<p>Please share and compare your opinions on the pro/cons, strengths/weakness, and general thoughts of one or any of the schools listed.</p>
<p>University of Pennsylvania
Duke
Washington University in St. Louis
John Hopkins</p>
<p>Touch on the following topics:
-academics, general and in the majors of biology, chemistry, biomedical, overall pre-med
-graduate paths to medical school
-courseload
-special programs such as honors, study abroad, etc.
-school environment/social life/sports/food/students
-which school you recommend/which school you would choose over the other
-list other schools which offer similar opportunities but are not listed above</p>
<p>i can’t speak for duke, washu, or hopkins, but penn has great pre-med advising and are always willing to meet and discuss things with you. the classes are hard, but not unfairly so. you get the grade that you work for. honestly, duke washu, hopkins, and penn are all the same academically…once you reach this level, there’s not much of a difference between them. they all have fantastic medical schools (all ranked 2-5 in terms of research) with incredibly faculty, in undergrad and medical school. duke clearly has the most school spirit b/c they have great teams. i have friends at all these schools, and the social scenes are all good, but different. speaking for penn, there’s a big emphasis on greek life, but if that’s not your thing, then you can easily find people who agree with you (out of the 10,000 undergrads). students are great at all these schools…they are all of the same caliber. between these schools, one should choose based on more intangible aspects b/c academically, they’re all practically level. you need to pick based on the “feel” of the school, the location, other things that seem less important than academics. unless you’re looking for something incredibly obscure that only one school has (which i still have my doubts), then you need to focus on where you will be happiest. b/c you won’t do well in any academic setting if you’re not happy with where you are and the people around you.</p>
<p>I’ve had relatives go to each of these schools.
-academics, general and in the majors of biology, chemistry, biomedical, overall pre-med
I would think Penn and Hopkins would be the best in these areas because they are the most highly considered overall research universities out of these schools. Although WashU is a great school and has a great medical school, as a research university it does not compare to the others. Penn, Hopkins, and Duke are always in the top 15 or 20 universities in the world, Wash U does not make the top 50.
In regards to medical schools, their medical schools are all fantastic. However, one huge advantage for Penn is that the medical school is right on campus making it very accessible to undergrads. I know several students who are working there as rising sophomores.
-graduate paths to medical school
I don’t think you should consider this too highly because doing well at any of these schools will give you a lot of opportunities.</p>
<p>-courseload
they are all very rigorous schools. However Hopkins has a strong reputation of being very intense (know a lot of people, much older though, who did premed there, they thought they received a great education).
-special programs such as honors, study abroad, etc.
Penn is very unique among schools in the effort it makes to get students involved in research. CURF is an organization on campus which exists solely for the purpose of helping students find research/intellectual opportunities. There is also Benjamin Franklins Scholars and UScholars
-school environment/social life/sports/food/students
They are all very unique. Hopkins is generally considered less social, although this is not entirely true, I know people who had a good time there. Duke has more sports, sports are not generally that big at Penn. I think Penn has a great social/academic environment because it is very diverse, there are so many different types of people. It also has the best location. Hopkins is in a pretty area of Baltimore (contrary to popular belief), but there’s not as much to do. Wash U is in a nice college town but definitely not as busy as cities on the east coast. Durham is very empty and boring I hear. Also the Duke campus segregate freshman from upperclassmen.
-which school you recommend/which school you would choose over the other
I am biased because I go to Penn, but I would definitely recommend Penn as it is incredible academically, has a great social atmosphere, and a diverse body of students and professors. Next I would choose Hopkins, which is also incredibly strong as a university (not just in medicine, their humanities departments are also outstanding). In my opinion, Hopkins is one of the most underrated schools.
Next I would pick Duke although I don’t know quite as much about it. Lastly I would put Wash U because I did not want to be stuck in the midwest and also it is not quite as elite research wise as the rest.
-list other schools which offer similar opportunities but are not listed above
Yale, Cornell, Columbia, University of Chicago, Northwestern, Stanford</p>
<p>WashU is most definitely on the same caliber as Hopkins, Penn and Duke…</p>
<p>All are in the top 15 colleges in the United States!</p>
<p>For premed WashU is very well known, as students can research in the top-notch medical school extremely easily, and the program is overall very strong.</p>
<p>Around 90% of undergrads who are premed at WashU get into med school.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t go for WashU because it has a reputation for having very cut-throat pre-med. The reason the med school acceptance rate is so high is that they don’t let the less qualified applicants even apply to medical school. Johns Hopkins pre-med is also moderately competitive but prepares you well for medical school. It has strong science programs. Duke, in my opinion, is the easiest place to do pre-med (very high placement rate) and has strong programs in science. Penn is decent for pre-med and decent for the sciences but has very solid resources. I think your debate should be between Duke and Penn- see which environment you like more.</p>