<p>Way better medical schools? Who would that be exactly? According to most publications, WUSTL is ranked amongst the top med schools in the country. Per US News which is usually what most people go off of, it is ranked #3 this year. I think it was #2 recently. </p>
<p>It has the highest average MCAT score of all med schools, usually vies for the #1 spot for lowest acceptance rate, is in the top 5 for National Institutes of Health research grants (something like $500 million per year), and both the Barnes hospital and STL Children’s hospital which are in the med school complex are usually rated in the top 10 of many publications for best medschools.</p>
<p>–Also, regarding the University Scholars Program, it is NOT accelerated, and the guaranteed acceptance is non-binding, so you don’t have to go to WU med school if you don’t want to at the end of undergrad. Most people who are in the program are probably chosen because they won’t have any problem eventually getting the 3.8+ gpa or 36+ MCAT. Is there a significant benefit of the program? Not really, but it gives peace of mind to the very few people who are in the program. Honestly, though, as long as you work your butt off in undergrad and succeed here… if you graduate from Wash U pre-med and did everything you were supposed to do, you’ll most likely get into a great med school (possibly even Wash U’s own later on). </p>
<p>Accelerated med programs are silly anyway. Who wants to be a doctor at like age 23, and miss all the fun things about simply being in college and having fun? It sounds prestigious, but those accelerated programs probably have way more downsides than upsides.</p>