<p>So, I'm visiting NEU in about a month and so far everything I've heard about peaks my interest. However, one thing that I've heard that is not so good: the hard sciences. I've consistently heard that while NEU is fantastic in business/international relations/architecture and other majors like this, when it comes to neuroscience/biochem/premed, I've heard that it just doesn't stack up to schools with comparable prestiege. I know that most of what gets you into medical school can only be controlled by you (gpa/MCAT score/ECs etc) but if I went to a school that was weaker in the sciences I needed as prereqs for med school, wouldn't it be logical to assume that at the end of the day I'd be hurting my chances? Also, it doesn't have an attached med school, which could be an issue with internships/volunteering, although I'd hope that the co-op program would make up for this.
My actual question is 3 parts:
1) For those of you doing pre med at NEU or who know somebody that is, is the program good when it comes to classes, professors, advising, and various EC opportunities?
2) What kind of co-ops are available for pre med majors? Are they as good as those offered in other majors at the school?
3) Is the pre med experience at Northeastern comparable to that of schools with similar stats but supposedly "better" pre med programs like Pitt and UMiami?
Thanks so much, any advice or answers at all are so appreciated!</p>
<p>I think that you have gotten a somewhat skewed perspective of Northeastern’s program and pre-med in general. If you look on the pre-med forums, you will see many responses to posts about where to go for pre-med that point out the same thing: it doesn’t really matter where you go. You seem to have seen this but are adding a “but” to it by saying Northeastern is weak in the sciences. I am not exactly sure where you got this impression from, but it has not been my experience in any way, shape, or form. Most schools, including Northeastern, will provide you with the solid grounding that you need in the sciences to succeed on the MCAT and in medical school. You don’t need to have Nobel prize winning professors to do that. Northeastern can provide you with a solid foundation that will serve you well. As a neuroscience student (since you brought that up specifically), I have fantastic post-grad prospects (though not as pre-med) from the science program here.</p>
<p>As for the part about an attached medical school, do you realize just what a small percentage of undergraduate institutions are attached to medical schools? And of those, how much does that actually affect your experience as an undergraduate. If you are worried about not having chances to get involved in a clinical setting, you need not be concerned. Northeastern is located less than a mile from the Longwood Medical Area, which has some of the top hospitals in the country. There are plenty of opportunities to volunteer and shadow in a city like Boston.</p>
<p>To address your specific questions, though:
(1) For general academic purposes, the classes, professors, and advising are generally quite good. Like at any school, there are those “weeder” classes that cause some pre-med students to drop their medical school ambitions, but none of the classes have been unfair, in my experience. The pre-med advising I found frustrating on occasion while I was pre-med, but in retrospect I am realizing that it was because I was more interested in the research and not doing the clinical things they thought I should (but which interested me less). They have also been making a push to improve it in recent years, as well. As for ECs, there is a pre-med club, and there are also various clubs related to healthcare, such as one that helps teach health programs to high school students.
(2) You are referring here to “pre-med” as a major. Pre-med is not a major; it is a program, and classifying yourself as pre-med does not affect what co-ops are available to you. You apply to co-ops like you apply to jobs, which means that you apply to ones for which you are qualified, based on your courses and your experience. This means that if you are a biology major, you apply for biology-related co-ops, etc. If you do not have any specific certifications like EMT or CNA, there will likely not be many clinical co-ops available that involve physical patient contact, simply because you would not be qualified. There are co-ops in clinical settings, though, which would be good for pre-med, and also many research positions (which is also good, because medical schools now look for applicants with research experience).
(3) I don’t really know what things are like at these other schools, but I would strongly caution you against choosing a school based on how good you think it is as a “pre-med school.” Pick a school that is a good fit academically and socially. That is the best school for you, and that is where you will succeed and come out with the best shot at medical school. Do not pick a school because they throw pre-med stats at you (because the numbers are basically meaningless and contrived), or because they have a reputation for pre-med. Almost any school will provide you with the academic background you need.</p>
<p>I really appreciate the advice! I actually want to be a neuroscience major with premed track, so I’m glad you responded! I already knew that premed isnt a real major, just classes that you take in preparation for medical school. Good to hear from a primary source like your experience that the programs are mostly good at northeastern! I have a campus tour schedualed in like a month so when I go I’m sure I’ll have a better idea as to whether or not I can see myself attending. Also, I know that all those stats that colleges give are usually somewhat BS, I just wanted to know if students doing premed at Northeastern generally enjoy their experience and are given the opportunities to get what they need to out of it, which it sounds like is definetly true.
Would you say that you have a pretty good social life at Northeastern as a neuroscience major doing premed? Are most people that you hang out with/have classes with nice (is it easy to make friends)?</p>