Hi! So I’m a little stuck right now. I am trying to decide whether or not to apply ED for Northwestern or Brown. I’m on the premed track, and want to major in biological sciences or something along those lines, as I plan on attending med school. One thing I am concerned about is how cut throat Northwestern premed atmosphere is, as I want to attend a school that makes me work hard yet I can be happy and have a social life. I’ve heard from multiple friends (I live 35 mins from Northwestern and some of my friends attend there) that they regret going to Northwestern because the premed rec classes are extremely difficult and their GPAs took a hard blow, which harmed their chances of getting into med school (and they worked hard too). I like Brown as well, and the fact that it has large grade inflation and a multitude of wonderful resources for its students is really appealing to me.
I’m just really stuck because I don’t know which would have a great campus life and also be managable for the premed track. Don’t get me wrong, I want to work hard and have my heart 100% in medicine, the main thing I’m concerned about is my GPA getting wrecked in college and then my chances for med school aren’t going to be as great as someone who had a higher GPA at a state school (I understand there are other factors other than gpa but my main concern is GPA). Can someone recommend some colleges that have good premed track, grade inflation, and a good campus life or give me some advice on which college would be better for me?
Any recommendations would depend on your GPA, SAT/ACT, and ECs
33 (34 E, 35 R, 33M, 31 S, superscore a 34) ACT, GPA 3.9 unweighted, varsity sport all 4 years of highschool, was on club team, apart of 7 different clubs (red cross, animal rights, etc.), summer research internship at a medical school in a lab for dna research, apart of NHS/Cum Laude (honors society for top 10% of our grade), volunteering at a hospital every sunday for 4 hours for 2 years now, won presidents volunteer award for over 100 service hours in one year, etc.
Also have been in all honors and APs for all of highschool, have gotten all A/A+s except for math, which has always been a B
You’ll be in competition with some who value becoming a doctor more than having a college social life. There may be some correlation between how hard a school is, how much you learn, and your MCAT score. Compare both schools’ med school admission stats.
Have you looked into the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing? It seems pretty good, and I know lota of people who loved their time their, had very good GPA and got accepted to even better Med schools.
As you stated, getting into medical school is more than just your GPA, but obviously it is very important. People from Northwestern and Brown go to medical school. I wouldn’t worry so much on what you hear from other people because the person doing the work is going to be you. Being on a pre-med track at any college is a challenge and requires time management, balance, etc. You can still have a social life and go to medical school, but there will be some nights you need to study when your friends are going out. Bottom line, I would pick the place you think you will be happiest at and consider looking at majors in the biological sciences field at both schools. Are you going to visit both of them before you apply ED?
Be warned that nursing is a pretty different profession from a physician and from what I gather, unless you intend to work a bit as a nurse before applying to medical school, it is probably not the right major. Before you decide on premed, ask yourself why a doctor and not a nurse practitioner? Physician’s assistant?
Grade inflation and prestige? Schools that come to mind are Harvard, Brown, and Dartmouth.
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as I want to attend a school that makes me work hard yet I can be happy and have a social life.
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Being premed at any school will require that you work hard. It’s a myth to think that you wouldn’t have to work hard if you went a -say- a mid-tier school rather than a top 25 school.
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I’ve heard from multiple friends (I live 35 mins from Northwestern and some of my friends attend there) that they regret going to Northwestern because the premed rec classes are extremely difficult and their GPAs took a hard blow, which harmed their chances of getting into med school (and they worked hard too).
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Yes and this happens a LOT when well-meaning high school seniors choose a top ranked school for premed. All their premed classmates are super-strong students yet the schools will still weed their premeds. 99% of their other classes (non premed) may give out a bunch of A’s, but that’s not likely happening in the premed prereqs…they need a bunch of premeds to change paths.
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I like Brown as well, and the fact that it has large grade inflation and a multitude of wonderful resources for its students is really appealing to me.
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Schools that have a rep for grade inflation will still weed their premeds.
All schools, even the top ones, have way too many premeds and they NEED a large % to move onto other career paths. Not unusual for 75% of frosh premeds to get weeded out
You have an ACT 33…that’s very good, but just how well do you think you’ll fare in premed prereqs full of students with ACT 35-36? THAT will likely be your downfall.
If you are TRULY serious about going to med school and it’s not just a romantic fancy, then go to a school where your ACT 33 is a top 10% score. You will still have to work hard for A’s in the premed prereqs and other classes, but if you are a devoted student, you’ll be less likely to be weeded out.
I don’t know much about grade inflation, but I’ve heard great things about Rice. Apparently it has some of the happiest students (though the coursework is still quite stressful) and it’s definitely top-tier for pre-med. I’m considering it myself, especially because it’s right next to the Houston Medical Center. However, I’m having some difficulty choosing between Rice (which may be my “dream school”) and a more practical choice, such as UVA or W&M.
@blueblue16
If you’ve heard numerous bad things about NW why apply ED there.
I would suggest UVA, Emory, William & Mary, USC, U Rochester if you want a social life with good-elite acedemics.
@mom2collegekids It has great pre-med advising programs and access to the largest medical center in the world, which gives tons of research opportunities from day 1, even for freshmen! It’s a smaller school, so professors really get to know their students, even in the larger science classes.
Don’t get sucked up in the prestige track. Medical schools couldn’t care less where you did your undergrad degree. As long as you can get close to a 4.0 and high scores on the MCAT you’ll be fine. Unless you can go to a high prestige grade inflated place (Brown, Dartmouth, etc) I would suggest to focus on smaller LACs where you can standout and graduate at the top of your class.
Med school classes are generally pretty small (100-150 students). So they don’t like to take too many students from the same undergraduate college. Your chances are actually better if you attend a small undergrad college.
“…which gives tons of research opportunities from day 1…”
having research is not a required EC for gaining admission to med school, especially if one sees their future in clinical practice dealing with patients on day to day basis.
I’ve seen posts like this over the time I’ve been on CC. It certainly sounds innocuous. Yet for those that stayed around to keep posting once in college, none made it far enough to apply to med school.
It’s a correlational thing the way a lot of aptitude tests are constructed (they ask people in different fields a bunch of seemingly random questions and find the way accountants, engineers, etc answer them; they don’t know why the differences exist, but they predict your best options are those fields where your answers resemble those in the field). And part of it why it is predictive may be related to the answer in post #3.
Remove “Northwestern” from the above. Pre-med everywhere is a highly competitive weed-out process which can encourage cut-throat behavior.
As of now I plan to be an ER Doctor, haven’t really given nursing a thought
@VANDEMORY1342 can u give me more information about USC like how it compares to UCB and UCLA for premed track in terms of competition (comparative cutthroat atmosphere), how well prepared they prepare their students, atmosphere in general, etc?
You don’t want to go to a Calif school if you’re an OOS premed. Calif just has way toooooo many premeds and the atmosphere is very cut throat.
Being premed is the one path where seeking a more rigorous curriculum can be fatal and there’s no reward. Simply counter-productive.