Wellesley also has a phenomenal alum network.
Thanks a lot for the help everyone! Will let you know what i pick 
Most of the premeds at Duke are taking gap years after graduating. The premed advisor is suggesting this to make the applicants more competitive. So going to Duke as a premed is generally a 5 year commitment.
Given Brown’s generous grading, sounds like that’s where you should go if Med school is your ultimate goal. Wellesley is a great school but grade deflation and proximity to academic medical centers def should be taken into account.
It sounds like you already know what school is best for you but are letting others’ opinions rattle you.
Unhappy students don’t excel anywhere.
Unfortunately, after talking to the administration at my school, including the Principal and Director, i was advised to choose Duke because of the 85% med school acceptance rate. They said it was a no brainer and that Duke was the obvious choice, followed by Brown, and then Wellesley. Are there real advantages to going to Duke as pre-med vs going to Wellesley? I cant find out much about how good Wellesley is for pre-med. 85% vs 70% is a pretty big difference.
That 85% is NOT based on students who start at Duke as premeds burning seniors who apply and the number can be manipulated.
Based onwhat you said it sounds like the school you like LEAST. Don’t go somewhere because your school officials like it, THEY aren’t going there for four years.
Honestly if you’re not going to choose your favorite one pick Brown at least, due to open curriculum and generous grading policy.
@MYOS1634 I dont hate Duke or anything, in fact when applying, Duke was my dream school. I’m just apprehensive of the competitive environment, in terms of academics as well as clubs. The campus is beautiful though.
I will give you my best advice as a father of a son who just choose Duke among several great schools. Follow your heart. You clearly don’t want to go to Duke.
You are clearly smart, motivated and talented based upon the options in front of you. The schools due their best to select candidates who are the best fit. The individual best positioned however to make that determination is the student.
Don’t worry about the outcome because you have no bad or better options. You only have the one that is right for you.
Good luck.
You have good reason to be apprehensive. Your instincts are not leading you astray. Wellesley has many illustrious grads who have gone on to do great things. Now, should you base your decision on others who came before you? Maybe not, but it says something very powerful about Wellesley when you consider what its grads have gone on to do. They saw a quality in you that made them want you. That’s a high compliment. I honestly do not have a great opinion of Duke because its Greek Life scene is very dominant. Being successful at college is much easier if you are comfortable with the student body.
If you are overseas, tbh, I am not sure your counselors are giving you the best advice. I suspect they are pushing Duke because THEY want bragging rights. Wellesley is VERY prestigious. Read the posts again by @happy1 and @MYOS1634 . Every med school will know about Wellesley and grade deflation. Getting into med school will also depend on your MCAT score. And remember, kids from state schools get into med school. Going to Duke will not guarantee anything and is not a magical boost over Wellesley.
You need to do what works for you, not your school or your friends. If the finances are of concern at all, it seems sensible to save some money and still go to a top-notch college that speaks to you.
I will say at least you’re choosing from 3 schools from which I’ve never met an alumnus/alumna who didn’t enjoy it. Can’t say the same for a lot of my classmates that went to peer schools of those 3.
To make things more confusing, Duke just notified me of my aid award and its almost $8,000 greater than Wellesley’s.
A good problem to have! No bad choice among that group of schools.
Yeah true! I am grateful to have options
“I’m just apprehensive of the competitive environment, in terms of academics as well as clubs.”
Wellesley’s environment is deemed to be competitive by many.
If I were you, I’d seriously consider Brown.
But wellesley provides a lot of support
So now Duke is giving you the most aid? Well, that might change things. You might get more money out of Wellesley. If you really like it, I would ask for sure. And yes, I have heard Wellesley is competitive, but I’ve also heard that there is a lot of support and camaraderie. I get them, because it’s all about being empowered as a woman.
If Wellesley or Brown are your firdt choice, show ONE of them your Duke offer. State clearly that’s where you want to go but Duke is offering you more so you’re being pushed to Duke. See if they can come up with a better offer.
I imagine Wellesley would be more likely to match an offer than Brown since, like Duke, it can offer merit aid.
Duke alum here. The 85% acceptance rate thing is a bit of a cooked number. As it includes only those who apply to medical school. Doesn’t include those who dropped out as pre-meds before applying. Also note my previous comment that a large % of Duke premeds nowadays are taking a gap year. So this also artificially inflates the acceptance rate.
I wouldn’t focus on the acceptance rate. Instead focus on where you will be most happy. Brown certainly has its plusses. You will certainly have an easier time getting good grades at Brown. The sweet spot for med school admissions is a GPA above 3.8 and MCAT above 514. See link below from the AAMC:
https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstablea23.pdf
If you are a good student then the MCAT shouldn’t be that much of a problem. But the GPA can be tough, especially if you’re taking premed classes.
By in large, admissions committees in medical school don’t adjust grades for the ‘rigor’ of a particular undergraduate degree. Many years ago I used to review med school applications for a well known private med school. We would routinely reject all the candidates from a particular school, because their GPAs were not up to par. This is because medicine is a discipline which requires lots of reading an memorization. The best way to estimate how a potential student would do in med school is to look at their science grades, and overall GPA. A string of B’s would surely kill you. I remember times where we would reject every single applicant from notable schools like MIT and Princeton. Only later in my career would I find out how difficult the grading curves at some of these schools could be. Is this fair? No, but its how things are done. Now if you have no trouble getting all A’s and will graduate with a 4.0 then it doesn’t matter where you go.
So bottom line: pick somewhere where you think it will be easiest to get as high of a GPA as possible. It doesn’t look like Duke is the best fit, based upon what I’ve read above from the Brown folks.
^ Duke doesn’t prevent anyone from applying to medical school as far as I know (I seem to recall someone saying that Hopkins will refuse to provide a committee letter to a subpar applicant).