<p>I'm a junior and super confused as to which colleges I should I apply to. I'm looking for a college with a great premed program (not necessarily an actual program or major, meaning wonderful advisors and opportunities to boost med school applications/acceptance).</p>
<p>Can anyone please inform me about UVA? How is the science rigor? Dorms? Social life? School spirit? Difficulty to maintain a 3.7+?</p>
<p>I’m a first year and tentatively pre-genetic counseling so I’m in some pre-med courses. Gen Chem (Chem 1410 and 1420 + labs) is very demanding, requires a lot of studying. The class averages tend to be low, but the professor is going to curve up. In my experience, it’s not at all impossible to do well in pre-med courses (gen chem + lab, gen bio + lab) if you keep up with the reading and homework and go to office hours when you need help. It’s more about work ethic than anything else. My Chem professor (Hoitung Leung) is phenomenal; he has office hours every day for several hours, and he really wants to push us to understand the material as well as possible.
Maintaining a 3.7+ GPA is hard–represents about 10% of each graduating class–but doable. Also, you can get into med school with a little below a 3.7; don’t stress yourself out too much, especially this early.
I’ve had a great experience in the dorms; I love my hallmates. I’m an introverted person and haven’t joined many clubs or a sorority but I’ve found it easy to make friends. Basically, I’m happier here than I’ve ever been and it’s due to a combination of academic and social factors. I would recommend UVA to anyone considering premed–you’ll get a great education.
Also, many premeds volunteer or intern at the UVA hospital. You could look into extracurricular opportunities for premeds.</p>