<p>I've wondered if Princeton students get any good pre-med opportunities, because from what it looks to me it seems as if going to Princeton for pre-med is a disadvantage. Correct me if I am wrong on any of these points:</p>
<ol>
<li>Grade deflation</li>
<li>No hospitals within walking distance to volunteer/shadow at</li>
<li>The only biology-related major at Princeton is molecular biology, slim pickings compared to other schools which can have the option of 3 or more biology related majors, such as neuroscience, microbiology, biochemistry, etc. Also, a single molecular biology department, no matter how good, cannot compare to a university with its own medical school in terms of biomedical research opportunities, especially if the medical school is near the undergraduate campus</li>
</ol>
<p>I think the only reason that Princeton places well for medical school is because its students are brilliant and ambitious.</p>
<p>Let’s throw in a comparison of UPenn’s pre-med opportunities, for example:</p>
<ol>
<li>Less grade deflation than Princeton</li>
<li>3 hospitals on campus, one of which is located near the freshman quad dorms</li>
<li>Choice of possible biology-related majors: Biochemistry, Biological Basis of Behavior, Biology, Biophysics, Cognitive Science, etc, etc.</li>
</ol>
<p>Princeton kinda sucks for pre-med.</p>
<p>You are definitely right about #1.</p>
<h1>2 is not true - there is a hospital where many students volunteer/shadow about a 15 minute walk from campus.</h1>
<h1>3 is sort of true. There’s mol bio and EEB (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology). We also offer a neuroscience certificate, quantitative biology certificate, biophysics certificate, and some other biology related certificates (these are like minors). I don’t quite see what difference this makes sense “microbiology” majors and “molecular biology” majors who enjoy microbiology would do almost the exact same crap at any school. Our Mol Bio department is pretty beastly, but I definitely agree that it’s in no way comparable to HMS, Yale SoM, UCLA Geffen, etc. in terms of biomedical research opportunities.</h1>
<p>UPenn kids as a whole are subpar to Princeton kids yet Princeton only gets about 5% more kids accepted to medical school (86% as compared to ~91%). If all you care about is getting into med school, you should choose UPenn.</p>
<p>(If you care about college experience, learning, being challenged, etc. - come to Princeton!)</p>
<p>On a side note, I made a whole thread about this:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/638622-princeton-premeds-not-great.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/638622-princeton-premeds-not-great.html</a></p>
<p>We had a whole argument about it.</p>
<p>Thanks for clarifying some things, and thanks for linking to your thread (didn’t know there was one :/)</p>
<p>About the hospital nearby, how big is it? I guess what I mean is that the bigger the hospital, the more specialties there are. For example, Columbia has a hospital on campus, St. Luke’s Roosevelt, but it is a little small and focuses only on EM and OB/GYN, so if a kid wants to shadow a radiologist or other specialized field they will have to go elsewhere because it has no such department. </p>
<p>I’m in college already but I know someone who wants to go pre-med and whose top choice is Princeton.</p>
<p>What? Columbia has the NY Presbytarian a short bus ride away.</p>
<p>The hospital nearby is pretty average sized (not a huge one). Does it really make a difference how many specialties there are? I’m not planning on doing any shadowing in that hospital - I’ll shadow in hospitals at home during my breaks. And I know someone who shadowed at UPenn’s Children’s Hospital a train ride away.</p>
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<p>Yeah, that’s what I meant by going elsewhere.</p>
<p>Well, all I have to say is this: if the person you know is smart enough, Princeton is the best place for him or her. If your friend wants to go to the most advantageous pre-med school, I and many other pre-meds here can assure you that this is not the place. YALE is probably pre-med heaven (too bad Yale sucks).</p>
<p>Don’t forget about the Woodrow Wilson school at Princeton, great for premeds who want to study health policy and global health. </p>
<p>I think that Princeton is a great school for pre-med, tons of research opportunities, as a science major, you work closely with multiple professors, which is great for developing relationships with potential letter of recommendation writers. </p>
<p>All in all, I think grade deflation is overrated in terms of how “unfair” it is to Princeton med school applicants. I’ve never felt that I received a grade I didn’t deserve; if anything, it’s made me work harder to try to actually understand material, instead of just coasting through doing little work. Princeton is a lot of work, but it’s very rewarding to do well.</p>
<p>I’ve got a couple of questions too. Looked around for this one, but does anyone know Princeton’s med school acceptance rates for certain GPA ranges?</p>
<p>Also, how does Princeton’s opportunities for pre-med compare to those at MIT? I know both have excellent teaching programs and are “difficult” to get relatively high GPAs at (Princeton having grade deflation and MIT just being hard), but what about research opportunities and advising?</p>
<p>Going back to the original poster’s questions, grade deflation does not seem to have affected Princeton’s medical school admissions. 93% of the Princeton students who applied to medical school in 2009 were accepted versus 92% in 2004 (the last class to graduate before new grading standards went into effect).</p>