HS student with great stats and passion for medicine need Premed advice

[Simsons2018]

Hello All :

I am a science student who is an doing HS out of USA. I am unable to visit colleges and I do understand how premed track works. I have made a college list but need to add more. I need to find a college which will help me achieve my dream of getting into a good Med School. I enjoy all sciences and have great stats in High School. According to your experiences please list few colleges that I can add to my list. Looking for universities with good premed track, research opportunities and chances of getting into MD school. I understand that its our own hard work. I am ready for hard work. Need to get some insight from your experiences in helping me make a good college list.
Location is not an issue. Private or public both are fine. Looking to major in neuroscience as major in undergrad.Thank you so much.

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[ebno]

This should've been posted in hSDN but I was also in your position, doing high school in Europe and not being able to visit anywhere. However, every decent university fits the criteria you mentioned so I would think more about what kind of college experience you'd like beyond pre-med. At the end of the day, things like the social climate will matter more to your happiness. Are you a US citizen or not? It might be worth looking at schools with a strong international population and fairly low tuition if you're not.

 

[getdown]

Hello All :

I am a science student who is an doing HS out of USA. I am unable to visit colleges and I do understand how premed track works. I have made a college list but need to add more. I need to find a college which will help me achieve my dream of getting into a good Med School. I enjoy all sciences and have great stats in High School. According to your experiences please list few colleges that I can add to my list. Looking for universities with good premed track, research opportunities and chances of getting into MD school. I understand that its our own hard work. I am ready for hard work. Need to get some insight from your experiences in helping me make a good college list.
Location is not an issue. Private or public both are fine. Looking to major in neuroscience as major in undergrad.Thank you so much.

If your intention is to attend medical school, you can do that by attending any college or university. Every school offers the basic science requirements requested by medical schools. And your overall knowledge will be standardized when you take the MCAT. If you have a high MCAT score, as long as you have a decent GPA your chances at an acceptance is good.

The question is if you're a citizen or at least a green card holder. If you're a non-citizen/green card holder then your chances of any admissions dwindles significantly even with good stats. Only a handful of private medical schools will even consider international applicants. Most state medical schools will not even look at you.

Ultimately, my advice for premeds in general is to major in a field you won't mind working in should you not get into medical school. If that's business, econ, etc. A biology degree does not afford you a good employment. You have 3 options with a bio degree: medical school, research or teach. So unless you don't mind teaching biology or doing research then choose an employable major (not art, philosophy, etc)

 

[JugglesMed]

You're only in high school. It doesn't matter what undergrad you go to. I say save yourself some money and go to a local college.
Main thing is to maintain a high GPA and score well on the MCAT. A 3.9 GPA is solid no matter where it's from.

 

[DokterMom]

I'd start your search with PrincetonReview.com, looking for schools with a relatively large proportion of international students. Culture shock is a real and serious thing that can derail you, and having a lot of other international students can help support you socially and academically while you adapt. Universities with large numbers of international students will also have the administrative supports in place to help with visas and other odds and ends.

Consider also whether you'd do better with a smaller school or a larger one. Colleges in the U.S. can have 2,500 students or 50,000, and not surprisingly, size matters. Huge schools offer unlimited opportunities, but there's lots of competition for resources and it's hard to be anything other than anonymous. Many smaller schools offer smaller classes where you can stand out and work closely with your professors. Also consider climate, geography, big city vs. suburban vs. rural setting.

You'll want to choose a school that will set you up for success in life whether that's medical school or something else (Plan B). In terms of prestige and difficulty (most often they go hand in hand) that will be the one that's as high as you can succeed in. So for example, if you can get into MIT, but not perform well there relative to your classmates, that is 'too high' to position you well for medical school (though great for 'Plan B'). At the other extreme, if you attend Podunk University and earn straight A's there, medical school admissions officers (and potential future employers) won't be overly impressed either. So take a careful look at your abilities and choose a school where, with lots of hard work, you can probably be near the top.

Good luck to you --

 

[Catalystik]

I am a science student who is an doing HS out of USA. I am unable to visit colleges and I do understand how premed track works. I have made a college list but need to add more. I need to find a college which will help me achieve my dream of getting into a good Med School. I enjoy all sciences and have great stats in High School. According to your experiences please list few colleges that I can add to my list. Looking for universities with good premed track, research opportunities and chances of getting into MD school. I understand that its our own hard work. I am ready for hard work. Need to get some insight from your experiences in helping me make a good college list.
Location is not an issue. Private or public both are fine. Looking to major in neuroscience as major in undergrad.

Are you a US citizen, greencard holder, or asylee? If not, getting into a US MD school is much more difficult as an international applicant, regardless of where you attend college.