Best Premed colleges

College Search & Lists
21

This argument is pretty easy to resolve. Many med schools publish lists of their incoming classes or graduating classes, and you can tell from the list how school prestige matters or doesn’t. Here is class list for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

http://www.einstein.yu.edu/education/md-program/admissions/default.aspx?id=35350

Ohio State:
http://medicine.osu.edu/pdfs/admissions/Entering%20Class%20Profile.pdf

Rochester:
https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/MediaLibraries/URMCMedia/education/md/documents/2019-profile.pdf

Tufts:
http://medicine.tufts.edu/Education/MD-Programs/Doctor-of-Medicine/Class-Profile

Miami
http://admissions.med.miami.edu/md-programs/general-md/class-profile

22

My guess is that the poster who speaks about top Med schools has not started ed process yet. Medical schools have a standardized curriculum - we can’t afford to have sub-par doctors. There’s a difference for those who want to go into academic medicine or research but aren’t in a md/phd, but it’d be a tiny minority.
The difference is made at the residency match level.

23

Anyone who starts talking about “top med schools” clearly doesn’t know what they are talking about. Medical school curriculum is standardized and “flat.” You’re going to learn the same exact thing whether you go to Harvard Med or State U Med. The goal of premed students is to get into ANY med school - it really doesn’t matter if it’s “top” or not. Med school is not like law school or business school where there are clear prestige and opportunity differentials between schools. It just isn’t. This is Med School 101 here.

24

^^

Exactly!

Usually it’s parents who don’t know any better or high school or lower-classmen students who are talking about “top med schools.” The so-called “top med schools” are only really relevant for those with career goals of Academic Medicine.

I don’t know the exact cut-off to qualify, but the top 45ish “research ranked” med schools have MSTP MD/PhD programs…and for those students, rankings matter.

Those who just want to be practicing physicians have no need to go to a “top med school” (however you define one).

25

When I referred to the top med schools, I wasn’t only referring to the top 20 medical schools. Saying everyone just wants to go to those schools is preposterous, I agree! However, many students want to specialize! I was referring to schools where students have an easier time matching into difficult to get specialities - this includes more than 50 schools. You cannot expect to match into a difficult speciality coming from a low-tier med school.

@mom2collegekids

  • If a student’s match school has grade inflation practices and doesn’t curve, what would be the problem? You don’t think they would have an advantage in any way?
  • UCD and UCI are no walk in the park, but they aren’t cutthroat. There is healthy competition and students from there have told me it’s really not that bad. I’ve also been told that students and faculty are really supportive. You can disagree, but this is what I was told.

@Zinhead
Thanks for sharing. It seems to support what I said.

26

Since these are the med schools with MSTP MD/PhD programs, I guess one could argue that these are the top med schools in the US: (But for most physicians, it doesn’t matter which med school you attend…ranked or not)

Medical Scientist Training Program Institutions

ALABAMA

University of Alabama at Birmingham
School of Medicine
SHEL 121
1825 University Boulevard
Birmingham, AL 35294-2182
Tel: 205-934-4092
E-mail: mstp@uab.edu
http://www.uab.edu/medicine/mstp Link to external Web site

CALIFORNIA

Stanford University
1265 Welch Road
Suite X319 MSOB
Stanford, CA 94305-5404
Tel: 650-723-6176
E-mail: lorie@stanford.edu
http://med.stanford.edu/mstp.html Link to external Web site

University of California, Irvine,
School of Medicine
Medical Education Building 802, Room 100C
Irvine, CA 92697-3990
Tel: 949-824-5264
E-mail: mstp@uci.edu
http://www.mstp.uci.edu Link to external Web site

University of California, Los Angeles,
California Institute of Technology
David Geffen School of Medicine
10833 Le Conte Avenue
12-109 Center for Health Sciences
Box 957041
Los Angeles, CA 90095-7041
Tel: 310-794-1817
E-mail: mstp@mednet.ucla.edu
http://mstp.healthsciences.ucla.edu Link to external Web site

University of California, San Diego,
School of Medicine
9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0636
La Jolla, CA 92093-0636
Tel: 800-925-8704
E-mail: mstp@ucsd.edu
http://mstp.ucsd.edu Link to external Web site

University of California, San Francisco
School of Medicine
513 Parnassus Avenue
Room HSE 1285, Box 0505
San Francisco, CA 94143
Tel: 415-476-4423
E-mail: mstp@medicine.ucsf.edu
http://www.medschool.ucsf.edu/mstp Link to external Web site

COLORADO

University of Colorado Denver
MSTP, Academic Office One, Room 2601
Mail Stop Box B176
Aurora, CO 80045
Tel: 303-724-4600
E-mail: mstp@ucdenver.edu
http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/medicalschool/education/degree_programs/mstp/pages/MSTP.aspx Link to external Web site

CONNECTICUT

Yale University School of Medicine
367 Cedar Street, ESH 317
New Haven, CT 06510-8024
Tel: 203-785-4317
E-mail: cheryl.defilippo@yale.edu
http://medicine.yale.edu/mdphd Link to external Web site

GEORGIA

Emory University School of Medicine M.D./Ph.D. Program
100 Woodruff Circle, P374
Atlanta, GA 30322
Tel: 404-727-6977
E-mail: mdphd@emory.edu
http://med.emory.edu/MDPHD Link to external Web site

ILLINOIS

Northwestern University Medical School
303 E. Chicago Avenue, Morton 1-670
Chicago, IL 60611
Tel: 312-503-5232 or 877-NWU-MSTP
E-mail: mstp@northwestern.edu
http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/sites/mstp Link to external Web site

University of Chicago
Medical Scientist Training Program
5841 S. Maryland Avenue, O-136, MC 2121
Chicago, IL 60637
Tel: 773-702-9755
E-mail: mstp-office@bsd.uchicago.edu

University of Illinois at Chicago
College of Medicine Dean’s Office (MC 784)
1853 West Polk Street
Chicago, IL 60612
Tel: 312-996-7473
E-mail: jlmann@uic.edu
http://chicago.medicine.uic.edu/mstp Link to external Web site

INDIANA

Indiana University School of Medicine
MSTP, Medical Science Building 207
635 Barnhill Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46202-5120
Tel: 317-278-5207
E-mail: mdphd@iupui.edu
http://mstp.iu.edu Link to external Web site

IOWA

University of Iowa
Carver College of Medicine
200 Hawkins Drive, C32 GH
Iowa City, IA 52242
Tel: 319-335-8303 or 800-551-6787
E-mail: mstp@uiowa.edu
http://www.healthcare.uiowa.edu/mstp Link to external Web site

MARYLAND

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
1830 E. Monument Street, Suite 2-300
Baltimore, MD 21205
Tel: 410-955-8543
E-mail: acox@jhmi.edu
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/mdphd Link to external Web site

University of Maryland School of Medicine
20 Penn Street, Room S347
Baltimore, MD 21201
Tel: 410-706-3990
E-mail: mdonnenb@umaryland.edu

MASSACHUSETTS

Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts Institute of Technology
260 Longwood Avenue, Room 168
Boston, MA 02115
Tel: 617-432-0991
E-mail: mdphd@hms.harvard.edu
http://www.hms.harvard.edu/md_phd Link to external Web site

Tufts University School of Medicine
136 Harrison Avenue
Boston, MA 02111
Tel: 617-636-6767
Email: jim.schwob@tufts.edu

University of Massachusetts Medical School
364 Plantation Street
Worcester, MA

MICHIGAN

University of Michigan Medical School
2965 Taubman Medical Library
1150 West Medical Center Drive
Ann Arbor, MI

MINNESOTA

University of Minnesota Medical School
420 Delaware Street, S.E.
MMC 293
Minneapolis, MN

Mayo Medical School
200 First Street, S.W.
Rochester, MN

MISSOURI

Washington University School of Medicine
660 South Euclid, Box 8226
St. Louis, MO

NEW YORK

Albert Einstein College of Medicine
1300 Morris Park Avenue
New York, NY

Columbia University
College of Physicians and Surgeons
630 West 168th Street, PS 11-511
New York, NY

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
1 Gustave L. Levy Place
Box 1079
New York, NY

New York University School of Medicine
545 First Avenue, Suite 5H
New York, NY

Stony Brook University
BST-8, Room 101
Stony Brook, NY

University of Rochester
School of Medicine and Dentistry
601 Elmwood Avenue, Box 657
Rochester, NY

Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan-Kettering
Tri-Institutional M.D.-Ph.D. Program
1300 York Avenue, Suite C-103
New York, NY
NORTH CAROLINA

Duke University Medical Center
Box 102005
Durham, NC

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
School of Medicine
G-60 Bondurant Hall, Campus Box 7000
Chapel Hill, NC

OHIO

Case Western Reserve University
School of Medicine, T401
10900 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44106-4936

Ohio State University College of Medicine
333 W. 10th Avenue
1190 Graves Hall
Columbus, OH 43210

University of Cincinnati
College of Medicine
MSTP, 231 Albert Sabin Way
Medical Sciences Building
Cincinnati, OH 45267-0552

PENNSYLVANIA

University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Biomedical Research Building II, Room 815
422 Curie Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104

University of Pittsburgh
526 Scaife Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15261

SOUTH CAROLINA

Medical University of South Carolina
68 President Street, MSC 501
Bioengineering Building, Suite 101
Charleston, SC 29425

TENNESSEE

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
1030C Medical Research Building IV
1161 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37232-0252

TEXAS

Baylor College of Medicine
One Baylor Plaza
BCMN, Room N201
Houston, TX 77030

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
5323 Harry Hines Blvd.
Dallas, TX 75390-9033

VIRGINIA

University of Virginia Health System
Graduate Programs Office
P.O. Box 800738
Charlottesville, VA 22908-0738

WASHINGTON

University of Washington School of Medicine
Box 357470
1959 NE Pacific Street
Seattle, WA 98195-7470

WISCONSIN

Medical College of Wisconsin
8701 Watertown Plank Road
Milwaukee, WI 53226
Tel: 800-457-2775 or 414-456-8641

University of Wisconsin
School of Medicine and Public Health
4205 Microbial Sciences Building
1550 Linden Drive
Madison, WI 53706

27

Yeah, if you want to go straight to internal medicine, any medical school ranked or not would be fine.

28

<<<
Thanks for sharing. It seems to support what I said

<<<

@emory323 how do those links support your claims? I think they refute your claims.

29

Tufts Medical School
Undergrad Institutions Represented (schools contributing 4 or more students)
Tufts University: 24
Northeastern University: 9
Bowdoin College: 7
Dartmouth College: 6
Duke University: 6
Boston College: 5
Brandeis University: 5
University of California, Berkeley: 5
University of California, Los Angeles: 5
University of Maine: 5
Washington University, St. Louis: 4

URochester
16 of you attended the University of
Rochester as undergraduates, 5 attended Johns Hopkins, 4
each attended Bowdoin, Cornell, Duke, and Swarthmore. 3
each attended BYU, Colgate and Xavier, and 2 each
attended Dartmouth, Hamilton, Macalester, Middlebury,
Princeton, UC-Berkeley, Delaware, Notre Dame,
Westminster College, and Yale.

The majority of students come from top 50 colleges. How does it refute what I said?

30

<<<
@mom2collegekids

  • If a student’s match school has grade inflation practices and doesn’t curve, what would be the problem? You don’t think they would have an advantage in any way?

[QUOTE=""]

[/QUOTE]

How would you know if a “match school has inflation practices and doesn’t curve”??? Lol
No one has any idea of how a prof will curve, or not curve, from semester to semester.

That said, undergrads tend to curve the the premed prereq courses whether the school has grade inflation or not. Their goal is to weed their premeds.

What you don’t understand is that there is weeding going on at the best schools, where everyone is a top student.

A cohort of 500 freshmen premeds at a top private school might all have stats in the ACT 32-36 range with 3.8+ GPAs…all are smart enough to later become physicians…but the undergrad doesn’t want to have 500 remaining premeds by senior year. Those that get weeded are not “unqualified to become doctors”.

It’s just that nearly every undergrad seems to have some sort of unwritten rule that they only want X number of med school applicants…and they’re going to get that number someway, somehow.


[QUOTE=""]
  • UCD and UCI are no walk in the park, but they aren't cutthroat. There is healthy competition and students from there have told me it's really not that bad. I've also been told that students and faculty are really supportive. You can disagree, but this is what I was told. <<<

[/QUOTE]

Who told you that?

I have no real info, but I know how UCSD was for my premed niece…extremely cut-throat, gunner. I can’t imagine why UCI and UCD wouldn’t be the same since there would still be thousands of premeds at any one time…all of them knowing that only a small % will get a med school admission. I imagine the profs at all the UCs are supportive, as profs can be almost anywhere.

31

Interesting blanket statement that seems to be at odds with what residency program directors (PD) (aka decision makers) seems to say.

As to matching: there are two aspects, one: getting an interview, two: ranking in part by student and ranking by PDs. Although ranking by student is critical to successful matching and can’t be ignored, let’s just look at the most recent survey of factors PDs use in offering interviews and in ranking. Graduating from any US medical school is a more important than graduating from a highly regarded US med school generally speaking (figures 1,2), and even in most competitive areas like derm, otolaryngology, ortho surg, etc.

http://www.nrmp.org/match-data/main-residency-match-data/

32

I’m a little confused and frustrated to hear all of this because I have been hearing a lot of conflicting information from people in healthcare. Every doctor including an admission officer I met has told me that undergrad ranking matters a lot and students should go to the best possible school. I was also told that people from low-tier med schools have a very hard time matching into competitive specialties. However, I respect everybody’s opinion and I hope to offer all your information to students interested in premed. I will also share this information to all the doctor’s who gave me some apparently contentious information.

@mom2collegekids

  • UCSD along with UC Berkeley and UCLA are notorious for their cutthroat environments. What I have been told by students at UCD and UCI is that they are much better environments than the latter schools mentioned.
  • Here’s a quote from Pepperdine University: “Our science professors normally do not grade on the curve which creates a non-competitive atmosphere and promotes cooperation among students and faculty.”
    http://seaver.pepperdine.edu/naturalscience/undergraduate/pre-health/faq.htm
33

The part of the discussion relating to med-school-ruining tough grading at competitive colleges may benefit from an example. According to the Crimson, the median grade at Harvard is an A- and the most frequently awarded mark is an A.

34

@merc81 those are literally probably the first LAC’s people think of when the question is asked especially Pomona.

35

@mom2collegekids Why do some people still have the perception that one must go to a T50 school? My dad went to a horrible university and medical school, yet people still call him “Doctor.” I’m with you on this one.

36

The life of a practicing physician - whether internal medicine or specialist - is EXACTLY the same whether he went to Harvard Med or State U Med. blue Cross doesn’t pay one penny more. The diseases are the same. The patients are the same. Indeed, in many specialties, the docs who are known for being “gurus” about certain diseases may be affiliated with “average” med schools. I cannot emphasize how flat med school is versus law and business.

37

<<<<
The part of the discussion relating to med-school-ruining tough grading at competitive colleges may benefit from an example. According to the Crimson, the median grade at Harvard is an A- and the most frequently awarded mark is an A.
<<<<

Since the premed prereqs are probably a tiny % of the classes offered by H (and other top schools that say similar things), that stat means nothing. These schools still weed in the premed prereqs.

The premed prereqs are 8 or 9 classes. How many different classes does H offer? If the other classes overwhelmingly offer A- and A’s, and 8 or 9 classes do not, then do you think the Crimson could not still state that?

A good friend of mine’s premed son went to Yale the same year my son started undergrad. She was certain that her son would have a better chance at getting into med school than mine would. She also made the same comment about average grades are A’s at Yale. They unfortunately learned the hard way that that’s not true for the premed prereqs…and her son didn’t have a med school worthy GPA.

38

@mom2collegekids : You responded to an actual statistic (#36) with an anecdote. If the statistic “means nothing,” then the anecdote, by similar reasoning relating to sample size, would mean nothing as well.

39

The anecdote was just the last para. The main point was the first two paras.

Do you really think that if 8 premed classes don’t have an average grade of A that the Crimson would have said anything different?

Your stat is too broad since H offers thousands of different classes.

Plus, it wouldn’t include any of the students who drop out of premed prereqs when their test grades suggest that they won’t end up with a high grade.

40

So a student who went to university of Alaska Fairbanks decided to take all the premed courses. Ones he’s done, he can’t apply to med school because people will say. You need to go to a good school. I don’t understand.