<p>You’re right, I DON’T want to go to UIC. Is there a way that I can check or does anybody know where I can find the average MCAT scores for theses schools? That would be interesting reading.</p>
<p>Elgin1, the MCAT scores at each of these schools will be relatively similar as the caliber of students are similar and the faculty are similar in rigor.</p>
<p>However, there is some difference between them.</p>
<p>If you have no issues with being nurtured and taught by a professor who is probably not on the forefront of his field, you will probably be fine at Williams.</p>
<p>However, JHU, Cornell, and Northwestern will each offer you the opportunities of learning from the leading researchers of our age who will bring you new knowledge that they have discovered and witnessed themselves.</p>
<p>Between these three schools, the best pre-med faculty can probably be found at JHU, with Cornell and Northwestern not far behind at all.</p>
<p>Honestly, when looking at these schools, it is not so much about academics as about fit. Can you see yourself in quaint rural-esque Williamstown? Can you see yourself in isolated, cold, but beautiful Ithaca? can you see yourself in well-maintained red-brick park-like setting in Baltimore with all the positives and negatives of that city? Or Can you see yourself in a pretty suburb of the Windy City along the eclectic buildings of Northwestern?</p>
<p>This choice is solely up to you and your preferences alone.</p>
<p>“Honestly, when looking at these schools, it is not so much about academics as about fit.”</p>
<p>I hate this. I’ve been fed this spiel so often that I myself believed it for sometime.</p>
<p>You’re going to have your disappointments wherever you choose to go to school. But, suck it up: there are going to be unique qualities about each of these schools that you’ll come to appreciate.</p>
<p>Academics is pretty damned important.</p>
<p>An interesting thing about the MCAT, pre-meds (as in pre-med major) don’t perform the best on it and English and Econ majors finish pretty well compared to some in the sciences. Since you don’t want to go to UIC, I would go to a place that will provide the best intellectual/academic experience you can find and where you “fit” feel most comfortable. You can find a great academic experience at Williams/Cornell and Northwestern/JHU.</p>
<p>So do you want to live in Ithaca/Williamstown or Chicago/Baltimore? Personally I love Chicago so that would eliminate JHU, but you may love B’more and that would eliminate NU. I would have to visit the others. Williams is the most unique because it is an LAC, but it is thee (along with Amherst) PREMIERE LAC. People turn down HYPS to go there. Can you visit?</p>
<p>Here is the major and mcat info. Don’t get caught up in which “school” will prep you best for MCAT, but which major. These are all great schools.</p>
<p>[Average</a> MCAT Scores by Selected Majors, 2003](<a href=“http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:v6OUsVFCxL0J:www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/physics/mcat2003.pdf+english+majors+and+mcat&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a]Average”>http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:v6OUsVFCxL0J:www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/physics/mcat2003.pdf+english+majors+and+mcat&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a)</p>
<p>Hey, that link is excellent!!! Thank you. I think that the average MCAT score by school is probably not available. They all tell you what percentage gets in, some even tell you what scores and GPA they had, but not what the average MCAT of all their graduates is. Another factor that makes me like Williams is that they tell you in their site that they will give you up to 20 recommendations, no matter what, and if you want more, you have to speak to someone. I have heard that other schools only give you a recommendation if you’re approved to receive one, so that the schools boosts its admittance percentage.</p>
<ol>
<li>Elgin1</li>
</ol>
<p>You’ve got to get over this idea that available data will allow you to finely control your destiny. Median MCAT scores? You can’t really believe that your ultimate score four years from now will be influenced by going to Williams as opposed to Hopkins. And forget about medical school acceptance rates published by colleges. This has been discussed ad nauseum. Attrition rates vary markedly school to school and that impacts med school dreams to a much greater extent. In fact, if you want a more useful data set, look at the number of people accepted to medical school relative to freshman listing medicine as an ultimate goal. Of course, don’t expect to find these numbers meaningfully available.</p>
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<li>“the best pre-med faculty can probably be found at JHU.”<br></li>
</ol>
<p>I didn’t know there was such a designation as a “pre-med” faculty member? Even for someone majoring in the sciences, the relative differences between these three schools is negligible. This may not be the case for someone seeking a research career in the field. Even then, top grad program rankings go to Hopkins for Biology, Northwestern for Chemistry, and Cornell for Physics. Williams, it could be argued, is just as strong in all three fields sporting smaller classes and professors who are dedicated teachers before researchers. And lest we forget, at least one-third of entering medical students these days majored in the humanities or social sciences. Pre-med faculty? </p>
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<li>“Premed is extremely popular at JHU”</li>
</ol>
<p>No disagreement here. But if pre-med, is that a positive or a negative?</p>
<p>ISP at Northwestern is difficult; it would make JHU look relatively easy.</p>