Northwestern Undergrads Post Here

[BME02]

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I was just wondering how many Northwestern Undergrads read SDN. I am curious to hear how people's med school hunt is going and to hear how you all feel about Northwestern as an undergrad school, especially in relation to being pre-med. I will keep this short and come up with better questions when I see how many Northwestern students there are out there.

BME02

 

[gobears]

Hey, I'm from NU. BME02, I saw a long time ago that you got into Wash U in St. Louis. Are you going there? If so, let me know.

 

[bald]

hi,
im here at nwu. i feel like nwu has been a pretty good pre-med school. got 2 acceptances and expecting a 3rd..out of 7 applications. not too bad, no top 10 acceptances, but not really what i was going for in the first place.

i'd be interested as well to see how many nwu people are on this site.

bald

 

[BME02]

Yeah, I did get in to Wash U. I am pretty sure that is where I am going. I also got in to Duke and Emory. All of which were for MSTP. There is still a good chance I will go to Duke, and a slim chance I will go to Emory. I am going to all of their second look weekends.

Where did you guys get in? I am not making this a competition type thing. I am just interested because I feel that NU neglects its Pre-meds and does not support us enough. They could have a great program, but really don't give any advice along the way. I especially found the dean's office to be bad.

I hope that all is going well for you.

 

[Peter Parker]

Another Northwestern undergrad here. Currently junior Weinberg/Speech dual major. Despite all the bad press NU pre-med gets, I feel the program is solid. The advising up to now has been a different story. I hear this is all changing now that there's a full-time health professions advisor.

 

[USeF]

I'm about as far from Evanston as it gets 🙂
but I think either girl or racergirl are at NU.

 

[solomarc8]

Hey BME02,

I agree with your pre-med NU gripes. I think part of the reason we were unguided as applicants is that our year marked the transition between Dean Weimer and John Lyons.

Because I am graduating at the end of this quarter, I plan to help John (I've already spoken with him about this very idea) shore up the pre-med advising here next quarter. I thought about creating a website for premeds, soliciting anonymous info (GPAs, MCATs, activities, essays, etc) from people who have succeeded and failed and compiling all of the data into a nice binder for people to look at, holding workshops for essay writing and general advising, etc.

In short, you're not alone in your disappointment, and I want to help prevent this from happening next year, or at least in the subsequent years.

And with regard to your inquiry about my success in the med school application process, I've been fortunate enough to secure some acceptances and several waitlists.

 

[sandflea]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by solomarc8:
•
I agree with your pre-med NU gripes. I think part of the reason we were unguided as applicants is that our year marked the transition between Dean Weimer and John Lyons.
•••••well, i don't know if i'm eligible to post in this thread, because i'm not a current NU undergrad--i graduated in '99--but here i am anyway. i'm curious about the above statement though: did dean weimer leave???

i knew a few people my freshman year who transferred out of northwestern because they felt they weren't getting much support as premed students. i never felt dean weimer was exactly the nicest man out there--he told many people i know not to even bother applying because he thought they sucked as applicants, and they went on to get multiple acceptances.

as for other NU people, past and present, on this board, here are the few i'm aware of (besides you all): girl (not racergirl); nikki (i think?); and simulD (already graduated and now at tulane). maybe others i can't think of right now.

 

[solomarc8]

Sandflea,

Dean Weimer did not leave, but abdicated his pre-med advising role.

 

[sandflea]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by solomarc8:
•Sandflea,

Dean Weimer did not leave, but abdicated his pre-med advising role.•••••interesting. when did this happen? i was emailing him with questions back in the summer/fall when i started applying to med school and he never said that he was no longer advising pre-meds.

 

[BME02]

bump

 

[gobears]

Hey BME02, I also got into Wash U. I'm definitely going there next year. Congrats on all your acceptances... very impressive. You've got quite a decision there between Wash U, Duke, and Emory.

In response to your original question, I think NU does a pretty good job preparing people for med school. The science classes definitely prepared us for the MCAT. They didn't give that much counselling, but it was definitely available if you went to the Office of Studies.

 

[BME02]

solomarc8,
I sent you a PM. I am interested in working with the pre-med office to improve the advising.

BME02

 

[catcher22]

hey wildcats 🙂 ,
I've loved the NU undergrad experience in general. Sure it wasn't perfect, but there are pros/cons to every school. As for Pre-med at NU, I've been satisfied. I feel that the core coursework really prepares students for the mcats.

As far as advising goes - Dean Weimer has given me a lot of good advice/assistance over these years and especially around application time. He has always been accessible and I think he has pretty extensive knowledge about medical schools and the premed process at NU. I haven't met with Lyons so I can't compare the two, but I didn't need an alternative.

One major drawback about advising at NU I agree with is that it isn't exstensively publicized -- although they do let you know it is available when you enter. The thing is students have to act on their own initiative in contacting advisors -- and I doubt that this will change even under Lyons. If anything maybe in the form of one initial required meeting....but its kind of analogous to profs calling you and reminding you about a test (maybe that's a stretch though).

Also, if I'm not mistaken (might be) there have been workshops offered on essay writing (it is possible that they weren't specific to med school) -- and definitely on general advising. I specifically remember going to one led by an NU ad com member 2 years in a row.

Could there be improvements?? DEFINITELY
Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of room for improvement...I just don't think premeds have it too bad at NU.

More power to those of you who want to conceretely make improvements, seriously! 😀

I think BME02 asked for specific schools, so here's what i have so far...

Accepted:
Northwestern (prolly go here)
UIC (Ill Chicago)
SLU
Penn State
SIU (Southern Ill)

Waitlist:
U Chicago - Pritzker
U Pittsburgh
Tulane

Interview Remaining:
MCOW
Rush

Rejected:
Stanford
Wash U

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GOOD LUCK ON FINALS!

 

[nysurg]

I am also a Northwestern undergrad...well actually I graduated in 1999. But I do agree with catcher22 that there needs to be improvements...when I was an undergrad I didn't even know that Dean Weimer was available for advising until my junior year! But by then, he terrified me because he told a lot of my friends to forget about going to med school and apply for something else! What a prick! So here are my accomplishments:

Accepted:
George Washington
UIC (Urbana)

Waitlist
University of Chicago (Pritzker)

Rejected
Cornell
Georgetown
Northwestern (I couldn't believe this!!)
Jefferson

Interviewed and Waiting
Boston
SUNY Brooklyn
SUNY Stonybrook
Albert Einstein
Tufts (haven't gone yet)

Offered interview but declined
Howard

 

[Spyder007]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by catcher22:
•As far as advising goes - Dean Weimer has given me a lot of good advice/assistance over these years and especially around application time. He has always been accessible and I think he has pretty extensive knowledge about medical schools and the premed process at NU
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GOOD LUCK ON FINALS!•••••Whatever Catcher22, the only reason you liked Dean Weimer is cuz he's the only person on campus more flamboyant than you <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> And after living across the hall from you for two years, trust me I know! (Figured out who I am yet? I'll give you a hint: who's the biggest pimp-daddy stud that you know 😀 )

Seriously though, I'll echo what Catcher said in that the pre-med classes themselves are really good prep for the MCATs. Catcher himself ripped that test a new one.

The advising structure kind of sucks because unlike most schools there isn't a pre-med advising "committee" that walks you through every step. But, I thought it was more than enough considering NU students usually do very well and always have students getting into the big gun schools. You definitely have to take it upon yourself to be more knowledgable about the process than you would otherwise.

 

[catcher22]

sup "spyder"
PM'ed you

 

[BlackPuma]

I also go to northwestern, it's been fun all these years 😀

 

[Acinetobacter]

Ah Northwestern Alums. I graduated back in 1997, school of speech alum and now am about to graduate from med school.

I must say that my NU pre-med classes were harder than any classes I've ever taken in med school, especially the B-level physics courses and the C-level P-chem course. However, I must say that those courses definitely prepared me well for my first year of med school. I actually did better in med school than I did in undergrad. In comparison, many of my colleagues who went to less rigorous undergrad schools had a more difficult time adjusting during the first year. However, everything balanced out after the first year as everyone became acclimated to the workload.

BTW. One thing that you should consider is the amount of money you'll be borrowing. When I was accepted I didn't think much about the money. I was just happy to get in. Recently, I went to my financial aid exit interview and was reminded that I have &gt;$100K in debt. So choose your schools wisely. If you have the option, strongly consider the state school.

Good luck everyone.

-Speech '97.

 

[Jonkst]

BME '04, and I hope it pays off.

All I can say is that being an NU premed & engineering is really hard, but I love it. NU is definitely a great place.

 

[sandflea]

congrats to you, acinetobacter!! can i ask where you're graduating from and what your next step is? geez, it makes me feel really old when someone who graduated from college only two years ahead of me is finishing up med school before i even start!