<p>Hello, I've been admitted to Tufts Class of 2017 and Middlebury's Class of 2017.5 (I'm what's called a "feb" there).</p>
<p>I really love Tufts and Middlebury equally, and am incredibly enticed by the possibility of taking the fall of for my febmester!</p>
<p>But what worries me is that, should I choose Middleury, the resources necessary to applying to Med School will not be available to me like they would be at Tufts.</p>
<p>Overall, what are the resources at Tufts/Middlebury for premed, and which school would be preferable for getting into a good medical school?</p>
<p>Here’s a statistic you may be interested in:</p>
<p>91% of Middlebury applicants with GPAs of 3.5 and higher were accepted to medical school. The numbers are almost exactly the same for Tufts. Therefore, don’t let that weigh heavily into your decision. </p>
<p>Any numbers a college publishes about percentages accepted into med school are meaningless. There is no uniform way this is calculated and colleges manipulate their data to present themselves in the most favorable light possible.</p>
<p>You don’t know if the percentage includes just graduating seniors or alumni for as many as 10 years after graduation. You don’t know if a school includes only allopathic acceptances; MD and DO; foreign medical programs; naturopathic medical programs. You don’t know if the letter committee dissuades those whom they consider non-viable applicants from applying by refusing to provide LORs or not.</p>
<p>Do not give any weight to those numbers in your decision.</p>
<p>You need 0 university resource for medical school entrance. And none of them will help you more than your own abilities and efforts. A friend I knew took ALL of his pre-med requirements after college at Harvard Extension and UMass Boston (mostly UMass) and was accepted into Harvard Medical about 2 years back. 4.0/38 MCAT + good ECs, experiences will do all the promoting for you.</p>
<p>JHU have impressive resources but those resources are not relevant if you can not maintain good GPA. Only the top quarter/third of most science classes get A/A- if I recall and this is in a group that is overrepresented with pre-meds from the top of their HS classes.</p>
<p>I had straight As in a very competitive HS with many science/math APs and I was completely crushed. JHU was just a completely different monster than anything I encountered before. I finished in 4yrs with dual degrees (really bad idea but I was too proud to drop one) and completely shot out my chances for US MD due to my science grades.*</p>
<p>I made the mistake of associating brand name with future success without critically assessing my own abilities. Compounded with my other faults/weakness, I ended up paying dearly. I had sophomore standing (had JHU continued it) coming in with many science/math AP credit (all 5) and I couldn’t even break 50% in many of of my science classes.</p>
<p>I don’t blame JHU, not anymore having the benefit of time and maturity I just want to say the difficulty associated with that school and other schools are NOT imaginary. Be very careful and aware. You do NOT need JHU structure or staff network to get into even great medical schools, but you DO need good grades. Don’t make the process any more difficult than it already is. A non-elite 10/15/20/non-research heavy university is perfectly, PERFECTLY consistent with your future goal of being a doctor. </p>
<p>Just want to say I’m not being a pessimist or discouraging. I think JHU is a wonderful school and will offer tremendous opportunities, but it and similar schools can be a potentially dangerous choice if you intend to be a doctor. This is only my opinion, but I say it with benefit of some experience and conversations with admissions, advisors and medical school professors.</p>
<p>*I should mention I’m still going for it and am currently in a SMP where I take classes with the first year medical school students. This is the ONLY option people like me have if we still want to attend a US MD school. It’s not fun. The lecturers often, often talked about “your future patients” to the medical students and things like that. I can’t tell you how painful it was to be there, being so close yet so far.</p>
<p>Wow… Very well said. I am sorry for you, but you have been very honest. I hope “ALL” the pre med advice seekers on this forum will read this. Valuable advice.</p>
<p>Moderators… please, please cut and paste this advice/personal experience at the top of this forum along with your other advices for the pre med seekers.</p>
<p>RubikQuad isn’t posting anything that isn’t already covered by the stickies. In fact, see point #1 in my thread linked in post #2 (a thread that the mods put at the top of the new stickied thread compendium)</p>
<p>There is no reason to accept the negative experience of one person at face value. There are always lots of conditions and aspects that we will never know.
Thinking positive is a great plus. Setting very high standards vs. looking for lower ones is another great plus. Looking to have straingt As at any place no matter which you choose is waht you need! Do not listen to anybody who have a potnetial to influence you negatively. Here is a positive one. My own D. has nver had a single B in her kindergarten thru graduating from college academic life and doing just fine so far in her 3rd year of Med. School. No, she did not go to any elite college after graduating #1 from her private prep. HS known for the rigor of the program.<br>
The reason for her success was that she set up high standards for herself and choose her UG very carefully but not from the point of easier academics but from the point of personal fit. Go to the place that will make you happy for the next 4 years and work hard. She mentioned many times that despite of being better prepared in her HS (compared to her UG classmates), D. had to adjust to much harder requirements in college. Many pre-meds in Honors (primarily valedictorians) were weeded out in the first Bio class. Yes, you will have to work much much harder in college than in HS, no matter what HS you graduated from and no matter that you have graduated at the very top.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, RubikQuadrangles’ experience is not that uncommon at the highly competitive elite privates. Only the very best students from high schools get there. Not every one of these super bright kids get those coveted A grades, because of strict grade inflation control measures at schools like Princeton and JHU. I am told in several science classes at JHU 20% A grades are the norm. </p>
<p>On the other hand, a top 5% kid from good high school stands a statistically better chance of being in that 20% of kids in class that get A grades, at a state school with a more heterogeneous mix of students.</p>
<p>In defense of JHU - they offer covered grades in the first semester, that should ease the transition to college style teaching. Not many schools, except may be MIT, offer that. Unfortunately, quite a few kids don’t take advantage of that and instead end up goofing around, wasting that opportunity for acclimatization.</p>
<p>Yes, it is not that uncommon at ANY UG. The rough estimate (from what I have read on CC) that only about 15% of original pre-meds will eventually apply to Med. School. But why in a world anybody would set such a low standard for themselves? Tell me one single reason. There is no reason whatsoever to think this way. There are all reasons to set a very very high standard and keep in mind that a huge adjustement will be due when starting the college, NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE. i heard this from every single very top all A’s HS graduate and NOT only pre-meds. Engineering for one is much harder than science majors. How do I know? I have been in engineering, even worked for over 10 years.
Do not whine, it does not help. Be prepared to be tough, be prepared to work hard, be prepared to make adjustments. it will work. Do not be part of 85% who fail, be in 15% who do not. On the other hand, please, keep in mind that some simply discover hopefully as early in UG as possible that medicine is not for them. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. I have discovered that engineering was not for me. Unfortunately, I did not have a problem with academics, unfortunately for me, I went on and worked for over 10 years in the field that di not make me happy at all. But at that late point when I have a family and was settled, I said to myself, enough is enough, went back to school and discovered the wonderful world of CS.<br>
Do not follow my steps. If you do not feel that your initial intend works for you personally, switch as early as possible. Find something that will make you happy and leave the medicine to others who are happy to endure all the hardships to be an MD.</p>
<p>“But what worries me is that, should I choose Middleury, the resources necessary to applying to Med School will not be available to me like they would be at Tufts.”</p>
<p>I can’t imagine the resources at Tufts are any better than (or even as good as) the resources at Middlebury. What made you think that? As far as prestige, Middlebury’s probably slightly better positioned, but not enough to matter.</p>
<p>"As far as prestige, Middlebury’s probably slightly better positioned, but not enough to matter. "
-As far as I know, prestige is practically not on a mind of Med. Schools adcoms as they have plenty applicants from state public schools that are not even in the same footing at all with either of these 2. They simply DO NOT CARE much, putting much more importance on what you personally have acheived so far not as much at all to the place where you achievements happened.</p>
<p>miamiDap, I didn’t mean to suggest prestige was of any particular importance to Med schools. I was taking this question, “and which school would be preferable for getting into a good medical school?” to be related to prestige, and answered it as honestly as possible. </p>
<p>I agree with you. School prestige matters little in the Med School application process and comes into play mostly when comparing applicants with similar stats.</p>
I just want to say the difficulty associated with that school and other schools are NOT imaginary. Be very careful and aware. You do NOT need JHU structure or staff network to get into even great medical schools, but you DO need good grades. Don’t make the process any more difficult than it already is. A non-elite 10/15/20/non-research heavy university is perfectly, PERFECTLY consistent with your future goal of being a doctor. </p>