Best four year in Virginia for prereqs

[shouldibeadoc]

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Hi,

Does anyone in Virginia have any advice for what public four year to take my prereqs at? I'm working full time and was going to do community college classes at night but now I've decided I might just take a year off to do all my prereqs. By best I mean "I did badly in my chem/math classes in undergrad and need a place where I'll be able to do well because professors help a lot and students aren't hypercompetitive/the curves aren't crazy" (so guessing not UVA).

Thanks 🙂

 

[monty55]

Maybe not W&M. From my experience, it was not impossible to do to well but some of the intro classes were known to weed out pre-meds. I did find all the professors helpful and most of the students are not super competitive. I had a friend take some pre-reqs at Christopher Newport though and said it was a breeze compared to W&M.

This is from someone 3 years out though, so you can factor that in to your decision.


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[plshelpvanxious]

Vcu

 

[shouldibeadoc]

Maybe not W&M. From my experience, it was not impossible to do to well but some of the intro classes were known to weed out pre-meds. I did find all the professors helpful and most of the students are not super competitive. I had a friend take some pre-reqs at Christopher Newport though and said it was a breeze compared to W&M.

This is from someone 3 years out though, so you can factor that in to your decision.


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Yep, forgot to say but UVA and W&M are both definitely most likely way too difficult to me. Hadn't considered CNU but that's a good suggestion. I will look into it.

Vcu

Is VCU not too hard? I don't live too far so I could start taking classes earlier there. I have no idea what the classes are like there.

 

[@Hazel-rah]

UVA has a post-bac premed program with linkages.

 

[new_dood_don't_be_rude]

I go to school at VCU and can definitely say it's probably 80% pre-med. Don't be deceived by the 70% acceptance rate and think it's an easy school. They have to weed out 90% of the pre-meds. The organic sequence was very challenging, and also upper level bios like Genetics were tough.

 

[Funny_Current]

I will second that Vcu is a good school, but it's grading is on a 10 point scale though so it can help you as much as hurt you. There are also incredible research opportunities. VT is also a good school, but may be farther from you than you'd like. JMU has a reputable premed program, and although I don't know about premed at George Mason, it is also a good school.


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[plshelpvanxious]

I will second that Vcu is a good school, but it's grading is on a 10 point scale though so it can help you as much as hurt you. There are also incredible research opportunities. VT is also a good school, but may be farther from you than you'd like. JMU has a reputable premed program, and although I don't know about premed at George Mason, it is also a good school.


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I think the scale generally helps more than hurts. I don't think the classes are terribly hard, but anyways, if you can't handle a hard class here and there you might think twice about med school.

 

[Stumpyman]

You can move anywhere in the state of VA? To be honest, I probably wouldn't move far away just to go to a school that may or may not be marginally easier. If you're close to Richmond, VCU is solid. Nothing wrong with UVA either, if you're willing to move to Charlottesville then I presume you're willing to do the work. It'll be slightly tougher but UVA is an excellent school with a lot of good resources.

 

[futureoncdoc06]

Where are you located now?

 

[shouldibeadoc]

You can move anywhere in the state of VA? To be honest, I probably wouldn't move far away just to go to a school that may or may not be marginally easier. If you're close to Richmond, VCU is solid. Nothing wrong with UVA either, if you're willing to move to Charlottesville then I presume you're willing to do the work. It'll be slightly tougher but UVA is an excellent school with a lot of good resources.

Once I quit my full time job I have no reason to stay in my area so I figure I might as well just move to the best college for taking my prereqs full time. I've been considering UVA's official postbacc but am worried it might be too competitive for me. I put no effort into my science classes in college so don't know if I'm naturally bad or don't know how to study for them yet

Where are you located now?

Central VA

 

[new_dood_don't_be_rude]

Well if you aren't good at science you might not want to go to a school where 1/2 the student body are pre-meds who statistically will not make it to medical school

 

[sam_jones1]

Would not recommend UVA for pre-reqs...almost every pre-req science class is a graded to be a bell curve around C+/B- with 500+ students. So if you're an average student at UVa (which is pretty competitive) you're getting a B- in most classes. If you want to be the 5- 10% that gets an A/A- be prepared to outwork all the pre-med gunners.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Virginia tech, otherwise JMU

UVA and w&m are hard schools

 

[shouldibeadoc]

Would not recommend UVA for pre-reqs...almost every pre-req science class is a graded to be a bell curve around C+/B- with 500+ students. So if you're an average student at UVa (which is pretty competitive) you're getting a B- in most classes. If you want to be the 5- 10% that gets an A/A- be prepared to outwork all the pre-med gunners.

Yep, that sounds exactly like what I don't want. Think I will officially rule out UVA now lol. Thanks for the info!

Virginia tech, otherwise JMU

UVA and w&m are hard schools

Is VT not too competitive? I've heard different things. Originally I was thinking JMU or ODU but CNU seems good too.

 

[new_dood_don't_be_rude]

Yep, that sounds exactly like what I don't want. Think I will officially rule out UVA now lol. Thanks for the info!



Is VT not too competitive? I've heard different things. Originally I was thinking JMU or ODU but CNU seems good too.

The fact is that if you can be in the top 10% or even top 20% of students in a pre-req class, then you probably shouldn't be a doctor.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Yep, that sounds exactly like what I don't want. Think I will officially rule out UVA now lol. Thanks for the info!



Is VT not too competitive? I've heard different things. Originally I was thinking JMU or ODU but CNU seems good too.

VT is not too competitive. Not anywhere close to UVA.

 

[shouldibeadoc]

The fact is that if you can be in the top 10% or even top 20% of students in a pre-req class, then you probably shouldn't be a doctor.

Maybe you're right but what it takes to be in the top 10-20% at UVA or W&M is very different from most of the other state schools in VA and people from those other schools do fine at med school