<p>I was pretty much set on LSU, but I visited Tulane University today and now I'm confused about where I should go for my undergraduate studies. I had been previously told before that where you go for undergrad doesn't matter, which is why I primarily ended up deciding on going to Tulane. However, I realized that it does somewhat matter. At Tulane, 71% of their students get into medical school and 95% of them with a 32 or more on the MCAT and at least a 3.7 GPA have gotten into a medical school. These numbers are very impressive. At LSU, I believe less than 50% even get into medical school.
I've been accepted into LSU's honors college and I got a full ride there and it's only 3 hours away from my hometown. Also, I've gotten so much credit from LSU from placement tests and AP exams that I can skip at least 1 year. However, everyone I talked to there that is from my old school told me it's very easy to get As. I'm worried that if I go to LSU, I'll just try enough to get As but not actually learn anything, which will screw me over when I start to take the MCAT.
Tulane, on the other hand, is a very good school. It's academically a lot better than LSU. I got a scholarship from there, but I'll still have to pay around $21,000 a year. It's 4 hours from my hometown and I will get some credit from my AP exams, but not nearly as much credit as I will get if I go to LSU. I feel like if I go to Tulane, I will actually learn and be challenged which will probably not happen if I go to LSU.
Any advice?</p>
<p>If the extra cost of Tulane is not an issue, I would advise going there for your undergraduate degree. You could then apply to LSU for med school. Our friends daughter is currently at LSU med school and she raves about the program, and from what I understand, many graduates of Tulane go to LSU.
State schools do not have the resources of private schools, and have a lower percentage of students being accepted to med school on their first attempt.
Our state school has a 47% acceptance rate to med school, and only 18% go to med school in our own state.
In terms of AP, you may have to repeat some of those classes anyway because many of the med schools do not accept AP credits.
However, it sounds like you are an exceptional student, so you should do fine whichever school you choose, and if you feel like you will fit at LSU over Tulane then that is where you should go.</p>
<p>Let’s be careful about these acceptance rates. Remember, the private schools like Tulane are more selective to begin with, so naturally in aggregate the acceptance rates to professional schools will be higher also. Just like the acceptance rates for Harvard grads will be higher than for Tulane grads, I would bet without even looking. So gowill is right that a good student that has the discipline to stay focused and study hard can do as well at LSU for less cost, but many people need the competition of a more selective school to insure they study harder.</p>
<p>So in essence the advice is that you have to know yourself well enough to determine if you can stay sharp if you are one of the the biggest fish in the pond, or do you need that extra motivation?</p>
<p>BTW, as far as I know the only AP credit med schools don’t accept is freshman chemistry. You have to take that. You also need to take a bio course that includes a lab portion, but it can be a higher level course if you have placed out of lower level ones. Chemistry you have no choice.</p>