Lost at college search :(((

College Search & Lists
1

<p>Hi!

  1. I’m beginning my college search now and I’ve heard LAC better guides you for an acceptance at a medical school. Is this true?
  2. What is a list of great LACs or universities with strong science programs and great financial aid?
  3. Is it true that LACs are depressing, full of jocks, and alcohol?
  4. I was searching Haverford College, Bowdoin, Vassar, and Colgate University; and i thought i finally came up with a decent list until i saw student reviews saying tons of negative reviews. What’s your opinion on these schools?
    Thank You sooo much. Really lost at the moment.</p>
2

<p>I don’t know too much about LACs, but I will say almost every school will have jocks and lots of alcohol. Also, I’d say an ivy or comparable top school wouldn’t put you at a disadvantage in attaining a med school acceptance. However, I don’t know your stats, but from what I’ve read, here are some colleges known for having great pre-med tracks: </p>

<p>John Hopkins University (of course – probably the most well-known for this)
Amherst
Bates
Brown
Bucknell
Carleton
College of William and Mary
Emory</p>

<p>Although I’d think any top school can’t steer you wrong. Try googling “colleges with highest med-school acceptance rates” or something along those lines, and just dig through stuff and I’m sure that will help you out. GL :)</p>

3

<p>You are less likely to find jocks at a LAC than at a D1 school (logically). </p>

<p>LACs tend to have a more personalized approach to education and that can be helpful for med school ( “large” class at a LAC may be 50 students, whereas at a large university it’s anywhere from 200 to 400, you get a ton of academic support). </p>

<p>Be aware that med schools will require, on average, math through Linear Algebra, 1 year of calculus-based physics, 2 years of chemistry, 1 year including freshman seminar/composition/English, plus classes in biochemistry, neuroscience, psychology, sociology, with a diverse perspective, and plenty of biology of course. Taking AP English, bio, calc, chem, and physics B would all be useful to prepare you since many of the 1st year premed classes are “weed out” (they’re designed so that the least motivated/gifted fail).</p>

<p>Student review websites are notoriously unreliable. Many of these “students” don’t even attend the school and just like to shoot down rival schools… College books like Fiske or Insider to the colleges tend to be more reliable. Also, Cappex allows you to see the strengths of the school without a barrage of ■■■■■ comments.</p>

<p>As for alcohol, it depends on the school. Some are “dry” which means no student can drink (which means there is less drinking), whereas some are known to be “party schools” (which means a large number of students thinking it’s cool to drink excessively and many don’t do it just on weekends).
Some schools have “substance-free” dorms where no alcohol is allowed.</p>

<p>Be careful to check out how “weed out” the 1st year is. Acceptance rate of 90% is easy to achieve if 80% students who wanted to apply are discouraged from doing so. And you can’t apply without the Pre Health faculty allowing to, since they write recommendations for you. Check out the strength of Pre Health Advising and Academic support in the sciences, too.
For premed (admission criteria +support system+med school acceptance rates), it’s hard to beat Juniata College.</p>

<p>In order for us to recommend LACs, we’d need to have your stats: GPA, SAT&SAT2 scores and/or ACT, ECs, financial need…</p>

4

<p>If you are considering pre-med, look at threads on this sticky:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1486654-premed-resources-thread-start-here-first.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1486654-premed-resources-thread-start-here-first.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Especially this one:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1122176-bluedevilmikes-ten-step-guide-picking-premed-school.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1122176-bluedevilmikes-ten-step-guide-picking-premed-school.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>LACs are an option for undergrad, but they are certainly not the only option nor necessarily the best option. The best option for you will depend upon what you are looking for, your stats, your finances, and fit.</p>

<p>Do you want small classes and a smaller school? Then yes, if affordable, consider LACs.</p>

<p>Do you want ample research options on campus (as opposed to a few research options and perhaps not on campus)? Then consider a research U. Research Us with a med school (esp on campus vs miles away) can also have research options in the teaching hospital.</p>

<p>No matter what (IMO), you’ll want your stats to be in the top 25% for incoming students as that is an indicator that you are capable of top grades compared to your peers. It will NOT guarantee anything. Stats do NOT show work ethic and if you get swayed by majoring in party, sleeping through classes, spending too much time with a love life or extra curriculars, you’re not likely to get the As no matter what your stats were. Ditto that if the stats came easily to you and you never learned how to sit down and study because you were able to get that high GPA without doing so. But… from the oodles of students I’ve seen leaving our high school each year intending on pre-med, those who didn’t drop out of that plan due to grades were almost always in the top 25% of the school they chose to attend no matter if that school was high ranked or low. Hence, why I recommend it.</p>

<p>You’ll also want the school to be affordable. It won’t help you in life if you get 100K +/- in undergrad debt, then want to add on med school debt. If you have the stats to be competitive for pre-med, you should have some affordable options. State schools are just fine in many cases - as are schools way down in the rankings. I’ve seen students go to schools not even on Forbes Top 650 colleges still make it into med school. The key was they did well where they went and had good MCAT scores. I wouldn’t purposely pick a school way beneath your ability though unless absolutely needed for financial reasons. Kids I know who have done that have often been bored and wonder why so many love college. The content of the classes does differ (esp in pre-med reqs like Bio, Chem, and Calc) to match the level of ability of incoming students.</p>

<p>There aren’t quite as many pre-med requirements as suggested above… basic Bio, Chem, Organic Chem, Calc, Physics, and English are currently required and some of those can be APd out (pending med school - Chem + English esp) if you have AP credits. There are some other “nice to have” classes, but that’ll be up to your major, your likes, and any changes made due to the new MCAT starting in 2015.</p>

<p>You can major in practically anything you like and it’s best if you major in something you like as you’re likely to do better GPA wise.</p>

<p>Back to schools… do be sure to ask where recent pre-med grads have been accepted, but don’t get too hung up on rates as those stats are often twisted by who is allowed to apply. You wouldn’t want to be a borderline candidate and never get a chance to apply because your school doesn’t want to take the chance that you’ll lower their impressive rate…</p>

<p>In general, find any schools you like and can afford and getting to med school from there should be quite possible. Don’t limit yourself to checking out LACs. Visit different types of schools and see what appeals to YOU. It may, or may not, be an LAC. Of my two college kids, one wanted an LAC and is quite happy there. The other wanted a research U and is quite happy there. The research U kid is my pre-med guy and he’s happily working in two research labs on campus (one in the hospital) this summer. ;)</p>

5

<p>You can get into med school from any good college or university if you have the grades, MCATS, and volunteer or some kind of experience (easier said than done I know).</p>

<p>The decision to go to a LAC should be based on if you want a close knit, small community or if you prefer a larger environment. Two reasonable people would answer that question differently (Ex. my S did not like the feel of the LACs while my D immediately decided she want to go to a LAC— both did well, got great educations, and were happy and successful). I suggest that you don’t pay too much attention to those reviews (I know people who are happy at all the schools you listed) because they are largely from disgruntled students and that you visit the schools, as well as some larger or mid-sized universities and decide for yourself where you want to spend the next 4 years.</p>