Selecting a Pre-Med School

College Search & Selection
1

I got into Boston University’s Boston London Program, Baylor, Cal Poly, and the University of Washington. Of these universities, which one should I attend to maximize my chances of getting into a good medical school or MD/Ph.D. program.

"Note: I am from California

2

Net price at each?

3

Baylor = 43K
UWash = 53K
CalPoly = 30k

But CalPoly may be ruled out due to lack of premed activities like the abundance of lab and hospital opportunities

4

What about BU costs?

5

which CP? SLO or Pomona?

Plenty of opportunities for research at SLO. SAT/ACT score?

6

Go to Cal Poly and ace your courses.

7

If you want to go pre-med then think about:

  1. The cheapest reasonable college so you/your parents can use the money for med school
  2. The college needs to prepare you for MCATs but still allow you to get a good GPA
  3. Access to volunteering opportunities (e.g., near a hospital)
  4. Success in graduates getting into med school
  5. Options if you don’t go to med school. You think you are going to med school, but less than 20% of pre-med freshman actually do.
8

SLO

9

Does CalPoly SLO have adequate hospital access to allow for undergrads to get volunteer/shadowing experience? Because I have heard that the hospital is extremely small and usually only upperclassmen get the chance to work at the hospital.

10

Also is there any benefit in going to a higher ranked school and paying more vs a lesser ranked school and paying less? Do med schools care about the undergrad school’s “name”?

11

med schools care about GPA, MCAT and ref. letters. just like undergrad has the things they hype (test scores, grades, national awards (national merit finalist, Siemens award etc…) med schools tout GPA, MCAT and to a lesser extent schools represented. you are better off being the top ranked med student at SLO than the 50th ranked kid from Duke.

12

@bluebayou My SAT score = 1510

13

Baylor is a solid school for pre-Med and makes you Texas resident and eligible for affordable Texas medical schools. What extra you pay now, you save later.

14

BU is going to possibly be the most expensive of your options and the school that deflates grades the most.

Baylor may be the best premed option but note that its medical school is actually located in Houston.

15

https://www.tmdsas.com/medical/residency.html indicates that those who did not graduate high school in Texas but attend college in Texas do not automatically gain residency for Texas medical school purposes.

16

@Hamurtle Baylor College of Medicine is not part of Baylor University.

17

A 1500 SAT and California residency, no UC option? (That would be preferable over SLO.)

18

I have been waitlisted at UCSD and UCSB. And am appealing UCLA, UCB, UCI, and UCD. Hoping to get into Davis via appeal as I have been interning at a lab there and should be able to get a rec letter from a post-doc.

19

No UCSC, UCR, or UCM admission?

UC recalculated weighted capped GPA?

20

@premed20172023 I’d like to ask a different question from @ucbalumnus . . . sorry, but I’d like to know what your unweighted gpa was for sophomore and junior years (a-g), and I’d like to know your fully weighted for both years also. I’m not concerned with UC gpa because you’ve undoubtedly met the mins.

Generally, are you short on honors courses (catch word for all thus designated A/Ps, etc)?