<p>I'm not gonna write my whole resume but i'm a bright student(98.8 GPA, 2240 SAT, 780+ on all SAT IIs, Siemens regional finalist, 3 sport athlete with awards in each, all-county jazz band x2, and another 2 pages of strong ECs including president/founder of multiple clubs, etc.)but anyway, I wish to go to medical school and become a doctor, but with all the buzz that it is extremely difficult to get in, idk where to start. I'm applying to UMich, Duke, Princeton, UPenn, BC, Georgetown, Northeastern (safety), and a few others. If accepted, should I attend a school like UMich or NU on a scholarship, be slightly above avg than the average student, get better GPA and rank....OR go to a very prestigious school, and get a lower GPA and rank, but a possibly better med school foundation??</p>
<p>There is a whole med school section on CC, you may get a better response there/</p>
<p>As an OOS student are your parents willing to pay $50K/year to UMich?</p>
<p>Might also look at Holy Cross-great pre-med program one of the better ones in the country.</p>
<p>Have you read this thread yet?</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1122176-bluedevilmikes-ten-step-guide-picking-premed-school.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1122176-bluedevilmikes-ten-step-guide-picking-premed-school.html</a></p>
<p>There’s a lot of good info in it from folks who have been there, done that.</p>
<p>
Keep in mind Holy Cross screens applicants to their premed program. So if you don’t get in during your 1st 2 years as an undergrad then you’re on the hook for 4 years at an expensive private (unless you xfer) and little to no chance of getting into med school out of undergrad. </p>
<p>par72 is a booster of HC and posts comments like this regularly. I’m sure its a fine school, but you need to be aware of the policies before you commit. See the thread at <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1163587-holy-cross-premed.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1163587-holy-cross-premed.html</a> where this is discussed further.</p>
<p>This is very anecdotal - covering my daughter and some of her pre-med interested HSers from four years ago.</p>
<p>Her scores were about mid 2100 non-superscored, and 4s in about a half dozen APs. She had spent time in hospitals doing some summer research. She went to NU, with a significant reason being she felt it was a great pre-med school. Our experience in this regard has been very much disappointing. </p>
<p>What we realize now is that it’s practically all what the student does, and at least at NU, she got practically nothing that she wouldn’t have got here at U Pitt. Even though she had stated her objective right from the onset, she perhaps relied too much on her counsellors to make sure she was hitting the right milestones and targets, only to discover a brusque, “you should take a gap year after college to work on your med school applications, goodbye, don’t bother me”. This wasn’t like private HS that have connections to get you into colleges - there was none of this.</p>
<p>Of the ones who are academically similar to my daughter, the least traumatic route seems to have been the 7 or 8 year tracks - eg. through Duquesne and then to Temple. Of the “open market” ones, there have been several great success stories of those who went to far less selective schools, but focused on grades and MCATs. Anyway DD has an offer, and a couple of interviews left, but nothing in the league she had expected.</p>
<p>* Anyway DD has an offer, and a couple of interviews left, but nothing in the league she had expected.* </p>
<p>Dad<em>of</em>3 makes a good point. Many think that going to an elite school is some kind of ticket to the best med schools, when in fact, you’re lucky to get accepted ANYWHERE…which can be shocking for those who assume that they will also be attending an elite med school.</p>
<p>I read thru the bluedevilmike posting and it has some good information. There is an excellent brochure online at Amherst I’ve been recommending for years – [Amherst</a> College Guide for Premedical Students](<a href=“http://www3.amherst.edu/~sageorge/guide2.html]Amherst”>Amherst College Guide for Premedical Students) While a bit of the material is school specific, the vast majority is devoted to explaining what you should be doing year by year while in college to prepare for med school. Its worth reading before you apply to college because armed with the knowledge of what you’re going to want to do, you can screen colleges to see how well they help you to do so.</p>
<p>Can anyone please answer this question:
Please do not factor cost into this.
Assuming you get a good score on the MCAT, which scenario would be better if your goal is to go to medical school:
1). Go to a school (example: State U) and pull a 3.7-4.0 GPA
2). Go to a great name school (example: Duke) and pull a 3.2-3.5 GPA
Thank you anyone who can shed light on this. :)</p>
<h1>1 is a no-brainer. Some/many grad schools conduct an initial numbers screen. For example, they may not even consider an unhooked candidate with a gpa <3.xx.</h1>
<p>Thank you bluebayou. That’s what I thought but wanted confirmation. :)</p>
<p>Just another prespective: for premed, go to the school where you will be happiest and not incur too much debt. Why:
- Half the kids who start as pre-med go in another direction.
- Pre-med is a very tough road to go, with hard classes and the need for significant outside committments (shadowing doctors and doing research). The best chance of success is to be in an environment that will bring out the best in you.
- Predicting GPAs at one school versus another is a tricky business. State schools have many elite kids who go for financial reasons, and lot’s of them will be pre-med. The notion that you’ll have a better GPA in pre med classes at one school over another is not a sure thing.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/157998/mcat-gpa-grid-by-selected-race-ethnicity.html[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/157998/mcat-gpa-grid-by-selected-race-ethnicity.html</a></p>
<p>This should be required reading for anyone who is pre-med. Do not kid yourself that by attending a ‘prestige’ school and getting a lower GPA, you wil be doing yourself any favors from a med school admissions perspective. Admissions is about GPA and MCAT score first. It’s not soley about that - otherwise it would be 100% admissions in the high GPA/MCAT catagory - but it’s very significant. Realize too that some of the people with lower grades and test scores are getting admitted because they live in a state that admits only or primarily in-state applicants, so you have virtually no chance of admission to those less selective schools if you aren’t a state resident. And make sure if you are lucky enough to live in a state with a medical school that favors in-state applicants that you don’t do anything that jeopardizes your residency, like changing your driver’s license or where you vote.</p>
<p>“If accepted, should I attend a school like UMich or NU on a scholarship, be slightly above avg than the average student, get better GPA and rank…OR go to a very prestigious school, and get a lower GPA and rank, but a possibly better med school foundation??”</p>
<p>First of all Michigan is in a different league than Northeastern. If you graduate with a high GPA from there (with high MCAT scores too of course), you have a very good chance of attending any top medical school , including the one in Ann Arbor. Secondly, don’t think it’s going to be any easier to maintain a 3.8 or better at a top public over a top private. Oftentimes grade deflation is more prevelant at the public universities than the privates ones. Thirdly, listen to M’s Mom advice.</p>
<p>“Keep in mind Holy Cross screens applicants to their premed program. So if you don’t get in during your 1st 2 years as an undergrad then you’re on the hook for 4 years at an expensive private (unless you xfer) and little to no chance of getting into med school out of undergrad.”</p>
<p>I think this is common at a lot of private schools. That way they can publicize their high acceptance rates to medical schools and impress prospective students into going to their school for undergrad. Public schools like Michigan don’t do this.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Huh? Please provide sources for even a handful of schools that do same.</p>
<p>1). Go to a school (example: State U) and pull a 3.7-4.0 GPA
2). Go to a great name school (example: Duke) and pull a 3.2-3.5 GPA
Thank you anyone who can shed light on this</p>
<p>*#1 is a no-brainer. Some/many grad schools conduct an initial numbers screen. For example, they may not even consider an unhooked candidate with a gpa <3.xx. *</p>
<p>Secondly, don’t think it’s going to be any easier to maintain a 3.8 or better at a top public over a top private. Oftentimes grade deflation is more prevelant at the public universities than the privates ones.</p>
<p>* Do not kid yourself that by attending a ‘prestige’ school and getting a lower GPA, you wil be doing yourself any favors from a med school admissions perspective. Admissions is about GPA and MCAT score first.*</p>
<p>Totally agree! Exactly right!</p>
<p>There are like 7 year medical school things where you complete both your BS and MD in 7 years. There’s actually a lot. I’m from ohio so we have neoucom (i think they changed the name to neomed, now though), and case and cincinnati each have one. Boston university does too. just google it there are a lot. And for most of them, you are automatically accepted to medical school, I do not think you even have to take the MCAT</p>
<p>In my message yesterday, I was referring to Northwestern when I wrote about NU. Didn’t realize OP was referring to Northeastern.</p>