<p>So, I know its been asked before, but what can you all tell me about premed at Tufts?</p>
<p>Whats the advising like? And how open are they to a premed who wants to take the MCAT early (like end of sophomore year or middle of junior year) or late (end of senior year) instead of doing the standard end of junior year thing? Im thinking I want to take a semester or a year abroad, and taking the MCAT at the end of junior year really messes with that.</p>
<p>It sounds like Tufts isnt as cutthroat competitive as other premed programs, but I keep reading that the intro classes are still supposed to be super hard. Is it really as bad as all that? Would trying to double up on them be suicide?</p>
<p>And how easy or hard is it to find internship opportunities - especially during the summer? Are you on your own to find stuff, or will the advising dept. or the profs help with that?</p>
<p>Tufts is well known for its premed program. The intro classes are difficult but doable. The 1st semester of freshman year they don’t advise you to take more then 1 lab science class but after that you kind of have to if you’re majoring in science. My son took chem 1st semester and physics and chem the 2nd semester and he did fine. But everyone is different.<br>
Tufts has an early assurance program for Tufts medical school. You can apply in the spring of sophomore year and if accepted, don’t have to take MCATs.<br>
In terms of taking the MCATs early, my son is actually planning to take it in the beginning of junior year if everything goes well with all his premed requirements. But he needs to meet with the premed advisor and make sure that its OK with med schools that he takes it that early. MCAT is changing in 2015.<br>
Is very easy to find research on campus. You just have to find what you’re interested in. My son has been doing research since spring of sophomore year. In terms of internships I think you’re on your own. He did have one over the summer but he didn’t find it through
Tufts. But that could be because he didn’t really put any effort into it. I don’t know.
Coming back to MCATs. Before you take them, you need 2 bio, 2 physics, 2 chems, and 2 ORGOs. With a new MCATS I think you also need statistics, biochem and maybe something else. Not sure about the new test. If you’re coming in with some AP credits its doable, but you have to be very focused.
Tufts has very collaborative environment and all the professors that he had so far were very approachable. All the kids are great too.
Even though he’s taking a lot of science courses and doing research, he still has time to play a sport and have fun on weekends. It’s been a great experience and he absolutely loves it!</p>
<p>I have a bunch of friends (and a sibling) in various stages of the medical school application process and I want to add that taking the MCAT in your senior year is not “late”. My brother took it as a junior and is now applying to medical school after having worked for a year and a half; his main problem now is that he’d like to keep doing his current job (or find another one) for an extra year or two before med school but his scores will expire soon.</p>
<p>I have another friend who studied chemical engineering at Tufts, started doing bio research after graduation, then decided to finish his pre-med requirements on the side and is just applying to med school now having graduated three years ago.</p>
<p>There are plenty of people who take off a year or two to do research or other jobs before applying to medical school and it’s not uncommon to wait to take the MCAT, too. Going to medical school is a pretty big commitment and you really should be 100% sure you want to be a doctor (except in a few special cases) before jumping into it.</p>
<p>momworried - It varies from school to school. In general, most schools require that MCAT scores not be more than 2-3 years old, but there may be schools that accept older scores.</p>
<p>your son was taking chem and physics in spring in freshman year, so he used AP physics to skip physics 1? Did Tufts pre-med adviser advice him to do so?</p>
<p>I asked because some parents said better not using AP physics to skip physics, not like bio.</p>
<p>He took physics 1 in spring. He’s not planning to use AP for physics. But he is using it for bio. The only thing I heard is not to skip chemistry for AP. Introductory physics is not great at Tufts. He wasn’t thrilled with his Proffessor.</p>
<p>Thanks for the link fromcalifornia. It’s very useful. We’re from northeast so he’s not looking at California schools. And in the east with the exception of Johns Hopkins most of the schools except APs. I noticed Harvard doesn’t except AP English. So he won’t apply there. It’s impossible to get into anyway.
I don’t know if physics 1 is given in spring. He took physics 11, which is calculus based physics.</p>
<p>Wow, really? Yeah, it must be tough to be eligible for in-state tuition in a state that has, by last count, at least SIX state medical schools! You have my sympathy.</p>
<p>Yes, physics 11 is considered harder.
I’m kind of with dodgersmom on this one. We live in a state where we only have 1 state medical school. And it’s not that great or that cheap. California has great state medical schools and a lot of them. How can this be a bad thing? You also have a lot of private schools to pick from.</p>
<p>Even CA has many top schools and medical schools, UCs, but you did not consider that how large the CA population is. Every year, there are ~400K high school graduates in CA. With high concentration of high tech engineers, their kids are also extremely good. Big pond, bigger fishes, more competitions.</p>
<p>Here are how some parents who do not live in CA and their kids are in MS thought about CA. LOL.</p>
<p>‘I once heard that, no matter what college you go to, likely 70 percent of chances you may come back to your state to attend your public med school. Of course, there are exceptions, e.g., California.’</p>
<p>’ Still huge number of applicants and California is just flooding the whole Midwest, period, and they have stats and everything else…they just have hard time driving in a snow…’</p>
<p>‘Your own state’s med school is definitely among your safest bets other than California’</p>
<p>I heard that Ohio, Texas, Illinois are the best. Way way less students and many medical schools. I should start my first job in Dallas instead of bay area.</p>
<p>Since the theory behind driving in the snow is covered in first semester physics, it is not a good idea to use AP credit for physics if you are planning to go to med school in a state with snow. </p>
<p>This is particularly important for people who grow up in California :-).</p>
<p>As a resident of Massachusetts , I would have hoped that the local med school admissions criteria would take this into account. </p>
<p>Kudos to Tufts Medical for making our roads safer in the winter. Harvard, BU and UMass Medical please take note :-).</p>
<p>Since I started on CC in May, got all the help and answers from all of you (especially momworried answered my every single question) about the school, programs and everything. Deeply appreciated! Hope AP chart can make a little contribution to the Tufts community. :)</p>
<p>I forgot to mentioned that usually your state public medical school has strong preference to its own residents, some even do not consider out of state applicants at all. But private school does not. So it does not matter that if CA has many or less private medical schools, everyone in the country can apply. </p>
<p>Because of the population size in California leading to more applicants, the chance of my son could get in state medical school is very slim (if he could get in any one at all). Most of my colleague’s kids went to private medical schools out of CA.</p>
<p>I have heard of people going to work for a couple of years after undergrad in order to establish residency in a “preferred” state and then apply to the state medical school…</p>
<p>I think UMass Med is for residents only</p>
<p>Lots of biotech jobs in Mass, right near Tufts</p>
<p>I suspect you heard wrong, fromcalifornia. The UC residence policy does not allow a student to establish state residency merely by attending a California school.</p>