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Edit: JK turns out that's an urban myth about vet schools being harder to get into, really the best regarded one (Davis) had an admit rate of 25% for californians last year
So really USMD
RN? Really?
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Lol.
There is bias because you’re asking this on a premed forum
PharmD is currently a joke to get into now. Sub 3.0 applicants can get in to a decent few schools. Essentially no jobs outside of chain retail.
RN is not really difficult when compared to things like MD, DO, DDS.
DO is a bit less competitive (traditionally) than MD but you still have to be a good applicant. I would say PA and DO are fairly equal.
I cant comment to DDS competition.
RN is not really difficult when compared to things like MD, DO, DDS.
DO is a bit less competitive (traditionally) than MD but you still have to be a good applicant. I would say PA and DO are fairly equal.
I cant comment to DDS competition.
Idk about that. PA doesn’t require the MCAT. GRE is cake.
I've also heard that while general dental doesnt need the same grades as medical school to get admitted, matching oromaxillofacial surgery afterwards is on par with matching surgical subspecialties in medicine
PA admissions are somewhat competitive from what I have been told. A DO Applicant with a decent GPA can get into schools with a sub 508 score fairly reliably. Maybe DO is slightly more competitive, but it wouldn't be too stark of a difference in my opinion.
The "hard part" of PA admissions is that they expect 1000+ hours of clinic time, like it's standard to have worked in a clinic full time to meet their expectations.
In contrast the "hard part" of MD admissions is making straight A's and scoring in the top quartile on the MCAT, people only need 100-200 hours in a clinic.
Which you'd rather be up against is personal preference
MD without a doubt in terms of curriculum. Personality-wise you’d have to put a gun to my head for me to go RN.
DDS is easier to get into than MD/DO because admissions is more forgiving. I know a lot of friends who had low undergrad gpas who redeemed themselves in grad school and got into competitive dental schools ie Tufts, Maryland, VCU. The premed students who did just as well as them in grad school had to struggle for DO acceptances with the majority of them going DO and if they went MD they took an extra gap year. I can't speak to the difficulty of the DAT but its a shorter test.
My DO school has a PA school as well and apart from the entry exams, I think we're academically at least similar.
MD definitely the hardest. Admissions look for higher GPA, you need to take the MCAT which is now 8+ hours long, and research is highly recommended along with having a good variety of extracurriculars with good commitment. Plus think about the journey through medical school: cramming normal physiology plus pathophysiology and anatomy in 1.5-2 years, having to pass and do well on three board/USMLE exams (Step 1, Step 2 Clinical Knowledge, and Step 2 Clinical Skills), and trying to honor or at least high pass in third year rotations because that's what sets you apart from other classmates or applicants when applying to residency programs.
DDS is not easy either but I would assume GPA requirements are not as high as that of MD. The DAT isn't as hard as the MCAT.
PA school admissions doesn't require as high a GPA either but you need thousands of hours of clinical experience. Some accept MCAT but you could take GRE in place of it, depending on which program you apply to. Also it's only two years long but that means pathophys is crammed into one year, then you do one year of clinical. I have a med school friend whose bf is in PA school, and she compared test questions and the PA ones are way easier. For instance, they will give you the keywords in the vignette and the correct answer in the multiple choice format is obvious (think microbiology!). I think this is why MDs are better at differential diagnoses than PAs are.
PharmD not as competitive as DDS but I'm not sure about the competitiveness as I don't know anyone close to me who's in such a program.
RN school would be the least competitive out of all of these but we definitely need more good quality RNs!!
DDS is not easy either but I would assume GPA requirements are not as high as that of MD. The DAT isn't as hard as the MCAT.
PA school admissions doesn't require as high a GPA either but you need thousands of hours of clinical experience. Some accept MCAT but you could take GRE in place of it, depending on which program you apply to. Also it's only two years long but that means pathophys is crammed into one year, then you do one year of clinical. I have a med school friend whose bf is in PA school, and she compared test questions and the PA ones are way easier. For instance, they will give you the keywords in the vignette and the correct answer in the multiple choice format is obvious (think microbiology!). I think this is why MDs are better at differential diagnoses than PAs are.
PharmD not as competitive as DDS but I'm not sure about the competitiveness as I don't know anyone close to me who's in such a program.
RN school would be the least competitive out of all of these but we definitely need more good quality RNs!!
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RN. All the way!
I know. It’s tough getting your AA and then going to nursing school for a couple of years.
I doubt most pre-meds/med students/MD/DO’s could make it though nursing school.
When is the last time you didn’t see an attending physician run out of the room if the patient had a code brown? Or the last time they took down the dressing and told the RN “no worries-I can re-dress it...”
RNs literally wade through crap. I think med school is intellectually much more difficult, but nursing school would be very difficult for me to make it through as well, just for different reasons. Just imagine being the RN for one of those “difficult patients” for a 12-hr shift.
When is the last time you didn’t see an attending physician run out of the room if the patient had a code brown? Or the last time they took down the dressing and told the RN “no worries-I can re-dress it...”
RNs literally wade through crap. I think med school is intellectually much more difficult, but nursing school would be very difficult for me to make it through as well, just for different reasons. Just imagine being the RN for one of those “difficult patients” for a 12-hr shift.
Lol mcat is hardest exam ever and they switched it... I left mine feeling defeated and did decent but slightly below the accepted average honestly think people going into MD are extremely dedicated and can't see themselves in another career
And dat is thousand times easier friend took it and showed practice exam and much different than MCAT lol. Pretty sure most people who take mcat do terrible on it...
No one wants to be a vet because they don't get paid. Even with that factor, their standards remain relatively high
who gives a flying *BEEP*?
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Look we all know that chiropractic and Naturopathic schools are the toughest to get admitted to.
Some say even tougher than Caribbean MD
Some say even tougher than Caribbean MD
Woe_is_me23
Full Member
Can’t believe i wasted a couple minutes of my life on this thread 
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I am that wacko who actually finds the MCAT to be easier than the DAT. The material for both - excluding psych, perceptual ability, and some Ochem emphasis stuff - are basically the same. However, absolutely abhor rote memorization. The DAT is more of a facts based test and the MCAT is a critical thinking test. If you just know the general information of the key concepts of the prerequisite classes, you can do phenomenally in the MCAT with some critical thinking, good reading skills, and good graph analysis. DAT though is just straight up “do you remember this?”
MD by far, those kids are ****ing obnoxiousOkay, but is it harder to be a MD, DDS, DO, PA, RN, or PharmD advisor/adcom
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You ever met a prenursing student? Pre-meds may think they are hot stuff, but at least we tend to have the good grades and background knowledge to back that up. At least at my school, the pre-nursing students follow the “what’s the bare minimum I need” philosophy, and then think they are the shizz because they got a B+ in “Ochem for the health sciences”
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The difference is that they tend to grow out of it because they become honest to God adults in the workforce much earlier 😉
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Very true. As a non-trad with work experience, it is kind of terrifying to realize 80% of med students first job is in residency...
I wonder if that is why so many gunners want to aim for academic medicine. They are so ingrained in the school system that they are scared to leave academia...
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As opposed to premeds, we stay as childish pricks for another 4+ years after getting into med school.
D
deleted547631
I’ve been to both:
MD school is harder to get into.
DDS school is harder to get through.
MD school is harder to get into.
DDS school is harder to get through.
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What makes DDS more difficult?
Academically as far as admissions standards or academic rigor for both programs similar?
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DDS is more difficult to get through? seriously? lol how
lol
Tougher to get through especially with a poor wifi connection.
Damn didn't know that. I assumed the first two years in medical school were harder though, like just more volume and faster paced since I figured the amount of knowledge required of an MD/DO is so much greater
Have you looked at who pharmacy schools are accepting these days?
Anyone with a pulse and 60 credits of undergrad coursework
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The medical knowledge and information you learn in medical school and beyond is definitely a lot and we can't even keep up with it. I'm not sure about how complex dentistry is, but I wish fourth year med school isn't such a joke that we basically go on vacation that year. The medical education system definitely needs work but I don't have a good answer to how we can change it.
Look at their curriculums; the courses are difficult, there are boards, rotations, and those who don't apply themselves easily fail out.
Friends of mine in pharmacy school study 24/7 and had way more than a "pulse" when applying (although yes, way too many schools with way too low standards now for that $$$). I'm just speaking on program difficulty itself.
Pharms are still medically responsible for people's lives and not just anyone can be qualified to be in charge of proper dosing, evaluation of interactions, etc of life-altering and potentially deadly substances if they're not competent enough to. 2 years of PA school or a nursing program, again, is not comparable in my opinion.
Interesting. So exactly what makes the NBDE Part 1 that much different than Step 1 if we are learning the exact same material the first 2 years
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