<p>The Ivy System is definitely a very great system, with its resources and its competition. Maybe its because the chances of me getting into an Ivy is slim, but I think that its a really overrated system where most people apply for the system. That’s just a personal bias, I’m probably, rather, I’m hoping to be wrong. But with all the people applying to Ivy Leagues, only the kids with the higher numbers are accepted, everybody else is weeded out. After looking around in this website and looking at other people’s grades, I lost most of my confidence because every kid here has like a 99+ avrg, a load of APs (most of them are 5’s), a very nice SAT score (usually 2000+), and SAT II scores that are beautiful (750-800). They also are in a plethora of teams, so much that I wonder how they pull those grades off. Compared to me, these guys are giants and I have no chance to strive for excellence (only a 91 unweighted, a 1960, 3 AP’s, and 3 SAT IIs.) Extra curricular-wise, I just run track and do some science clubs. Nobody special, just need some ideas. Is there any small school (as in a small population) with a nice education (as in the kids that go there have nice lives and are able to have as many electives as they desire) and ,hopefully, with a high acceptance rate in Med school? I did my research, but all im finding are schools that are probably too high up in the sky for me (Cornell, Hopkins, Emory, Davis, couple of SUNY’s, Albany).</p>
<p>Take a look at the colleges in the Patriot League. All academically rigorous, gorgeous historic campuses, and they have division 1 sports programs and are all relatively small at around 2500- 4000 students each. The Patriot League plays the Ivy League in sports.</p>
<p>[Patriot</a> League Official Athletic Site](<a href=“http://www.patriotleague.org%5DPatriot”>http://www.patriotleague.org)</p>
<p>Kinda depends on geographically where you want to go. I am quite fond of the mid-west LACs: Macalester, Grinnell, Kenyon, Carleton, etc.</p>
<p>But getting as many electives as you want, and be pre-med, is somewhat at odds no matter where you go.</p>
<p>The right school is out there; no need to get caught up in or discouraged by HYPer-performing CC posters.</p>
<p>I second UT. You want to look at the midwestern LACs: Great academics, unpretentious, understated vibe, strong med school admissions rates.</p>
<p>And Grinnell sounds like it would be an especially good fit: No distribution requirements so you have more flexibility for electives. Very strong faculty mentoring because your and your adviser build your academic schedule together based on your specific goals (and the freshman tutorial is with your adviser, so you definitely get to know each other well). Especially strong in the sciences (bio, chem, math, physics) with faculty that get raves from the students. A huge endowment which means lot of new facilities, funds for student research, free tutoring and activities, great merit aid, and the smallest class size of any top LAC-even in intro bio and chem, no more than 25 students per class. S applied ED and loves it there.</p>
<p>For ones a bit easier to get in to - check out St Olaf, Cornell College, and Ripon. I believe all 3 have med school acceptance rates around 80% (twice the nat’l average).</p>