My son was accepted to Tulane and BC and he is on the Premed track. We are trying to figure out, which school would give him the foundation needed to be accepted into medical school. I know you need a strong GPA and great MCAT score, but which school would provide him with research and intern opportunities. Both are really great schools, but I have also heard that top schools may not always be the best route for premed students due to grade deflation.
Grade deflation is certainly a concern. My own daughter is considering Tulane and BU and is also going the pre-med route. We sat in on a class at Tulane and it was engaging and the students seemed relaxed and happy to be there. My feeling is that Tulane does not deflate grades but I don’t know about BC.
I believe that Tulane admits a certain amount of their own students into their own medical school.
This is from Tulane’s own website
While the national admission rate to medical schools for all college students is 44%, Tulane students gain admission at a rate of 58% overall, and 90% for those students who earned a 3.6 grade point average or above and a 32 or higher on the MCAT. Tulane students were admitted to competitive medical schools in 2014 including Stanford, Georgetown, and New York University. Tulane undergraduates enjoy preferential admission to Tulane’s medical school as well, which receives approximately 10,000 applications for 189 seats annually. Last year, 45 Tulane graduates were admitted to Tulane School of Medicine.
I agree with this!!^^ I was accepted to both BC and Tulane with the intention to follow the pre-med track and have confirmed my enrollment at Tulane. Looking more from a future perspective the likelihood of getting into the Tulane medical school after my undergraduate graduation increases greatly after completing your first four years there. There is also an array of connections with other exceptional med schools throughout the country that TU definitely helps you apply to. And hey, who doesn’t love NOLA!!
Thank you! He was also admitted to BU, but I have not reviewed their pre-med program at this time. I was quite impressed with Tulane on our recent visit. I am planning to visit Boston in the next few weeks to tour both schools.
Please read this first:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1122176-bluedevilmikes-ten-step-guide-to-picking-a-premed-school-p1.html
Neither school will provide a significant advantage when it comes to applying for medical school.
Both schools offer the necessary academics. (In fact, since all pre med pre-reqs are basically intro level courses, every college in the US will provide the necessary academics.)
Both colleges offer research opportunities, but your son will need to seek them out for himself. He needs to proactive about making contact with various research labs at his college. Research positions simply don’t fall into a student’s lap.
Neither college provides pre-med internships–finding clinical volunteer positions is left up to the student everywhere.
Either college will provide the basics your son needs to prepare for applying to med school, but getting his ducks in row to be ready to apply to med school is strictly on him.
My advice (and I’ve sent 2 of 2 kids on to med school)–choose the college that offers your son the best combination of fit, opportunity and cost.
Fit because happier students do better academically–and there’s published data to support this. Also because 75% of freshmen premeds never actually end up applying to med school (and not due to just academics), his college should offer him a range of alternative majors/career tracks which he finds appealing.
Cost because there is very little financial aid for medical school other than loans, loans and more loans. He need to minimize his undergrad loan burden as much as possible and, ideally, be able to put aside any college savings toward his future med school costs.
Thank you. Your input was extremely helpful. He was accepted to UF as well, but my son really felt that while he would love to go there with his friends (we live in FL) he would not have the needed foundation for a good MCAT score and research opportunities. May I ask where your kids went to undergrad and med school?
Saying post #4 slightly differently
As to which prepares a student for med school: premed reqs give med schools a way to see if applicants can handle a moderately difficult set of science courses (GPA wise), not so much to actually prepare a student for med school. Premed reqs (eg bio, chem) are not titled Bio for Premeds, Chem for premeds, etc. These courses are just garden variety science courses offered to pretty much any student who wants to take them and have satisfied whatever prereqs are needed to enroll in them.
As to MCAT prep: again premed reqs are not titled Bio for MCAT prep, etc. Although the material taught in these courses tends to provide the background material for the MCAT, most kids will either need to take a formal MCAT review (eg Kaplan, Princeton Review), or buy MCAT study materials and prep on their own.
These numbers can be misleading and probably refer to the number of students who actually got to the point of applying and not to the many premed students who stepped foot on campus on day 1, but only for one of many reasons (eg poor GPAs. O-chem, realization of how long it takes to become a physician, etc) have changed career plans. In fact it’s a very, very good idea for any premed to have a plan B in mind at the outset. Good luck to all.
My DD went to Tulane, graduated with a great GPA and got a great MCAT score. Like most Pre Meds, she took a review course for the MCAT. She is now at Wash U med school. I suggest going to the school that has the lowest price tag. Smart kids will make it happen for themselves no matter where they are planted. My D had to search out research(easy) and shadowing/patient exposure volunteering (more difficult but do able) herself. Im not sure any school would have these ready and waiting for pre meds without work on their part. D just recently thanked me for holding firm on the price issue because now that Med School loans are added to some friends debt load, she is thankful she has no undergrad loan balance that is now growing with the Med School loans added in.
My D LOVED Nola and has gone back a few times to visit since graduating. All around, a great choice for D but I believe there could have been other great choices also if she had chosen differently. I am not a huge believer in the “fit” concept. I mean, yea, you have to like where you are going but I think kids can make multiple places work if they have to.
Some med schools give preference to the students from their undergrad which gives you a higher chance of getting in. so if Tulane is one of those schools it would help. Tufts is another low yield schools that take a lot of their own kids. We looked at BC 4 years ago and from what I remember it’s not as good for science as some other majors. They used to have an early assurance for Tufts med school but I think that relationship ended. Don’t know much about Tulane so can’t comment on that.