go to medical school even if you do excellent.</p>
<p>Sadly, the above comment is true. Even though it’s claimed that any college will do for pre-med, that’s not exactly true. You do need a pretty rigorous academic environment to maximize your chance for success. Although it’s expensive and outside your regional preference, consider Pepperdine for a rigorous smaller Christian-oriented school that should enhance your med school chances.</p>
<p>okay I will definitely look into those schools.</p>
<p>@vlklngboy11 To a certain extent… a couple of the schools on your list will make it hard to go to medical school even if you do excellent. </p>
<p>to which schools are you referring?
I will not be offended, I simply am looking for advice.</p>
<p>One can ask admissions offices to show you data on how many of their graduates were admitted to med school the last five years. Do this before ruling out these schools on someone’s say-so. You have so many restrictions on where you can go that this will help.</p>
<p>Thank you very much! </p>
<p>
Getting prospective premeds to enroll in one unremarkable school instead of their competitors is one of the unsavory areas of college admissions. Touting high med-school admission rates plays a big role in such competition. Unfortunately the med school admission rate tells almost nothing about how good a job the college does in preparing its students to apply to med school. Some schools boast incredible rates, but it boils down to one of two things. Either they start with great students (think Stanford, Dartmouth, etc) or the school weeds out students.</p>
<p>Weeding out can be done with introductory math/science courses with a tough curve, ensuring only the best students still think of themselves in the running after a few semesters. But the biggest club is the “committee letter”. Find out what this is at <a href=“http://web.jhu.edu/prepro/health/Applicants/committee_process.html”>Pre-Professional Advising | Student Affairs;
<p>If your college supplies such a letter then med schools either require you to submit it or will be suspicious if you don’t. As Swarthmore writes
You</a> can find apply/admit matrices on the web based on GPA and MCAT scores. The premed advisors at colleges are well aware of these odds. At the application stage you need to get them to write you a letter, and for many kids I’m sure it results into a chat with a sad-faced advisor who says the college is going to put them down as “recommended with reservations” or even worse as “not recommended”. With either of those, if you’re smart enough to be premed you’re smart enough to know that applying is futile. Is this fair? Not to me. If your chances of admission are 30% then the school will block you from applying since it will drag down their admit rate, yet out of 10 similar kids applying 3 will get right in to med school. </p>
<p>Does this really happen? You bet! Holy Cross is a LAC often recommended on this forum by one of its boosters. Surprised he hasn’t popped up on this thread yet since it has “premed” in the title. Here is what they say: “The Committee’s level of recommendation and the tone and content of the letter to be written is discussed with applicants as openly as possible.” And surprise! Of those that end up applying, 81% get in. Of course they don’t tell you how many people spent $200K for a Holy Cross degree only to have the advisor tell them their committee letter is not going to be favorable.</p>
<p>I think it is true that one can be premed at most colleges, but that some colleges will prepare you better than others.
Consider Campbell University in NC. It has everything you are looking for, strong pre-health programs, a DO school, pharmacy school, PA program. It’s also a Christian college. </p>
<p>"“I think it is true that one can be premed at most colleges, but that some colleges will prepare you better than others.”"</p>
<p>Not sure what that means. The MCAT isnt testing sophisticated bio, chem, physics or math. Any good school is going to offer BCMP classes that are enough for the mcat…the rest is up to the student who has to have the thinking skills to apply that info when answering mcat questions…that is why the test isnt like typical standardized tests. </p>
<p>The best schools will admit that they aren’t doing/teaching anything to prepare for the mcat. </p>
<p>and once you are in med school, the SOM reteaches the basics.</p>
<p>I guess I meant that if a college has access to research, volunteer opportunities, advising, it might be a better choice than if one is not near them. As far as the MCAT is concerned, I agree that the subject matter could be learned at any college.</p>
<p>I don’t think this is an issue for most colleges, but some colleges are in rural areas and may not be as close to resources as others. Campbell is a Christian college that has many health profession tracks, so there would be exposure to the health care field and resources for pre-health students. It seemed to be a possible fit for the OP.</p>
<p>I was actually trying to consider location and resources more than academics. So the college doesn’t prepare you better, but it may have more opportunities to become involved in health care related activities which is helpful when applying. hope that clarifies it. </p>
<p>If cost is not an issue and you want a small, relatively conservative southern school, check out the University of the South (aka Sewanee, in Sewanee TN). The conservative collegeguide.org ranks it #3 on its list of “Top Ten Exceptional Schools”. Its acceptance rate is fairly high (~59%). Its median (25th - 75th percentile) ACT composite range is 26-30. </p>
<p>You might also take a look at “Finding the Right College.” We found this to be an excellent guide to colleges that also happens to come from a conservative point of view. A new edition just appeared for 2014-15.</p>
<p>^ The collegeguide.org site I mentioned is a companion to “Finding the Right College”.</p>
<p>I was thinking of ACU and Harding.</p>
<p>If interested in a Christian school and if cost isn’t an issue, consider Wheaton (IL), esp if you get your stats up a little on the ACT.</p>
<p>Union (TN) could also be a possibility you’d like.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if either offer Bio Chem as a major though - you’d need to check.</p>
<p>Otherwise, I agree with the pp who suggested checking to see where recent students have gotten into med school when looking at smaller, “not so well known” schools. You aren’t looking at the acceptance rate, but rather just raw data on where students went. If they did it, chances are you can too if you put in the work needed.</p>
<p>^ Keep Samford, add Wofford, Sewanee, Birmingham Southern, Rhodes, John Brown.
If you want a college that’s really strong in the sciences, conservative, and Christian, look into Hope College (MI).
I second Wheaton (IL) and Pepperdine (CA) as reaches and I would add Calvin, Baylor, PLNU, Gordon. St Olaf is strong in the sciences (has a summer internship program with the mayo clinic) but is likely to be too liberal for you.</p>