undergrad premed programs

[jhrugger]

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a friend of mine that is a junior in high school wants to be premed and is applying to colleges next year.. i can only tell him about my school, and don't have a basis for comparison with other schools.

any subtelties about your school's premed program that a rising senior should know? likie teaching, reputation, premed comittee, classes?

thanks

 

[g3pro]

ummmmmm.... pre-med is just a curriculum. if a school has any reputation for teaching the sciences, it is a good pre-med school.

here is a good rule of thumb: schools teach the same subjects. you're not going to get a 'different' science being taught at one school over another. it's all the same.

what's the name for something being the same in a mixture? heterozymous? (don't blame me, i'm going to a public university)

 

[Sherif]

I don't think it matters, tell him to pick the college he wants and just take the pre-med req. tell your freind to enjoy the life and not worry which one has the top, at the end everyone, no matter from what uni gets to go to med school. Its all about the grades. your freind is prob gona take science courses his whole 4 yrs but your freind should not.

 

[Gleevec]

the quality of premed education at 99% of schools is directly proportional to the overall quality of the school

dont buy stats on how certain smallname schools have 90% premed acceptance rate, that just means they filter students out themselves instead of giving students a chance

 

[Cerberus]

there is no good "premed" school per say. Organic chem is organich chem is organic chem. Tell him to pick a school he would like attending.

 

[jhrugger]

good points. i mean the term premed in itself only means orgo, g chem, bio, physics, maybe calc, and the intention of being a doctor. will pass it on.

 

[ESPNdeportes]

Originally posted by Gleevec
the quality of premed education at 99% of schools is directly proportional to the overall quality of the school

I think it is the opposite. I think the quality of the premed education is directly proportional to the quality of the studentl. It depends on their aptitude, desire, focus, etc.

I don't think it has much to do with the school, as long as that school is reputable. Schools can give you the right materials and guidance to get a good education, but its still up to YOU to learn.

If someone doesn't possess the neccesary qualities to become a physician, it is not going to matter where that person goes to school. If someone does possess the qualities, they will make it- again regardless of the school. Sure, going to a better school will have advantages, but I personally don't think they will be enough to make up for a student who doesn't have the right qualities.

To the OP, tell the person the most important thing is to go somewhere they feel they can succeed. Most likely, information about classes and teaching styles will be involved in that determination. I personally think the other stuff (premed committee, reputation, etc.) is secondary

 

[osar92]

I agree with the above posters... but some things to keep in mind if you know you want to be premed is to go to a school where you can get involved in research (if you want) and school that has an affiliated hospital might be more convenient for volunteering... other than that, being premed gets you what you put in, so you can make it happen from any school

 

[TheFlash]

I agree with most of what's been said, in that there's no school that goes out of its way to "recruit" future premeds. However, there are premed programs that come to mind that churn out successful premed students at a high rate. Johns Hopkins and Cornell come to mind.

 

[g3pro]

Originally posted by TheFlash
I agree with most of what's been said, in that there's no school that goes out of its way to "recruit" future premeds. However, there are premed programs that come to mind that churn out successful premed students at a high rate. Johns Hopkins and Cornell come to mind.

once again, is it the program that makes the student or the student that makes the program? 😉

 

[Gleevec]

Originally posted by ESPNdeportes
I think it is the opposite. I think the quality of the premed education is directly proportional to the quality of the studentl. It depends on their aptitude, desire, focus, etc.

I don't think it has much to do with the school, as long as that school is reputable. Schools can give you the right materials and guidance to get a good education, but its still up to YOU to learn.

Good schools have good students, otherwise they wouldnt be good schools.

 

[mlw03]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

go where it's cheap (read, state school unless all your state schools are crap, which won't be the case). med school is expensive, so unless you have outside income or scholarships, take the solid, cheap education and wait till med school to go into massive debt. any large state school will be able to teach bio, chem, and physics.

 

[meanderson]

agree with mlw. For the most part, it doesn't matter where you go to undergrad. There may be a few med schools that look down on grads from low ranked state schools(I've heard this about columbia and vandy), but for the most part you won't be affected at all.

I'd even challenge the notion that it's important to pick a "solid" state school. If you go to North Alabama, put up a 3.9+/33+, and have some really standout work experiences, you're going to get interviews at good places. The fact that not many people from schools like North Alabama are able to do so isn't really relevant.....the opportunity is there and most of the students were simply unable to take advantage of it.

Go wherever you think you can save the most money and have the best college experience. If this is a "quality" state school, then head there. But if it's North Alabama or South Florida or Columbus State or wherever, then go there.

 

[Tezzie]

Tell him to go wherever he truly wants to and major in whatever he wants to.

There are no right majors or right schools.

 

[JohnHolmes]

Use the US News Top 25. Schools in this area are "very reputable" and everything else being equal, will weight your gpa.

CCW

 

[winstonm]

Make sure you don't end up at a school that has exceptionally large classes in the sciences. You will need reference letters, probably from science faculty, and I don't care if you actually find something to ask a prof every week in office hours, it's difficult to get really good letters in large classes.

Trust me on this. I'm at probably best school in Canada with as good a science rep as you can get but it's also one of the biggest campuses in North America (1st yr bio - 1800 students, 5 profs) and I had to seek smaller classes in the upper years specifically for this purpose.

 

[Sherif]

😱 My U of I science classes are going to have around 100 students

 

[Fish3715]

Originally posted by Sherif
😱 My U of I science classes are going to have around 100 students

Are you sure that's all, considering UIUC student population?

(...are you talking about UIUC?...being from Chicago myself, I automatically thinking of U of Illinois instead of Indiana, Iowa)

 

[Freakingzooming]

Originally posted by Cooper_Wriston
Use the US News Top 25. Schools in this area are "very reputable" and everything else being equal, will weight your gpa.

CCW

Don't use the US News to determine what school you want to go to... First off, go visit the schools he/she has gotten into before deciding and then determine whether its the right for your friend.

One of the biggest mistakes is to think that cuz you'll go to a tough tough school, your GPA can be a 3.0 and you can get into like Stanford's Medschool. it just doesn't work like that.... sure the GPA is weighted a little differently for certain schools like JHU or like an easy school like Harvard (jk of course), but you shouldn't go to a school where you can't succeed at. If you know the material is above your head, compromise...

 

[ESPNdeportes]

Originally posted by Gleevec
Good schools have good students, otherwise they wouldnt be good schools.

I don't think anyone will disagree to that. However, going to a "good" school doesn't assure you of anything. Yes, they probably have better materials and professors and the like on the whole, but actually receiving the education is up to YOU.

To me, it is just like the saying "Life will teach you lessons, its up to you to learn them." Schools will teach you material, its up to you to learn it

 

[g3pro]

Originally posted by Sherif
😱 My U of I science classes are going to have around 100 students

WTF are you talking about??? don't you mean over 600?

 

[sinnah83]

i second the post above.

I think college is mostly what you make of it. Going to a cheap school (not a bad one tho) has not hurt my chances of med school. However, there are many schools that add weight to your GPA based on the "rigor of your undergraduate institution", but that just means you have to do well on the MCAT.

Don't pick a school just because its a good place to be a premed.

 

[Gleevec]

Originally posted by ESPNdeportes
I don't think anyone will disagree to that. However, going to a "good" school doesn't assure you of anything. Yes, they probably have better materials and professors and the like on the whole, but actually receiving the education is up to YOU.

To me, it is just like the saying "Life will teach you lessons, its up to you to learn them." Schools will teach you material, its up to you to learn it

Well, yeah. I thought that went without saying.

What Im saying is, given a certain relative standard of achievement each person attempts to achieve, its likely one would benefit from doing such work at a more reputable school, all else being equal, if not for the slight marginal benefit of reputation when applying to med schools comes along. If you look at the class breakdowns for top schools, they are filled with students from top ugrad. This doesnt mean you can do awesome at state U and still get in, not at all, but it is a slight boon to go to a reputable school. And in this game, every little advantage you can get is worth it.

 

[celticmists18]

Originally posted by g3pro
ummmmmm.... pre-med is just a curriculum. if a school has any reputation for teaching the sciences, it is a good pre-med school.

here is a good rule of thumb: schools teach the same subjects. you're not going to get a 'different' science being taught at one school over another. it's all the same.

what's the name for something being the same in a mixture? heterozymous? (don't blame me, i'm going to a public university)

homogeneous . . . and please don't knock public universities, those of us who go there already have enough trouble getting respect.

in response to what this thread is really about . . .your friend is looking into things really early! but if you really want to help tell them to first try and decide what they want to study (probably science) and then look for a school that is known for that area.

 

[lyragrl]

Highly ranked, small liberal arts schools are also a good way to go, as long as their science classes are good. You get tons of personal attention and the courses are usually very rigorous. Such schools include: Williams, Amherst, Pomona, Carleton, Swarthmore, etc.

 

[cornell2004]

I hear Harvard has a good pre-med program

 

[g3pro]

Originally posted by celticmists18
homogeneous . . . and please don't knock public universities, those of us who go there already have enough trouble getting respect.

in response to what this thread is really about . . .your friend is looking into things really early! but if you really want to help tell them to first try and decide what they want to study (probably science) and then look for a school that is known for that area.

no, i was just joking before about how people view public universities as mediocre as if the education here isn't as good as private schools. it's all the same. (unless you go to a third tier state university, or you go to a crappy private school.

there IS a difference between schools regarding ratios of faculty to students, but that doesn't change the actual science you're learning.

 

[dara678]

I would like to disagree slightly ...

I think that there isn't anything wrong with going to a higher-ranked school than say, a cheap state school. Think about it ... there are real reasons why the school is higher ranked by US News, however flawed the rankings may be. These schools probably have a higher proportion of students with higher test scores and GPAs; this may mean more competition for the highest grade, but it also may mean a more intense and stimulating educational environment as well. Schools are also ranked based on how much research funds they are given, and if you are interested in that it might be well worth your while to go to a "name" school.

Case in point: I had a friend who graduated from a large state school (ranked pretty low though) with a really high GPA and above average MCAT. This person also worked in two labs on campus. In the end, however, this person ended up getting an acceptance off the waitlist in July to the state school. I know that there are essays, ECs, and interviews to consider, but I really do think the name of the institution counts for something, otherwise people wouldn't be going to harvard or stanford or whatnot ... and if you look at the student populations of the Top 10 med schools, they all come from undergrads in the upper tier.

I would also like to mention that although it is true that "organic chem is organic chem is organic chem," there IS a difference in how the material is tested. There IS real difference in the rigor of subjects among different universities. The med schools know this, and they're going to evaluate you, at least in part, because of it.

 

[celticmists18]

we could debate this issue endlessly . . . the last thing I will say about it is that the only rankings that matter are the ones that the med school admissions committees go by, and we have no way of knowing these. I will say that I have had a lot of interviewers comment on what a great biology program my school had (and yes it is a public university) If your state school has a good reputation then go there if you want, 'cause you will save a boat-load of money AND get a good education.

-proud to be a product of public education (kindergarten-college)

-Jefferson Medical College, class of 2008

 

[dara678]

I don't think it's necessarily an issue of public vs. private. The UC system, Michigan, University of Illinois, and University of Massachusetts systems are all great, amazing schools, on par with lots of upper tier private schools. I do think, however, that reputations among different schools DO count for something.