Premedicine At Brandeis

deispremed
Wed, 22 Mar 2006 02:22:22 +0000

I’m a pre-med, and a senior so I’ve been there and done that about as much as anybody else. Pre-med here is very, very hard, there’s no other way to say it. Science professors, who may or may not have a general dislike for pre-meds (as compared to a bio/chem/physics major who’s looking for a Ph.D. in the future) grade low, so our applicant GPAs are actually somewhat below the national average. You will be prepared academically, it’s just a question of whether you’ll get into medical school or not. Also, as “prestigious” as Brandeis is, it seemed like some admissions committees look down on schools that aren’t Ivies or the equivalent.

MCATs are pretty much your own responsibility, most people sign up for Kaplan or one of those other classes. The advising for the most part I found was pretty crappy, except Kate, the pre-health dean who just started in the fall, is both helpful and knowledgable. So I’d say advising should be much-improved by the time you get to where I am, assuming Kate doesn’t get lured away to another school like so many of our faculty and staff.

On the whole, though, Brandeis science, pre-med, etc. is a place with a large-school mentality; don’t expect much help from most professors, and get ready for some large lecture classes (200-300 for some), painfully long labs, and generally indifferent or scornful professors with perhaps a few good ones thrown in, as well as TA’s who can’t speak passable English. Yes, I’ll admit I’m no cheerleader of the pre-med experience as a whole, but I did get into medical school. So you can too. Good luck, and keep at it during the tough times, unless you’re much more brilliant than I and will breeze through everything.