<p>Are their good science premed programs at MIT, Princeton, and Berkeley
even though they have no med schools?</p>
<p>Certainly the science classes will cover the content you need to know, and certainly plenty of exciting, biomedically-related science occurs at each of those three institutions. The faculty are all at the cutting edge of science and participate in high-level work.</p>
<p>well, sure, except that none of the three schools listed actually has a very good reputation as a premed destination</p>
<p>Well considering that Princeton has a 95% medical school acceptance rate and that it routinely sends graduates to top schools such as Harvard, Penn, and Columbia, I would say that it is an excellent choice for premed.</p>
<p>I was initially taking a shot at princeton because they lack things like a hospital nearby, but the numbers you provide actually further undermine the idea that princeton is a good place to go. The average gpa and mcat scores of their accepted students are quite high for a school of its calibur, which is particularly disturbing when one considers that princeton has a rep for being slightly grade deflated. The trend line showing a decreasing number of applicants coming out of princeton each year is also interesting.</p>
<p>phillySAS, what are Penn's average GPA and MCAT of accepted students? Princeton's looks like 3.5 Science, 3.6 overall, and 34</p>
<p>average gpa is in the 3.4 area, science a little lower but i can't recall the exact figure off the top of my head (career services has the numbers, but you can't get them online, as is the case at most schools; I actually think its great that princeton is so forthcoming with their info). Average MCAT for all Penn students who take it is a 30.something, don't remember what the mean for accepted students is.</p>
<p>I might PM you the exact numbers later this week. My last final is tomorrow and then I shift into full on application mode (assuming I, you know, don't fail bio 202 tomorrow) .</p>
<p>The numbers are a little bit worse than Duke's, but not an awful lot. Mostly the MCAT score is about 1.5 points higher. (Remember, higher is worse.)</p>
<p>Of course, you could argue (as I probably would) that Princeton should not just be equal to Duke, but better. They probably have lower average grades in their science classes (both absolutely as well as after controlling for student ability).</p>
<p>While Princeton's stats are pretty low -- remember, low is good -- they're not particularly impressive. Sounds like Penn might have them beat by a little bit. Would not surprise me if hospital access was one of the major players.</p>
<p>Remember BDM, Penn >>>>>>>>>>>> Princeton in every way imaginable. </p>
<p>Maryland >>>>>>>>>>>>> Duke*</p>
<p>*I am required to say this to maintain my state residency or I'll be OOS come time for med school applications :)</p>
<p>Couldn't it be that Princeton applicants are just exceptionally strong? 95% acceptance rate indicates to me that there are no duds among Princeton applicants. If you have 5 applicants all with 3.9 GPA's and 35 MCATs and they all get into med school, you'd have an average of 3.9 and 35 for your accepted applicants. It doesn't indicate that you are a terrible premed school, just that you have produced excellent applicants.</p>
<p>If however you have a lower acceptance rate with higher than average accepted stats, as in the case of MIT, that might indicate a bimodal distribution among your applicants (some really good applicants and some really bad applicants). But I don't see any flaws with Princeton nor do I think someone is at a significant disadvantage going to a school that has no associated or nearby medical school.</p>
<p>You're always going to have duds who apply just to see if they can get in/get an interview somewhere (BRM alluded to a friend a while ago who just applied to see if she could get an interview). 95% means that very few duds apply. Either Princeton screens (doubt it) or they have really great advising that helps premeds find med schools they can get into (more likely).</p>
<p>All the inferences one would have to make are exceedingly indirect and obscure.</p>
<p>There's certainly no question that Princeton is a good place to be a premed.</p>
<p>But the question is this: do we expect Princeton to be the kind of school where half of the premedical students get a 3.5 or better? In other words, given that you apparently should be aiming for the same GPA at Duke or at Princeton, are those GPAs actually equivalent? Or is one much harder to earn? And will a Princeton education help you gain some of those extra 1.5 points on the MCAT?</p>
<p>Bottom line? We have no idea. We know Princeton and Penn are both good places to be a premed, and any advantage to either school is certainly quite mild. (LSAC index suggests Penn gives out lower grades; premed data suggest Penn students are admitted with lower grades; net balance unknown.)</p>
<p>This is precisely the reason we tell students to pick whatever school they like better: because of the huge deficit of certainty involved in this process, and because excellent students can do very well no matter where they go to school.</p>
<p>keep in mind that deciding you like it in jersey immediately calls your judgement into question in the eyes of med schools</p>