<p>I have narrowed my choice of schools down to Boston College and Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences (honors program at Rutgers). I want to figure out more about my option at Boston College, including the opportunities I would have following a “premed” track at BC.</p>
<p>Specifically, I want to know how good and how personal the advising is, because I know that this will be very important for building a strong med school applicant profile. At both schools, i kno I will have to be the one to go out and find health-related exp., research opportunities, etc., however I want to make sure I am at the school that does the best job getting me where I need to go, which is med school.</p>
<p>I have to pay 12k at Rutgers, and 20k at BC, so while it isnt a HUGE diff, it still adds up considering med school costs are in the future.</p>
<p>Anyone who has had experience with BC premed, following the premed track there, or who knows about some of the health related experiences opportunities like internships, research, etc; pretty much any and all info is GREATLY appreciated! Thanks!</p>
<p>BC has excellent premed advising and prepares a Committee Letter for strong candidates. BC also has strong science courses available. In addition, the Core will require lotsa readin’ & writin’ which should help you in on the mcat-VR. Boston has a lot of high tech/pharma available for research opportunities.</p>
<p>Whether the benefits of a private college are worth another $8k/yr is something only your family can decide. Med school is expensive so you should try to minimize debt when you can.</p>
<p>the point you bring up about BC being a private institution is important I think, also relates to the fact that BC has a smaller more tightly knit student body, so prob a smaller premed group as well. Could you elaborate on the value of this, because I am sure it will not be the same at Rutgers, and this type of thing might be worth it?</p>
<p>lol i guess no one wants to answer. in that case maybe someone can help me with this aspect: going to BC vs going to Rutgers SAS honors, the respective peer groups and “educational work environments” i will be in at each will differ. How different do you think it will be, and what advantages or disadvantages compare between living say, McCormick Honors Housing at Rutgers SAS, vs regular housing along with the other BC students, keeping in mind that the average students at BC will prob be still of a fairly high caliber (i think). Cuz sometimes I think that this competitiveness among the students is what got me where i am through high school and stuff…</p>
<p>sry, I cannot compare against Rutgers. But you can run objective numbers off of the IPEDS database. </p>
<p>IMO, most privates have “more” money to spend on students, and thus offer more “stuff,” whether that be advising, smaller classes, study abroad opportunities, fewer commuters, etc. And of course, state Unis, by definition, have state bureaucracies. And, in general, state Unis will have stricter grading curves, but also has a broader range of students, so standing out might be easier?. Perhaps, the honors programs helps to level the field. Only you can decide whether it is worth the additional cost.</p>
<p>Ask Rutgers premed office for a list of allopathic med schools to which their students have recently matriculated. Or, the stats of such matriculants. Ask the Honors programs if you get first dibs on research opportunities.</p>
<p>that makes sense, thanks for the info</p>
<p>what is meant by IPEDS database, and to clarify you’re saying the grading curves might be easier at BC, so easier to have a high GPA there? cuz thats definitely important for me for my med school app i think</p>
<p>[The</a> Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System - Home Page](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/]The”>IPEDS)</p>
<p>I didn’t say that grading would be necesarily “easier”. </p>
<p>BC has a higher mean graduating gpa than does Rutgers, but part/most? of that is due to the difference in student quality. Approx. 90% of BC’s students hail from the top decile in their HS, in contrast to Rutgers which is <40%.</p>
<p>thats true, but rutgers also has more than double the number of students that BC has, so i might think that those approx percentages you list might amount to close to the same total “number” of high achieving students? maybe it wouldnt be so much easier to stand out at Rutgers than at BC.</p>
<p>sry, cannot opine on Rutgers.</p>
<p>ha ok. thanks again for all your input</p>
<p>Our daughter and her PreMed classmates worked very hard and had a great support/study group at BC. They were mostly biology/chemistry majors/minors. Bluebayou has given you great advice:
I believe that letter carried a lot of weight, but I believe you had to be a very strong candidate to get one written for you. Our daughter and all her PreMed classmate are currently attending med schools. Most were accepted the first year they applied and the rest were accepted the next year.</p>
<p>Wishing you the best as you make your decision, jaybird1130.</p>
<p>thanks for the well wishes.</p>
<p>i forgot to bring this up earlier when blue was still glancing at this thread, but maybe you could give some input on this as well.</p>
<p>it has to do with the same quote: “BC has excellent premed advising and prepares a Committee Letter for strong candidates. BC also has strong science courses available. In addition, the Core will require lotsa readin’ & writin’ which should help you in on the mcat-VR.”</p>
<p>my original intention was to make use of the ap credits i received from a 5 on the AP Language and Composition exam, would you advise against or for skipping intro writing courses…because i wouldnt want to skip them if they would be essential to developing my VR skills for the MCAT. i dont particularly enjoy writing/composition/verbal tho so thats why i originally wanted to make use of the credits…</p>
<p>Actually, there are two issues here, jaybird.</p>
<p>1) Med schools generally don’t accept AP credits in lieu of required courses. They would prefer to see one full year of college-level coursework in English, even if you have a 5 on both AP Lit/Lang exams. You could take any Eng courses, even upper division. (Check ugbc peps for professors and subjects that you might be interested in.) Thus, my advice is to sign up for at least one English course. The lower level courses are reserved for Frosh, and good way to meet your colleagues in a small class setting.</p>
<p>2) You will receive plenty of critical thinking and writing challenges in philosophy & theology and other required Core subjects, such as history.</p>
<p>You can find a lot of good info at:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.bc.edu/schools/cas/premed/home.html[/url]”>http://www.bc.edu/schools/cas/premed/home.html</a></p>
<p>in that case, taking advantage of a 5 on the ap bio exam would probably be out of the question then? i would assume thats an important class to show for med school.</p>
<p>altho when i visited bc, i was able to spend a good deal of time 1 on 1 with Dr. Wolf, who runs the premed program at bc, and after explaining my situation, and the fact that i took apbio as a junior, he did actually suggest that i could probably skip intro to bio, with a little brushing up of the topics on my own b4 entering a higher level course as a freshmen…whats your take?</p>
<p>Dr. Wolfe is da’ man, so whatever he says goes. The Bio requirement is just like the Eng requirement. Med schools don’t care what level you take, as long as you take one years’ worth. </p>
<p>Skipping Intro Bio (200) is fine if you replace it with other Bio courses instead. However, you might consider taking the first semester, and skip the second – Populations & Enviro. Definitely take the Bio (204?) lab, however, since it is unlike anything offered in HS, and will prepare you well for any upper division bio course.</p>
<p>also, lotsa great info on the premed cc forum.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/</a></p>