What colleges offer the most excellent pre-medical degree/programs?

[Dreamin2beDoc]

Hi, im going to a be a senior this fall, and ill be taking the SAT this coming Saturday. I still need to think the top 4 colleges to send my SAT scores for free. UC Davis has always been on my top choice, and i would like to know what are your top 4 college choices that will guide you to the right path to become a doctor (MD) [colleges in California and West Coast :] and why?

Here is my status so far:
-4.0 gpa
-top 12 in my 2012 class. there are about 600 of us.
-Academic decathlon member since jr year.
-California Scholarship (CSF) secretary of next fall. (member since soph. year)
-National Honors Society (NHS) member since sophomore year.

like i said, i will be taking the SAT this saturday and ACT this fall. (wish me luck!)

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[I'm No Superman]

Well my top 4 college choices are:

University of Michigan: lived in Ann Arbor as a kid, loved the town, and it's a very prestigious state school with a very nice medical school and many other options for graduate studies.

Princeton: One of my father's co workers went their for undergrad and said he loved it. I Researched the school a lot and like how undergraduate focused the campus is. It's also a smaller campus with a broad range of undergraduate studies if medicine doesn't work out for me.

Rice: My friend is currently their and said he likes the campus a lot. They place a big emphasis on research which will never hurt. They also have a great pre-med program from what I've heard. I still need to research Rice a bit more but I'm impressed so far.

UNL: My state school, Will more than likely pay no tuition if I go there. It may not be from a "prestigious" school, but where you go to undergrad does not matter. For instance, My father went their, and got acceptances from Wash U. and Hopkins for medical school.

Go where you want to go. It's you who will ultimately decide if you become a doctor, not the college you go to. If you do well, you will be able to go to any medical school you want.🙂

 

[Dreamin2beDoc]

My college is gonna be in so much debt and i bet my class will carry the most college debt in the history. haha. Anyways thanks for the suggestions. I really wanted Princeton but they only have about 10% acceptance rate and i might sound pessimistic but i think im most likely not qualify because on what i have done so far in high school. :/ I may have straight A's but not enough life experience :/

 

[I'm No Superman]

My college is gonna be in so much debt and i bet my class will carry the most college debt in the history. haha. Anyways thanks for the suggestions. I really wanted Princeton but they only have about 10% acceptance rate and i might sound pessimistic but i think im most likely not qualify because on what i have done so far in high school. :/ I may have straight A's but not enough life experience :/

Hey, you still have a year. Join a few clubs, volunteer this summer, work at a clinic, etc. Colleges don't look at 75% of your high school career.

Anyways, good luck, I'm going to be a senior next year as well. 😎

 

[MiniPanda]

Are California private schools out of the equation? They often have very very good premed offices, and more specialized attention since there are fewer students.

 

[HealthCampus]

Hi, im going to a be a senior this fall, and ill be taking the SAT this coming Saturday. I still need to think the top 4 colleges to send my SAT scores for free. UC Davis has always been on my top choice, and i would like to know what are your top 4 college choices that will guide you to the right path to become a doctor (MD) [colleges in California and West Coast :] and why?

Here is my status so far:
-4.0 gpa
-top 12 in my 2012 class. there are about 600 of us.
-Academic decathlon member since jr year.
-California Scholarship (CSF) secretary of next fall. (member since soph. year)
-National Honors Society (NHS) member since sophomore year.

like i said, i will be taking the SAT this saturday and ACT this fall. (wish me luck!)

Hi Dreamin2beDoc.

I suggest before you think about the list of colleges that offer the best medical doctor education, you need to decide what pre-med course you want to take because colleges have different fortes in different medical fields. If you want physical therapy, pharmacy, etc. so we can advice you better.😉

 

[deleted393595]

Hi, im going to a be a senior this fall, and ill be taking the SAT this coming Saturday. I still need to think the top 4 colleges to send my SAT scores for free. UC Davis has always been on my top choice, and i would like to know what are your top 4 college choices that will guide you to the right path to become a doctor (MD) [colleges in California and West Coast :] and why?

Here is my status so far:
-4.0 gpa
-top 12 in my 2012 class. there are about 600 of us.
-Academic decathlon member since jr year.
-California Scholarship (CSF) secretary of next fall. (member since soph. year)
-National Honors Society (NHS) member since sophomore year.

like i said, i will be taking the SAT this saturday and ACT this fall. (wish me luck!)

Go to the cheapest undergrad. Pre-Med programs are the same everywhere and Med schools would rather pick a 4.0 from a Tier 2/3 undergrad than a 3.0 from Harvard.

And please refrain from excessively bolding and enlarging text. It makes the rest of your post incredibly difficult and painful to read.

 

[HH Holmes]

You can only go to Harvard. If you don't go to Harvard, maintain a 4.0 and get a 45T MCAT, you will not get into any US medical school. Also, you must cure cancer, treat babies in Africa and shadow fifty doctors. Make to sure to get LORs from God and Jesus, as well as Big Foot.

Anything less than what I have stated above, and you will have to go to the caribbean for medical school.

 

[Wile]

You can only go to Harvard. If you don't go to Harvard, maintain a 4.0 and get a 45T MCAT, you will not get into any US medical school. Also, you must cure cancer, treat babies in Africa and shadow fifty doctors. Make to sure to get LORs from God and Jesus, as well as Big Foot.

Anything less than what I have stated above, and you will have to go to the caribbean for medical school.

 

[duswdav]

are colleges really this hard to get into??
@op
dude just go to the closest, cheapest school. adcoms do not care where you came from. just keep your grades up and do well on the mcat. i got into my top choice after graduating from a branch of a university that had been a community college less than 10 years ago.

 

[malpractician]

You can only go to Harvard. If you don't go to Harvard, maintain a 4.0 and get a 45T MCAT, you will not get into any US medical school. Also, you must cure cancer, treat babies in Africa and shadow fifty doctors. Make to sure to get LORs from God and Jesus, as well as Big Foot.

Anything less than what I have stated above, and you will have to go to the caribbean for medical school.

it's true, at my interview at Harvard Medical School, the interviewer displayed concern at my 44T, and asked me if I knew what it really takes to be a physician.

 

[Dreamin2beDoc]

Go to the cheapest undergrad. Pre-Med programs are the same everywhere and Med schools would rather pick a 4.0 from a Tier 2/3 undergrad than a 3.0 from Harvard.

And please refrain from excessively bolding and enlarging text. It makes the rest of your post incredibly difficult and painful to read.

-----------------------------------------
Ok let me make it clearer, I would like to have suggestions of undergraduate universities in West Coast, particularly in California, where i reside. Ivy leagues will be good choices but they are hard to get in >_<. I have to turn in my SAT scores to 4 universities and im still not sure what those are. so I need suggestions :/.

 

[HH Holmes]

-----------------------------------------
Ok let me make it clearer, I would like to have suggestions of undergraduate universities in West Coast, particularly in California, where i reside. Ivy leagues will be good choices but they are hard to get in >_<. I have to turn in my SAT scores to 4 universities and im still not sure what those are. so I need suggestions :/.

Since you're a state resident, and California hasn't gone fully bankrupt yet, apply to UC schools. Whichever one accepts you with the heftiest scholarship is the one you should go to. Since you have a good GPA, I'm going to assume you'll at least do decent on the exam you took. I'm not really sure the policy for scholarships at UC schools, nor will I pretend to... Just apply to all of the UCs and see what happens.

If you want good schools outside of California, UW is a popular choice. It has a great medical school (#1 in PC and #6 in research I believe... not that rankings matter) and I've seen a lot of UW grads on here matriculate to medical school.

PS - Don't do the "free score reports" to colleges. It's stupid, trust me. It'll cost you the extra 40 bucks, but it's well worth it to wait and see what score you get than to blindly send your score if you don't know what it's going to be -- trust me. I automatically sent a crappy (I didn't know at the time) ACT score to one of the better schools I applied to and spent a week or so on the phone or emailing adcoms to get them to remove the "practice" score from their records. It was not fun and I really only got away with it because I had a connection at the school.

 

[HH Holmes]

are colleges really this hard to get into??

No. Everyone and their mother can get in somewhere. You just hear some "horror" stories of students who didn't get into college because 1. They applied to schools that were out of their league 2. They applied to too little schools 3. They were lazy and late to apply.

Apply early, apply broad and have some very safe safeties if you're a paranoid parrot.

 

[I'm No Superman]

You can only go to Harvard. If you don't go to Harvard, maintain a 4.0 and get a 45T MCAT, you will not get into any US medical school. Also, you must cure cancer, treat babies in Africa and shadow fifty doctors. Make to sure to get LORs from God and Jesus, as well as Big Foot.

Anything less than what I have stated above, and you will have to go to the caribbean for medical school.

🤣

 

[the duck]

You've answered your own question! come to Davis! I turned down both Cal, and UCLA for Davis, don't get hung up on prestige.

That said I here Stanford and USC both are quite good, but they're both private and expensive.

 

[lilslsailor]

.

 

[Whatyousay]

Any tier-1 UC school should serve you well.

The best college is one that will offer you a decent education + research opportunities at an affordable price, which should be your local state school in your case (although I'm not sure how affordable it'll be with this financial crisis going on). If you plan on going to medical school, the last thing that you want to do is rack up any unnecessary debt in undergrad. Remember, you're going to be in your 30s before you start making any real money (assuming you take the traditional route).

 

[nctw]

but where you go to undergrad does not matter.

This is very true. I would advise people to go where they believe they can stand out/have the most opportunities. In your case, it'll probably be easier for you to stand out at ULN than at Princeton. It's all something to factor in when choosing a school.

 

[deleted357625]

Any college is good for pre-med. No school has a good "pre-med" program. There is no such thing and if you see something like that there talking about the advising, but that's totally irrelevant because you might not even see them at all except for a committee letter when you apply.

But, besides all that any college you attend and do well is fine and will grant you admission to whatever medical school you desire.

Find a school with opportunities such as research and strong programs for your major.

 

[Haislip]

University of Maryland College Park
Carnegie Mellon
Dartmouth

they have excellent pre-med programs!!

 

[kenshin421]

You should go to your in-state school if you live in California, you would be getting your ELC letter next month and you should take advantage of that. UC schools are really cheap considering the quality education they provide. You probably can get a full ride scholarship at the UC's with your 4.0.

 

[deleted393595]

Forgot to mention this, but also look for strong research programs in the degree you want to pursue and opportunities to conduct volunteer work within campus or the immediate area. Also, start emailing professors now about conducting research with them (Once you join that college) so that you can secure a position.

 

[Hotshy]

Go to your state universities especially if you will pay virtually no tuition. It is all about the individual, you're are going to be in a heap of debt by the time you finish the MD. Minimize your debt as an undergrad, you will be just as competitive as students at "big name" schools.

 

[410322]

Forgot to mention this, but also look for strong research programs in the degree you want to pursue and opportunities to conduct volunteer work within campus or the immediate area. Also, start emailing professors now about conducting research with them (Once you join that college) so that you can secure a position.

Hold up there, skipper. Let's get acclimated to the college lifestyle first, the difference in classes and people from there and high school, and then let's worry about being a show off. No point in starting pounding the pavement when:
A. you'll be unqualified to do anything that isn't washing the lab benches
B. you'll get in way over your head and now be juggling 15 credits, other ECs that spark your interest, and research
C. you're a freshman and don't even know what you want to do.

Oh wait, you graduate college 2015.

Never mind then, I was once in your shoes.

Go to your state universities especially if you will pay virtually no tuition. It is all about the individual, you're are going to be in a heap of debt by the time you finish the MD. Minimize your debt as an undergrad, you will be just as competitive as students at &quot;big name&quot; schools.

This times a million. Go to your cheapest option, make sure they have departments in every field you even *think* you'll be interested in, and that they do research [hopefully significant research]. Then figure out your COL there (dorm? apartment?) and go.

Every MD horror story I've heard has been &quot;I got into $100K debt as an undergrad. Now I'm done with med school and have $300-400K+6.8% to pay back!&quot;

 

[deleted357625]

Hi, im going to a be a senior this fall, and ill be taking the SAT this coming Saturday. I still need to think the top 4 colleges to send my SAT scores for free. UC Davis has always been on my top choice, and i would like to know what are your top 4 college choices that will guide you to the right path to become a doctor (MD) [colleges in California and West Coast :] and why?

Here is my status so far:
-4.0 gpa
-top 12 in my 2012 class. there are about 600 of us.
-Academic decathlon member since jr year.
-California Scholarship (CSF) secretary of next fall. (member since soph. year)
-National Honors Society (NHS) member since sophomore year.

like i said, i will be taking the SAT this saturday and ACT this fall. (wish me luck!)

Honestly, there are no universities/colleges that guide you. It doesn't matter about the school, it matters about your performance in that school.

Also, all UC schools are good.

 

[deleted393595]

Hold up there, skipper. Let's get acclimated to the college lifestyle first, the difference in classes and people from there and high school, and then let's worry about being a show off.

A. you'll be unqualified to do anything that isn't washing the lab benches

Big fallacy. And if that's what you thought going into undergrad, then that's your loss. Yes, you are going to have to perform scut work while you go through the 6 month training period (Depends on labs, but I've heard that same number from professors from different departments). However, your training will teach you almost everything you need to know. For example, my PI gave me a big stack of papers to read, which would teach me everything about the work in our lab and more. But once you're done, you have the possibility of being given your own project by your PI.

If you wasted your fresh and sophomore years without doing research, then I feel truly sorry for you.

B. you'll get in way over your head and now be juggling 15 credits, other ECs that spark your interest, and research

Or I could learn time management? Others like NickNaylor and CodeBlu didn't have problems with overloading themselves because they figured out how to work smart.

C. you're a freshman and don't even know what you want to do.

I have a good idea of what I want to do, but how does that detract from the advice I offered? I'm thinking that you're just a jealous, angry nerd who wishes that he got more out of undergrad.

Btw, thanks for adding to the value of this thread.

 

[Decicco]

It might help to go to a ugrad that has an MD school (although princeton would be a fine choice too). This way you can do medical research or clinical stuff to build your resume. Many of the more competitive MD schools put a lot of emphasis on research.