Which School for Pre-Med??

Bigredmed
Mon, 10 Apr 2006 21:55:58 +0000

GPA is less important than you think. You should go to the place where you can accomplish the most while having the most fun. It’s one thing to get a 4.0 and a 35 on the MCAT while doing nothing but studying all day. It’s quite another to have a 3.5, have an active social life, be involved in a several organizations (other than pre-med or academic clubs), have a job, and do the fun things you really only have a chance to do while in college.

You’ll also have a better chance of getting accepted to medical school if you’re well rounded because that’s where your bedside manner comes from. Being able to relate to people is key, and if all you did in undergrad was study, that’s going to be very evident in your interviews.

All that said: go to the place where you WANT to go, not where you think you’ll better your chances of getting into medical school. I saw it a hundred times in undergrad. The kids that were at my school who chose to go there and really wanted to attend there (like myself) ended up loving our time, most of us not ready to graduate when we did. Those that got “stuck” weren’t quite as appreciative and were the ones creating facebook groups about how much they hated being at the school…

Besides, there’s no absolute guarantee that you’ll be pre-med at the end. Not saying you won’t, but there are plenty of kids who come in thinking about the prestige of being a doctor, and how much money they make and how they get to help people…and then realize that general chemistry is not their thing, or Organic is just not worth it. And that’s okay because those people will find something that they truly love to do. But the point is that it’s possible that something about the long journey to medical will rub you the wrong way and you may be stuck at a school you hate, simply because you thought it would help you get into medical school and now you’re not going.