<p>I'm a 4.0 CC student wanting to transfer to a large university. Although I have some prereqs out of the way, I still have to take orgo, an extra semester of calc and whatnot.</p>
<p>I see horror stories about kids going to schools like Michigan, Vandy, Berkeley, Northwestern etc. etc. which are hard graders, and being effectively forced out of pre-med path because they end up getting Bs and Cs. I don't know if it's exaggerated. </p>
<p>I know med schools are more number based, so if I have to work a little harder to keep a 3.7 at a tough school, I don't have a problem with that. I want to do well on the MCAT. But I don't want to be get a 3.1 after working my tail off, if I could easily get that 3.7 at a local college.</p>
<p>Is it worth it to go to a harder, more prestigious university? Are the stories exagerrated Sorry if this topic has been made.</p>
<p>First, I disagree with your perception that you have to work harder at places like U of M, NW and even Harvard. Pre-meds at regular state publics work extrememly hard, including those valedictorians that would have been accepted to Elite schools, but decided to attend state publics instead. They kick their …to keep up their GPAs and they also get derailed in high numbers from the pre-med tracks if they do not step up from their regular High School work load. They see other majors enjoying watching TVs while they cannot afford any of this, no breaks on the weekends either. And if they do good they have high chances of getting accepted into top 20 Med. Schools.</p>
<p>Another point I want to make is no matter where you go, please, study Spanish. This is not related to the topic and this has NO effect on your Med. School acceptance. However, Spanish opens so much opportunities while at Med. School. Of course I can only base it on my D’s experience. She is third year Med. Student and had a great advantage and opportunites starting way back in her frist year. She does not considers herself fluent, she also took Medical Spanish while at Med. School. Currently she is using Spanish with about 60% of the patients that she sees during her family practice rotation and one of her MDs is asking her to present the patient history to him in Spanish in front of the Spanish speaking patient. It is a nerve racking, but very rewarding. I would say that her college Spanish class was one of the most important and one of the best UG classes. She took only one semester.
D. has graduated from the state public (she ranked #1 in her private HS class). She and her pre-med friends did not have any problem getting accepted to few Med. Schools, including top 20s. There are many (most?) in her Med. School class who graduated from Ivy’s and other Elite UGs and she has never felt any inferiority in comparison to them.<br>
What you do in UG is much more important than the name of your UG. Ultimately though, it is your personal decision. if you have your hear set up on some Elite school, then go there.</p>
<p>While I agree with Miami, what the OP wrote is also true. When kids who aren’t top quartilel go to elites as premeds, they do often get derailed because there are too many other premeds that are stronger students. </p>
<p>We have seen kids who’ve gone to top schools (got in my the skin of their teeth), who find themselves with GPAs who aren’t med-school worthy. They were thrilled to get into their dream schools, but then find themselves losing their dream career. </p>
<p>That said, that doesn’t mean attending a lower ranking school will be a cake-walk. It doesn’t mean that you won’t have to work your tush off for those A’s in Orgo and so forth.</p>
<p>And, yes, to Spanish.</p>
<p>“When kids who aren’t top quartilel go to elites as premeds, they do often get derailed because there are too many other premeds that are stronger students”
-This is exactly what is happenning a in Honors colleges where student is surrounded with very high caliber kids and, yes, good number of these valedictorians will get derailed and NOT because of competition but because good program will have a weed out class right in the first sememster (in D’s case, it was the very first Bio class. Kids got out of pre-med track despite all those "A"s and "5"s in AP Bio and despite of their top 2% ranking in repsective HS classes. Did not make much difference. The ones who survived just happen to realize very quickly, literally in a first few days at college that despite thier highest standing in HS and despite of the rigor of their private prep. HSs, they have to adjust to much higher level of academics at college. Those who did not adjust (very good number), switched to other majors right after (or during?) the first sememster of colllege. I am not talking about average students. I am talking about top 200 kids who were accepted to Honors and most of whom were valedictorians primarily from the private prep. schools.</p>