University of Scranton

[SlaskWroclaw18]

Hey guys, long time no post. For the last 4-5 months I have been all about going to Pitt (I applied to several other schools but but Pitt to seem to be the choice) but one of my other top choice schools, the University of Scranton offered me a really nice financial package. So I am now part of the University of Scranton Class of 2014! They claim to be a good pre-med school with claims of 80% acceptance rate to med schools or higher (though I understand that they manipulate those statistics in a sense). So here are my questions:

1) Does the undergrad school REALLY matter as long as your gpa, mcats, extra cur. are on par?

2) Is the University of Scranton a good "pre-med" school?

3) Can I still get into a top med school (like Pitt or top 15) while going to Scranton?

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[QuizzicalApe]

1. Your stats and experiences are far and away the predominant factor.

2. Yes, but largely because the pre-med advisor (Dr. Engel) is relatively expert at getting people to evaluate their medical aspirations and drop it if it is unrealistic, and at pushing everyone else the extra mile to success.

3. Yeah. If you have a chance to visit at some point, Dr. Engel keeps a list of medical school acceptances outside her office. Her secretary might keep lists from previous years somewhere.

 

[SlaskWroclaw18]

What do you think of the SJLA program? I got into that and the philosophy and theology course look pretty cool but I am afraid the courseload will be too much? Is it worth it?

 

[QuizzicalApe]

A good friend of mine did SJLA and went on to med school. It is definitely do-able. I chose not to do SJLA, but I compensated by minoring in philosophy and taking a couple literature electives. It's nice to have some college experiences that are something beyond preparing for med school, which in turn is preparing for medical practice.

Not to mention that I lay a decent amount of my success on the MCAT verbal and writing sections on my philosophy education's door. Probably also helped with general question analysis.

 

[SlaskWroclaw18]

SJLA looks very interesting and I am going to do it probably. What kind of MCAT prep courses do they offer (I am thinking ahead I know).

 

[QuizzicalApe]

The school itself doesn't offer any MCAT prep courses, which is fairly typical. Kaplan and The Princeton Review both run classes out of UoS so you can check with them if you're interested. They're pretty pricey. I can't speak for TPR, but I taught for Kaplan for a while so I can confirm that have good resources and strategies.

You'll just need to decide whether or not you want to pony up the cash, and if an MCAT class is even right for you.

Worry about that when it comes.