<p>Is pre-med @ Vandy really THAT ridiculously hard as I keep reading? I know pre-med is very difficult at many schools....but are Vandy's pre-med classes significantly more difficult than some of the other schools of the same caliber?</p>
<p>My brother went to Vandy in pre med and after one year, he changed majors. I believe it is tough. My son is starting Vandy next year and he wants to go to med school. He meet a med school admissions officer at SAOP and he said something to the effect that Vandy med school only accepts about 6% of its applications and that 50% percent of the Vandy students that applied to Vandy med school got in. That may tell you a little something. This is second hand.</p>
<p>Greetings from Nashville,</p>
<p>As you will all imagine, we have answers to many of your questions. So, from the home office (actually Dr. Baum, the Pre Health Professional Advisor) here is some info:</p>
<p>-18% of Vanderbilt undergrad students who apply to Vanderbilt medical school are admitted, versus 6% of non-Vanderbilt students. 20% of this year’s first year medical class was made of Vanderbilt undergraduate students (however they may not have all come directly from undergrad). </p>
<p>-94% of Vanderbilt students who have greater than or equal to a score of 30 on the MCAT and an undergrad GPA of 3.3 or higher are admitted to some medical school, however this data is also slightly skewed because it includes students who are reapplying to medical school. </p>
<p>-The average MCAT score of a Vanderbilt student is 29 which is 4 points higher than the national average of 25. Dr. Baum (who has been on medical school application committees) also noted that Vanderbilt students typically have lower GPAs than other students applying to medical school from non-Vanderbilt schools. That is actually a good thing! That means Vanderbilt courses are particularly challenging yet those classes are preparing our students for medical school as demonstrated by their knowledge of MCAT material. Admissions to medical school is similar to Vanderbilt's undergraduate admissions process: they evaluate a student’s college GPA in the context of their school which means the rigor of Vanderbilt classes is taken into account. </p>
<p>I hope this has helped.</p>
<p>All the best,
Brad</p>
<p>An interesting view on the difficulty of premed at Vandy:</p>
<p>In Fall 2005, the Facebook group "Pre-Med--Class of '09" had something like 170 members. Now, as these students enter their junior year, the membership has dropped to 86.</p>
<p>i was invited to a group by name of "i love beer" or something along those lines a few months ago...somewhere around 800 members. checked a couple weeks ago and it had 59. i guess less people love beer now.</p>
<p>obviously
.</p>
<p>does anyone know if there is a premedical committee at vanderbilt that screens out sub-par medical school applicants?</p>