Is Schreyer honor college good for pre-med students?
If you like Penn State, then involvement with SHC will only enhance your opportunities for pre-med. If your decision is between going to Penn State as a Schreyer Honors student or going to Penn State as one of the general students, by far and away, participating in SHC will be beneficial. You have to keep in mind that to be competitive to any medical school, your GPA is critical. If you’re worried about maintaining the required GPA to stay in the Schreyer Honors College, then you need to worry about your ability to be competitive to get into medical school. SHC will only help you in this. There are dedicated advisors in SHC for pre-health majors.
Now if you’re asking about Penn State - SHC versus Pitt, I’d recommend Pitt.
@QuietType - Why do you say U Pitt is better than SHC for pre-med?
I’ve had kids at both schools, so I think I can be objective here… Pitt has so many opportunities for pre-health majors in research, internships, job-shadowing, etc. Pitt has highly ranked schools for medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, physical therapy and so forth. All of these health science schools are on the Pitt campus, to say nothing about five or so world class hospitals within walking distance. Penn State has a decent medical school, but it’s an hour drive away.
D1 just graduated from Pitt Pharmacy last year and the opportunities she had were amazing. She had two paid medical research jobs, paid internships, published in peer-reviewed journals, presented in national conferences, traveled to Central America on a medical mission, was a named Fellow in two national medical programs. She worked directly with medical doctors, dentists, nurses, psychiatrists, and other medical professionals in an interdisciplinary environment. All of which happened because she was at Pitt, and, for the vast majority, all her opportunities took place there in Oakland.
Penn State is a great school and D2, who is a Schreyer scholar, loves it. And being in SHC is a fantastic benefit. But she’s not in the pre-med, pre-health field. D1 turned down her SHC acceptance to go to PItt and it’s honors program. Neither kid regrets their decision.
I got accepted to both U Pitt honors and SHC. Having tough time to make right decision…
I have heard SHC is very good academically compared to U Pitt; but Pitt offers good opportunities for research, shadowing and internship.
U Pitt medical acceptance is good, but not many kids have gone into good medical schools.