<p>Hi. This is my first post. I was just admitted by Cornell, Williams, JHU, Northwestern, and the Guaranteed Professional Program Admissions at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Should I go to UIC b/c I will be guaranteed admission to Med school, or should I gamble and go the the undergrad program of my choice so I can have a better undergrad experience than UIC can provide? Where will I have a better chance of getting into a top med school? I read a "Top 50 Feeder Schools" ranking, and it says Williams is # 5, right after HYPS, Northwestern is #21, and JHU and Cornell are 24 and 25. What do you think of this ranking? Where is it more difficult to get a good GPA? Where will I get a better pre-med education? I really need advice. I really want to go to an Ivy league, like Cornell, but I've heard it is really hard on GPA, same as JHU.</p>
<p>seriously consider the whole “guaranteed med school” thing, because roughly half of all people applying to med school receive ZERO acceptances. and those are the people who finish the pre med track…at places like JHU a huge number of people drop out of the pre-med track.</p>
<p>also, the specific med school is not important. the important thing is getting your MD</p>
<p>Take into consideration that your interests might change while in college. You may find yourself not interested in pursuing the medical school route once you start taking classes.
I would personally pick Williams. I think it will provide the best well rounded education any one could desire for an undergraduate education, and that rank of feeding into medical school is only a plus. It’s not a guarantee, but its a strong statistic you can’t ignore.</p>
<p>I agree with liek0806’s sound advice.</p>
<p>A vast majority of young men and women gunning to go into medicine end up crashing and burning–not to scare you.</p>
<p>Williams, in addition to having outstanding medical, law, and graduate school placement that matches that of HYPS, will offer you the best education out of all the schools you named.</p>
<p>Cornell is a great school too, completely different in most respects, but you shouldn’t feel pressed to go there just because of its Ivy League status. That’s a terrible reason to enroll at any of those eight institutions.</p>
<p>There’s a lot of talk about the respective strengths of Cornell and Williams on this thread, which you may find interesting:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/688833-open-letter-chandler-cornell-v-williams.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/688833-open-letter-chandler-cornell-v-williams.html</a></p>
<p>Yes, Cayuga, I had already read the “Open letter to Chandler” thread and I hoped you would pick up this one. How good are science research opportunities at Williams? Are they really cutting edge? Am I right in believing that teachers and research opportunities would be more accessible at Williams?</p>
<p>I can’t speak for Williams, but I do know that all of my friends at Cornell who wanted significant faculty interaction and a research experience had absolutely no trouble obtaining such – everything from working with transgenic mice to drilling ice cores in the Arctic, presenting papers at economic conferences to submitting poems to literary magazines.</p>
<p>I would imagine Williams offers a lot as well – two students won Goldwater Scholarships this year from Williams. Cornell and MIT were tied for first with four. Many schools – like Penn and Duke – had none.</p>
<p>I also would not take a whole lot of stock in the Wall Street Journal survey. Not only was the number of graduate schools they included severely limiting, but they failed to take into account the fact that some schools have less students interested in medical, legal, or business graduate programs – like Cornell or Northwestern, for example.</p>
<p>Are finances a concern? If so what do the scholarships look like.</p>
<p>I don’t qualify for financial aid anywhere… I was offered a 24,000 scholarship by Tulane, and 26,700 by Fordham, but I don’t think I’ll take them… The GPPA at UIC would end up costing me about the same as these, plus about half the usual cost for Med school, but I still want to go to the best undergrad I can. Unfortunately, my dad already told me he won’t be able to pay for med school unless I take one of these offers, because I have two younger sisters, but I’d rather borrow for Med school when the time comes… what do you think?</p>
<p>Just FYI:</p>
<p>GPPA for UIC is ONLY guaranteed if you can maintain a 3.5 GPA or above…which for a lot of students can be tough.</p>
<p>Anyways, back to the main topic:</p>
<p>If there is any single shred of doubt in your head that you want to be a medical doctor, then I suggest either Williams, Cornell, JHU, or Northwestern in that order.</p>
<p>If you are 100%+ sure that you can see yourself as a doctor and would love the job, go to UIC.</p>
<p>The thing about UIC is that outside of their med program, the school is not that strong.</p>
<p>Hmm, well I agree with borrowing for Med school when the time comes, heck you are fortunate enough to have your parents pay for undergrad haha. I would opt for UIC, IF you are 100% on becoming a doctor, but as I told another poster, people change once they get to college. You might find another passion. </p>
<p>Let me say one thing about UIC. It is one of the most underrated universities in the country IMO, because there are some GREAT faculty members there. In fact, I would go there before Fordham or Tulane.</p>
<p>But in this case, if your parents can afford Williams, Northwestern or Cornell, I would visit those schools and choose where you would feel most comfortable. Those are some GREAT institutions that will allow you to explore in case you change your mind and they can get you to a top Med School if you do well. </p>
<p>Personally, it would be a really tough choice, I might opt Cornell or Williams even though I LOVE Chi-Town, but you really can’t make a bad choice, even if you take the UIC offer. </p>
<p>Williams would offer more one on one time with faculty which might enhance your chance for a great GPA.</p>
<p>What about JHU?</p>
<p>Be aware that JHU is a notorious “weed-out” school for premeds - only a fraction ever get to med. school. You should check whether the same is true for Cornell and Williams (the latter was when I was there, but that was a long time ago.)</p>
<p>Cornell or Northwestern would be my pics, unless you are VERY sure about med school, in which case the guaranteed program.</p>
<p>Williams is very SMALL and in the middle of nowhere. But if that is something you like, then it is a wonderful school and a very good option.</p>
<p>Has anyone heard about grade deflation at Cornell, JHU, or Northwestern? Is it true that medical schools don’t really compensate for grade deflation in some universities?</p>
<p>ALL Schools are “weed-out” schools.</p>
<p>hopkins is not the only one. It only garners that reputation because so many pre-meds who WEREN’T 100% sure on Pre-Med decide to go there. <em>rolls eyes</em></p>
<p>People, don’t talk about “reputations” and “rumors” when you don’t even know anything about the school itself. All you know is hearsay. It’s more beneficial to the OP to give actual experience and wisdom.</p>
<p>Also, to the OP: JHU is wonderful for pre-med. The head of pre-med advising was the former dean of the Hopkins Medical School Admissions Council, and in one article, Hopkins’ Pre-Med Advising was listed as Top 3 in the country.</p>
<p>Research opportunities are amazing at Hopkins with many to most students starting a research project as early as freshman and sophomore year (where as at other schools, a lot of them start later). In fact, more than 80% of the Hopkins’ undergrads do some form of research as undergrads at JHU. More than just about every school in the country.
The campus is lovely, and the students are not cut throat as people would love to tell you. In fact, it is a very collaborative group with the group-study level of the library always the most crowded and popular choice for students to study in.</p>
<p>The campus is meticulous, Baltimore is very easily accessible, as is DC.</p>
<p>Fantastic school. It is also great for other majors beyond pre-med with Top 5, Top 10, or Top 20 programs in International Relations, History, Math, Economics, English, Creative Writing, Art History, Egyptology, Spanish, French, German, Public Health, Nursing, Bio-medical Engineering, Computer Science, and a LOT more. Basically, all majors at JHU are great and the campus has been getting better and more fun with each year.</p>
<p>With only 4400 undergrads on campus, it has the second smallest student body on campus of your list, behind Williams, and well ahead of Cornell, NU, and UIC.</p>
<p>It’s a fantastic option. Check it out.</p>
<p>In regards to Grade Deflation:</p>
<p>Pre-Med courses at just about EVERY school are graded on curves. There is no deflation: just set curves and class averages that are curved. And yes, graduate and medical schools take grade inflation/deflation into account. For example, a survey from Berkeley listed Hopkins as one of the schools that they take the most into consideration for for grade deflation. (meaning, they add many extra points to the GPA of Hopkins’ students compared to that of say, UIC or Yale)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>JHU was named the “hottest” premed school in 2008 by USNews… Premed is extremely popular at JHU… because it has arguably the best hospital, medical school, public health, and nursing combo resources in America and because 93% of premeds get accepted into medical school. The Johns Hopkins Hospital is world renown, basically ranked #1 best hospital in America 18 years running, School of Public health is ranked #1, and Medical school is ranked #2, and Nursing is ranked #4… Both School of Public health and Medical schools are #1 recipient of NIH Research funding. Only Harvard’s academic health center can rival that of Johns Hopkins’… even still… It’s a still a mecca for medical school education.</p>
<p>Well, it’s definitely a weed out school when you are competing against highschool Valedictorians who are pulling 3.93’s or 3.89’s and consider an A- to be “bad.” You’ll find these types of people at any top 15 institution.</p>
<p>A significant portion of students come into Hopkins knowing that they are premed and have parents who are in the health profession that are either doctors or nurses that encourage them to come to JHU… very few of my friends drop out of premed that I know of and Hopkins has one of the highest success rates into med school.</p>
<p>Mini, you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Just please stop disseminating med school acceptance rate information. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So long as you pull a high GPA at a top tier school whose mean MCAT scores are high, you should be good. Medical admissions board factor in how hard or competitive your institution is by recalculating your GPA by including factors such average MCAT scores of students applying from your institutions.</p>
<p>It’s natural for schools like Johns Hopkins, Cornell, and Northwestern to have high average MCAT scores so if your GPA is a 3.5 or 3.6 and average MCAT score was a 34 or 35, it would look a lot better than a 4.0 from a state school which has an average MCAT score of 26 or 27…</p>
<p>Someone who’s gotten into Williams, JHU, Cornell and NWern doesn’t need to be selling themselves short in return for an enhanced shot at med school. Something tells me that if that’s still your plan in four years, you’ll be in med school somewhere. BTW, Williams may be the best undergraduate college in America.</p>
<p>Personally, I would consider other options that UIC, if you have those options and can afford them. They are all wonderful schools, and you may get an overall better undergrad education if you’re at a school where you’re not only focusing on the future. </p>
<p>Good Luck! :)</p>
<p>I think the overall consensus here is that unless you are 120% sure that you want to be a doctor and want to go to med school, you should look at the other options. </p>
<p>Between all of your choice schools, they are all of equal caliber academics and will each provide you with numerous opportunities. The decision is now yours to decide on a school that you can fall in love with and I have a feeling that you don’t exactly have this type of love for UIC.</p>