I was accepted early to Harvard and I got a likely letter from Yale in late January inviting me to YES-W. I want to major in molecular biology. I know people say that asking CCers for advice is wrong, but getting honest answers from students who attend either school is challenging in person due to their desire to recruit. I visited both campuses last year, but I still came away from the tours as a little skeptical of the admissions propaganda. I would appreciate if someone could help give some empirical reasons for a Pre-Med to attend either school.
Thank you,
Starchow
There is no significant difference between Harvard and Yale, and what is offered, or expected, of students interested in pre-med courses.
That said – and I’ve posted this elsewhere – it’s very difficult to get an A in some pre-med courses at HY, and some students interested in pre-med may actually be better off attending another college that has less rigorous standards.
For example, last semester my daughter, who just graduated from Harvard, took LS2, which is one of the courses Harvard students thinking of going to medical school take (http://www.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/courses-exams/course-catalog/life-sciences-2-evolutionary-human-physiology-and-anatomy).
However, as it’s Harvard (and this occurs at Yale as well), the course was jammed packed with things you wouldn’t be asked to do at another college, like identifying every bone in the human body by week two in the course, something my wife didn’t have to do until medical school! Yes, it’s a fabulous experience, but because HY professors have higher expectations of their student’s, few students actually get A’s in the course. So, another student coming out of a flagship state college, which doesn’t have as high expectations or the resources of HY – read $$$ – may have a higher GPA and be in a better position for medical school than a student coming out of HY with a B or a B+ in a course like LS2. Ditto with other pre-med courses at HY. Fortunately for my daughter, she got an A- in LS2 and was happy with the grade, as the course was the most demanding course she took in her four years at Harvard (and this is coming from a student who graduated Phi Beta Kappa). So, whatever school you ultimately choose, you should go in with your eyes wide open.
Maybe there is some truth in the saying: Premed classes are hard mostly because of the quality and competiveness of the students in these classes.
DS was PBK at Y. I think he once said A- is doable but he does not always have confidence in securing a straight A.
I think what gibby said has some wisdom in it. Depending on your eventual goal, you may or may not like the environment at one school or the other. It could be more true at the med school level than at the premed level. I remember DS also said once that some of his peering students have nothing in their mind except for their future career goal (which is a very ambitious one), essentially every minutes in their waking hours - it is probably why they got to such a place in the first place. This environment may be good for some but some others would rather like to pursue other things in their life in parallel to their MD goal. Ultimately, the choice is up to each individual, I guess.
The intense mode of study as most students are familiar with would likely be ended after 2 or 1.5 years in med school anyway, and something else becomes more relevant after the first 1.5 or 2 (how long the preclinical years is depends on each school) years. The skill for getting a high board test score may not be the same as that required to do very good advanced work in the traditional science class. So why do you need to be overly obsessed about “which school would prepare me better for a med school” - a common question that could (unnecessarily) be asked by many premed students. The clinical years, which are much more important (almost likely the only thing that is relevant at some school, e.g., likely at both H’s and Y’s med schools) than the first two “study” years, could require a quite different set of skills.
Thank you for the fast response. In response to mcat2 I am simply trying to make an educated decision rather than the “feel” of the school which are different but both fine with me. Thank you gibby for your answer.
Yale seems particularly proud of it’s record in medical school admissions for pre-med graduates - 99%. That leads me to believe it is higher than Harvard, although I have no idea how big that margin might be.
Kwasi Enin, the kid who got into all the Ivy league schools, chose Yale over Harvard for its Pre-Med program. Obviously that’s just one kid, but yeah it may point to the strength of the Yale program more than just stating Yale’s is better because of this or that. But if not don’t mind me.
Actually, Kwasi Enin chose Yale for many reasons: http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/30/us/new-york-student-selects-yale/
Yes but including its pre med program.