premed at MIT or JHU or Caltech?

<p>SO..premed at MIT or JHU or Caltech? </p>

<p>For rite now...i'm assuming biomedical engineering undergrad with a business minor if possible...but that could change...I most probably will attend medical school? </p>

<p>What are MIT's rate for admits to top medical school after 4 years (like jhu, harvard, ucsf) ? Is it worth taking MIT over a guaranteed medical program at Boston University?</p>

<p>And how are MIT's research opportunities in the biomedical sciences arena?</p>

<p>thanks.....for ur help!</p>

<p>You probably can't beat JHU for premed. Whether or not they are true, people have expressed concern over how grade deflation at schools like MIT and Caltech will hurt med school admissions.</p>

<p>More so than anything though, you will have more medical related resources. JHU has the best hospital and med school in the world while the other two don't have a med school or hospital. A good number of my friends have done research affiliated with the hospital.</p>

<p>Caltech and MIT are fantastic schools (I looked at both for grad school), but I think JHU and the opportunities offered here are better if you are looking at going into the medical field.</p>

<p>MIT's med school acceptance data is [url=<a href="http://web.mit.edu/career/www/infostats/preprof.html%5Dhere%5B/url"&gt;http://web.mit.edu/career/www/infostats/preprof.html]here[/url&lt;/a&gt;]. About three-quarters of undergrad med school applicants get in, and there is no screening process for applicants -- anyone who wants to apply can apply. (This is not true of all schools; check the CC medical school board for more details.)</p>

<p>Research opportunities are extremely plentiful in biomedical sciences at MIT. Virtually all science and engineering majors participate in undergraduate research during their time at MIT. Many premeds also volunteer at one of the many hospitals in the Boston area.</p>

<p>If you're absolutely positive you want to go to medical school, a guaranteed medical program is a great choice. If you're not sure, an MIT degree will open a lot of doors, medical or otherwise.</p>

<p>You will be able to find a lot of info on premed tracks at these schools in the premed forum on these boards.</p>

<p>Neither MIT nor JHU recommend a BME major if your main interest is premed. These programs are increasingly geared to students finding jobs straight out of college or continuing for a graduate engineering degree. The engineering track is intense at both schools and your GPA will tend to be lower than students majoring in biology, chemistry or neuroscience, three big areas for premeds. So unless you stick to engineering, grade deflation should not be a factor. </p>

<p>Acceptance rates to top med schools at MIT range from 75 to 80%. This may appear low compared to some other schools which claim higher acceptance rates but have a very active screening process where only the top students get recommendation letters to med schools. At MIT there are no "weeder" classes and nobody is discouraged from applying to med school. I have no acceptance data by major, but I suspect a lower acceptance rate among engineering majors compared to biology or chemistry majors who have to take all the premed requirements as part of their major. The atmosphere at MIT is definitely not as cutthroat for premeds as places such as Cornell, UCLA or even JHU with larger numbers of premed students. </p>

<p>Only Harvard gets more students into HMS than MIT , and MIT has a number of joint advanced programs with Harvard including a joint MD/PhD.</p>

<p>Don't go to Caltech if your goal is to be a premed unless you have a really excellent reason for doing so. Caltech is likely to make your GPA a few tenths lower than it would have been elsewhere, and while top PhD programs know this, med school admissions still seem to be run by a little pigeon that thinks a 3.8 or whatever is a magical number that means the same thing everywhere.</p>

<p>It's easier to make yourself an easier schedule at MIT, so I don't think an MIT GPA should harm your med school chances assuming you choose courses strategically and work hard. So, aside from not choosing Caltech, I'd go with the place that feels most comfortable to you.</p>

<p>(This aside, Caltech does have about 5 premeds per graduating class and the top two or so always go to the very best programs, both MD/PhD and straight MD. But these people are exceptional cases and it's best not to count on being like them.)</p>

<p>This guy is planning on concentrating in biomedical engineering. There really isn't an "easy" option for engineering.</p>

<p>BTW, when I went there, biomedical engineering was only a minor. People either majored in chemical, EECS, or mechanical engineering with a minor in biomedical engineering. Is it a major unto itself now?
Chem E and EECS are probably two of the hardest majors at MIT (Aero E is as well.) There is no place with harder engineering classes than MIT.</p>

<p>As an added suggestion, you might want to consider just majoring in applied math and taking some extra bio type classes. </p>

<p>Applied math is typically easier for MIT people than engineering and med schools won't respect it any else.</p>

<p>
[quote]
There is no place with harder engineering classes than MIT.

[/quote]
Have you been to all the competitors and checked ;-) ?</p>

<p>collegealum, Biomedical Engineering is still a minor at MIT. I don't they've changed it. Biological Engineering on the other hand is a major.</p>

<p>BE is now course 20, and students could major in it starting with the class of 2008.</p>

<p>Regardless of the real or perceived difficulty, chem E is currently a phenomenally popular premed major. There are a lot of chem E/bio E-type premeds at MIT.</p>

<p>Mollie isn't course 20 Biological Engineering ? (Different from Biomedical)</p>

<p>thanks for all your feedback...i know about biological engineering ( a major) and that biomedical engineering is a minor....and btw...i'm not a guy, but actually a girl :)... and i guess the question now is mit over usc where i have a full scholarship plus a guaranteed medical program?</p>

<p>To me, BE is biological engineering (course 20), and BME is biomedical engineering (only a minor). :) Sorry to use ambiguous acronyms.</p>

<p>senior0007, have you visited both MIT and USC? Which academic/social environment did you like better? I think there's a lot to be said for choosing the place that makes you happy personally.</p>

<p>That's a tough choice. I've met a few MIT undergrads that turned down an assured spot in medical school and regretted it when they later couldn't get in one.</p>

<p>I'll warn you that engineering can be very different from science even in the way you think (i.e., in science you generally can derive something from the ground up whereas engineering the algorithms you are using may not be derivable.) If you find you don't like it, get out quick. Often freshman have this preconceived idea that physics and math would be too tough for them so they major in engineering and do worse. They are "hard" in different ways.</p>

<p>Also, be forewarned that some of the top medical schools demand your "hidden" grades from your pass/no record semester.</p>

<p>One advantage to BME at MIT is that they have some great HST (Harvard Medical Scientist Program) classes that are open to undergrads. Like tissue engineering, designing artificial organs using heat and mass transfer and stuff like that...</p>

<p>wow...those classes sound really cool..collegealum314...those people who get into medical school from MIt...do they get in because of a good gpa (is that a necessity) or do they get in because of amazing extracurrics/research?</p>

<p>mollie...yeah I've visited usc..and i really liked the atmosphere...like i saw people just like myself having a great time there..
I've visited boston..but not mit yet...but i will be there for campus preview weekend for two of the days...and maybe for a few days before...</p>

<p>see..the ultimate problem is...i know i'll have a great time as a doctor...but i can see myself in business and potentially if i decide i like business more...it might help to get a minor from the sloan school or just go to mit for undergrad</p>

<p>I talked to the Dean of Admissions at Harvard Medical School and he said they didn't care about GPA as long as you were "in the range", which he defined to be about 4.6/5.0 or above. </p>

<p>However, he added that he had a 3.8/5.0 in biology at MIT and got into Harvard Medical School anyway. He said he was screwing up in school and wasn't sure what he wanted to do in life, and then after sophomore year he discovered on a trip cross-country on a Harley Davidson that he wanted to be a doctor. After that he raised his GPA to a 3.8. He also claimed to have "totally awesome research" as an undergrad. Incidentally, he said he was rejected from all other medical schools he applied to. It tells you how subjective medical school admissions can be.</p>

<p>In general, though, just concentrate on the GPA. You can always take a year off after you get your degree and do some community service.
The best strategy is to spend as much time as you can studying your first two years until you establish yourself. You can do other stuff, but don't do things that are work to you. And try to get off-campus when you can (IAP and summer.) The campus can get to you.</p>

<p>One thing to note is that it may actually be easier to get a high math/science GPA at MIT than at other schools -- since first semester is pass/no record, you could get C's in some of your pre-med classes and not have to report them in your grade point average.</p>

<p>GPAs at MIT (and at most schools, I think) tend to rise as students go from freshman to senior year, so the ability to hide grades from freshman year which are typically not good can be an advantage.</p>

<p>I don't know about that. First of all, my premed classes were by far the easiest to do well in. They are much easier than engineering. People may not do well in the 1st semester classes, but that's mainly because they blow them off because they are Pass/No record.</p>

<p>Also, people should be warned that Johns Hopkins and Harvard both demand to see your "hidden grades" from your Pass/No record semester so be careful.</p>

<p>So about BME as a major, one of the 2A ("flexible mechanical engineering") concentrations is called BioTrack, which as two options: bio/premed and medical engineering. So there IS a BME major. Sort of. =)</p>

<p>More details here: <a href="http://web.mit.edu/me-ugoffice/2abiotracksv321.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.mit.edu/me-ugoffice/2abiotracksv321.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I've seen Course 20 labelled as "Applied Biological Sciences" before. Does that mean "Applied Biological Sciences" = BE?</p>