<p>Listen to what I’m saying: It’s a bad idea to base your college choice on med school admissions speculation. If you insist on finding the place that’s going to be “best to go pre-med at” (which I would define as the place where you are most likely to accomplish everything you need in order to get accepted) this is going to be a highly personalized decision. It can’t be based on reputation. Some students thrive at an Ivy League school because the competition is intense and that motivates them, others need environments where things are more laid back and friendly. Put the Ivy Leaguer in the laid back atmosphere and they’ll accomplish nothing. Put the “big fish in a small pond” kid in the Ivies and they’ll freak out. Neither of these outcomes is going to be good for the student in question.</p>
<p>Why would the biology department REALLY matter? You really only need to take 2 biology courses to satisfy most med school’s requirements, and while I would suggest adding genetics and biochem, that’s only 2 more classes (and biochem may be it’s own department at a lot of places). Further, the biology on the MCAT is rather straightforward. Do you really think adcoms are going to look at your application say “wow, s/he did biology at X university, we have to take them!”? If you are, you don’t understand the holistic approach to med school admissions and are forgetting that there are a TON of biology majors applying to med school each year - you’re not going to stand out simply on reputation of the school’s biology. How are you even going to define a good biology program - what if the department is world renowned in botany, but is only mediocre in terms of cell biology? Or what about the department which is on the cutting edge of genetic research but has to rely on grad students to teach biodiversity? Obviously a school that’s strong in all areas is ideal, but how are you going to figure that out as an outsider? And I’m still dying to hear a good reason on why this even matters?</p>