I think the decision comes between both of these schools. If ppl can provide info on how each school is in terms of opportunities (research, working in a hospital, etc), getting a good gpa, and overall med school acceptance (preferable top med schools?)
bump pls help
Medical school will require good grades and good MCAT scores. Regardless of where you go, a typical pre-med curriculum will be demanding, so I think your focus should be on determining fit so you are happy and can work toward your goal over four years. Many pre-med students change career path, so you should also choose a place you think will be a good fit outside of this path.
Pitt is large (about 19,300 undergraduates) and in a large urban area. W&M is mid-sized (about 6,400 undergraduates) and in a small city. Those differences may help you decide. Pitt had about 340 applying to medical school in 2019 vs about 150 at W&M, so Pitt has a higher number of medical school applicants and W&M has a higher percentage of students applying to medical school.
For W&M, I’d suggest reaching out directly to the health professions advisor. You can see the page here: https://wmpeople.wm.edu/site/page/btsher/home Undergraduate science teaching is regarded as very strong at W&M (see USNWR undergraduate teaching ratings). About 85% of students do faculty-mentored research overall and the number is likely even higher in sciences. You can talk to the advisor about this and shadowing opportunities.
Good medical school admissions data is difficult to come by. Schools don’t use standard ways of calculating and may more or less manipulate the data by only counting applicants who meet certain criteria (e.g. get a recommendation from a committee or have a certain GPA). So be cognizant of this if you see data points.