Hi my son is a national merit commended scholar and he is interested in medicine. Is a full tuition scholarship guarenteed? How are the professors and the quality of instruction? How about class size and fellow peers? How is student life? MCAT prep? etc. Please provide input. We are also looking at NC state, Chapel Hill, and Grove City College. We were told that at the state schools the classes are large and you have to pretty much be driven and study on your own. Thanks for your input.
A premed student who is NOT driven and can’t study on his own is not going to be a premed student for very long at any school.
The student should check into how the sciences are taught at Liberty. If it is bible-driven–as in teaching creationism and rejecting evolution, for example–the school would be a poor choice for someone aspiring to a career in medicine.
Really? The TOP program in the entire country?
I don’t get this part. Why would they have to go to a “prestigious” postbac program if they are well prepared in college?
So, the student must major in biomedical sciences? If it’s important to the student, I would ask if the student can major in whatever he wants while taking the classes that are prerequisites for a medical school application. Many applicants to med school do not major in a science or participate in a special premed program.
I have no experience with the premed program, but I wanted to chime in regarding the honors program. My daughter (sophomore) is a NMF at Liberty. She is well-challenged, and, by her own admission, is studying alongside some of the smartest students she has ever met. The National Merit scholarships (including commended) are guaranteed as long as you apply in plenty of time.
Also worth noting-- creation is taught in a course called Creation Studies. This is not a science course. Liberty’s science degrees meet all requirements for their students to enter into any field or pursue graduate study, as all programs at the school are fully-accredited.
Student life is busy and fun! My daughter has made genuine friends and is loving her time there. Professors (for the most part) have been excellent. Honors classes are small, and some general eds have been large, but still manageable. Honors housing is beautiful in the new Commons.
“a top” means one of a group–not the best one. That would be “the top”
Also post bacc is a big thing.
https://www.noodle.com/articles/a-guide-to-postbac-premed-programs-another-route-to-med-school
But if they are going to “a successful pre-med school” (words from their website) why would they need to go to a post-bacc program? That’s the part I don’t get. You go to a post-bacc because you did not take the necessary pre-med courses during your degree-granting years. It can’t be a “successful” pre-med school if you have to go for a post-bacc.
Did you read the article? Some need to improve grades. LU is not an elite school for admissions so some might need more work. It’s easy to take national merit scholars and get them to med school. Not so easy to coach up average/good students.
Thanks so much. Very helpful info.
As a former honors and pre-med student at Liberty, I would advise your son to go to UNC Chapel Hill, NC State, or other schools that have good reputations in the sciences and also in sending their students to medical schools. The academics and research opportunities are limited at Liberty and the Honors program was disappointing not only for myself but some other honors students that I know.
Rose-- Interesting. My impression from talking with many honors program grads was that their experiences were overwhelmingly positive. As this seems to be your first and only post, I’d love to hear more about your disappointing experience. Did you graduate from this program?
First of all, yes, that was my first post. I randomly came across this thread, and since an actual premed/honors student hadn’t shared his or her opinion, I decided that I should.
As for my experiences, my first disappointment came with the false promise of small classes. That isn’t the case for honors science classes or most of the other major science classes for premeds. I remember being very surprised to find that the honors biology class that I had signed up for during my first semester wasn’t small at all, the reason being that they group the honors students into the same class section as the regular students. The only difference between the honors version and the regular version is that honors students had to write a research paper on a controversial science topic.
Another problem I faced was scheduling. It was very difficult to schedule 2 general education honors classes with my science classes because they schedule the same classes during the same times and days almost every semester. So you end up either pushing back your required science classes or taking general ed classes that do not fulfill your degree completion plan (DCP).
Furthermore, opportunities to do research for your senior thesis are limited. In your junior year, you are supposed to “petition” a class in your major each semester, which would theoretically help you in preparing your senior thesis. Instead it turned out to be “do random xyz research paper or project for professor,” which is not very helpful for preparing a thesis in the sciences, especially if you want to go on to medical or graduate school. Medical schools like to see students doing research within their major, and since there is not very much research going on in the science department, the opportunities are very limited. This is exacerbated by how many premeds there are in the science department. Many students end up doing a random research paper for their thesis instead of conducting actual research.
These are only a few reasons for why the honors program was disappointing and did not suit my needs academically. After attending for over 2 years, I decided to transfer to a school that would better academically fit me.