UPenn Premed

[al1nax01]

I've been admitted to University of Pennsylvania for Class of 2012. I am considering Premed. Does anyone know how Penn's premed is? My goal is to go to a top med school. thanks :]

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[searun]

I've been admitted to University of Pennsylvania for Class of 2012. I am considering Premed. Does anyone know how Penn's premed is? My goal is to go to a top med school. thanks :]

Well, if your goal is to go to a top med school, then you probably should have gone to Harvard as an undergrad. I realize, however, that not everyone can go to Harvard, and that some students have to attend schools like Penn, which is still a good school in its own right.

In the past there have been a few Penn undergrads that got admitted to some decent med schools, not Harvard, of course, but some pretty good ones.

Study hard and hope for the best. Good luck.

 

[sourgrapes]

Well, if your goal is to go to a top med school, then you probably should have gone to Harvard as an undergrad. I realize, however, that not everyone can go to Harvard, and that some students have to attend schools like Penn, which is still a good school in its own right.

In the past there have been a few Penn undergrads that got admitted to some decent med schools, not Harvard, of course, but some pretty good ones.

Study hard and hope for the best. Good luck.

lol

 

[redlight]

I've been admitted to University of Pennsylvania for Class of 2012. I am considering Premed. Does anyone know how Penn's premed is? My goal is to go to a top med school. thanks :]

theres another thread started by a fellow upenn'12er who was concerned about premed at penn. i think the title was "how easy should college be"
a few of the current upperclassmen and recent graduates tried to describe the academic atmosphere (how hard classes are, how much competition there is) and they gave some advice.

i put in my two cents as well, but i don't go to penn so my advice was general.

 

[redlight]

Well, if your goal is to go to a top med school, then you probably should have gone to Harvard as an undergrad. I realize, however, that not everyone can go to Harvard, and that some students have to attend schools like Penn, which is still a good school in its own right.

In the past there have been a few Penn undergrads that got admitted to some decent med schools, not Harvard, of course, but some pretty good ones.

Study hard and hope for the best. Good luck.

lol, nice

OP: i think you'll find that a lot of the top med schools (or at least the med schools with ivy-league undergrad) have a good chunk of ivy league graduates. idk exactly why this is, but ive found this to be so based on looking at where matriculating students hail from. some classes at columbia and yale are comprised of about 20-30 percent ivy league graduates..

 

[seraph524]

I would say 20-30% is an extremely conservative estimate. But yea, it would appear students from ivy leagues are looked upon more favorably by top tier med schools, sparking the age old debate "does undergrad institution matter?"

Unfortunately, your undergrad institution does matter, but not to the extent believed by some people. A strong MCAT, GPA, and extracurriculars is more than enough (at least in most cases, ahem, Harvard) to overcome the name and ranking of your school.

You also have to think about the possibility that maybe at these top undergrads, there are more ambitious, hard-working people, thus explaining the saturation of ivy-leagues at the medical schools. But on the other hand, there are far more non-ivy league colleges than ivy...so there is a bit of discrepancy.

Lastly, University of Pennsylvania has an extremely strong "pre-med" program. From what I hear (and this may be incorrect) that you have to apply into a pre-med program at Penn before they will allow you to apply to medical schools? Can anyone confirm this?

 

[redlight]

You also have to think about the possibility that maybe at these top undergrads, there are more ambitious, hard-working people, thus explaining the saturation of ivy-leagues at the medical schools. But on the other hand, there are far more non-ivy league colleges than ivy...so there is a bit of discrepancy.

maybe the top applicants from these schools have lors from high profile people? i'm not sure if this would affect their chances of admission, though.
and perhaps top applicants from these schools have more interesting/impressive ec's? id argue that the ivy league has better than average resources available to students and a good amount of students probably take advantage of them..also, id argue that most ivy-leaguers got in because of how their ec's, and perhaps essay writing skills, supplemented good grades and standardized test scores.

but even then... you're right in saying there are a lot more non-ivy than ivy applicants so the discrepancy is still pretty odd...

From what I hear (and this may be incorrect) that you have to apply into a pre-med program at Penn before they will allow you to apply to medical schools?

yikes! that's rough. i hear a lot of schools (like mine) implement the committee review, which is basically the same thing. you have to apply (send transcript, letters of rec, fill out and application, and interview) and they recommend you for med school and write a committee lor.
if you do not get an endorsement, that basically means you're screwed because everyone else from your undergrad with an endorsement will have a much better chance for admission. they therefore defer application and beef up their app. i think this is the case for all schools with rediculously high med school acceptance rates. otherwise, it doesn't make any sense how a school like washu or jhu or an ivy can have med school acceptance rates in the high 80s and low 90s regardless of the strength of their premed student body.

 

[trinitee501]

I've been admitted to University of Pennsylvania for Class of 2012. I am considering Premed. Does anyone know how Penn's premed is? My goal is to go to a top med school. thanks :]

I think the existence of this group sums it up....My life sucks because I am Premed at Penn 🙂

 

[Esviel]

hey. as someone already stated, i'm going to Penn next year too, and I did have a thread asking a few questions. There were alot of great responses too. Here's the link:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6360190

i think u should find it very informative. i know i did.

 

[bob123456]

I know plenty of people here at Penn heading off to Harvard, Stanford, WashU, etc. for medical school next year, so you'll do just fine if you go here and do the work. As for applying for a premed program here, that's not actually true. Penn supports anyone applying to medical school no matter how crappy their application is and still manages about an 80% acceptance rate. I do know of schools that limit who can actually apply to increase their medical school matriculation, but Penn's not one of them.

 

[al1nax01]

Thank you so much.
I visited Penn and I fell in love with it. I'm so excited for August!! :]

 

[mcnugget]

Thank you so much.
I visited Penn and I fell in love with it. I'm so excited for August!! :]

Welcome...I might be TA-ing one of your classes next year

 

[dienekes88]

Welcome...I might be TA-ing one of your classes next year

Hahaha. That's almost as much of a buzzkill as this post in the "where did you match" thread over in surgery and surgical specialties.

 

[Drogba]

Hahaha. That's almost as much of a buzzkill as this post in the "where did you match" thread over in surgery and surgical specialties.

 

[Esviel]

hey, Al1nax01, are you going to Penn Previews? If so, then what day? I'm goin on the 11th 😀 so are a whole lot of people that i know too lol.

 

[al1nax01]

Hey Esviel. I might go to Previews, but I got in ED, so there's not much point to going. Didnt you get in ED also? Where do you live? i live in the west, so going to Penn is several hundred dollars. :/
But i'll be visiting Penn during spring break for sure. Not sure whether it'll match Previews time though. :]
isnt the 11th the day of spring fling?