Early Decision Ideas-Which ones for Pre-Med? Vanderbilt, Cornell or Swarthmore

I don’t agree that Vandy isn’t hard (and intense).

When my son and his cousin started college, both had very similar high school stats, both came from college prep privates, both were premed ChemE majors.

Nephew went to Vandy and son went to a mid-tier flagship. Nephew did graduate with a good, but not med school worthy GPA. He described the experience as “insanely intense.”


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It's possible but not easy. The girl next door to me in college was pre-med and ran track. <<<

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Yes, one of my son’s housemates and one of his other med school classmates played sports in college. Both had to do Glide Years, though.

^^ Just compared to schools like Swat and Cornell (and Chicago…) though. That wasn’t meant as a knock on Vandy per se.

OP what do your parents think?

If you truly want to go to medical school, you need to have strong UG GPA as a start.

Look at where you can go to get a very strong UG educational experience - where the UG school has all the available resources for you to do all the things to make you a strong med school applicant. A large state flagship with a strong honors college can be that for you, or many other types of schools.

You want to also enjoy your UG college - you will do the best where you enjoy attending. Also be a multi-dimensional person.

Some students ‘thrive’ at a particular type of school - your parents and you probably have some insight on what this may be for you.

Don’t just think that getting into a highly rated school is going to be the entry ticket for you.

There is a lot of information on what to do once at college and wanting to fulfill pre-med requirements.

You also have to decide what UG degree you want to pursue. It doesn’t have to be chemistry or biology. It could be ChE, music, philosophy, history, english, etc.

Education is a journey and a part of your destination.

Look at the Human Development major in Cornell’s College of Human Ecology. A lot of research opportunities & overall a very interesting program that has a “pre med track” for those thinking they want to go that route.
http://www.human.cornell.edu/hd/

What did you decide? What state are you from?

@jbyjby90