@DramaMam2021
Just want to point out a couple of misconceptions in your statement.
- There is no such thing as a “pre-med track” in college. Pre med is an intention, not any particular major or “track” offered by a college.
A pre-med can major in any field and be a successful applicant so long as they have fulfilled admission requirements. In my daughters’ med school classes, they had classmates with majors in everything from agriculture/forestry to music composition to women’s/gender studies and just about everything imaginable in-between. Neither of my daughters had a traditional “pre-med” major.
Pre-med requirements are offered at just about every college and community college in the US. One doesn’t need to attend a college with a “pre-med track”.
- Colleges are TERRIBLE sources for information about the success of their med school placement rates. The data is manipulated six ways from Sunday and is intended to be an advertisement for the college’s reputation. You should not rely on it.
There is a distinct lack of transparency at how their success rates are arrived at.
There is not even any uniformity at what exactly constitutes a “medical school admission.” Some include MD only, others include MD or DO, still other count MD, DO, DPsy, DNP, DDS/DMD, DVM, DPT, MSOT, OD, DPM–basically any health profession professional program. Some count only US med schools acceptances; others count acceptances to Caribbean and foreign med schools.
Also be aware that NONE of the med school success rate data specifies if those applying to med school are seniors or are alumni or some mix of both. It also doesn’t indicate whether those applying have done post-grad GPA enhancing coursework at another college. Alumni may have been out of college for 5+ years and taken substantial coursework elsewhere, but are still counted as a successful admission by colleges.
Additionally, success rate data doesn’t consider how many freshman pre-meds apply to med school; only how many seniors/alumni do. The weeding in pre-med is fierce and it’s estimated that ~ 2/3rd of all freshmen pre-meds will never actually apply to med school.
Lastly, many colleges have a health professions committee that controls who is and who is not allowed to apply to med school by writing or withholding LORs from students. Without a committee LOR a student’s chances of gaining a med school admission are severely reduced. It’s considered a major red flag on an application. Generally HP committees will only write LORs for student whom they deem to have an excellent chance for an admission anyway.