I realize thats a lot of schools. Im deciding early decisions right now and I just want to figure which school is the best for me. I know you can’t easily tell me that because you don’t know me. I’ve done a lot of research and visited all the schools excluding Duke. But basically I want to know, for an aspiring pre-med student, whats the best decision? I like the look and the feel of all these schools so I’m just trying to decide what med schools prefer, where is the curve most generous, where is the competition least. Any current Berkeley Brown Georgetown Duke Cornell NYU students with opinions? I’ve heard Brown has the best curve and least competitive atmosphere but of course its an ivy so you are still competing with really smart kids. I don’t want to kill myself working the next four years and have absolutely no social life.
You are asking about which among the most selective schools is the easiest for one of the most competitive academic goals. You should question your premise.
^^what @WISdad23 said.
For all of those colleges, there will be a fair few of your peers who are also applying to med school. When the pre-med committee meets to write LoRs, are you gong to stand out? Is the committee going to give you the LoR of a star / a solid student / a slacker?
What med schools prefer is a 3.7+GPA, a great MCAT score, strong committee letter and impressive interview. They won’t care about the difference between any of those colleges.
California is a law unto itself- @mom2collegekids can give you chapter and verse.
@WISdad23 @collegemom3717 i merely want to know which of the colleges have the least competitive atmosphere. I know there are differences between even the most selective schools. For example, Berkeley, I have heard, has huge classes where kids often resort to cheating and competition, whereas Brown is more collaborative. I don’t know about the other schools so I wanted to hear from current students.
Aren’t you a senior? How can you be deciding on ED schools? The deadline has passed already.
To me, this sounds like a student who is trying to figure out which prestigious name is the easiest path to ticking med school admission boxes. If I am mis-reading your intent, please accept my apologies.
If your serious goal is to get into medical school, your best path is to pick a college where you will be a star: where you will get the GPA (overall and in the pre-reqs) that you need and where you stand out enough that your LoRs will shine. Any accredited uni will get you there just fine, and (with a small exception for the top 3-5 famous name colleges), within the top 50 or so there is no meaningful difference in terms of med school application success.
Also, competition and intra-student competitiveness are different things. There are people who cheat everywhere, and the larger / more impersonal the pool, the more of them you will find. If by ‘competition’ you mean people actively trying to undercut other students (by messing with the lab equipment or something), afaik that is not a big thing at any of the top places (JHU, for example, seems to have that reputation- yet I know several current students and recent grads in pre-med type classes who swear that it doesn’t exist and describe their classmates as mutually supportive).
[/quote]
of course its an ivy so you are still competing with really smart kids
[/quote]
The kids that you will be competing with at Brown are no smarter than the kids you will be competing with at any of the other unis you list. What is true is that getting in to med school requires equal parts of smart, hard work and self-discipline, laced with maturity, self-confidence and ambition.
Of course I care about which schools have a more generous grading system. I have heard time and again that brown is known for their grade inflation and that the average gpa coming out of brown is much higher than other ivys. Berkeley is known for grade deflation and a smaller percent of the class is awarded A’s (clearly i know more about brown and Berkeley than any of the other schools on this list lol) I am fully prepared to work hard in college, I just like all of these schools a lot so i am simple trying to find a means to differentiate them. I know how important gpa is to med schools but i still want to go to a top tier school. its a personal thing, i would feel more proud of my hard work in high school going there. However, i appreciate your note on LoRs and the falsehood of the overly competitive atmosphere at these top schools. @collegemom3717
of this list I pick Brown because they don’t have a heavy list of distribution requirements so you will have much more flexibility in the rest of your education outside of required pre-med classes. This can be better for your morale and also for you GPA in some cases (because you take the classes that match your strengths).
makes sense, thanks! @redpoodles
Brown due to grade inflation and flexibility.
Have you run the NPC 's? Asked your parents if costs are OK?
yup did that @MYOS1634 thanks!
Consider how expensive medical school is.
https://services.aamc.org/tsfreports/
https://www.aamc.org/download/447254/data/debtfactcard.pdf
If some undergraduate schools cost significantly less than others, these may be favorable, in that less spend on undergraduate could leave more money for medical school, leading to lower debt when starting practice.
Starting practice with $300,000 in debt can lead to financial pressure to chase the money even though you may prefer some other path (e.g. when choosing medical specialties, will your choice be based on what you want to do, or whether you will be able to pay off the debt?).