<p>
Actually the odds of success are not that daunting if you see the process all the way thru. “thousands of applicants for each spot in med school” is an extreme exaggeration. There are many applicants for each spot because people applying for med school apply to many schools, but nowhere near “thousands”. The admit rate runs in cycles based on how the economy was doing when the applicants entered college, ranging from a high of more than 1/2 of all applicants getting in to a low of about 1/3. I suspect that given the economy the admit rates the next few years may set a new low, dropping close to 1/4.</p>
<p>As for the “weed-out” classes and the curve, again I beg to disagree. Have you ever looked at the distribution of scores for tests in class like o-chem? It’s a rhetorical question, because the answer is sure to be “no”. The curve isn’t splitting students who have pretty much the same ability into arbitrary categories of A, B, and C. The difference between A- and B+, maybe, but anyone who’s actually seen real data as opposed to speculating what it must show knows that some students get it and many don’t. And the reason, ironically enough, come in the poster’s next paragraph. I think most people in these classes have the raw intelligence to succeed if they wanted to. The issue is it takes a lot of time and dedication to do well in these tough classes. When the rubber hits the road, many find they prefer hanging out with their friends and enjoying the pleasures of college instead of haunting the library.</p>
<p>Many of the other points made in this thread are quite valid, however. Claiming “pre-med” gives some prestige, and college students know far too little about the jobs available once they graduate. Hence the dominance of pre-med, pre-law, etc. I’d guess investment banker is less popular now than a few years ago.
Oh really? Care to suggest some specific jobs these people can find?</p>