Transfering to Tufts/Providence College?

[desi5286]

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[deuist]

If you are so gung-ho on going to a school with name recognition, why did you apply to liberal arts college to begin with? If you are miserable at your current location, then yes, by all means you should transfer. If you are worried how admissions committees will view your no-name institution, stay put. A 3.9 is still a 3.9, and a 3.5 from Tufts is still a 3.5. Also, predicting a 30 on the MCAT from your 1100 on the SAT is a little far fetched. A 30 is in the 80th percentile and requires some work. Stick with your current school, keep studying, join some organizations, and do well on the MCAT. You'll be fine.

 

[silas2642]

I am a biology major at a no name state college. I have a 3.9 GPA but I feel like admission officers will not value that as much as a 3.6 from a better school. I am not a good standardized test taker (SAT 1100) so I am predicting my score to be about 30. I have a 4.0 science GPA. I have applied to Providence College (no name liberal arts school) and Tufts University (well known). Transferring may risk my GPA of going down to like a 3.4-3.5 because I would be taking upper level science courses and if at Tufts in a competitive class. I am a typical premedical student..awesome activities list, 3 medical internships, medical job 24hr/wk throughout college, good gpa, ect. Except my school is not competitive! I have no state medical school to fall back on? I am a sophomore, should I transfer?

I wouldn't do it... I applied from my "no name" state school and got into Tufts with invites to interview from four of the six schools I sent secondaries to. The name of your school isn't nearly as important as you think it is. What is important is that you maintain good grades, good ecs, have solid mcat scores (which you will need to work for because pretty much everyone who takes them has to, and don't count your chickens before they're hatched), have clinical experience, are an interesting person with compassion and a desire to help other people. I think that you would be nuts to pay tuition for a private school when you could be paying your instate tuition at a school where you are obviously doing well at. Just my opinion, though. Do what you want.

 

[desi5286]

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[anon-y-mouse]

Don't transfer!! Keep your GPA up at the state school. If you keep it at a 4.0, there will be no "state school vs private school" question. If your GPA is lowered at, say, Tufts, med schools will call into question the quality of your state school and you'll be hurt more. Just get a 30 on the MCAT, keep the 4.0, and you will be fine. Plus, GPA is one of those things that will always be with you, always haunting you... you can't erase B's off your transcript, but score improvements on the MCAT are relatively easy to get with the right perseverance.

 

[deuist]

A double major in bio and chem is a waste of time. The majors are too similar, too common to draw attention from an admissions committee, and will not make you any better prepared for medical school. Stick with one major. If you feel as if you must branch outside of your department, study liberal arts classes. They will prepare you for the MCAT's verbal section and will teach you about different cultures---an important lesson for any future physician.

 

[silas2642]

Thanks for your input. I am only caught up on transfering because i know that my MCAT score is going to 30 at the MAX, english is my second language and the VR will probably keep me down. So if I had not as strong MCAT scores then I could have a good GPA from a well known school which would back me up. I have all the extracirricular stuff...have been wanting to be a doctor since I was in the 3rd grade so I had lots of hands on experience. Also if I stay at my school, would a double major (Chemistry and Biology) help my application? I like science, but I love medical science I am not looking forward to ecology and physical chemistry. I really just do not want to get rejected and have to wait a year so I am trying to do everything I can for my application (some things I am truly interested and some that I am not). And deuist, I applied to the liberal arts school because its a private insitution with a more competitive class than the one I am in now and they offer a B.S. in biology. Thanks for the advice...look forward to reading more.

I definitely wouldn't try to impress the adcoms with a double major. This could blow up in your face in at least two possible ways. The first possibility is that the courseload overwhelms you and your grades end up dropping; doing a double major also usually requires more time hitting the books which means less time gaining clinical experience and engaging in the more positive and fun aspects of life in general. The second way this could really screw you is that you would have to spend all your time studying for classes which takes away from time studying mcats. I would highly suggest that if you haven't started studying yet and plan on taking the mcats this april, that you start studying now. Do as many verbal passages as you possibly can, read over the answers and understand why you were wrong. Practice, practice, practice. I was terrible at verbal to begin with too (even though english is my first language), but I ended up doing fine. If you put in enough effort, you'll probably end up okay too. Just remember, even if you don't make it in the first time, there's no shame in it-- neither did half of the other applicants. Good luck.