<p>So right now I'm looking at schools with amazing Biology programs...but not look at pre-Med programs as much. Should i be focusing on schools with great pre-med instead of Bio, a mix of the two, or stay on the current course of ones with great Bio programs?</p>
<p>What do you mean by pre-med program? Are you asking about med school placement rates? If that is your real question, you will need to contact the various colleges/universities to find out how they determine their med school placement rates. Is it based on the number of students who say they are pre-med when they enroll as freshmen, or is it based on the number of students who do apply to med school as seniors? There is a significant difference between those two sets of numbers!</p>
<p>Probably the # of graduates that say they will be going to Med school is what I’d be looking for. I already know that Med schools are #s driven so any college will do, I really just want the best UG wise.</p>
<p>Ive been looking at a lot of top notch schools with great potential opportunities research wise (regardless if I have a chance or not) and am noticing a lot of them have “pre-med” programs; that is, sets of classes they feel will help to prepare you. That’s pretty much what i meant by pre-med</p>
<p>Med school is horrifically expensive. The standard advice is to choose the college/u that you can graduate from at the least cost to you, with a good GPA, and well prepared for the MCAT.</p>
<p>If your backup plan to complete a biology major, then what do you want to do with it? Grad school? In what? Yes, there are jobs out there for biology majors, but usually the good ones require continuing on through a Ph.D. and multiple years of post-doc research. The advantage over med school is that usually you don’t have to pay one cent for that Ph.D. program.</p>
<p>Do a search here on pre-med and med school. There are tons of threads on the topic of ‘best pre-med schools’ and lots of excellent advice. The gist of it is that most schools have good enough basic sciences to prep you for med school, and schools’ numbers related to admission to med school are rarely good indicators of anything (except perhaps that they have strong weeder classes for chem and bio). These threads will tell you have to dig deeper so you can assess your choices better. They will also tell you to avoid debt like the plague because med school is very expensive and there are very few scholarships.</p>
<p>Med students can come from almost any college… and almost any major. My nephew was a philosophy & history double major, and still finished the med school pre-reqs. He is now a doctor. Regarding asking for the statistics, what happymom1 is getting at is that a lot of students wash out of their pre-med aspirations once they hit the realities of getting good grades in the difficult science courses. I suspect most schools don’t track how many come in as pre-med vs. how many actually apply or go to med school (I think the numbers would be depressing).</p>
<p>So momof1, your saying that there wouldn’t be anything gained from a biology major in terms of preparing one for medschool? And M’s mom, ill take a look at some threads later today! Do either of you have any idea what the names of the top 5-10 schools are? Or would that be something id find in the search?</p>
<p>Intparent; not sounding arrogant in any way but science will be no problem to understand. The main reason I wanted a Bio major was because I love it so much, not because people say its the “best” for Med school. If thats the main thing that holds people back I shouldn’t have anything to worry about, right?</p>
<p>If you love Biology then study biology. I think there are more jobs and careers without a PhD than there used to be especially if you focus on something like Biotechnology. For example take a look at the info on this page:
[Biology</a> & Biotechnology: Potential Careers - WPI](<a href=“http://www.wpi.edu/academics/bbt/careers.html]Biology”>http://www.wpi.edu/academics/bbt/careers.html)
To read more about their program -
[Biology</a> & Biotechnology - WPI](<a href=“http://www.wpi.edu/academics/bbt.html]Biology”>http://www.wpi.edu/academics/bbt.html) </p>
<p>Follow your interests! Just continue to research different career paths now or during college as you explore other disciplines and talk to different people. If you are thinking about med school in particular, you need to focus on keeping undergrad costs down.</p>
<p>Since almost any school can get you into med school, how about telling us what else you’d like and what your stats are? That will help people suggest schools.</p>
<p>It’s fine to major in Bio if you like it.</p>
<p>What are your scores and GPA?</p>
<p>What do you like in a school - I assume research since you mentioned it, but what about other things - Greek? City? Rural? Size? General location? Sports?</p>
<p>What are your finances like? Since med school is expensive, it is important to minimize undergrad cost. Are you looking for merit aid? Do you qualify for need-based aid? Are you in the position where money doesn’t matter (and I don’t mean willing to take on loans)?</p>
<p>There are plenty of good schools. The key is finding the best school for you.</p>
<p>It’s tougher to find a Bio school IF you aren’t looking pre-med since most do tend to lean toward the med-types. It’s sort of a default. My youngest is into Botany, so he needs to look at course offerings and research options, etc… beyond Bio 101.</p>
<p>Middle is currently pre-med at U Rochester and perfectly happy (plenty of research opportunities, hospital right across the street, enjoys his profs, affordable for us, etc), BUT that doesn’t mean it’s the best school for everyone. It is a perfect fit for him.</p>
<p>am noticing a lot of them have “pre-med” programs; that is, sets of classes they feel will help to prepare you. That’s pretty much what i meant by pre-med</p>
<p>Prepare you for what???</p>
<p>Med schools require certain basic classes. They don’t require “frills” classes which is what you seem to be talking about.</p>
<p>My son’s undergrad offers some pre-med extra classes, but that’s what they are…just extra classes…for example: Medical Spanish, Medical Ethics, and so forth. The school also offers a 1 credit class that pre-meds can take that helps them determine where they should apply, write their essays/personal statement/etc. </p>
<p>Frankly, I would hesitate to pick an undergrad that is loaded with pre-meds that have similar or higher stats as you do. A’s are limited in the pre-med pre-reqs, and therefore you’re going to have too many classmates all gunning for those limited number of A’s. </p>
<p>As long as a school has a good pre-med advising dept and writes Committee Letters, the school should be fine for pre-med.</p>
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<p>However, the job market is flooded with biology graduates (biology is a very popular major), so there is enormous competition for the available biology-major-specific jobs.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys.html</a></p>
<p>The PhD job market is not all that great either.</p>
<p>[Education:</a> The PhD factory : Nature News](<a href=“http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110420/full/472276a.html]Education:”>Education: The PhD factory | Nature)</p>
<p>I agree. Majoring in bio is risky. If the student has another strength/interest, he should consider that.</p>
<p>My pre-med son majored in Chemical Engineering as a “back up” in case he changed his mind about med school.</p>
<p>I can say 100%, my mind is set on medical. To be honest I really only chose Biology because I thought it would help me understand med-school more, and because I love it the most out of the three sciences. I can’t really think of any other major I’d rather complete…and wouldn’t majoring in biology at some prestigious college or U open up a lot more opportunities job/internship wise for research? I’m unsure why majoring in biology is a bad idea tbh. It seems like it can only benefit me.</p>
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<p>Go to the <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys.html</a> and compare biology majors to other majors at prestigious colleges like MIT and Berkeley.</p>
<p>If you want to major in biology, that is fine – but make sure that your decision is fully informed, so that you do not find the fiercely competitive job market at graduation to be an unpleasant surprise or letdown. Among other things, being forewarned means that you know to be more aggressive at seeking internships, research, and the like as an undergraduate.</p>
<p>As I’ve said before in other posts, my GPA is nothing to brag about due to an extensive traumatic family situation that will be explained to colleges on the app – the event affected my freshman and sophomore years dramatically, as well as my ability to participate in EC’s. This year however (my junior year) I have taken 3 AP’s and plan on taking 3-5 more senior year. I have emailed numerous college advisers and they have all assured me that the family situation will be taken into account if mentioned. I’m not expecting this to drastically improve my chances of acceptance, but it will help. My ACT is a 31/32, SAT is around 2000-2100.
Greek life is fine, large city setting/close to a city is preferred, large student body with low student to teacher ratios, anywhere in the US, need-based aid, etc. I don’t know if this helps list some colleges for me but anything is fine.</p>
<p>Why are you giving an ACT SAT range. What have you gotten? </p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Greek life is fine, large city setting/close to a city is preferred, large student body with low student to teacher ratios, anywhere in the US, need-based aid, etc. I don’t know if this helps list some colleges for me but anything is fine.*</p>
<p>Large student body schools generally do not give great need-based aid. However, some give good merit scholarships. How much can your family contribute? If they can’t contribute anything, then will you have a low/0 EFC?</p>
<p>Make sure your family situation is explained by your guidance counselor on his/her recommendation form. The colleges need to have your story backed up by an authority figure for them to really feel comfortable giving you any leeway. Just saying…</p>