How many pre-meds are there???

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Does anyone know where I would find the stats on how many pre-meds there are in the country, at each school, etc?? Or how many people start out at "pre-med" vs. how many actually end up applying to med school??

Originally Posted by FemalesCANTDriv

Does anyone know where I would find the stats on how many pre-meds there are in the country, at each school, etc?? Or how many people start out at "pre-med" vs. how many actually end up applying to med school??

The aamc has a list of the top hundred or so schools that churn out applicants, but you would be hard pressed to figure out how many started out except on a school to school basis.

Well, about 80k take the MCAT each year, so it would seem that is a good estimate as to how many pre-meds make it to junior year. Of those about half actually apply and only one quarter who made it that far will make it into medical school. At most schools, probably about 2-3x that number started as pre-med....

I went to a UC for undergrad, and the career center said about 400 students apply to medical school each year, with around 200 students getting accepted somewhere. But any given first-year BCPM class will be composed of ~20-40% pre-med students -- many don't end up going all the way.

At my undergrad (top 15) the breakdown looks something like this:

Entering class: 1600
Premeds: 1000
Premeds after freshman year: 400 (bio and gen chem weed out)
Premeds after sophomore year: 150 (orgo weed out)
Students who apply after junior year: 100 (mcat weed out)
Accepted to MD or DO: 70 (lucky as f*ck)

So approximately 7% of freshman who originally indicated they were premed at my undergrad will ultimately attend medical school.

Originally Posted by music2doc

Well, about 80k take the MCAT each year, so it would seem that is a good estimate as to how many pre-meds make it to junior year. Of those about half actually apply and only one quarter who made it that far will make it into medical school. At most schools, probably about 2-3x that number started as pre-med....

Just wanted to clarify that this is the number of tests which are taken each year. Not the number of people taking the test. The first number is much larger than the second.

Originally Posted by lkthlttr

Just wanted to clarify that this is the number of tests which are taken each year. Not the number of people taking the test. The first number is much larger than the second.

Good point... I guess I tend to assume most people don't retake, but that's actually not true. It seems an awfully large number of people think their first score (<25) just can't possibly be representative of their actual ability....

I think I've also seen the figure 60k, which I would guess is the actual number of test takers/year. Even then, only 1/3 of the people who go into the MCAT actually make it to medical school.

Originally Posted by music2doc

Good point... I guess I tend to assume most people don't retake, but that's actually not true. It seems an awfully large number of people think their first score (<25) just can't possibly be representative of their actual ability....

I think I've also seen the figure 60k, which I would guess is the actual number of test takers/year. Even then, only 1/3 of the people who go into the MCAT actually make it to medical school.

Sounds about right.

Never mind...

Moving to pre-allo.

At my undergrad the professor in charge of the pre-med committee said something like 80% of the incoming students are planning on or at least considering pre-med.

so that is 450 undergrad freshman
360 thinking medicine
about 20 each year that end up applying
and about 10 who actually get in

so that is just over 2% of the class that end up going to medical school (just over 2.5% who were thinking med school)

Point is there all thousands of "pre-meds". The really stupid ones get weeded out in the gen chems and bios. Orgo and the other mid-levels are the first real look for some whether medicine is something they want to do. It still weeds out those who can't grasp the concepts but others realize they just don't like it. Some get pulled into PhD after the upper levels or find something they like more during an internship. The MCAT and the admissions process weed out the rest for the most part.

Originally Posted by FemalesCANTDriv

Does anyone know where I would find the stats on how many pre-meds there are in the country, at each school, etc?? Or how many people start out at "pre-med" vs. how many actually end up applying to med school??

Nearly impossible to give you a real number.

But like most people have said, it's a large weed-out process, which varies by school. And by the time people go from 1st-year to applying to medical school, there's usually less than 15% of the same group of people left.

Originally Posted by ppfizenm

At my undergrad the professor in charge of the pre-med committee said something like 80% of the incoming students are planning on or at least considering pre-med.

so that is 450 undergrad freshman
360 thinking medicine
about 20 each year that end up applying
and about 10 who actually get in

so that is just over 2% of the class that end up going to medical school (just over 2.5% who were thinking med school)

Point is there all thousands of "pre-meds". The really stupid ones get weeded out in the gen chems and bios. Orgo and the other mid-levels are the first real look for some whether medicine is something they want to do. It still weeds out those who can't grasp the concepts but others realize they just don't like it. Some get pulled into PhD after the upper levels or find something they like more during an internship. The MCAT and the admissions process weed out the rest for the most part.

My Bio prof said the first day of class that most who start out as pre-med end up in education, either elementary, secondary or college. Not sure how true that is, but my wife is a teacher and works with two women who said they started out wanting to be pediatricians, but "Pre-med bio is sooo hard" so they changed to teaching.

Real Pre-Meds are the one who take MCAT. That would be about 80,000/year. If you count all the undergraduate population it may about 400 to 500 thousand. Only half of 80,000 apply for medical school.

Go to University of Texas and witness the vast sea of premeds. SO. MANY. INDIAN. PEOPLE.

At my undergrad, about ~800 to 1000 of so students out of 20,000 total undergraduates were pre med during the first year.

After 2 years, chem, ochem and bio weedout, about 250 students left.

After physics and MCAT weed out, about 175-225 left.

According to advisor about 100 of those students made it to either MD or DO school.

A large portion get weeded out with those horrible introductory classes and a few more after MCAT or physics. Maybe half of those who end up applying make it to medical school which isn't bad. It's tough

wow. i have never seen these numbers. i knew it was a very low amount, but <10%. It really puts it into perspective. I am damn glad to be going to med school, MD or DO.

Sorry to bump the old thread, because I didn't want backlash for creating a similarly titled thread.

If there are so many weed-outs, why are there so many premeds? Looks like most of the premeds are basically clueless and unnecessarily makes competition really difficult.

Basically, only 10% (maybe more) of premeds go to med school. What about the other 90%?

my school has about 23 million pre-meds; the other half are pre-law

Originally Posted by Agent B

Sorry to bump the old thread, because I didn't want backlash for creating a similarly titled thread.

If there are so many weed-outs, why are there so many premeds? Looks like most of the premeds are basically clueless and unnecessarily makes competition really difficult.

Basically, only 10% (maybe more) of premeds go to med school. What about the other 90%?

When you're a little kid, and people ask you what you want to do, you might say a policeman, fireman, teacher, lawyer, nurse or doctor. You probably won't say accountant, biochemist, electrical engineer, exercise physiologist etc.

The vast majority of college freshmen probably have no idea what they want to do. They might not even know their options. They definitely don't know about the rigors of medical school, residency, and everything that comes after.

Originally Posted by sliceofbread136

Go to University of Texas and witness the vast sea of premeds. SO. MANY. INDIAN. PEOPLE.

I can vouch for this.

Originally Posted by sliceofbread136

Go to University of Texas and witness the vast sea of premeds. SO. MANY. INDIAN. PEOPLE.

Originally Posted by La Presse

I can vouch for this.

I've heard the stories. That whole campus is filled with Indians though.

UC's are notorious for premeds.

Generously, I'd say a good 50% of biology majors at UC's are premed. I'd say about only 10% of those actually end up applying and 50% of those 10% get in somewhere....

I'd say 5-10:1 is a reasonable starting point. Freshman year to finishing undergrad has a lot of reality checks for everyone, not just the premeds.

Originally Posted by sliceofbread136

Go to University of Texas and witness the vast sea of premeds. SO. MANY. INDIAN. PEOPLE.

Originally Posted by La Presse

I can vouch for this.

Originally Posted by Americlap

I've heard the stories. That whole campus is filled with Indians though.

This is why I decided to major in the humanities (not the Indians thing, just having the very many overly competitive pre-meds on campus and in classes).

A lot.

Originally Posted by ppfizenm

At my undergrad the professor in charge of the pre-med committee said something like 80% of the incoming students are planning on or at least considering pre-med.

so that is 450 undergrad freshman
360 thinking medicine
about 20 each year that end up applying
and about 10 who actually get in

so that is just over 2% of the class that end up going to medical school (just over 2.5% who were thinking med school)

Point is there all thousands of "pre-meds". The really stupid ones get weeded out in the gen chems and bios. Orgo and the other mid-levels are the first real look for some whether medicine is something they want to do. It still weeds out those who can't grasp the concepts but others realize they just don't like it. Some get pulled into PhD after the upper levels or find something they like more during an internship. The MCAT and the admissions process weed out the rest for the most part.

These numbers are almost the exact same as at my school.

IDK if that 80K number is accurate, The MCAT was given 86K times and change in 2011, and given that it is no longer unusual to take the MCAT twice, how many of those were retesters? Also, you have the very small minority of pre-DPM's and pre-Vets who take the MCAT,