Hi - I’m a high school senior trying to decide where to go to college after graduation. I’ve gotten a med school guarantee at Oklahoma with a full fee waiver, but I’m worried that I might be playing it too safe and giving up an amazing experience at Yale or Columbia or Rice because I’m frightened of not getting into med school. I’ve heard Rice is a good pre med school with fewer students (smaller class size), but I know even if I go there I’ll have to work hard and get a high GPA/MCAT and also get my ECs (volunteer/shadow/research/other). I’m kind of bouncing back and forth because if I’m going to work hard anyway and spend that much, I might as well go to somewhere like Yale/Columbia and get that “ivy league reputation” you know? I was wondering how actually difficult it is for students at these schools to get into med school, because I know that the numbers they report aren’t always an accurate picture. I’d really appreciate any insight, my mind has been going in circles for weeks!
It is difficult for students from all colleges to gain acceptance to medical schools. @WayOutWestMom
Are all of these options affordable to you.
What does this mean? Is undergrad cost free? Med school? Also, what are the GPA, and MCAT (if any) requirements to satisfy the OK med school guarantee?
Yes they are!
Free?? That is too good to pass up
Only 40% of people who apply to medical school get in. Many more drop by the wayside failing to do well enough to even apply.
I have two friends that are doctors and have Ivy undergraduate degrees (no one knows that except their friends, because patients just don’t care). They are good at what they do, but no better than those of us who went to midwestern state schools.
Those schools will not make you a better doctor. Worse, they’ll dramatically increase the risk that you don’t become one.
Take the guaranteed slot!
Agree and @eyemgh is a dr. Not medical. But I bet his patients don’t know where he went either.
OP is it truly a guarantee or are there hurdles, such as MCAT, that need to be met.
Also I assume this is some type of small cohort program. What other activities or features are a part of it ?
You have kids turning down Ivies fir state flagships every day.
Money talks. And if you are going to more school later that costs too.
It’s awesome you’ve gotten what you have - Ruce, Ivy. But your hard work paid off in hundreds of thousands in savings and a clear path to med school when most that start with that desire womt sniff it.
I’d strongly lean toward taking advantage.
Short of elite specialists that hopefully most of us will never need, few will know or care where their dr went to school. We just know they try to make us better, usually with the same guidance no matter where they were trained.
Yale and Columbia (and Rice), like all undergrads, do substantial weeding of premeds in the required pre-req classes. So keep that in mind. Not all freshmen pre-meds will persist all the way through to actually applying to med school.
Also having Yale or Columbia or Rice on your diploma does not guarantee that you’ll get a med school admission when you go to apply .No undergrad has 100% acceptance rate to medical school.
If you are 1000% sure you want to be a doctor, take the Oklahoma BA/MD. If you have the tiniest bit of doubt about medicine as your ultimate career–take one of the Ivy acceptance because it will offer more opportunities in other fields.
You should know that about 15-40% of BA/MD students drop out of their programs because they discover other career fields they find more attractive or they decide that postponing their life** for 10-15 years while they complete med school and residency (and fellowship)is to something they don’t want to do.
** med school, residency, fellowship will require you to move around the country with only a small amount of control over where you end up. (Your residency & fellowship placement is done by a computer program…) You will also take on enormous debt and work for low pay during residency & fellowship which make doing things like getting married, starting a family and buying a home very difficult.