My children are in the process of applying for undergrad. Is there a big benefit of going to a university that has a good Med school/hospital associated with it?
My question is about getting research and experience outside of the undergraduate classroom for when applying to Med School.
big benefit? Definitely not. The presence of a medical school may not have any impact on undergrads if those faculty do not interact with undergrads.
What we were wondering if it is beneficial from an experience standpoint in undergrad? Everyone keeps saying that you should have experience working in the health care field before applying to Med School and also the Med Schools look for that.
Wouldn’t it be easier to get that experience if you go to an undergrad university that has those facilities associated with it, i.e. University of Iowa/Carver Medical Center, University of Illinois Chicago/ University of Illinois Hospital (in Chicago), University of Minnesota/University of Minnesota Hospitals & Mayo Clinic.
Or does it not matter and you can get your experience off-campus? I only graduated in engineering so I am new to this and am trying to learn the best course to take undergrad - Med School application - Med School to help my kids out.
Any advice is appreciated.
There are physicians and hospitals all over the country so having it be affiliated with the school is not necessary.
Getting into med school is much less about the university attended and any connection to a med school/hospital than it is about the decisions of your kids to really want to pursue a career in medicine (it’s a long trek) and their efforts both in the classroom and in getting involved outside the classroom. There will be extracurricular opportunities both on and off campus at whatever university they attend. Kids need to be proactive.
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Everyone keeps saying that you should have experience working in the health care field before applying to Med School and also the Med Schools look for that.
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But that doesn’t have to a university’s med school…and many university’s med schools aren’t even that close to the undergrad campus anyway. I know that some people assume that attending an undergrad that has a med school is somehow a plus, but I think that they think that there’s all this interaction between the two.
Many/most university have a hospital that is not too far away from campus, particularly if the school is in a good-sized city.
My kid’s undergrad had two hospitals nearby (one very nearby), and has a branch of the med school on campus, that offers shadowing and other opportunities.
That said, clinical experience doesn’t even have to occur at a hospital.
As the famous LizzyM says: “if you can smell the patients, it’s clinical.”
My D. went to UG at the university that did not even have a Med. School. She had plenty of opportunities for the research and the internship was very easy to obtain, she just emailed a person in charge and had long term Med. Research internship for 3 years. It was not anyhow connected to any hospital. She also had 3 years of volunteering at one of the facilities of her college town (a tiny town by any measure in a middle of nowhere), which she supplemented with light volunteering in hometown during summers. Do not be afraid to get engaged in unusual for pre-med volunteering. It was very rewarding for my D. who was the only pre-med at facility, the others were psych major, it had 10 hour training and she was able to save at least one life, at least she was told this by police. It also was one of major points of her Med. School interviews.
@mom2collegekids Thanks a lot for the response. I was wondering about the necessity.
@iwannabe_Brown Thanks for your input also. Gives us good perspective.
From what I understand here and other posts is it is very important to be in a major you like and a school you like so you do well. I will relay that on to my two kids.
Tell your children that clinical volunteering doesn’t necessarily need to be done at a hospital. Other facilities offer opportunities for clinical exposure also. (And often are easier to get accepted as volunteers than a hospital near a college which typically has too many volunteers and a wait list for open volunteer positions.)
Some ideas: stand alone clinics (like Planned Parenthood, local community healthcare clinics for low income or homeless), nursing homes, rehabilitation hospitals, group homes for the physically or mentally disabled, outpatient or day surgery centers, hospice centers, local ambulance services, therapeutic summer camps for disabled children, blood donation centers, outpatient cancer treatment centers, search & rescue team, ski patrol, suicide hotline, rape hotline.
One of the things your kids should find out from colleges they are applying to is what kind of assistance the college gives to students in finding volunteer and research opportunities. Pre-med advisors can be hit or miss. D went to a small to medium size LA college. The pre-health advising office had connections with the hospital system in the city, and helped line up shadowing opportunities for pre-med/pre-health students; they were able to rotate through most areas in the hospital, and because the program was established the MDs and faculty were comfortable working with students from her school. In addition, there was a campus leadership institute that helped students from every major get involved in leadership and volunteer activities of all kinds in the community. I know that many colleges will have something similar, and this can really help students get opportunities they may not be able to find on their own.
The same goes for research - find out how easily and how early students can be involved in on campus research, or if students routinely are able to get outside research internships from the colleges your children are interested in.
“One of the things your kids should find out from colleges they are applying to is what kind of assistance the college gives to students in finding volunteer and research opportunities.”
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“One of the things your kids should find out from colleges they are applying to is what kind of assistance the college gives to students in finding volunteer and research opportunities.”“One of the things your kids should find out from colleges they are applying to is what kind of assistance the college gives to students in finding volunteer and research opportunities.”
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Right! Go to the school’s premed advising website. See what all is offered. See if there’s a ListServ your child (and parent!) can get added to. I am still on my son’s premed advising’s Listserv. I like seeing what all is going onpremed-wise on campus…pre-med club meetings, guest speakers, research/shadowing opps, mock interviews, Committee-related (interviews, letters), classes that help with writing the personal statement, etc. My son’s undergrad brings in actual med school interviewers to give “mock interviews” and constructive advice/criticisms for improvement.