Decision time: Columbia, Harvard, USC?

[eatadandelion]

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Hey guys,

I am in a pickle, again 🙁 and I am hoping you guys can help me with my final decision! Basically, what I need to do know is: which school among these three has the best post bacc program - best as in: which program will offer me the most opportunities for research/volunteering, which program has the highest reputation, highest percentage of first time applicants getting into med school...(I have done my fair share of research and still cannot come to a final decision).

Maybe someone else had to make this decision in the past or maybe someone else here has the same dilemma...

I am in dire need of advice and would love any input! Any comments/thoughts would be extremely appreciated! Thank you 🙂

 

[drizzt3117]

I'd rather go to Mills than any of these programs.

 

[jslo85]

I was refraining from posting in this thread because I had the same thoughts as Drizzt and felt it wouldn't be productive since you have already made up your mind on these three haha but since he's already came out and said it, I wholeheartedly agree.

I definitely recall talking with you in the past in one of the several of these threads you had started and you did state Mills as one of the programs that you had received acceptance from in addition to the three that you outlined above. Mills has linkages to several medical schools whereas the three schools above have none. Yes Mills is not a top level program as Goucher, Scripps, BM and JHU are but neither is USC nor Columbia and Mills still boasts a high success rate.

Anyway, if I really had to choose from those three, I would go with HES mainly because it's cheap(er).

 

[NYCPreMedical]

Congrats on being admitted to the three schools! Don't let the naysayers on this forum discourage you from those schools. There's a lot of unsubstantiated and unfounded opinions about these three great programs, so I encourage you to hear the experiences of people who actually know these programs first hand.

As a Columbia student, I can say that this definitely is the best postbac program in the country for me. So many things go into assessing what is "best" for someone, but for me it's a combination of reputation, location, med school placement history, volunteer resources, great advisor, diverse large and interesting postbac cohorts, and great campus. Of course, the school's not perfect, but Columbia will help me get into the best med school possible while giving me a great educational experience.

I don't know too much about the other two programs, though I do know Harvard generally since I graduated from another school of that university. It's a lot cheaper than Columbia, so if money is a big factor, I'd probably choose HES. Boston area can be quite fun too. Also, where would you want to attend med school? Columbia has many linkage programs, but a majority are in the New York area.

Anyhow, congrats and best of luck in your decision!

 

[drizzt3117]

If your goal is to stay in CA, mills is by far your best bet. It's the second best program in CA and has great results. It's a small LAC and you get much more personalized attention then you would at any of the other programs. They also usually place about 10% of their class into SF historically, and many more into other UCs, Stanford, and SC.

 

[eatadandelion]

Drizzt3117 & jslo85 - This might sound silly, but I think I ruled out Mills mainly because of its location and because I don't really want to link to any of the 3 med schools they have agreements with. I know I will not get as much personalized attention in the other post bacs I am considering but I think attending USC, Columbia or Harvard will open more doors for me (assuming I make it through the program)- also Columbia has 12 linkage agreements with various medical schools on the east coast which is a big plus. Columbia also requires 120 hours of work in a clinical or research setting and they make you sure their students have access to these opportunities.

I need help determining which school among these three has the best program. Mills might be better than these 3 but I don't think I will be happy in norcal, which is why I am leaning towards these three other schools. I am at a complete lost and cannot decide whether I should stay in LA or move across the country for a post bac program if they are all similar.

 

[drizzt3117]

if that's the case I certainly wouldn't leave LA. In my experience what you're saying about opportunities isn't true though.

Drizzt3117 & jslo85 - This might sound silly, but I think I ruled out Mills mainly because of its location and because I don't really want to link to any of the 3 med schools they have agreements with. I know I will not get as much personalized attention in the other post bacs I am considering but I think attending USC, Columbia or Harvard will open more doors for me (assuming I make it through the program)- also Columbia has 12 linkage agreements with various medical schools on the east coast which is a big plus. Columbia also requires 120 hours of work in a clinical or research setting and they make you sure their students have access to these opportunities.

I need help determining which school among these three has the best program. Mills might be better than these 3 but I don't think I will be happy in norcal, which is why I am leaning towards these three other schools. I am at a complete lost and cannot decide whether I should stay in LA or move across the country for a post bac program if they are all similar.

 

[premad]

As a former Columbia postbac/future matriculating med student, I would agree with Drizzt on opportunities: you won't find many (if any) additional doors opened by the three postbacs that you've chosen to look at. They are all decent programs, but they really aren't the most prestigious, and have a good number of opportunities, but nothing above and beyond Mills, etc.

Further, they really are all similar wrt quality. If you do well at any of them, you have a good shot. So, I would really pick based on location, cost, or other factors that put one above the others for you.

As for Columbia linkages, the linkage that was most taken advantage of in my class was that to Jefferson. Med school is med school, but I would just keep that in mind. Then, maybe one link to Ben Gurion, and one unofficial link to Sinai (awesome, but again, not an official arrangement). No one has linked to Brown in about four years.

Good luck! I'm sure that you'll make the right decision for you.

Drizzt3117 & jslo85 - This might sound silly, but I think I ruled out Mills mainly because of its location and because I don't really want to link to any of the 3 med schools they have agreements with. I know I will not get as much personalized attention in the other post bacs I am considering but I think attending USC, Columbia or Harvard will open more doors for me (assuming I make it through the program)- also Columbia has 12 linkage agreements with various medical schools on the east coast which is a big plus. Columbia also requires 120 hours of work in a clinical or research setting and they make you sure their students have access to these opportunities.

I need help determining which school among these three has the best program. Mills might be better than these 3 but I don't think I will be happy in norcal, which is why I am leaning towards these three other schools. I am at a complete lost and cannot decide whether I should stay in LA or move across the country for a post bac program if they are all similar.

 

[eatadandelion]

i came to the realization that I was basing my decision on the name of the school, which is why I ruled out Mills. It's pretty silly of me since this is just a post bac program...not medical school 🙁

 

[drizzt3117]

You're also basing it on the name of the undergrad, not the postbac program.

 

[jslo85]

To be honest, I'm feeling quite bad about myself because I had assumed that you were basing your decision off of the name of the institution as well and I realize I shouldn't negatively assume things about others so I do apologize for that pre-emptively.

Anyway, as Drizzt has said and what you seem to have surmised on your own, all post-bacc programs are not equal and the "best' programs are not always the ivy leagues to say the least. The only reason I think Drizzt and I both brought up Mills was a) because you had mentioned that you had received acceptance in the past and b) you mentioned that you wanted to stay in California leading us to balance both of those requests out with the options given.

Anyway, all of them are decent (understatement) and I doubt you can go wrong choosing any of those you listed but I honestly do believe there are "better" choices. At the end of the day its just what you make of the your opportunity.