Have greatly benefited from reading all the content on here. Here is a question as I am preparing to pick a college, after having gone through a hard-working school year and cycle with only pre-med acceptances and not any BS/MDs. As a high school senior had a reasonable GPA, excellent SAT, a lot of research(no publishing), reasonable volunteering, shadowing, etc. From your experience can you please suggest which of the colleges offer better for aspiring physician preferably with no gap years?
In terms of the factors to look for here are the one I am weighing on but please suggest any as you see fit from your experiences. Ty
Dedicated Pre Med or Pre Health advising team
Offering a Committee Letter
MCAT Preparation
Opportunities for service, research, etc. ECs
No grade deflation so to maintain a good GPA
Cost is not a major factor, only 1 full ride and rest are partial. Looking for successful path to apply for med school as priority after missing boat on guaranteed programs and rise from mistakes
Colleges considering -
FAU Honors College (Premed)
UPitt Honors
RPI
Stonybrook
VCU Honors
U of Richmond
U of Rochester
Where will you be most comfortable? FAU WIlkes is only 500 kids…the entire school - as an example.
Congrats on your acceptances. I’m sure others will have answer for you but I think it’s best to go (affordably) where you feel you’d do best - i.e. get your best grades, etc.
All you need is a decent college with a wide range of majors in case your interests change. You probably already know that you can major in anything you want, and still get into med school. You don’t need a premed committee or premed advising - you can get your info elsewhere (student doctor network and reddit), and it may even be more accurate than what a premed advisor would have told you. You do MCAT prep on your own or you take a class if you feel it would help you. Colleges don’t offer a class in MCAT prep.
I would not recommend RPI for a person who is absolutely sure they want medicine, since it is primarily an engineering school, unless you are determined to be an engineering major (and with that usually comes lower GPA). Of the above schools, I would say that Pitt stands out, because it is close to and associated with major teaching hospitals, so you’d have opportunities to shadow, maybe even scribe, plus it’s a research institution, affording you the chance to do research.
Rochester is another possibility, for the same reasons. I’d go with the cheaper of the two, unless you have a personal reason to prefer Rochester over Pitt.
Pitt and Rochester are both very good all around colleges and specifically good for premed with excellent related departments and plenty of experience opportunities.
You can take the required courses for medical school applicants at just every four year college on your list.
I would take premed out of your undergrad choice equation and choose a college where you will be happy to attend, has lots of options in case you change your mind, and is affordable with minimal to zero loans.
I agree with what @parentologist wrote so I won’t repeat that, but read it again.
How will medical school be funded should you go there? It will be likely over $100,000 a year and is funded primarily with loans, loans, and more loans…and the bank of mom and dad. If you save money on undergrad costs for your parents, will that money be allowed to be used for medical school should you get apply and get accepted?
Remember, those BS/MD programs are more competitve for admission than elite colleges. Most doctors go the traditional route of undergrad to medical school.
Short answer…any of these schools will be fine. Figure out where you want to be.
Pitt Honors or VCU Honors will offer excellent opportunities and support.
URochester stands out for science and interdisciplinary learning + will have plenty of resources.
Among those 3 I’d pick the one with the lowest net cost.
I would avoid RPI (lower GPA risk, niche fit) and Stonybrook (unless you’re local: it’s still very commuter/suitcase, so if you’re from another area or state it’s not ideally set up.)
Stony Brook IS a major teaching hospital with a good medical school.
not saying you should go there but it def has what you need to be pre-med.
all these schools do. I agree with taking RPI off the list if engineering is not a strong interest. And I agree Stony Brook might be less of the real college experience.
If the cost is the same for all, my vote would go for Richmond or Rochester since they both have pretty good prestige and all-around strong programs if the pre-med thing changes or doesn’t work out, plus the support structures of a private school. But I wouldn’t pay a lot more for them than Pitt.
Between Pitt and VCU, I just think Pitt has a stronger rep and stronger average student.
How is U Of Richmond in general for premed , do they provide all resources like advising, committee recommendations, shadowing opportunities etc. for a student looking to apply with no gap year?
College website talks about so many available however looking for any real examples and success rates.
Are shadowing oppoertunities hard because they tie up with VCU where it perhaps is already comeptitiin for resources?
I would choose Pitt honors, VCU honors, or Rochester over Richmond, but that’s just me. I would choose the one with the lowest cost (my personal favorite is Pitt).
FYI - Stony Brook has a medical school and a teaching hospital.
My two cents is Richmond is very, very focused on good advising, including as to internships, and I am sure if you preferred Richmond and chose it, they would give you great support.
That said, some of your other options are quite literally among the top few targets among the savvy premed families I know, due to their strong related departments and abundant experience opportunities.
So it is just a very tough competitive set, but again I would prioritize being happy with your college in general, and having a lot of comfort with the Plan B options.
I think one would need a car to get to places for shadowing if at University of Richmond. It’s not exactly located downtown. But pre-med students often do this and volunteer work, and patient facing work during the summers, and school breaks.
That being said, Pitt and Rochester have hospitals right there…as does Stony Brook. I think Pitt and Rochester are the better choices UNLESS this student really wants a smaller environment.
Rochester doesn’t offer MCAT prep. This is something students are expected to handle on their own.
Rochester has a huge incoming pre-med cohort every year. The year my daughter was a freshman there, a full 25-30% of the freshman class identified as “pre-med”. The weed out process is vigorous with caps on the percentages of A grades awarded in some science classes. Most UR students (outside of those in the REMS) took one or more gap years before applying to med school.
D didn’t find the pre-med advising office especially helpful since the advisors lack familiarity with med schools outside of the NE. (She lived in the Rocky Mountain West and want to return to the western US for med school.)