Pre Med Questions
 

My friend's son will be starting college in the fall. He is interested in pre-med. Any med students/doctors out there willing to share what factors they took into account into selecting their undergraduate university? Or what they wish they had known before selecting an undergrad with the intent to go on to med school?

Additional info and another question: this kid has been accepted to several schools instate, and has gotten invitations to join the honors program at all of them except for the flagship state school. Is it better to go to another state school and be in their honors program, or go to the main school in the state? What about the large state school w/o honors program versus a small private school (well regarded academically, but certainly not an Ivy or a Top 50) with the honors program

Thanks so much!

I did not STAY pre-med, but part of the reason I chose SLU was because they had a pre-med scholars program. Under their program if you kept your grades up you were automatically accepted into SLU Med School prior to your MCATs, if you then did poorly on the exams you still had acceptance, if you did well you could apply elsewhere and re-apply to SLU Medical School as well.

I leave the rest to the actual docs/med students :D

He's not really doing Pre-Med, is he? I actually do have a BS in Pre-Med.:rolleyes: What a worthless degree. A lot of admissions officers actually like to see non-science majors who just take the pre-recs because they help make for a more diverse class. You know, he really should just go where he wants to go, where he'll have a good experience. Medical schools aren't that preferential. He will just need to take the pre-recs to qualify for medical school. You can get in no matter how podunk or fancy the school is if your grades are good, you make a good score on your MCAT and have a well rounded application. If you are looking to go to a private medical school or more prestigious school, then your university choice MAY be more important. Really, though, participating in research during college including having your name on a publication or doing significant volunteer work is important. Most students go to medical school in the same state where they claim residency, so keep that in mind.

ETA: I guess I didn't fully answer your question: I picked NLU because I didn't have to take calculus! :p

I'm an MS2.

I honestly didn't take much into account when selecting my undergraduate university. I started out at Ohio State, and transferred after my first year to a smaller state school. Looking back, I would say that it is definitely important to choose a university that will instill a solid foundation in the sciences and provide opportunities for research as that is becoming a bigger and bigger factor in admissions.

Also, I would look for a school that has a reputation for turning out students who end up in med school. They often have better advising programs and are better at guiding students as they build their resume and go through the application process (which can be grueling). They often have better MCAT prep resources as well (for example, my physics class was designed specifically for students taking the MCAT).

As for the honors program, I was never asked anything about my affiliation with the honors program, and really don't think it factored either way in my admission. 95% of med school applicants have the stats to put them in an honors program; it doesn't really set you apart. What sets you apart is your research, community service, leadership, etc. Oh, and a solid (really, stellar) GPA and MCAT.

Also, some people believe that choosing a school that has an affiliated medical school will give them a leg up there, and that's just not the case anymore.

Also, don't think that an Ivy or Top 50 school is necessary for admission. The VAST majority of med students aren't from those schools.

Good luck to your friend's son! PM me if you have other questions.

LOL, I didn't know you could actually get a degree in "pre-med" anywhere.

Ha, ha! You could until the early 90s. They tried to phase it out on me during my sophomore year, but I was on a 4 year scholarship and switching to a biology degree (Pre-med was a combo of bio minor and chem minor) would have put me behind by a year. I told them that they couldn't make me change my major so they let me finish in Pre-med. Thank God I got into med school! I do have a minor in chemistry, though (couldn't get one in biology since they moved me into the biology department.)

As a current pre-med in the midst of MCAT craziness, my advice is to talk to pre-med advisors at every school you seriously consider. Ask the "dumb questions"- how many students from this school apply to med school, what are the required courses, when do I take my MCAT, etc. Feel out the responses from the advisor- how confident, thorough, reassuring, etc. is he or she? Having a good pre-med advisor is absolutely key.

I go to a smallish private school, but one that's known for its sciences and is a competitive school. The honors program I'm in is research-based, which (I think, I haven't actually started interviewing yet) is probably going to be helpful and interesting in my admission process. I am a biology major, but have 2 non-science minors. My one gripe about my school's science structure (and I would imagine this is common with smaller schools) is that the physics, chem, etc I'm taking are all harder than the basics I need for med school. For example, gen chem was not an option for me- I took an inorganic chem class followed by aqueous solution chem. That said, I did well in these harder classes, and I imagine this will be helpful too. Ask premed advisors what courses premeds take at their specific schools, then review these in the catalog and see what they look like.

Good luck!

Thanks all. All of the schools have been great about letting him meet with pre-med advisers, but one school refuses to let him talk to an adviser unless he commits to the school!

I'm an MS-I.

The schools he applies to should have data about how many students were accepted to which medical schools.

I'm not really much help with choosing schools, because I went in to undergrad wanting to major in Aeronautics, but ditto to choosing a different major.

The majority of kids in my class are either very specific science majors (I was Genetics and Medical Microbiology & Immunology and there are a bunch of Neuroscience, Evolutionary Biology, etc. majors in my class) or non-science majors (Art, Theater, Business, and more).

From what I've observed, simply at my school, the kids admitted from smaller, private schools tend to have higher GPAs than those from large, well-known public universities. These kids also tend to have higher GPAs than those admitted from Ivies. (Granted, this is between .01 and .03 average difference).

Consequently, you can get into medical school from pretty much any school, but it seems--at least here--you need a slightly better academic resume from a less-well known school. That's just what I've noticed though.

daughter started out as a sports med. major, and besides falling in love with her school when going thru the search process, she determined that the percentage of students who made it into med. school upon graduation or within the year after they graduated, was a good statistic to base her decision on. she fell out of love with the sports med. major and switched majors, but still loved(and continues to) her school.