<p>I am going to apply here this year and I would really appreciate it if you guys could tell me something about Vanderbilt's pre-med program and components that make it possible:</p>
<p>-Professors
-Research
-Grading curve
-DAILY homework
-Classes per semester (average)
-Difficulty of Tests & classes in general</p>
<p>I know this is a lot but I feel the list covers up all my concerns and almost accurately describes the setting, so please place your input for any of the categorized surmised above. :) :) :)</p>
<p>-Profs - Excellent! Very accessible, most have either weekly reviews or reviews prior to exams. Vast majority were also great lecturers.</p>
<p>-Research - Plenty of it. We are up to Medical Research Building IV, plus a few other research buildings. The hospital is right on campus so you have access to both the basic science departments and medical center researchers</p>
<p>-Grading Curve - This has been a bit of a sore spot on these boards. There seems to be a “general perception” that Vandy has grade deflation. Most classes are curved (up - I’ve never been curved down) so that the class average is an 80. I never got the sense that I wasn’t earning the grades I deserved</p>
<p>-Daily Homework - Up to you. There really isn’t much “busywork” You will be in charge of your own studying for the most part. Some courses have online problems due every week</p>
<p>-Classes per semester - I think I did 15, 15, 17, 18, 16, 16, 14, 12 hours. </p>
<p>-Difficulty - The pre-med track is tough on its own, but your choice of major may also add increased difficulty. You won’t be able to party every weekend and expect to do well, but it is possible if you work hard. I spent many a weekend with my physics or orgo book. Although it wasn’t easy, I really enjoyed most of my classes and definitely feel I received a great education from Vandy.</p>
<p>i was freshman last year and i will be probably more up to date than silversparkles, who seemed already graduated, on first year premed experience.</p>
<p>Professors-there are lots of excellent professors but there are plenty of bad ones too. go to ratemyprofessor.com and look at the rating for teachers such as bio, chem, math etc (its pretty accurate in my opinion) In general Science professors are great except a few. </p>
<p>Research- theres plethora of opportunities. you can even work in medical center buildings as a freshman. tho most people start doing research around sophomore year i think. </p>
<p>Grading curve- well general science classes are pretty much weed out course so average is mostly around mid 70s or professor tries to make it that way. sometimes when the test is hard it can go down to low 70s or even 60s. I remember one test average was like 65. well in bio for example if you get around average you will get C+ or B- (first semester). it is kind of hard to explain in general, but professor will curve and grade you very fairly. </p>
<p>another example, in first semester general chem class, 2 out of 3 midterms average was like high 70s and low 80s. so as there are going to be too many A’s, chem professors made finals insanely hard and tricky so that peoples grades will drop. a lot. lol </p>
<p>Daily homework- for calculus theres a lot of problem sets you will have to do daily in order to follow the pace of the class. Bio and chem you occasionally need to read chapters and do additional problems.</p>
<p>Classes per semester- if you are pre med you will probably take or more than 15 credits every semester as most science classes are 4 credit class. I took 17 each semester my first year.</p>
<p>Difficulty- theres lots of pre med students when you first start out. Competition i say is quite fierce. About 10 to 15 percent gets A’s in general biology for example. However, if you survive 1st year, many people would drop out. Tests are obviously hard…if you dont study you will never get an A. But its not that unreasonably hard so…</p>
<p>Ok heres a bit of a tricky question. I went way overboard on science classes in highschool (7 in 4 years). But its really what I love and what I’m good at.</p>
<p>As a result, I didn’t take a single science/premed class freshman year but am still premed. So going right now into sophomore year without any of the 5 premed reqs, what order and when should I take them? I’m thinking summer school is a must if I want to apply on time…</p>
<p>^ well you should definitely take bio and gen chem sophomore year</p>
<p>and at least orgo or physics on summer after sophomore year and junior year. </p>
<p>you should definitely have to take a lot of science classes to catch up.</p>
<p>also, it is recommended or required by some medical schools to take 1 year of calculus, or statistics, biochemistry etc etc</p>
<p>well you are not that far behind, but considering that you have to take courses that your major require and to graduate expect to take 15+ credit hour every semester
it really depends on what medical school do you want to apply just in general. some schools require more and some schools dont.</p>
<p>After graduating from Vanderbilt many years ago with a degree in Biomedical Engineering and Math, I applied to VUSM, UVa, Northwestern, UT, Tulane, and a few others. I was accepted to all that I applied to and chose Vanderbilt, because of its excellent residency training (and because of my fiance’s job.) I then went to Columbia in NYC for residency. I had premed freinds who went ot Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Duke,…</p>
<p>-Professors - Most of them are fantastic. The physics profs here do not have a great rep. I have heard nothing good about the Physics department in general. Even the ones in intro classes are extremely helpful outside of class and the TAs are very knowledgeable as well.
-Research - Awesome - lots of different projects and PIs you can work with. I began research this semester in the Neuroscience department and it’s awesome. I highly recommend you find something you actually enjoy; don’t do it just for the resume pad. I’m considering going to grad school if med doesn’t work out, and being in a great lab this semester(and the next 2.5 years probably) has definitely contributed to my passion for research.
-Grading curve - we don’t do grade deflation, it’s most like the professors will refuse to curve up in order to keep the class avg around a C+/B-.
-DAILY homework - 2-3 hours a day. Don’t expect to go partying every weekend as a premed. And as someone stated earlier, your major will only add to your workload. I find the balance of work and play to be rewarding though.
-Classes per semester (average) - I’ve taken 18, 15, 17, and I’m in 16 next semester. Be prepared to take more than 15 multiple times in order to satisfy Premed/Major/Minor/AXLE requirements (AXLE is only if you’re in Arts/Science)
-Difficulty of Tests & classes in general - They’re hard, but you can make an A- or better in most classes if you study diligently and work at it. Some classes are about putting the time in, while others are about learning how to study. Developing good study skills and learning how to divide and conquer will definitely help you at Vandy and any other college in general. </p>
@Zhouzhou, this topic is five years old and you aren’t likely to find any of the original posters!
You should look at the AXLE (general ed) and major requirements on Vanderbilt’s website. They will answer all of your questions. Pre-meds are not treated differently than any other students – all of the requirements of AXLE and their major will still apply. There is no requirement for four years of language.
Note that the general ed requirements are different for each school. AXLE is for the main school (Arts & Sciences) but occasionally there are pre-med students in Peabody or Engineering.
I’m looking into Vandy for a pre med track, is there really any major that Doesn’t add much a workload on top of it? @Pancaked im only an upcoming senior in high school but I heard someone majored in medicine, health, and society and stayed on a pre med track and didn’t have a hard time at all with their major, allowing them to maintain a great GPA, but someone refuted that Med schools would frown upon taking that major as opposed to Bio or Chem for example
@Lift35
MHS is a common choice amongst pre-meds because it’s a fairly easy course-load and still focuses on medicine/healthcare which premed students tend to be interested in. I’d recommend it. There is quite a bit of overlap between general ed requirements and pre-med requirements, so you can really pick just about any major that interests you.
As far as how Med schools view that, my understanding is they don’t really care at all as long as you’ve taken the courses they require. Continue to research that on your own. Google around, don’t just trust opinions of random posters (like me). It’s a question that’s asked all the time; there should be a lot of genuine statements out there from people who have actually served on an admissions team.
Any major is fine for pre-meds, but you might have to consider your choices if you don’t get into med school. I was originally a bio major, but I switched to math while still being pre-med. The reason for this is that I learned that I absolutely did not want to work in a lab. It was tedious, repetitive, etc. Again, this may not be applicable to you specifically, but it might be wise to have a contingency plan in the event that you are unable to get into med school. It would be really bad to be stuck with a major in your senior year that you chose just because you wanted to maximize your chances at med school.
Med schools do take the rigor of your undergrad into account, but I don’t think it’s as big of a deal as college admissions. One of my friends is a music major and pre-med, and she got into med school this year. However, I would go with what Pancaked said and do your own research.
I would just like to add that for grading, the pre-med classes are rarely curved down. Rather, the tests are simply so hard that the average naturally falls into the 77-80 range.
@derp125 Oh okay I see. Then why do so many topics come up on how Vanderbilt has an issue with grade deflation, and especially for those taking the pre requisites for med school? I figure that would be rather daunting to end up with a 3.4 or lower GPA applying to med school simply due to deflation, or is that something many students say because they didn’t exactly put in the effort for some of the classes, especially the weeders
“Grade deflation” is somewhat of an illusion. A 4.0 is, well, next to impossible to come by at Vandy in pre-med, but the average GPA here is pretty normal or even above average for a private institution. However, several top 20 schools are somewhat notorious for grade inflation (see: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/12/3/grade-inflation-mode-a/ ), so GPAs here looks low in comparison to some of them, but that doesn’t reflect the national averages.
Many Vandy pre-meds regret that they could have readily achieved a 4.0 (or at least better grades) at their state flagship. There may be some truth to that, but it’s just because Vandy students would likely fall higher on the bell-curve at their state flagship than they do at Vanderbilt. When you put a bunch of high-achieving students in the same classroom, some students’ grades will have to slip to keep the grading scale balanced. This is what we tend to call “grade deflation,” but the overall average GPA is not actually deflated, to my knowledge.
My brother goes to my state school. I go to Vandy (obviously lol). My brother was top of chemistry class his freshman year. I got a B- in Vandy chemistry. We took each other’s tests over the summer. I got a 90% on his test, he got a 60% on mine.
When premeds complain about grade deflation at Vandy, they aren’t complaining about how unfair the grading is. Honestly, I feel like tests are only ever graded down if the tests are too easy and the class does too well. Rest assured, this phenomenon never happens in Vandy premed classes. When premeds complain about grade deflation at Vandy, they’re mostly complaining about how incredibly hard the classes are. Probably a misuse of the term grade deflation, but w/e.
The problem is that a 4.0 at a state school trumps a 3.4 at Vandy. However, that 3.4 student at Vandy is (likely) more prepared for med school than the state school applicant. The Vandy student likely learned much more in his prereqs, and getting a B+ in a Vandy prereq is a real accomplishment. It’s just frustrating knowing that I could have gone to my state school and easily gotten a much higher GPA, while putting in much less work. Makes you wonder why GPA is such a big deal in med school applications if GPA is so subjective across universities, but that argument is for another thread lol.
That actually makes a lot more sense. With good study habits, putting in a great amount of effort in classes and asking professors for help when needed, is it really a reach to maintain a 3.6 GPA or higher at Vandy for premed students? Understanding that the education is wonderful yet really difficult at the same time.
It’s absolutely possible to get a 3.6 at Vandy premed. I know a few student who had a 3.9XX, although those were the students that spent their entire time in the library.
My sophomore year I got a 3.6 while taking orgo and bio (A in both classes). That took around 2 hours of studying every day for each class (total 4) and about 3 hours a week before tests. Not including my other AXLE classes.
Just rememer that the average GPA for the premed classes is almost universally a 78. A 78 grade is equivalent to a 2.8 GPA, so you can just think of the average GPA for premeds to be a 2.8. Obviously AXLE classes will help to buffer out that GPA, but science GPA, which is separate from cumulative GPA, is much more important in med school applications.