<p>I got into harvard, stanford and yale. I don't know which school to pick for premed. Can anyone help me with my decision? In my application I said I wanted to be a biology major. I'm considering majoring in something nonscience as well (english or economics, not too sure at this point). </p>
<p>Hopefully someone went to these schools so they can talk about counselors, undergraduate research, MCAT scores, GPA, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/202936-good-pre-med-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/202936-good-pre-med-schools.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/682793-decisions-decisions.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/682793-decisions-decisions.html</a></p>
<p>I really dont think any one will give you THAT much of an advantage over the other.
I say dont go to Harvard. My cousin when there and HATED it, transferred to Stanford and LOVED it then she went to Caltech for grad school. I really like Yale most out of all three. It all depends on you though. I think that I would go with Yale over Stanford even though I love CA. Stanford is more sports oriented than the other two school and I’m not big into sports.</p>
<p>I’d say Yale</p>
<p>I’m rather astonished at how inadequate the advising at Harvard (no centralized office, depend heavily on rotating graduate students) and Stanford (often give terrible advice, don’t even write a committee letter) is.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, the students perform pretty well.</p>
<p>My D is a premed, English major at Y. I’m not sure if they don’t permit or just don’t encourage double majors, but I’ve heard something to that effect. She hasn’t been impressed by the premed advising one way or the other thus far, but she doesn’t really have much to compare it to. She shadowed a doctor at the Med school last semester, but it seems like you’d be able to do that at any of the schools. She volunteers at the community clinic and at the hospital. Not sure about undergrad research, she’ll be doing that this summer at another college. If you’re receiving FA, Y has great support for summer programs, they will pay the percent of FA you’re receiving towards the cost of the program plus supply the amount of the expected student summer earnings (about 2.5k). Don’t know how that stacks up to the other schools.</p>
<p>The only thing I know as far as grading is that her BioChem course last semester was limited to 20% As.</p>
<p>I’d go by the basic guideline of going to the school where you’ll be the happiest as I don’t think you’re going to find major differences between those three.</p>
<p>Yale, for sure. Happier students than at Harvard and a greater number of premeds getting accepted to med schools than at Stanford.</p>
<p>My son was in your shoes two years ago (same three schools). After visiting the three schools, he decided to attend Yale. He is a pre-med now. He has said many times that he would make the same choice again. However, he has had a few professors who are not very good at teaching. Nevertheless, he is happy and doing well. He did summer research on campus after the first year and this summer he is going overseas for an internship. His plan is to go to Yale for 4 years and then apply to medical schools in other places.</p>
<p>Stanford is #1 for biology, and they are very successful with med school rates. Either Stanford or Yale. </p>
<p>From what I hear from my sister, Harvard pre-meds are very miserable, and the kids aren’t as happy as Stanford and Yale.</p>
<p>Well, my daugher is at Harvard and premed (neurobiology concentration). She and other premed students are quite happy with their decisions. Undergraduate research is a given especially with all the hospitals associated with the medical school. She has had research grants at Beth Israel and at Boston Children’s hospital every year from freshman on including every summer. Also its nice to be able to get recommendations from those who are on the medical school admissions committee. I do have to admit however, we haven’t been as pleased with the advising.</p>
<p>I don’t know what “Stanford is #1 for biology” means, unless it’s some kind of reference to faculty research productivity. Their rates are a little bit lower than either Harvard’s or Yale’s; this might be because of their location in California and the difficulty of UC medical schools.</p>
<p>I’m just perpetually shocked that a school of that caliber doesn’t even write a committee letter. That’s a pretty severe deficiency.</p>
<p>Agree with bluedevilmike.</p>
<p>Is it a disadvantage to do premed at Harvard compared to Yale, because the hospitals are not right there on the undergrad campus?</p>
<p>As a premed you do not need hospitals on your undergrad campus. You are not in med school. Why would you think that?</p>
<p>Because it is advantageous to demonstrate that you have done physicians shadowing, hospital volunteering, and medical research in order to gain admission to a medical school.</p>
<p>What hospital is on the Yale campus??</p>
<p>Harvard’s hospital is in Longwood, relatively far away from Harvard’s undergraduate campus; it’s a long walk even after a pretty substantial trip on the T including a transfer. Probably forty minutes each way. Yale’s is the Yale New Haven Hospital, which is easily walking distance from the Yale campus.</p>
<p>I can imagine that this would make a premed’s life slightly easier, but this is a basically irrelevant factor.</p>
<p>“Harvard’s hospital is in Longwood, relatively far away from Harvard’s undergraduate campus; it’s a long walk even after a pretty substantial trip on the T including a transfer.”</p>
<p>There isn’t any transfer - there is a bus that connects Harvard with HMS, the business school etc - for free. Yale - New Haven hospital is not exactly in the best of places to walk to.</p>
<p>Fair enough, but I’d take the T over a bus unless I happened to just catch it at exactly the right moment. And YNHH is perfectly fine during the day.</p>
<p>Again, this is absolutely too small a difference to base something like a college decision on.</p>
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<p>What on earth are you talking about? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that area. I walk to and from that area at 11 p.m. to do research at the medical school two-three times a week, with no worries. For those who don’t feel as safe as I do, a bus runs routes regularly around the hospital and medical school every 15 minutes.</p>
<p>Are you knowledgeable enough to be giving any advice on Yale?</p>
<p>I live 1/2 an hour away and brought my wife to that hospital many times.</p>