Carleton, UChicago, Washu

1190
Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:20:03 +0000

Minnezota

You’ve probably not seen a more enthusiastic response to your query given its open ended nature. It would be a lot easier to answer specific issue involving these three schools. But let me offer up these points/suggestions.


There is no such thing as a “renowned pre-med program” unless you do marketing for a college. Places like Wash U and Hopkins are often handed this moniker, but why not, for example, Stanford or Yale or Harvard or Columbia or Duke all of which have comparably “renowned” medical schools + undergrad acceptance rates to med school that are at least the equal of the former? The difference lies in the number/proportion of pre-meds on campus and the - yes - marketing orientation of the school. Personally, I’d much rather be pre-med at a school not known for having pre-meds. Being pre-med is stressful enough without being surrounded by others similarly stressed.
Studying cog sci/neurosci will be great at any of the three places mentioned. Lots more 1 on 1 with a lab PI (maybe the only “I” in the lab) at Carleton with the possibility of 2nd or possibly even 1st authorships/conference presentations. Lots more 1 on 1 with very strong grad students and post grads at Chicago and Wash U with a lower tier presence on publications/presentations out of a better known lab. Grad schools love rigorous LACs like Carleton and its students place as well as the best of the most prestigious unis.
If med school is your ultimate goal, you, as an individual, will fare equally well graduating from any other these three schools.
“I want to go to a name-brand school (however shallow that may seem)” - the clear edge to Chicago if this is an all-consumer contest. But be aware that once you harvest that MD or PhD degree, no one, I mean no one, will care (or likely know) where your BA or BS originated. Its all about the terminal degree.


There are endless things that could be said about location, quality of life, student body, and ice fishing at these three schools. As I mentioned a few paragraphs ago, let fly some more specific questions if you want to stimulate reader’s sensory receptors and provoke a response.