Good day to all,
I’ve narrowed down my list of schools to the following three. I have visited each one, but I am having a difficult time deciding which one to attend. Yes, I know that I have to choose on the one I feel more comfortable with, but they are all on the same level for me.
My question is which school should I attend for pre-med, focuses more on undergrads, has diversity, prestige, and not much competition among the student body?
Also, which school would YOU choose? I know that this shouldn’t matter much, but I want to see which one is the school I should really go to. Thanks!!
Note: COA is not a factor.
Hmmm based on your description, Brown seems like the perfect fit.
However, personally I would choose UPenn because I love the location/UPenn in general lol
Well, in terms of less competition, Brown would be the best choice, and it is what I would suggest. It provides a great, supportive atmosphere for intellectual curiosity and rigor. I don’t think you should be concerned with prestige between these three, and they should all be excellent for pre-med – the hard work will be up to you.
If you have visited all, and you can afford all three, I’d probably go with your gut feeling.
- Obviously, all three are outstanding and greatly respected universities that will serve you VERY well throughout your long life.
- I entirely agree with the "gut feel," "cultural fit" recommendation in post #2.
- I do NOT agree with the idea that the least competitive school is the best option for pre-meds; 85+ percent of Duke pre-meds are admitted to US medical schools, so it's not as if academic rigor will cause you to be denied. On the other hand, however:
> You just might be better prepared for the MCATs, due to academic stringency;
> You also might be better prepared for the competition and the real/ceaseless challenges of year one in med school (which is widely known for its difficulties); and
> Med schools KNOW their major "undergraduate feeder" institutions VERY well, therefore, they will absolutely consider the real meaning and value of somewhat differing GPAs from these three stellar universities.
Olympic athletes don’t win medals by easier training and less daunting competition; life simply doesn’t work that way and, I suggest, neither does med school.
Well, if the OP wants a less competitive environment, I don’t think a competitive pitch for Duke’s superiority with some of your above points represents an ideal persuasion tactic.
There would need to be substantive data from all three institutions to make a claim that one of those very fine schools has a higher medical school acceptance rate for its graduates who identify as pre-med. I don’t honestly think there will be great variation.
Brown doesn’t lack in academic stringency and is not less competitive academically. Just that the culture tends to be more cooperative among students, departments etc.You will be very well prepared at Brown. But people don’t seem so obsessed about gpa as I have read they do elsewhere. Except premeds, perhaps.
Apparently there is a story in the last Malcolm Gladwell book about a student who was great in high school but at Brown found that she was not the top of the class, as so many high achieving students find. So the story was told that she could not make it through Organic Chem because all the classmates were so brilliant. This story was used by Gladwell to advance his theory that top students may do better going to a school where the other students are less stellar so that they can shine and gain confidence. But I don’t buy it. I think that yes Organic Chemistry is very hard at Brown. But if you found you have failed and are still determined, you can simply take the class again. The fail is not recorded on your transcript at Brown and you are not given any credits for either Ds or Fs. I found the story strange because a determined student might stumble but press on and not be penalized for it at Brown. As well as the point that there would be abundant help available. And the fact that you can do that and that you can try different classes outside your comfort zone and not have a potential disaster on your hands is one way to have some stress relieved. I can’t say that my dd was stress free because the was pushing all the time and she did have hard classes and hard majors, but I was glad to know that she was able to take advantage of policies that supported her in her endeavors and she was able to overcome a freshman stumble and take far harder classes and ended up in a top 10 phd TEM program.
Also undergraduate research is huge at Brown and undergrads are needed and welcome on research teams My dd was working in a wide variety of research starting in freshman year. Many times it was paid as well. One project extended from Spring Jr year through summer following graduation.
So while you have some great choices and can’t go wrong, I would pick Brown from what you said and from knowing my dd’s experience was so special.
There is an MD/PhD student at a top 20 school who went to Brown for undergrad–he started posting here like you, when he was applying to college. Since he went off to med school and compares undergrad experiences with other med students, he is even more happy he attended Brown and he has some remarks on that, with a shoutout to Duke.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/1284648-brown-is-the-best-place-to-be-a-pre-med.html#latest