General premed advice.

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
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<p>The way I define weeding is a practice where a school is deliberately trying to flunk students out of a particular major (and often times out of the school completely). I have seen this practice most prevalently at state schools, especially in the engineering programs. Princeton has historically not been notorious for this type of weeding. If you get into Princeton, you’re basically guaranteed to graduate. Maybe not with top grades, maybe not even from the major that you want, but you will graduate with some sort of degree. In contrast, plenty of students at Berkeley and Michigan completely flunk out. </p>

<p>As far as Princeton premed is concerned, I would point out that when the grading change was enacted, the science departments at Princeton remarked that they wouldn’t have to change a thing because they had already been handing out fewer than 35% A’s anyway. So it was always relatively difficult for Princeton premeds to get high premed course grades, because the premed courses are all science courses. </p>

<p>Nevertheless, I still think the grading change will make Princeton less of a premed factory simply because it’s no longer possible for Princeton premeds to pump up their grades by racking up a whole bunch of easy humanities A’s to improve their overall GPA. </p>

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<p>The first thing I would say is that 35% A’s is still a pretty juicy figure. I know a lot of MIT and Caltech students would LOVE to take classes where 35% of the class will get A’s. </p>

<p>However, I would say that this probably does put a damper on the desirability of Princeton. But rather than a state school (which tend to be highly grade deflated), I would say that you should probably consider Harvard, Yale, or Stanford.</p>

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<p>“The first thing I would say is that 35% A’s is still a pretty juicy figure. I know a lot of MIT and Caltech students would LOVE to take classes where 35% of the class will get A’s.”</p>

<p>Holy Crap I would love a 35% A class!! I can’t believe you’re worried about that. That’s almost half. 10% got A’s in my acc orgo class. I’d want to go to a school that had those standards. damn</p>

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<p>For med school admission, which of the following GPA has an advantage? A 3.9 GPA from a good public school like UNC-CH or UVA vs. a 3.5 GPA from Cornell/Columbia Univ?</p>

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<p>3.9 from the pub</p>

<p>However, I think it’s faulty to assume your GPA would be 0.4 higher (or even higher at all) going from a top private school to a top public school.</p>

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<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I would like to get some feedback on what my chances are of being accepted to med school. I have a sort of “unique” situtaion . . . </p>

<p>In college I had a 3.8 GPA (A’s and A+'s in all chem, ochem, calculus, biology, biochem classes) until my senior year. </p>

<p>I wanted to go to med school all my life, but after doing undergraduate research I changed my mind junior year and applied to a Ph.D. program instead. </p>

<p>I am currently at an Ivy League grad school and I have decided research is really not for me - I want to be a physician. I can choose to stick it out 5-6 years to get the Ph.D. and then apply to med school, or leave the program after 6 months and apply to med school this fall. </p>

<p>The thing is, my senior year I stopped caring about my GPA because I already got accepted several grad schools. It is now around a 3.4-3.5.
I haven’t taken the MCAT yet, so to apply for admission 2007 I would have to take the exam in April or August of this year.</p>

<p>I have 2 years lab research experience at major universities and 2 years experience at a biotech company (did this while I was in undergrad). I also have about 2 years volunteer work in a hospital, tutoring learning disabled and at an animal rescue. </p>

<p>If I drop out of grad school, I am planning on repeating Physics (the only science classes required for med school that I didn’t Ace) and working a year as a research associate. The highest I could get my GPA to is probably a 3.5 if I took more classes, like Spanish. </p>

<p>I don’t have MCAT scores yet, but based on this what do you think my chances are of being accepted to a med school like UCLA, USC, UCDavis, UCIrvine, UCSD are? </p>

<p>Do you think the fact that I dropped out grad school will prevent me from being accepted somewhere?</p>

<p>Also, if I take the MCAT in August rather than April, will that really further hinder my chances of acceptance?</p>

<p>I would really appreciate your opinion. Thanks!</p>

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<p>So I have been reading your discussions on and off for about a while and decided to join! Some topics ill admit have been a little out there if you ask me but anyway. When it comes down to it, I think this site can really direct a lot of lost future geniuses! Ill admit it I started late, I had my fun, I took some time off to find out what I’m really passionate about. I think it was good for me but at the same time it does come back and bite you in the a**! My grades aren’t impressive as they should be but I have confidence in my self as well as all you out there should because that’s where it starts I think. know the facts but don’t under estimate your capability! I haven’t! </p>

<p>My 3 questions to whoever has a comment are…</p>

<p>so you started late… do you think it puts you at a disadvantage in your later years to be competing with a whole bunch of younger students in your “class”? has anyone ever been there? I’m only 22 now but i figure i’m going to take my time and do it right, i’m not rushing myself! in a way atleast i mean ofcourse i want to get done but i want to make sure that i stay content w/ my life (try to stay sane) while i do it! </p>

<p>Also, let say you drop a class before the point ofcourse that it doesn’t affect your GPA at all. ex: most community colleges have drop off dates that you can drop w/ out a failing grade or what not. Do medical schools look at this or does it not show up or WORSE if it does, is it bad? Lets say you had a really low GPA but you were able to bring it back up in 2 years… is that good?</p>

<p>Last, if you are transfering, and from what i hear when you transfer you GPA doesn’t transfer eaither! do they look at your GPA from when you started your University education?</p>

<p>thnks!</p>

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<p>If you drop a class before the drop date it doesnt show up on your transcript.</p>

<p>Med schools want to see all transcripts from any college you attended. Your GPA does not technically transfer…it wont affect your GPA at your transfer university but it will be taken into consideration since they will see that too.</p>

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<p>I need some major advice on which ECs i should seek out, and how much time i should devote thanks.</p>

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<p>It will hurt your chances if you take the MCAT in August probably, because many schools have rolling admissions and it definitely helps to apply early. It will also be easier for you if you apply in June and get some acceptances under your belt, like in October or November. That way, you can cut down on the number of interviews you go to. It can be quite expensive.</p>

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<p>What advice do you guys have on graduating early from college if you want to be a doctor? I’m planning on taking a bunch of AP courses in high school so that I’ll be able to graduate in 2 years from Rice with a BA. Is this desirable? I know that Harvard only lets you graduate in 3 years or more.</p>

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<p>Medical schools have a multitude of requirements and recommendations. One of the requirements is that you spend three years at a university. Also, AP credit will not be considered for science requirements, math requirements, english and behavioral science requirements. AP credit for pre-medicine students is useless in most cases. Most medical schools will want you to take higher level sciences to fulfill their requirements.</p>

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<p>I never knew that Volstomper. Thanks.</p>

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<p>i’m new to this and dont know how it works but here goes…i’m a sophomore hoping to major in pre-med i have taken honors biology, chemistry, and physics. i plan to take AP biology next year. Should i take AP chem or physics my senior year, or should i take one next year with the AP bio or both my senior year? Also have bee looking at colleges and notcing a lot don’t have actual pre-med majors so what is a good major if they dont? Also what are the best school with actual pre-med programs? I have a 4.26 weighted GPA, where would be good for me?</p>

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<p>pvlt08, take a look at some of the past threads on here for more advice. Pre-med is really just a set of courses the a person has to take before entering medical school. Some schools do offer a “pre-med” major, but you do not have to major in that; you can major in anything you choose, be it biology, or history.</p>

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<p>ok thanks for the info</p>

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<p>Is there a certain major, that when chosen, gives a student an edge over other med school applicants? (e.g. Biochem, biology, chemistry)</p>

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<p>Yeah, (sadly) any major in which you will get high grades without having to work very hard, hence giving you lots of free time to do medicine-related EC’s. Such a major will definitely give you an advantage.</p>

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<p>Which one would that be? Or do you think that varies from college to college?</p>

<p>I’m seriously considering a biochem major when I go to college since it will help with doing research, which is a big-time EC.</p>

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<p>Re med school admissions and undergrad GPA - for many schools, the average is 3.5 or 3.6. That means some have higher, but some do have lower, as low as 3.2 or 3.3. You can’t say that a 3.75 GPA will definitely give you a much better chance, because med schools are not <em>just</em> looking for high GPA, they are looking for well-rounded people. And there have been plenty of people who did not do well in undergrad, did other careers, then went to a post-bac program, aced the classes, and got into med school. Otherwise post-bac programs such as Goucher would not have acceptance rates to med school of well over 90%. I agree that a higher GPA may help your chances, and if you can do it, great, but it also somewhat depends on where you went, the difficulty of the courses, and other factors, and also even a 4.0 GPA will not guarantee your acceptance into med school. I have a 3.55 GPA at The College of New Jersey, often called a ‘public Ivy’, and that GPA may be seen as equal to a GPA of 3.75 from a less competitive school. It’s no use in discussing what makes you the perfect candidate. Just do the best you can, do things you enjoy and are passionate about - if they see your passion, that may help you more than trying to do what you think they want.</p>

<p>Beth</p>

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<p>James,</p>

<p>I majored in Psych. Med schools often have people who did not major in bio or chem. As long as you get the 4 prereq courses (Bio, Gen Chem, Org Chem and Physics), and take the MCAT, you can apply to med school. Also, if you cannot fit the pre-reqs into undergrad, you can go to post-bac premed programs to take those pre-reqs, some of these programs have nearly 100% acceptance rates into med school - I’m applying to them now (everyone keep their fingers crossed for me - waiting to hear from my top choice in next 2 weeks, I interviewed last week with them). So don’t sweat it if you can’t fit the pre-reqs into undergrad, plenty of people do post-bac programs. U Penn offers a Masters program for those who have already taken some of the pre-reqs but not all, or who need to retake the pre-reqs. There are programs for those who took all the pre-reqs and MCAT and need to boost their grades on those pre-req courses, and programs specifically for those who did not have any of the pre-req courses. Feel free to email me at <a href="mailto:Beth_W@ix.netcom.com">Beth_W@ix.netcom.com</a> or PM me.</p>

<p>Beth</p>