I have been extremely fortunate in my college admissions process and got accepted to a number of fantastic colleges, most of which I applied to merely on a whim. I was waitlisted at both of my dream schools but I’m pretty happy with my options…I just need help deciding. I plan on majoring in biochemistry/biomedical engineering and possibly going to med school in four years. Right now I’m leaning towards MIT but the I’m just not sure I could handle the intense academic rigor (heard stories from a past student+high undergraduate suicide rate). Before making a final decision, it would be nice if I could get any input from current/past students at any of these universities or anyone with any knowledge about the departments and programs. Any input is greatly appreciated!
Given your interests in medical school and majors with relatively weak pay prospects at bachelor’s degree graduation, costs should be considered.
Note that medical school is expensive and likely to result in decades of debt.
https://www.aamc.org/download/152968/data/debtfactcard.pdf
https://services.aamc.org/tsfreports/
@ucbalumnus Fortunately, money will not be a major concern for me. I got amazing FA packages at all of these school that cover almost everything. USC would be the most expensive at a net cost of $10,500 and UCLA would be the cheapest at $0
The good news is that you can’t go wrong with such excellent options, and I’m going to strongly disagree with anyone who claims there’s a clear-cut best choice.
Have you visited any of the colleges on your list? Of your options, I know UCLA and Duke best, and they are VERY different places. I really can’t imagine someone being equally happy at both. One method is to sort your options as follows:
[ul][]Large (19,000-29,000), large city – USC, UCLA, Berkeley
[]Medium (8500-10,500), large city – Northwestern, Penn
[]Small/medium (4500-5300), large city – Johns Hopkins, MIT
[]Small/medium (6500), smaller city – Duke
[li]Small/medium (5300), suburban – Princeton[/ul][/li]Which combination appeals to you the most? Within each category, you can figure out which college best suits what you’re looking for.
MIT differs from the others in being tech-focused. While it’s more well-rounded than many other technical schools and has excellent programs in some non-STEM fields (e.g. economics), it doesn’t have nearly as wide an array of programs as, say, Berkeley or Penn. If being able to sample courses from many different subjects is of interest to you, or if you’d want to be around people studying all sorts of different things, that may be something to keep in mind.
I personally would go for one of the private universities. The UCs have many great qualities, and they’re research powerhouses, but they fall behind in certain aspects like career and fellowship advising. (Regrettably speaking from experience…)
BME–Johns Hopkins hands down. Less intense than MIT, but #1 program and will give a good college experience.
MIT and Princeton are known for grade deflation and grades are a big factor in medical school admissions.
A small, rich, super selective school like Princeton in general does a better job than a big state university (UCLA, UCB) at allocating the best resources to the best college students. Schools at or near the bottom of that list (Princeton, Duke) will tend to give you more intimate, undergraduate-focused learning environments (with smaller classes, easier access to top faculty, better advising, less bureaucracy) than a big state university.
But of course is no clear-cut best choice that applies to all students. They’re all good. If UCLA is cheapest, and there are a few things about it you prefer to the other schools, then go with UCLA.
You have lots of excellent choices. I am biased towards Princeton (I’m an alumna and two of my children have attended) because I think it offers an amazing education. The school is focused on the undergraduate experience, the resources available to students are second to none and you will be able to develop relationships with your professors from day one (and since recommendations are often important in the medical and graduate school process, this is a very important factor in my judgment). MIT is a wonderful school, but as has been noted, the strength of the school probably lies in STEM type fields. If you want to investigate other subjects, Princeton really has no weak academic areas.
The school is beautiful, and has a wonderfully active and vibrant campus life. And, while Princeton is not urban, it offers access to both NYC and Philly in about an hour through a train that stops on campus.
The percentage of students accepted to medical schools is quite high at Princeton and, for what it’s worth, the grade deflation policy has been eliminated.
I do not believe that MIT offers an undergraduate biochemistry degree – you would have to choose either chemistry or biology.
Be careful about assuming that all classes will be small at places like Princeton.
For example, Princeton’s general chemistry course CHM 202 has 166 students this semester, and the organic chemistry courses CHM 304 and 304B have 108 and 98 students.
For comparison, UCLA’s general chemistry course CHEM 20B has classes of 129 and 311, and the honors course CHEM 20BH has 13. Its organic chemistry course CHEM 30B has 212.
http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/schedule/detselect.aspx?termsel=15W&subareasel=CHEM&idxcrs=0020B+++
http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/schedule/detselect.aspx?termsel=15W&subareasel=CHEM&idxcrs=0020BH++
http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/schedule/detselect.aspx?termsel=15W&subareasel=CHEM&idxcrs=0030B+++
So, while Princeton classes in general and organic chemistry are smaller than those at UCLA (except the honors course and the morning regular section), they are probably not small enough to be “intimate”.
The class sizes for general and organic chemistry at Duke appear to be smaller, but still probably not small enough to be “intimate”.
Duke intro chem classes hover around 100-120 students on avg
ucbalumnus - your figures are correct, but with the exception of three intro courses, all other Princeton courses in the field have 31 or fewer enrolled students. While UCLA has a number of small class options, there are many more classes with over 50 or 100 students.
@cttwenty15 At MIT I was planning on pursing Course 7 (Biology) with an emphasis on either biochemistry or microbiology.
@texaspg Would a GPA as low as 3.0 at MIT or Princeton kill my chances of admission to a top medical school?
@uclabound1 Congratulation
Should read this, many experienced pre-med, med students and residents advises!
http://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/threads/ucla-vs-princeton-for-premed.1128834/
Good luck
What I told my D, accepted at six liberal arts colleges. “It’s the biggest decision you’ve made, but not the most consequential. There’s no wrong answer here.” They’re equally rigorous, student-focused, and expensive. So go with your gut, after you visit and do some research.
3.0 GPA makes admission to MD medical schools in the US very unlikely.
3.0 GPA makes admission to MD medical schools in the US very unlikely.
MD admissions are next to impossible for 3.0. They seem to be quite hard at 3.4
https://www.aamc.org/download/321494/data/factstable17.pdf describes GPA and MCAT scores of applicants and matriculants to MD medical schools in the US. More tables at https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/ .
<3.5 GPA makes admission to medical schools in the US very unlikely…and also unlikely if you do not have an A in bio, inorganic chem, organic chem, anatomy, etc.