Southern Methodist University
pros: $10,000/year, close to UT Southwestern (research), easier to get higher GPAs
cons: Double Major (music performance) which will take up time that could be used for ECs, rich preppy stigma (which I abhor)
Vanderbilt
pros: prestige (I know, I’m shallow and superficial), professors, better fit, Vanderbilt Med School (research)
cons: $40,000/year, probably a lower GPA
I plan on attending med school. So, any advice?
(By the way, I posted this in the HS Topics section but no one replied so I posted it here too, so don’t be surprised when you seen an identical post)
For someone planning to study medicine, Money decisions trump everything else. You need lots of money to attend medical school and if you are borrowing for undergrad or med school, you want to spend the least amount for undergrad.
Not sure why you need to do a double major at SMU. Is that a scholarship requirement? If not, it is not relevant and it is a self imposed burden.
If you are a Texas resident, you will get into medical school as long as you keep a good GPA (3.7 -3.8), get a 38 on the new MCAT and do research and volunteering. After that it comes down to money.
It is difficult to double major in diametrically-opposed areas under the “new” UC at SMU, despite what the recruiters may tell you. My student, who is on the pre-med track, originally hoped to triple major in music and two hard sciences. Because of the ridiculous constraints of the UC, it would have been impossible to graduate in four years. Even with a double major in the sciences and a minor in music, s/he takes 18 hours every semester plus May term and often summer classes and is still “iffy” on meeting the UC requirements in four years. The UC is fairly new and is still being adjusted. This has been problematic for my student - a sort of UC guinea pig.
Yes, music performance will take up a tremendous amount of time. But I still don’t understand why you “have” to double major. Isn’t music performance enough? Does SMU not allow you to take pre-req courses unless you are a science major?
Thanks IWBB for that high school student topics post. I’m still learning the ways of college confidential, so I’m sorry if I offended any of you “old-timers”. I did get into Brown. But, if I’m debating the cost of $40,000, would I be willing to spend $60,000?
^I can just do music performance but I don’t want to just graduate with a music degree. I want to take a lot of science classes so that I can learn a lot and also become close with professors who might have spots for me in their labs.
^ If you want to take a lot of science classes then do so. This in no way means you must have another major. If you double major, you will be forced to take classes that may or may not be relevant to your goals or interesting to you and (more important) will eat up your precious time.
I have a daughter who is a music major and takes about 18 credits a semester. Virtually all of her classes are required for her major, so it would be nearly impossible to squeeze in a second, unrelated major. She was also a Div. I athlete, but by sophomore year it was apparent that she could not do both so she gave up her sport. Music is just too time-consuming and inflexible.
However, you should know that I once saw an article (I apologize for not having the citation) that showed that music majors have the highest acceptance rates into medical school of all college majors. Higher than STEM majors, higher than liberal arts. As long as you have a good GPA, good grades in the required pre-med science courses and ace the MCATs, you are actually at an advantage.
Although humanities majors do quite well in admissions, math & statistics majors do just as well if not slightly better. (46% vs 47%).
But the issue with making a blanket statement about the success of either cohort is that the number of students who apply to med school with either set of majors is quite small <2000 for humanities and <500 for math &stats. The small dataset means the self-selection bias skews the results dramatically.
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^ If you want to take a lot of science classes then do so. This in no way means you must have another major. If you double major, you will be forced to take classes that may or may not be relevant to your goals or interesting to you and (more important) will eat up your precious time.
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This^^ (very much!!!)
Major in music and take science courses that interest you that you will do well in. Forget the double major. You could sink yourself.
Personally, I only know two Vandy students who started out as premed. Neither were able to maintain the GPAs to be viable candidates for med school. I believe there is a premed poster currently with the same situation, lowish GPA at Vandy. Vandy doesn’t seem to be the best choice if one’s goal is med school…too risky for GPA.
My brother actually is currently double majoring in music and biochem at SMU so I know that it is doable (this probably just totally gave away my identity, oh well). I will definitely be thinking about dropping biochemistry though.
I would go to Brown. Probably one of the most grade inflated schools in the country with a reported average GPA above 3.6 with an excellent reputation and happy students. The average at SMU and Vanderbilt is reportedly closer to 3.2. Since the most likely scenario is that you would be close to average why not attend a school where average gets you a GPA that might very well get you into medical school? Brown and Vanderbilt also meet full financial need so if you have need you would probably come out of either with about $25K in loans. Both schools would also likely offer you more future options if you decide against medical school although SMU is good for Dallas. If, however your parents are full pay, than SMU becomes a more interesting option if your parents would fund your medical school with the savings not used for Brown. I should also say that I have no idea as to the relative strengths and weaknesses of the music departments of each respective school and this might be important to you despite the fact that it is not your ultimate future.
@mjscal, you know Brown’s not actually on the table here, right? I was just being obnoxious about OP posting about two specific schools in the pre-med section instead of making posts in their respective sections on CC (one of my personal pet peeves).