omega007

How is the Pre-med at Lafayette in terms of course rigor, research facilities, study abroad, access to clinical internships, med school placement, etc???

omega007

anyone???....please

hudsonvalley51

There is no such thing as a pre-med major so I am guessing that you are asking about the rigor of some of the courses required by med schools (i.e. calculus, organic chemistry, general chemistry). Lots of students go into college thinking pre-med and run into problems with these "weed out" courses; Lafayette is no different. Different students will find different courses challenging. My daughter has found organic chemistry a breeze compared to Calc II. Other friends who are stronger math students found Calc ridiculously easy but organic chem a ball-buster.

The weed-out process at Lafayette has an impact on pre-med acceptance rates, as it does at many/most colleges. Those who survive the process are the strongest students and their chance of getting into med school is therefore much stronger than the larger pool who entered as freshmen thinking of going pre-med.

Regarding study abroad, Lafayette has excellent opportunities for all students including engineering majors.

omega007

Thanks a lot for the info. I would further like to know whether students go to prominent med schools like JHUSM or HMS? And how are the research opportunities? Can I do enough research from freshman year so that I can go to a decent MSTP (M.D./P.h.D program)?

hudsonvalley51

From the Biology Department website I found this:

"Many majors go to medical school or choose another health profession. Biology graduates from the classes of 2001-05 have gone to the following medical schools: Stanford, Thomas Jefferson, Temple, Drexel, Penn, Georgetown, Wake Forest, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, NYU, Yale, Harvard, Penn State, and Johns Hopkins."

That's a bit dated but I haven't heard anything to indicate that qualified Lafayette grads are suddenly encountering problems getting into top med schools. Research opportunities are pretty extensive also from what I hear. I know a friend of my daughter's (a biomolecular engineering major/biotechnology minor) participated in a college funded research project with one of his professors this summer (betwen freshman and soph year). My daughter plans to participate in the same program (Excel) next year. If you look through the Lafayette website you'll notice that they make a point of including lots of feature stories about student research projects in a wide range of disciplines. The school appears to really mean it when it says that students will have a chance to work one-on-one with their professors on research.

I'm sorry I can't share anything more specific. Perhaps there is a pre-med student from Lafayette out there who can chime in with a more detailed account of opportunities available.

omega007

Thanks a lot hudsonvalley51 for giving a lot of info being a parent

Please post everyone if you know even a little about Pre-med at Lafayette

omega007

bump............bump