Are there any Not-too-competitive schools that have education/opportunties like top schools?
Like acceptance rates around 40-50%? Looking to go to a pre med school that can help me get into medical school.
What area of the country are you? What is your intended major? Are there any financial constraints? These answers might help narrow the possibilities.
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Friend’s daughter had an amazing undergrad experience at St. Olaf and successfully admitted to med school with no gap year.
I believe their acceptance rate is around 50%.
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Washington & Jefferson and Juniata in PA are two that seem to do well. I’m not sure of the exact acceptance rate for either TBH.
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There is no such thing as a premed school. Most colleges offer the necessary prerequisites for students to go on to medical school.
Look at this list. Many of the colleges listed here offer an exceptional undergrad experience and have high retention rates, along with easier admission. All of them can get you to med school.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/a-plus
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You need to do the work to possibly get onto medical school. You can take the required courses for medical school admission at just about every college in this country (arts conservatories excluded).
I would suggest you start by looking at your instate public universities, and it doesn’t have to be the flagship.
Look at what is affordable for your family as well. And without loans.
I would suggest you keep the medical school idea out of your college search equation…because you can do the premed courses almost everywhere….and you might change your mind.
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There are two ways that I can see to interpret this.
One is how competitive the university is for the purpose of getting admitted to university out of high school.
The second is how competitive the premed classes will be, and how difficult it will be to get a “medical school worthy” GPA while you are taking these premed classes as an undergraduate student.
Do you want “not too competitive” for both purposes, or only for the first of these two purposes? I think that the first purpose will be easier to find, and there are plenty of universities with admissions rates of 50% or higher that would be good choices for some premed students.
Both daughters had majors that required classes that overlapped with premed classes. The premed classes will be competitive and you will have very strong students in your classes.
What state you are from and what your budget is will be important considerations. If you give people here a little bit more information then you can get more useful advice in return.
Good luck with this. I do know that this is a lengthy and competitive process.
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I believe Pitt is strong in the sciences and would offer the opportunity for shadowing and other volunteer work in the medical field. Admission isn’t too difficult (I think it’s in the high 50s) and I believe the quality of education is quite high.
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This site includes two moderately selective colleges, Union and Centre:
Some of these colleges also may be of interest:
https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings?rankings=great-classroom-experience
Check out the Colleges that Change Lives website.
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My D23 is wanting to do pre-med in college as well. You didn’t give a lot of info as to what kind of schools you’re looking for, costs, location etc so it’s hard to answer. My D wants a small school (5k or under students), rural setting (not in too big of a city) and somewhat competitive environment (but not ivy) but with a friendly fun student body, lots of activities, etc. She also wants a good med school acceptance record or some type of pre-med advisory in place. I want a school that gives good merit money, as I feel like her hard work/high stats in high school deserve some reward. If our criteria works for you, here’s our short list:
Whitman
St Olaf
Gustavus Adolphus
Vanguard University
Kenyon
Denison
Centre
Nebraska Wesleyan
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How about University of New Mexico?
I’m seconding the Colleges That Change Lives recommendation. They’re primarily liberal arts colleges where the focus is on teaching undergrads, and they generally have at least 40-50% acceptance rates.
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I would look at Furman. They are strong in the sciences.
I’ve heard of 2 programs:
Rhodes College in Memphis, TN has opportunities to intern at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital - Undergraduate Students.
Pepperdine has great med school advising.
Earlham is known for excellent pre med prep and advising, fine teaching, merit, and is not highly selective. Definitely one to look into!
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Rhodes and Pepperdine are both beautiful campuses!
I have been through the firestorm before but here are some things to consider:
- Meaningful service opportunities – it is nice to be able to walk to a hospital associated with the college.
- Research – what opportunities can one have? It matters for more selective MD programs.
- Course rigor and name recognition. Many here will argue against it. But these do play a role and it is important because the MCAT ain’t easy.
I am from NC so to give you an example, UNC is hard. Really hard academically if you are a STEM major. Ditto Duke and Wake Forest. Now, one could choose to go to UNC-Charlotte or UNC-anywhere but a wiser choice for a B/B- student might be ECU or Campbell. Why? Both have medical schools and offer in-house opportunities. Academics are not that demanding either. So, you build your CV and then do what you must to ACE the MCAT. This is just my $0.02. There are others on here with more experience.
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One more… Just announced in Oct 2021 is the BS-to-MD opportunity beginning with Fall 2023 at UC Merced & UCSF Fresno to serve California Central valley. Governor Announces State Funding for UC Merced’s Medical Education Building | Newsroom
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I will second St. Olaf and Whitman. If female maybe Mount Holyoke and definitely Occidental. Southwestern Univ. in Georgetown Texas also has strong pre-med programs and a 49% acceptance rate. State flagships are good way to go too. Look at your instate schools and OOS, especially those that offer tuition reciprocity.
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