What Undergrad Schools Should I Be Aiming For?

[Matangu]

I'm currently a junior in high school, and I'm in the process of school-searching. I know I want to eventually go to medical school, and I'm determined to stick with pre-med through undergrad. For my major I plan on going with neuroscience/neurobiology or biology (I know. How original 😉). The reason that I want to research as much as I can about undergrad schools without even getting into them yet is because I want to apply early (if I can) to a school that I know I want to go to.

My top schools that I want to apply early for are Vanderbilt, Duke, and U Penn. I've visited Vanderbilt and Penn so far but not Duke. I really liked the atmosphere of Vanderbilt and all the students there when I went on the tour. However, I'm a little turned off by its low acceptance rate to medical school (which is ~60% according to its "Health Professions Advisory Office 2014 Annual Report"), as compared to Duke's ~80% (??? I could be very wrong here). I am very well aware that this number can easily be manipulated, which is a small part of the reason why I'm quite lost in my search.

As a California resident, I am also looking into some of the UCs: UC Davis, UCLA, UCI, and UCSD to be exact. I've heard amazing things about being a pre-med student at Davis, but not so much for LA and SD.

"Things that make colleges good for pre-med students (this is NOT in order of precedence):

1. Cost / financial aid
2. Prestige
3. Strong pre-med advising / support
4. Access to research or network for getting students into research program
5. Track record of getting students into medical school
6. Shadowing / volunteering support network
7. Ability to attain a high GPA / grade inflation
8. FIT FIT FIT FIT FIT --> if you're happy, you'll be productive and thrive
9. Having an affiliated medical school"

Referencing the legendary @WedgeDawg 's list for what I should be looking for in a college (which I pasted above), I am mostly concerned with all his points except the first and second ones.

The main thing that I am asking here is for some students and, or alumni from the above mentioned schools (Vanderbilt, Duke, U Penn, UCD, UCLA, UCI, UCSD) to explain their experiences at these schools as a pre-med, how competitive it was, and how hard it was (is) to maintain a good GPA for med school applications.

Also, are there any other schools that I should be looking into? I'm open to any opinions.

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[Toutie]

Unless you get a free ride to an OOS school, you should go to a UC. Any of the 4 UC's you mentioned would be fine for pre-med.

 

[DokterMom]

As a general rule, you want to attend the undergrad school that will:

• Challenge and develop your intellect and reasoning skills you while also allowing you to succeed. (Podunk U. won't challenge you adequately; not all can succeed at MIT.)
• Be a place where you can be happy, fit in and find your people - thrive and be happy. For this, there is no better method than actually visiting the schools in question. Do LOTS of school visits until you can tell what matters to you.
  
• Offer you opportunities for research and 'diving in'. Don't assume this necessarily means a large school as they have more competition for those resources and you are more likely to be 'just a number' to them. Many excellent small schools will find, facilitate and even create opportunities for interested students.
• Be a place that helps you get into medical school AND that offers great opportunities for 'Plan B' in case you change your mind or don't 'cut it'. (At this stage in your life, odds of actually ending up in medical school are about 15%, so acknowledge that and DO have a solid Plan B.)
• Consider cost versus prestige as appropriate to your own personal situation.
  • Some here will say "Go to the cheapest undergrad because it's only your medical school degree anyone will care about." If your odds of going to medical school were 85% instead of 15%, that might not be a bad bet. But with odds in the other direction, it's a foolish gamble.
    
  • Medical schools will care where your UG degree is from - some schools (top privates) more than others. State medical schools are perfectly content with state universities -- except CA medical schools have almost no in-state preference and there are tens of thousands of CA pre-meds at the UCs.
    
  • If you don't go to medical school for whatever reason, your UG could very well be your terminal degree and your future employers will care - again, some more than others.
  • If your parents (or grants) will cover the cost of attending a top private college, and you don't dislike the school, it's probably worth it.

As you note, schools can easily (and DO) manipulate their 'successful pre-med' numbers by manipulating the number of students they count in that statistic (ex. only those with a 3.6+ GPA and approval from 'The Committee') and/or steering students to less-competitive options (ex. Caribbean). So hard as it might be, IGNORE that statistic.

UCs are certainly great schools, but I wouldn't say they are a great place for pre-meds in general. Why? Well, they typically have very large proportions of highly-grade-driven pre-meds (picture the top students at your high school if you're in CA and multiply x10), so the competition to stand out relative to your peers will be intense. INTENSE. Few succeed. UCs also tend to have less grade inflation, so your very-hard-earned 3.6 won't look very impressive next to a Dartmouth 3.75.

Specific schools to suggest? If you haven't looked at smaller 'liberal arts colleges' I strongly suggest that you do. They offer some of the best undergraduate educations and advising available and are, counter-intuitively, absolutely NOT just for liberal arts majors. One of the top selling points is the relationships you will be able to develop with your professors (not TAs) and the resulting very-strong letters of recommendation you will be able to get. If you're in CA, look at Pomona, Claremont, Scripps, etc. If you're willing to travel, check out Reed, Rice, Amherst, Williams and other schools in line with your SATs.

 

[892002]

I was a Vandy undergrad, so I'm a bit biased, but Vandy is AMAZING for pre-med/overall college experience. The reason why the rate is so low is that our HPAO office does not discriminate against who it writes a committee letter for (even if you have a 2.8/502, the advisors will work with you/write you a letter) where as at Duke, they refuse to write you a letter if you don't meet certain criteria.

Feel free to PM me (or reply on this thread) if you have any more questions about Vandy!