<p>Hi, I am a student becoming an undergraduate in 2013, and I may have an opportunity to go to several schools. I may have a chance to attend Emory, Davidson, and UPenn. I am unsure if attending an Ivy league is the best way to go because I have heard there are more opportunities offered in small liberal arts colleges (research, internships, etc.) and going to ivy league schools are unnecessary and it is mostly needed during graduate school. What should I do? I want to go to the school that would place me ahead and where I would have the greatest amount of opportunities offered to me. If I had to pick, which school would offer the best opportunities in a pre-med direction? Please when advising me, don't put cost as a factor, pretend all of these colleges cost about the same! Please let me know your input!</p>
<p>If you want to be a pre-med (and with no mentions of cost) then I think a big priority would be your college GPA, where you can get about all A’s. As with opportunities, I’m sure wherever you go you will be able to seek and find the necessary ones.</p>
<p>The pre-med debate. Should you go to your state flagship? Classes are easy, you will be the smartest kid in your classes, you will graduate with a 4.0 GPA with half your brain tied behind your back and never miss a party. There is little risk of not earning a high GPA or being weeded out.
Or do you attend an elite university where all the students are as smart as you and work as hard as you do. The pre-med weedout classes are graded on a bell curve. The problem is all the students in the class are in the top 1% of test takers in the world. There is more risk that you may be on the left side of the bell curve at an elite university.
Will med school ADCOM’s want or resent Ivy students? Do they understand a 4.0 student at the state flagship could not earn a 2.5 at an Ivy school? Will an elite school GPA of 3.3 get more respect than the 4.0 at the state flagship?</p>
<p>You know it. Why would you worry that they might not?</p>
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<p>People who have the mentality that the reputation of their highly regarded university will alleviate their relatively lower GPAs, risk setting themselves up for disappointment when med school apps are done.</p>
<p>Is there a leniency? Well, Ivy UG institutions tend to draw more attention from the Ivy League medical schools. Some of the grade deflated Ivies get around a .1-.2 GPA leniency, and considering that Penn is one of the more grade deflated Ivies this applies in regards to some medical schools as well.</p>
<p>There are many stories where those who go to top 20 colleges have lesser success than their friends who went to colleges that are ranked lower. I recall a story where a graduate from MIT had applied to med school three times, was rejected every time, and now serves as a waiter while his student loans continue to accrue interest. </p>
<p>It is a big accomplishment to be accepted to an Ivy League school itself. But, as a pre-med student myself it takes even more effort to get a GPA high enough to be competitive. </p>
<p>There are advantages. The rigorous courseload in Penn will prepare you for med school than say, USP (ex. in Bio 101 we just started photosynthesis and cellular respiration today. They’re learning about parts of a cell, like ribosomes and golgi apparatus and stuff that we learned in September). The opportunities are EVERYWHERE. I got a position as a research assistant in Dr. Dinges’ laboratory for sleep and chronobiology and I am applying to be EEG trained through this. The education you’ll get here is well worth it, except for the intro Calc professors (:/). Not to mention the parties here can be insane buuuuut that’s another tale heehee.</p>
<p>All that said… I was in the lower end of a top 10%, which is relatively low here, of an above average public school and the work is manageable. I have an A in all my classes except for Bio because ummmm I didn’t study hard enough for the first test (still have a B though). If you are a student who is capable of being accepted into any of the schools that you listed, you have the mental capacity to handle the work that Penn has to offer. </p>
<p>If you’re set on pre-med, just one more thing: be 100% sure you can afford wherever you go. Student loans are anything but a joke and in today’s struggling economy and with med school costs going as high as 100K per year you don’t have room to financially screw up.</p>
<p>I think Student Doctor Forums would be good if you want to learn more :]</p>
<p>tl;dr Penn isn’t a get-out-of-low GPA card but there are hundreds of opportunities here you can’t find anywhere, get crunk and silly and weekends, watch your money, cheers to what happens :]</p>