<p>so im applying to some of the major premed universities (washu, emory, stanford, etc), but ive found out that the top LACs have really good med school placement. i was just wondering if any of you guys could give me some explanation to this. as of now, williams, swarthmore, middlebury, and amherst are the LACs on my list. what sets amherst apart in terms of opportunities for helping students get into a good med school? how do amherst’s stats compare to other LACs and universities in terms of med school placement? any information would be much appreciated. also, i really want to know more about the how rigorious the work is. while i am well used to losing many hours of sleep to study, i prefer not to have to study into the early morning hours and to have time on weekends to relax. can anyone shed some light on this for me? thanks!</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amherst.edu/%7Esageorge/outcomes.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.amherst.edu/~sageorge/outcomes.html</a> will tell you about acceptance rates. It basically said that from 200-2004, 90% of "well-qualified students" were accepted on their first try. 98% of well-qualified students were accepted either on their first try or after re-applying. LAC's are good for pre-med for several reasons: 1) their well known academic rigor. 2) the lack of graduate students gives research opportunities to students. 3) the small size allows students to build relationsips with their professors, which is important when you need recommendations for you application. This will be true for most LAC's. Work at Amherst is rigorous. Science classes tend not to have enormous amounts of work out of the classroom, but you wind up spending twice as much time in a lab science class in the classroom as in a humanities class. This is fairly typical, I think. I'm not sure how Amherst differs specifically in terms of pre-med, but it's general academic rigor and reputation is a boon to its students.</p>
<p>Read the thread started by billybobbyk (if I have it right). Lots of info there.</p>