East coast Colleges with excellent pre-med advising and support?

Pre-Med & Medical School
21

Thanks for the information. This is very helpful. And it is exactly I was looking for. Even some high schools can provide hospital internship opportunities for medicine desired students, and there should be many colleges capable of similar support.

22

Thanks for the info. VT website is down.

McCullough Pre Medical Scholars is helpful. From the website, it says “The final part of this minor is a capstone seminar which will focus on an intensive aspect of the practice of medicine. The training McCollough Scholars receive will equip them for the very best medical schools and lay a foundation of medical education to enrich their lives and service to the medical art.“

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Wesleyan does not specify about any direct internship created by the school. I believe general advising would be available for all schools with pre-med track.

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Thanks for the info. These seems to be for research, not clinical related internship. They are definitely helpful, but not what I am looking for.

Most LACs would be able to provide some research opportunities for undergraduate since most do not have graduate schools, but clinical related internship could be rare.

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Sorry, it’s near the bottom of the page (under “Healthcare Experience and Competencies”.) I should have realized you’re busy and are getting bombarded with a lot of information. If you click on that arrow, you get this:

“Locally, we have two hospitals where you can seek out volunteer opportunities to gain patient interaction and to learn about the workings of a healthcare system. Middlesex Hospital is a ten minute walk from campus, and MidState Medical Center is on the outskirts of Meriden, which is about eight miles away at 435 Lewis Avenue, Meriden, CT, 06451. The Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine Center with Michael Antunes, PT, DPT, DNT, and other health professionals also welcome volunteers. For veterinary medicine consider the Pieper-Olson Veterinary Hospital, and for dental shadowing Dr. Peter Gletzakos, DMD and Dr. James McGrath, DMD both welcome students to their practice.

“There are also several student organizations and clubs that serve the community and will provide you with transferable skills. Here is a list of a few of these student groups: Habitat for Humanity, EMT Club, WesGilead, WesAge, ASHA, WesBuddies, Food Rescue, Doula Project, Wesleyan Refugee Project, and WesInterpreters. Additionally, there is a year-long EMT course offered on campus through OnSceneTraining, LLC.”

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Middlesex County Hospital Center, Middletown, CT.

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26

Take a look at Colgate University. If you look at Health Sciences and then Beyond the Classroom you will see opportunities for shadowing and internships. I have a family member who graduated and is now in medical school.

Many students also find shadowing opportunities at their pediatrician and local teaching hospitals (if you live near any).

My daughter attended a public university with a medical school and hospital on campus. They had a medical mentors program that assigned premeds with current medical students who they met with 1-2 times a month to help guide them through the process and answer questions. That might be something to look into.

My daughter volunteered at the hospital on campus. She had to go through a series of interviews and pass a test in order to be certified in the language she was going to speak at the hospital. I said this earlier, but I think it is important to ask the school about their policies regarding on campus hospital volunteering. It might not be an automatic green light for all premeds/prehealth students.

I have a family member who attended the University of South Carolina Honors College. Although she was not premed, I will tell you that the honors college opens up a whole bunch of opportunities within a smaller college setting.

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27

I do not know other areas but not Frederick, MD. You actually have huge, extremely competitive population in I-270 corridor from Bethesda to Frederick. People commute way more that 1.5 hour in that area regularly. Many people from Frederick work in DC. We even have people coming from WV and DE for work daily into DC suburbs including Frederick. So I would stay as far as possible from metro DC.

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Are these college-age students who are trying to get some clinical hours in? I have a hard time seeing people at the D.C. schools or at College Park commuting 90m each way to get some hours in at the facilities in Frederick.

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Absolutely! There are students that live in Germantown and commute on shuttle to College Park. Frederick is soo close and opposite direction for traffic.

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30

And yet– somehow– undergrads from JHU/UMD/Georgetown/GW in DC-Baltimore; Penn, Drexel, Temple in Philly; at least 10 colleges in Boston, etc. all manage to “squeak” into Med school every year. Hundreds of these students. Every single year.

I’m hearing a lot of Yogi Berra logic on this thread. Boston has TOO many medical related opportunities and TOO many ambitious undergrads who are interested in medicine so you should avoid it?

OP– the world is not running out of clinical settings for undergrads to explore medicine.

31

There are ton of local students that do not live on campus and commute daily because they cannot afford housing on campus (it is not required to live on campus at College Park. In addition, some students live on campus for only 1st year). So students make schedule to be able to fit in any shadowing or work opportunities near their residence. And do not forget about MD -200 toll road that brings students from another side to I-270. In DC area students go everywhere for opportunities. It is extremely competitive area. Actually that is part of the reason my child is in Rhodes instead of College Park (with scholarship.)

32

Thank you, that is very helpful.

Volunteer (or CNA or MA or EMS) is not my concern. My student is volunteer in hospital in high school, and these are easy to achieve by themselves. Real clinical experience (shadowing, patient contact, internships) is harder to get. That is why I am seeking colleges may have extra help on these aspects.

So far, Rhodes college, Alabama, Colgate have direct opportunities like these.

I searched online, and find “Schools that allow or require internships / co-ops in health settings help you accumulate real clinical contact under supervision (not just volunteer). Northeastern’s co-op is a strong example.” Not sure any NU parents with pre-med students may give some direct validation about its support.

33

Thanks for the heads up. I am just looking for some extra help if the schools do supply. I understand it is not the end of world, but it may serve as an selection marker.

34

Shadowing is usually the last item to be done. It takes time to develop relationships and trust with physicians who will then allow a student in observe the day-to-day into their medical practice. Most shadowing starts with the student’s own personal physician(s), then moves out to the their clinical exposure sites where, after they have been a good and responsible volunteer/employee for 6 months or more, the staff will feel comfortable with inviting into their practice.

BTW, shadowing is brief, often 1-2 days at most. Pre meds are expected to have shadowed in variety of specialties, especially in primary care since most med students will end up in primary care specialties.

Volunteering at hospitals in college Is often completely different than high school hospital volunteering because of the age difference. HIPAA and insurance liability are the main divers of this. It’s fairly rare for high school students to have direct patient contact positions.

Also many patient contact positions require specialized training which is why obtaining a certification (EMT, CNA, MA, scribe, etc) is highly recommended for pre-meds. Because healthcare work involves working with a very vulnerable population, it’s highly regulated. Anyone touching a patient in any way must be operating within their scope of practice.

I also suggest that you keep in mind that a student can get clinical exposure at home during summer breaks.

And please understand that 85% of premeds will take 1-3 gap years AFTER undergrad to work in full time clinical positions in order to demonstrate and reinforce their desire to work in healthcare. Only a minority of pre-meds go straight through from undergrad directly to med school. (And of that 15% who do, about 1/3 of them come from BA/MD programs.)

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35

If it were my kid I’d be looking for a U with an excellent and easy to access tutoring center. Most of the kids I know who fall off the premed path do it after a disastrous Organic Chemistry semester. Seems like having a peer tutor who can work alongside your kid to get them over the hump would be a huge help.

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36

Look at the University of Rochester and read what is written under “Premed advantages at UR.”

NYU (hospital) also has various summer opportunities available once the student is 18. Each opportunity is 3 weeks.

What does your student want in a school besides excellent premed “support?”’

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37

My best recommendation for potential pre-med students is to consider 3 items when making a college decision.

  1. Cost. Med school is breathtakingly expensive. Most med schools are in the $75K-$135K/year COA range. Grant financial aid is rare. Mostly FA is only loans. The new BBB has now capped the maximum federal loans available to professional school students at $200K over a lifetime. This includes any undergrad fed loans a student may have already taken out. This means a student needs to conserve as much money as they can during undergrad to help pay for med school later on. Med school will still require significant private loans. (Unless the family is wealthy enough to pay for med school outright.) Even a physician will have great difficulty repaying $400K+ in loans. (Plus private loans ae not eligible for loan forgiveness programs or other favorable repayment options.)
  2. Fit. Academic fit in important. Science and engineering classes tend to attract the strongest students at any university or college. Since med school requires a high GPA for consideration, you want to make sure student is competitive with the other students who will be in their Ochem or physics 1 class. Science classes often are graded on a formal or informal curve so the number of coveted As are limited. It’s probably wiser if your student is in the top half (or even better top 25%) of admitted student academically. Social fit is also important. Your student should be happy at their school. Happier students do better academically than unhappy students–and there’s research to back that up. Their school should present them opportunities to get involved with student activities, engage in leadership roles, make friends and get to know people from a wide spectrum of beliefs, cultures, SE backgrounds, etc that are different from their own. As a physician, your child will be ministering to wide variety of individuals who will have very, very different backgrounds and belief systems than their own. Med schools are not just looking for good students; they’re looking for people who are strong leaders and excellent, empathetic communicators.
  3. Opporunities You’ve focused in on clinical opportunities, which is just a small part of what makes a good pre-med school. Pre med advising is easy to find on the internet or through national mentoring organizations like AMSA or affinity group organizations for pre-meds. (Honestly most pre-med advising is pretty perfunctory at most undergrads.) Other opportunities a pre-med should consider is (1) the opportunity to form a good relationships with professors–since it’s those professors who will be writing their LORs for med school, grad school, internships. (2) the opportunity to pursue other interests besides medicine. The vast majority of pre-med will never apply to med school. (Research says only about 18% will even complete all the pre-reqs.) Most fall out of pre-med because they find a career that is better suited for their strengths and interests. And one that does not require 11-18 years of education and training before they get their first actual job.
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38

One of my children graduated from URochester as a pre-med. If you have questions about pre-med at UR, I’ll be happy to answer your questions.

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39

While some universities have pre-health advising offices or partnerships with nearby hospitals, those opportunities are usually limited and competitive. In reality, students should focus first on keeping a strong GPA and MCAT score, since those are the biggest factors for getting through initial application screens. Research can often be done during undergrad, since it’s easier to connect with professors and join their labs while still on campus.

Some meaningful non-clinical activities, like volunteering (campus food pantry, food recovery, or tutoring) can be done during college. Leadership roles can come from student clubs or service organizations, and shadowing doctors is often possible during winter or summer breaks by reaching out directly to local doctor offices or using pre-health advising listings.

However, clinical experience or sometimes non-clinical volunteers, takes longer to build. That’s why many students take a gap year or more after graduation to gain meaningful patient contact and community service hours. Four years sometimes just isn’t enough to develop the level of clinical and non-clinical depth that med schools expect.

My daughter is currently reapplying to medical schools. The first time, she had a perfect GPA and strong MCAT but didn’t get any acceptances because her extracurriculars weren’t deep enough. The process has become even more competitive, with many nontraditional applicants bringing thousands of hours of experience.

When we looked at colleges for her, we considered Ursinus, Pitt, and a few BS/MD programs on the East Coast, but she chose our in-state, because it was affordable and close to home, which made it easier to support her.

@WayOutWestMom always gives excellent advices (honestly better than many advisors I know), along with others here who share great insights to help you navigate the process of finding schools that fit your child best. Every student’s path is different, but your kid will find their own way through this long journey. Good luck!

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40

I really appreciate the input. We will take care of the budget part, which is another deciding factor to choose schools.

It seems Skidmore is claiming with great success for its pre-med program, “For medical schools in particular: 81% of Skidmore students who applied were accepted to at least one program (62% on their first attempt)”.

Not sure first attempt is almost equal to no gap year? If so, that is very impressive number. This school is also very affordable for our situation, and it may be worth a school tour.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Maybe this actually justify our intent to look for schools with extra help on these aspects, The students can do their best to control MCAT and GPA, but it is still not enough. The remaining pieces are also very important.