I’m a freshman at a top 10 liberal arts college and I dislike my school and would like to transfer. Due to the pandemic, I was not able to carefully select what school to commit to since all in-person events were closed. I would like to transfer to a college that has more pre-med resources since my current school is lacking. It’s best to transfer as soon as possible and the deadlines are coming up quickly.
I’m trying to make a list of colleges and I’m struggling. I’m looking for colleges that aren’t super cutthroat, have affiliated hospitals or local ones, and strong research. Some schools that I’m liking are Northeastern, UPitt, UIUC.
My stats from high school are really strong, but I didn’t do too well my first semester (GPA 3.4). My college grades won’t allow me to apply to competitive schools but that’s not an issue for me. I just want to find schools that I can see myself thriving at and having better opportunities for pre-med. Help!
@ucbalumnus My GPA is based on one semester and I was struggling with online learning while transitioning into college. This coming semester I feel better prepared and more comfortable with my classes. I’m just trying to find schools that will offer my resources for me to do in the future.
This Princeton Review article appears to associate hospital research opportunities with summer activities, and perhaps a post-graduation year:
In that your academic performance will be essential to your medical school application (more so than research experience), you may want to consider transfer options at which your level of preparation might be more competitive than at your current school in relation to the general student profile.
What is your budget for a full eight years? Are you and your parents okay with spending roughly $300,000 for the first four years and then another $400,000 for medical school? Are you taking on debt where you are now?
What is your home state?
The pandemic has been tough for every college and university and also for every student. Things are likely to get get better where you are once the pandemic is over (which of course will depend upon how fast we can all get vaccinated). It is hard to beat a “a top 10 liberal arts college” in any one of multiple dimensions.
“Premed”, “top 10”, and “aren’t super cutthroat” are hard to combine. Any good premed program is going to have exceptionally difficult classes and some exams with class averages in the 40’s among a group of very strong and highly committed students. That is what premed is all about.
I have a daughter at a small university in Canada which is about as close as Canada gets to a “liberal arts college”. Her experience has made me a big fan of small schools such as LACs. Getting to know your professors is important, and of course the pandemic makes this a lot more difficult. The professors where you are probably have connections to medical facilities and research labs that are not obvious until you know the professors and ask.
I’m from NJ and I want to see if I can transfer to a larger research institution, which I have been accepted to before. UPitt and my current LAC came down to the same price so the issue wasn’t money. I feel like I’m missing out on a lot of volunteering and cool activities that one would have at a larger school. My LAC has poor pre-med activities and alumni had to take on average 2-4 gap years just to get in a Caribbean or DO school. This scares me and I feel that I should go to a school that has alumni who actually go to MD schools. Should I just stick it through?? Some LACs have affiliations and volunteer programs, but mine only has one way for us to volunteer. I feel that since my parents are paying for my tuition I should go to a school where I have a lot of resources to do well.
I hope you realize that this past semester was heavily influenced by COVID. It’s possible that your current school will be significantly better after we get COVID under control. It’s also possible that the schools you are targeting now are having the same problems.
My son goes to one of the schools you mention (Pitt). He isn’t premed so I can’t comment specifically on that, I can tell you that clubs have been virtual this year, and students living dorms are delayed moving back onto campus for spring semester. COVID has affected the experience everywhere.
From what I’ve seen, in the unusual past semester, more than half of students at some top liberal arts colleges have made Dean’s List (often 3.5+). If you do stay at your current school, you will need to earn grades that place you at least within the top half of your class next semester, and then continue to improve from there, to have a chance of reaching your goal of admission to an M.D. program.
Does your son enjoy Pitt? I wasn’t able to visit due to the pandemic and I felt that it was a better fit for me compared to my LAC. I was just afraid to commit to a school that I have never visited. My LAC has a lot of cheating so thats why half of the school makes Dean’s List. I just want to go to a school where its less toxic and people do there own work tbh
My son likes Pitt but his main criteria in choosing a school was “big and in a city”. It will probably be the opposite of your LAC in that regard. The other big difference will be class size. While there are some small classes many of the intro classes that you take in your first couple years are run as large lectures. It will be a very different experience. Finally, premed at Pitt is not easy. Lots of people go there intending to be premed but most of them changing out of premed after taking the required courses and not doing well enough in them.
I have a hard time understanding how this can be true for a Top 10 school. We looked at lots of LACs and didn’t see anything like this. Most pre-med activities, though, are something students do OFF campus, over the summer, or in their spare time. A hospital doesn’t need to be affiliated with a college for you to be able to volunteer there. I know quite a few LAC grads who are in MD schools right now, and a few others who will be starting this Fall. Gap years aren’t usually taken because the college itself is lacking - they are often taken because students find great opportunities they don’t want to miss.
It sounds like you are generally unhappy at your college, so it makes sense to consider a transfer, but know that many first year students are unhappy this year due to all the changes with Covid. In the meantime, can you meet with your premed advisor - maybe he or she can help you find some opportunities you’d like.
The top 10 LAC I go to is very strong in econ and government; however, its in an isolated area. Students aren’t able to volunteer or shadow throughout the semester like students at other colleges. I feel like summers are important, but I want to be productive throughout the semester as well. The pre-med activities at my school are run through other universities(we don’t have any cool volunteering program except tutoring). I’m not bashing LAC, but my college, in particular, says that only 10% of pre-meds are ready to apply to med school in their junior year( which is what I want to do).
Alumni that I have contacted and my advisor says that pre meds take many gaps years because my college doesn’t allow them to rack up enough hours or experiences. The STEM classes get to much to do anything but studying(which makes you not well rounded).
Since I won’t be able to bring. a car I would have to Uber just to do regular hospital volunteering, which kinda sucks. Im seeing if I should transfer now so I do not screw over my goals. I don’t really like my college, but I want to go to med school more. If I’m paying all this money for a Liberal Arts Education I might as well feel like I’m gaining from it?
The ideal liberal arts student, whether they intend to pursue a medical career or not, will arrive on campus with a desire to explore a variety of arts and sciences subjects, such as in classics, philosophy, religious studies, political theory (government, sociology), literature, history, geosciences and astronomy, and perhaps wanting, for example, to learn to draw or write short fiction. In your case, you seem more interested in an immediately career-oriented direction, for which another environment would appear to be more suitable. As an opinion, if you stay at your current school, I do not think you will reach medical school.