<p>My First two boys are looking at schools and the oldest wants to go to a nationally ranked Pre-med. praogram. Is there one the is sincerely Christian and provide a great Pre-Med. program?</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>The answer to your question is a resounding YES!! Mississippi College is a Christian university established in 1826. I am currently a psychology/pre-med major at MC and love every aspect of the program. All the instructors are extremely accessible and always willing to help. As for your son wanting to attend a nationally ranked pre-med program you should know that as of now there is no official ranking system for these programs. This is due in part to the complexity of pre-med programs and the many unmeasurable aspects of such programs. However, I should note here that U.S. News and World Report ranks MC 23rd in academic reputation among 123 southern universities and in the top 10 of “best value” colleges.</p>
<p>Dr. Stan Baldwin, the dean of the school of science and mathematics, is also on faculty at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, MS. As the dean he is responsible for the entire premed program. Dr. Baldwin structures all of his classes the same way he structures his classes at UMC and has also asked the other professors to do the same. In one of my many encounters with him he mentioned that several of his med students who DID NOT attend MC always complain about the significant advantage the MC students have in the curriculum of the first two years. I should warn you, the program is VERY, VERY tough and requires the same dedication and focus necessary to excel in med school. If you can survive MC’s premed program, you will do well in med school. That said, I can say without a doubt that MC has the top premed program in the state and one of the top programs in the country. </p>
<p>As for the Christian aspect, as a Christian university all of the administrators, faculty, and staff exemplify Christian attitudes and morals both in and out of the classroom. </p>
<p>If you have any other questions I encourage you or your son to contact the Office of Enrollment Services at (601)925-3800 or <a href=“mailto:enrollment-services@mc.edu”>enrollment-services@mc.edu</a>. Or, if you’d like a student’s perspective you or your son can email me at <a href="mailto:mgodwin3568■■■■■■.com">mgodwin3568■■■■■■.com</a></p>
<p>Take a look at Hope College. It has a very strong science reputation and the school’s approach to preparing their pre-med students for medical school admissions is very impressive. I posted a few details in cc’s college visit reports in 2008 if you want more info. A family friend attends Hope and has been very pleased with the caliber of the academics, research opportunities, and Christian environment.</p>
<p>Do either of these places (or anywhere else) offer undergrad research with them? My son wants to head into medical research and ideally wants plentiful research opportunities at the undergrad level (so he can better figure out what appeals to him at the grad level). I’m assuming I’m going to need a larger research U - and therefore not Christian - but would like to consider all possibilities (esp since HE would prefer Christian and smaller).</p>
<p>Hope does. There are opportunities for paid positions for summer research also. The professor we talked with was the advisor for pre-med and pre vet. Hope has excellent stats as far as med school admissions. I didn’t specifically ask about students intending to pursue the sciences in grad school but I do know Hope is nationally ranked with respect to number (may be percentage) of graduates attaining a PhD. If you have the book “Colleges that Change Lives”, Hope is profiled in it.</p>
<p>Honestly, I’m not sure if MC offers undergrad research in medical sciences but I will make a point to get with Dr. Baldwin and find out. I’ll post his answer as soon as I have it. I don’t know what Hope’s med school admissions stats are but I can proudly say that MC has an 85% acceptance rate which, incidentally, is 2x the national average.</p>
<p>The OP asked for NATIONALLY RANKED pre-med programs, not for people to ■■■■■ for their various undergraduates. </p>
<p>There are no nationally ranked pre-med programs offered by Christian schools. You are going to have to give up that desire if you want to attend a Christian university. </p>
<p>The closest thing to what you are looking for would probably be found at Wheaton College, and even that’s a stretch. Pepperdine might have something in the hopper, but Pepperdine is sort of a diet-christian university and is definitely not known for biological sciences. The hard truth is that to get a nationally ranked pre-med education one needs to be affiliated with a nationally ranked medical school. That doesn’t exist at Christian universities, which are almost exclusively liberal arts colleges.</p>
<p>Further to Dr. Baldwin, the following gives a synopsis of the pre-med program,</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.mc.edu/campus/users/sbaldwin/Baldwin.pdf[/url]”>http://www.mc.edu/campus/users/sbaldwin/Baldwin.pdf</a></p>
<p>phear_me, no one is ■■■■■■■■. The OP asked for Christian schools with great pre-med. Hope is a geat Christian school AND has a great pre-med program with superior undergraduate research opportunities. I couldn’t find a national “ranking” for any pre-med programs, Christian or otherwise. Can you provide a link?</p>
<p>Thanks RSBuletz. I didn’t think to post that link. To phear_me: Like hoosiermom said, no one is ■■■■■■■■. If you have a problem with the replies then stay off the thread. Whether or not the responses are what the OP asked for is not for you to decide. If he/she has a problem with them then they should comment on it, not you, an uninvolved 3rd party. As far as a pre-med program being nationally ranked, if you had done any research at all you would find that there is not an accepted ranking system for such programs either at a Christian school or otherwise. If by some chance you’ve managed to find one, please, share it with us. I think we’d all be interested to see it.</p>
<p>I’m not the OP, but as far as I’m concerned, the more suggestions the better.</p>
<p>futuredoc2011 - you mean the OP should comment on it, not a third party, like you just did? Honest to goodness if you can’t even stay consistent with the sentence you JUST wrote how do you expect anyone to take you seriously?</p>
<p>Simple reading comprehension: “My First two boys are looking at schools and the oldest wants to go to a NATIONALLY RANKED Pre-med. praogram. Is there one the is sincerely Christian and provide a great Pre-Med. program?”</p>
<p>If you want to see the top pre-med programs, look at schools with top biological/health science programs. That’s done by graduate department, not undergrad specialty, and it’s all the regular players you would expect to see: Hopkins, MIT, Harvard, Stanford etc.</p>
<p>Op, one plug for LAC’s and research at schools where there are no graduate programs, the undergraduates will not have graduate students to compete with for the choice research opportunities.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, the advice I’ve read on other sections of CC suggest NOT going to a program with a top graduate level medical facility such as Harvard, etc. The competition tends to be tougher there - meaning unless you are top of the top, you won’t get as much consideration going there for grad school (diversity deal). Being top of the top at a ‘different school’ (along with a top MCAT score) will be more likely to produce an interview than being near the top at these other schools - unless one wants less of a top grad school.</p>
<p>I’ve summarized it, but check out the FAQ on the pre-med section. I’m busy or I’d look up the link and post it. It was quite informative - and is what has me checking out all these ‘other’ schools to find a great match.</p>
<p>Then there’s the financial issue. Going to a ‘different’ school is likely to produce decent merit aid for top students. Going to the ‘name’ schools is likely to produce a lot of debt (unless one can afford the education, of course). Having a lot of debt prior to grad school isn’t an asset.</p>
<p>It is highly suggested to look at actual admission rates - and to where - to compare pre-med options. Not all schools are created equal.</p>
<p>phear_me: The sentence is consistent. Because I had just referenced the OP in the previous sentence I didn’t feel it was necessary to make that distinction again. Like you said, it’s simple reading comprehension. Also, I was not commenting on the validity of the responses, except of course for yours. </p>
<p>OP: Please excuse this little aside between myself and phear_me. I hope you are finding the information presented helpful.</p>
<p>phear_me: The sentence is consistent. Because I had just referenced the OP in the previous sentence I didn’t feel it was necessary to make that distinction again. Like you said, it’s simple reading comprehension. Also, I was not commenting on the validity of the responses, except of course for yours. </p>
<p>OP: Please excuse this little aside between myself and phear_me. I hope you are finding the information presented helpful.</p>
<p>Futuredoc: you said, “If you have a problem with the replies then stay off the thread. Whether or not the responses are what the OP asked for is not for you to decide. If he/she has a problem with them then they should comment on it, not you, an uninvolved 3rd party.”</p>
<p>The lack of consistency isn’t in the statement by itself, it is in the contradictory nature of your actions. You wrote a sentence stating that the OP ought to be the one to decide which comments are “what the OP asked for” while, at the same moment, you are directing a response towards me chastising my response to the OP’s question. One would think the contradiction in your actions is fairly obvious. It’s akin to pointing your finger at someone and saying, “Hey! You’re a bad person for judging others” whilst failing to realize the judgment you just pronounced.</p>
<p>phear_me: I can see where that statement comes across as hypocritical. I do apologize for that, however, I should point out that had you left out the first sentence of your original post we wouldn’t even be having this discussion. By making that statement and thus accusing hoosiermom and myself of ■■■■■■■■ you are inferring, intentionally or not, that you have the authority to judge other’s responses. I was not judging your overall statement I was simply pointing out that you, nor I, nor any of the other posters except for the OP have that authority.</p>
<p>Futuredoc, phearme has demonstrated his lack of tact and ‘name brand’ worldview on various other threads. I think many of us who read his posts consider the source when we read. If one is not ‘up’ on other threads, consider reading the ‘Baylor’ thread for more of a background on a few of us that post.</p>
<p>For those that agree with his worldview, his posts are worthwhile. Occasionally I even agree with him even though I definitely don’t share his worldview. (I don’t agree on this thread obviously.) Everyone will have to overlook the lack of tact. I suspect it’s fairly common within his worldview. </p>
<p>As for this thread, I will mainly propose people consider the FAQ I referenced before from those that have BTDT. His field is NOT medical. Theirs is. For me as a newbie to medical careers who is researching possibilities for my middle son, I put a lot more value on their experience. There are a couple of opinions there that would support his. The majority do not and have valid reasons (and experience).</p>
<p>And as for this thread… more college suggestions would be appreciated if there are other Christian colleges out there worth being considered! My son wants research - not just pre-med. We’re looking at all options except ivies and similar. His grades and test scores should make him competitive to get in anywhere (including ivies).</p>
<p>Creekland,</p>
<p>I am currently finishing pre-reqs through Berkeley so that I can start additional graduate work at the Johns Hopkins MS Biotech program. My girlfriend (of more than 2 years) has a father is a doctor. My uncle is a former paramedic and currently a respiratory therapist. I might know a little more than you think. </p>
<p>; )</p>
<p>Furthermore, a direct and matter of fact approach is not a lack of tact. The sad reality is that most of my American Christian brothers and sisters have been conditioned to accept an extremely effeminate and emasculated view of Christianity. This is evidenced by the fact that any confrontational style is subject to broad negativity that accommodates those with “my worldview”, which you clearly feel quite comfortable broadly judging. Yes, it is true that I have a rationalist worldview that understands that students who go to Princeton are going to be advantaged over students that go to Cal State Dominguez hills. Regardless of what all of your friends are telling you about getting into medical school, the key stat is your MCAT score. Second is GPA. If you think advising people to go to a program that gets them high grades due to a lack of competition is going to make them a better doctor, or provide them with the same level of preparation for the MCAT that a school like Hopkins or MIT or Stanford will then you are sadly mistaken. Having attended both an unknown Christian undergrad and a world renown university I can tell you that the difference in student quality is dramatic, and so is the quality of education and rigor - particularly in the sciences and quant laden subjects. Sure, students from lesser known schools can and do get in to med school, but did you ever stop to ask which med schools the majority of those students were going to? I can promise you that a 3.6 from Stanford means more than a 3.95 from Hope College. Not to mention, most of the Ivies (less MIT, Cal Tech, and Stanford) practice grade inflation to compensate for the increased level of competition, so the idea that junior will have higher grades at a weaker school due to less competition is absurd. Finally, the idea that colleges intentionally spread a wide net across multiple universities is somewhat true, but there is nothing to suggest it is intentional. They simply take the best applicants, many of whom do not come from the Ivies. What did those applicants from lesser schools all have? Top TEST SCORES. Which, once again, is what really matters in terms of paper qualifications. The difference? Top schools are feeder schools and send dozens of students into top colleges each year. Lesser schools MAY send 1, or perhaps 2, at best. </p>
<p>Once again, the original poster asked for NATIONALLY RANKED programs. When people respond with things like, “Hope College” as an answer to that question it’s rather obvious they are either shouting out the only Christian university they know or the one they go to. The sad reality is that in typical protestant fashion, our universities are just like our churches, small little fiefdoms lacking the critical mass to yield maximal results. There are good things about that as well, but ignoring the downside isn’t going to do much to mitigate the current weaknesses in protestant higher education. The correct answer is that there simply are no nationally known Christian pre-med programs. Now I’m sorry that I have to be the one to offer up this sobering realization, but judging me as if you were suddenly deemed “internet personality profile master” because you’ve observed a few of my responses in an isolated context seems to be, once again keeping with this common trend, an exercise in hypocrisy. Just because I don’t sugar coat things doesn’t mean I’m lacking social graces. We’re on on a forum of ideas that lends itself to debate, which is inherently confrontational. As a matter of principle, I’m not going to hold your hand because you think I was too blunt or you wish I wouldn’t address some of the egregious errors people spout off from time to time. </p>
<p>To (finally) answer the OP, the best Christian pre-med program you’ll find out there is at Wheaton College. The quality of student and facilities at Wheaton is heads and shoulders above the rest of the protestant competition. Grove City is worth looking at for a backup. For nursing, definitely do Biola, but choose Wheaton or Grove City over Biola if you want to be a doctor.</p>