Techer advice for premed?

<p>D is flattered by CT's offer--best tech college no doubt in US, yeah! However, she also is in for UCB,LA and SD. She is waiting on several applications for 8-year sort of guaranteed BS/MD programs. So, is it worth the effort to get high GPA and work very hard among the geniuses of Caltech to prepare for med school? I heard CT's Bio is up and coming, and they send people to TOP grad schools. Any Techer premed care to advise?</p>

<p>Bump, is it a tough question? May be i rephrase it-- did any who chose Caltech over a guaranteed 4+4 BS/MD program regret it because CT is too competitive, has to do physics/math in more depth, or ended up failing your expectation?</p>

<p>Did you not apply to colleges such as Duke, Washu in St. Louis with good pre-med advise? I heard from several people that Caltech is very tough to get good GPA, and less than 10 students go to medical colleges every year from Caltech. Please correct me, if I am wrong.</p>

<p>10 students each year is still 4-5% of the class. But I’ve heard the same; med schools really do care about a high GPA, and Caltech really is not favorable to getting a high GPA.</p>

<p>Thx folks, but S1 is in Berkeley where grading, competition is all intensive for premed too. i also wonder if the intensive physics/math core as a Techer will be overwhelming to D2. On the brighter side, research project & advising will be more forthcming , given the smaller size of CT? In Berkeley, it’s just everyone for himself–UG research & advising kinda weak. My girl is waiting for Duke’s result, and Cornell has just send in a likely. </p>

<p>Oh, btw, she excels in AP physics B this year but is it good enough prep for Caltech physics core?</p>

<p>Your daughter should not come to Caltech if her primary goal in undergrad is to secure admission to med school. It is substantially harder (in terms of making students take math and physics) than virtually any other school will be. If she is willing to accept that challenge, realizing it may prevent her from getting into med school, fine. The scientists we put out are top notch, and that includes those going to med school. If she just wants to be a doctor and heal sick people, she should go somewhere else.</p>

<p>Physics B will be good enough prep in the sense that she may be able to do fine with only Physics B (I did), but doing well in Physics B is certainly not a guarantee of doing well in Caltech core, which is a lot harder than any AP course.</p>

<p>I am posting this for my son. Caltech vs Duke for pre-med. Advise from experienced people from previous years is greatly appreciated. Assume financial aid is same. I want hear academic side comparision. Small school, big school, weather, and other factors aren’t important to us. Thanks</p>

<p>Like Lizzardfire said,</p>

<p>Caltech has a very rigorous set of core requirements. Nowhere else will they make premeds take quantum mechanics. Unless your son is really sure that he wants a very rigorous and thorough math/science background, Caltech is not the place for him. If all he wants to do is go to med school and become a doctor, go to a place that customizes their program for premeds.</p>

<p>Basically what Lizzardfire just said…</p>

<p>I do feel like adding though, that if your son wants to do serious medical research, then I feel he should consider Caltech a little more. However, most clinical research consists of running clinical trials for some pharmaceutical company, and for that you don’t need a Caltech background.</p>

<p>When I look at this page at Caltech web site, it seems to me that Caltech still provides good support for students who want to get into medical school.</p>

<p>[Caltech</a> Undergraduate Admissions: Preparing for Medical School](<a href=“http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/learning/premed]Caltech”>http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/learning/premed)</p>

<p>I would advise against coming to Caltech for premed unless you are either a UCSD medical scholar or if you are sure you want to do an MD/PhD.</p>

<p>It is true that it is difficult to maintain a high GPA at Caltech. People who had straight As in high school sometimes find themselves struggling to maintain a 3.5 or even lower. Certainly, some people here do very well, but there is no guarantee. This isn’t as much of a problem for graduate schools, but med school admissions tends to look heavily at grades, and if you don’t make a 3.5 or better you probably will have a hard time getting in. </p>

<p>Some of this is mitigated by good research experience and recommendations, both of which I would guess are easier to get at Caltech than most other schools. Anyone can do a SURF at Caltech who wants one, and getting to know pretty famous profs is fairly simple if you are willing to make an effort. </p>

<p>However, unless you are a UCSD med scholar or set on being an MD/PhD, I doubt that coming to Caltech for medical school is worth it. Caltech’s focus is, IMO, research, so unless you want to do research in addition to medical school (an perhaps even if you do want to do research), you’re likely better off somewhere else. There’s no reason to take 5 terms of math and physics to be a premed, so unless there’s something about Caltech that makes you think you wouldn’t be as happy anywhere else, I’d skip it. </p>

<p>(I realized this question is being asked by a parent on behalf of their child, but writing “your child” got tedious and confusing, so I switched to second person.</p>

<p>It isn’t tough to get a decent GPA without working that hard. 3.5 is probably like 20th percentile with 4.0 like 90th. A’s are handed out liberally and it’s pretty easy to ‘cherrypick’ classes to bolster your GPA. Furthermore it’s easy to become resident lab ***** for an established professor and get the stellar recs you need. That said Tech probably isn’t the best place to go for pre-med but it certainly isn’t as bad as people like to state.</p>

<p>^ This guy is a font of misinformation, considering that the median gpa is way less than a 3.5.</p>

<p>Considering I’m one of those people who’re below average at Tech, I’m gonna politely ask you to message me who you are so I remember you for being a huge ******.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/uploads/File/general/MedScholars2010withImages.pdf[/url]”>http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/uploads/File/general/MedScholars2010withImages.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
“The median GPA for Caltech’s Class of 2008 was 3.5”</p>

<p>I would say it is safe to assume it has only gotten higher since then, and will continue its ascent as the upperclassmen graduate and the grade inflation worsens.</p>

<p>I’m going to hazard a guess that brochure was misprinted, on the grounds that it makes absolutely no sense that the median GPA would be 3.5.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>So, wouldn’t that make a 3.5 the 50th percentile if the brochure was printed correctly? Also, given the placement of the printed medium, that leaves a lot of room for a long tail to the lower GPAs since you can only get up to a 4.0, but it’s very feasible to go below a 3.0.</p>

<p>I’m copying a prior post of mine because I think it’s relevant:</p>

<p>"A desire to go to a prestigious med school need not be mutually exclusive with a willingness to learn fundamental mathematics and science.</p>

<p>If the question is, “can I get into a good med school with a Caltech education?” the answer is yes. Will it require a substantial amount of coursework not found in a typical pre-med education? Yes.</p>

<p>I agree that if you don’t have a fundamental desire to actually learn mathematics and science, then Caltech is not a good fit. That being said, having such a desire should not preclude one from pursuing a medical career, and I would argue that an admissions committee for a top Medical School would be impressed by a candidate who challenged him/herself with learning something like Quantum Mechanics, even if it is irrelevant to medicine.</p>

<p>So I guess it all comes down to whether the original poster has this fundamental desire to actually learn about science and mathematics; if this desire is not strong then I would agree that Caltech would not help towards your goal of going to a good med school. However if you do have this fundamental interest, and enough of it (and native ability) to get through the rigors of Caltech, you can give yourself a good opportunity to go to a prestigious medical program."</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Why would you assume that it has gotten higher in under 2 years? Especially 30% higher?</p>

<p>Even given that statistic, a 50% chance to even be considered competitive for med school isn’t exactly that great.</p>

<p>I would also say that it’s not as easy to “cherrypick” classes at Caltech because there is usually a fairly large number of strict requirements (as people have mentioned the 5 terms math and physics).</p>

<p>I had to get my class rank for a grad school app, and based on it I’d believe that a 3.5 is a median GPA for seniors. This doesn’t mean that a 3.5 is easy. As other people have said, I don’t think that number is likely to rise very much in the near future.</p>

<p>I agree with the other posters that if you really want to do medicine, Caltech probably isn’t the place for you. However, if you want to do research along with medicine, then Caltech may be a good fit- but you should definitely visit and talk to people who are doing what you want to do.</p>

<p>What school or type of program asked you for your class rank in grad school? That seems like such a ridiculous comparison given the different in typical GPAs across all of the majors at schools.</p>

<p>RacinReaver: Only Georgia Tech asked for it. They also asked for a major rank, but Caltech doesn’t have that so I took a conservative guess.</p>