<p>Among the following, which is best for PreMed?
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
University of Maryland - College Park
Boston University
Emory University
George Washington University</p>
<p>What qualifies as best for me.
-Non-hostile and non-cutthroat competition. It does not have to be friendly as long as no one is out to get me or hostile towards competition.
-Moderately rigorous PreMed requirement courses. I don't want the PreMed courses to be too hard overall but I don't want them to be too easy either.
-Supportive and informative Premed advising services.
-Ample research and shadowing opportunities.</p>
<p>Do you have cost constraints? Have you checked the net price calculators?</p>
<p>Medical school is expensive, so if money is not effectively unlimited, saving money and avoiding debt in undergraduate may allow you to get through medical school with less debt.</p>
<p>-Moderately rigorous PreMed requirement courses. I don’t want the PreMed courses to be too hard overall but I don’t want them to be too easy either.</p>
<p>No decent school has “easy” courses that satisfy pre-med req’ts. The Bio, Chem, OChem, and Physics classes are weeder classes at good schools. </p>
<p>Are you instate for UNC-CH? </p>
<p>Are you low income? </p>
<p>I’m also applying to Cornell and they have really good financial aid for accepted students.</p>
<p>Not exactly… Cornell has good FA for those who QUALIFY for the amount of aid that they need. The FA would not be good for those who don’t qualify for the amount that they need.</p>
<p>Academic Performance
GPA on 4 scale: 3.79 unweighted</p>
<p>Testing
SAT Math: 710 (Waiting for grades. Expect a improvement.)
SAT Critical Reading: 700 (Waiting for grades. Expect improvement.)
SAT Writing: 770 (Waiting for grades.)</p>
<p>Have you gotten new scores yet?</p>
<p>You have a 1410 Math + CR. Cornell only uses the M+CR.</p>
<p>How much will your family pay each year?</p>
<p>Where have you appled where you know for sure that you will get large merit scholarships?</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, I didn’t mean easy as in being easy to pass. I should clarify that I meant in terms of grading. Some schools are known for a good deal of grade deflation which could really hurt unless one is consistently at the top of class and that is my concern.</p>
<p>I’m from New York but I know that it is possible for out of state students to qualify for the Carolina Covenant program. Since my grades seem to be above average of accepted students, I hope I’ll be able to get in as a Carolina Covenant scholar. It’s one of the more desirable colleges after Cornell.</p>
<p>As for Cornell, I’m elligible for the financial aid based on my family income, assets, and other relate information. So I’m confident that if I am accepted, my financial aid from them will be good.</p>
<p>I’ve gotten my new scores. Math: 740, Reading: 700, Writing: 770. My total is now 2210. My weighted GPA on a 100 scale is 98.63. My school weights very little so even after weighting, the GPA doesn’t jump up tremendously. I’ve also recieved my class rank which is 21 out of a senior class of 958</p>
<p>I’ve also applied to the state school where I’m sure to get in so if other colleges end up being too exspensive, I have a “last resort” option. I’m sure I’ll get a good deal of aid from that school.</p>
<p>happymomof1, my unweighted GPA on a 4 scale is 3.79. My weighted GPA on a 100 scale is 98.63. I rank 21 in a class of 958. My SATs superscored are math: 740, reading: 700, Writing: 770.</p>
<p>Thank you for your suggestions but I’m not interested in those colleges.</p>
<p>I would suggest Emory. You will probably get a lot of excellent research opportunities from Emory Med School, Public Health School, and CDC. Also, you can take advantage of shadowing opportunities from Emory hospital (or any other school on your list with university hospitals except maryland). Avg class size is smaller in Emory as well which would help you get those letters of rec and more supportive faculty.</p>
<p>Emory’s School of Medicine receives over 40 applications for each of its SOM seats. Although you’re asking about pre-med, I think that since many/most of their pre-meds would also like to get accepted to the SOM, the atmosphere would be rough as students are all vying for the limited number of A’s in the BCMP courses.</p>
<p>Since you’re interested in financial aid, have your parents used the Net Price Calculator on Emory’s website to see if they would get the aid that they would want?</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. Perhaps Emory might be too competitive for me from what I’m reading. When I have the time, I plan on visiting Emory to get a feel for the atmosphere. That may help with my decisions. </p>
<p>I haven’t ran the Net Price Calculator yet but I plan to do that as well.</p>
<p>FWIW, this is a very interesting article regarding the relation of major to MCAT scores. Interestingly, pre-med majors did not do as well as other majors by a significant margin. Not only do students in other majors fare better on MCAT’s, but they also have an actually useful major for employment should they take a year off to work in between for financial reasons or ultimately decide not to go into medicine. Obamacare is going to have a huge impact on medicine and it may not be what you think it will be. So, having something else to fall back on would actually serve you well. </p>
<p>Given this information, re-evaluate the schools you are considering for their strength in the other majors that would be of interest to you. </p>
<p>As an alum and mom of freshman engineer at UMD-CP, I would highly recommend UMD-CP. However, if you are a senior and have not already applied, you will not be eligible for the merit money which I think you would get. Only students that apply by the Nov 1 priority deadline (not a commitment) are eligible for merit scholarships and special honors/scholars programs. You would still be eligible for financial aid, but just not merit. </p>
<p>However, if you are a junior, make sure you apply by Nov 1 and go visit Maryland. It meets all of your criteria and then some.</p>
<p>Not sure what you mean. Except for one or two colleges, there’s no such thing as a “pre med major”. </p>
<p>At nearly EVERY college, pre-med students pick a major (bio, chem, English, history, whatever). </p>
<p>In your article, it doesn’t say “pre med major”…it says “traditional pre-med undergraduate majors” (plural). That means that they’re claiming that pre meds who choose traditional majors (bio, microbio), do not do as well on the MCAT.</p>
<p>I think the problem with those stats is that those who choose the traditional bio/microbio tend to be a huge number of students…including many who really aren’t smart enough to be pre-med students…hence their low MCAT scores get averaged into the other scores.</p>
<p>The other majors probably largely include premed students who remain in those majors because they are high achievers and therefore do well on the MCAT.</p>
<p>My own premed son is a Chemical Engineering student. His fellow premeds in his major have all done well on the MCAT…largely because that major heavily weeds kids within the first couple of years. Bio majors probably aren’t heavily weeded.</p>
<p>Excellent points, mom2collegekids. The author does recognize the points you raised when he stated a lot of things about his stats were “unsaid” and summed up the data with what I believe to be the most salient point…</p>
<p>"…I suspect that the primary reason for the discrepancy between the biology and physics/engineering types is that the MCAT is designed to test problem-solving rather than rote-memorization. It really shouldnt surprise anyone that students that spent four years learning to solve problems out-perform students that spent four years memorizing their lecture notes."</p>
<p>The success of your son’s friends actually supports this statement, and I suspect your son will be equally successful when he takes the MCAT’s.</p>
<p>The OP did not mention which major he/she is interested in for his/her undergraduate degree, which affects the decision of which school is the best choice. Each of the schools he/she mentioned has different strengths, so it is hard to compare the schools in general for “pre-med” - which you correctly point out is not a major in of itself at most schools.</p>
<p>The most important thing is not where you go, but what you do when you get there.</p>
<p>I plan to do some research in college. Research requires critical thinking skills or so I would believe. </p>
<p>So far, I’m most interested in a biology major. Originally, I had considered an engineering major as well as being pre-med but engineering majors tend ot have much lower GPAs which would be detrimental. Otherwise, I’d probably take biomedical engineering as my major.</p>
<p>But as mom2collegekids says, lower average GPA may be the result of more lower achieving students taking the “traditional premed majors”.</p>