Vanderbilt for premed

[Anonymous]

DC has an option to join Vanderbilt with a major in Biological sciences and wishes to go to medical school.
Want to get some help in deciding the benefits and chances to go to med school but with high undergrad cost . Other choice would be to go to UMD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC has an option to join Vanderbilt with a major in Biological sciences and wishes to go to medical school.
Want to get some help in deciding the benefits and chances to go to med school but with high undergrad cost . Other choice would be to go to UMD.

Do not do this if majoring in biology (among the lowest paying majors). Plus,need to save money & credit for medical school.

[Anonymous]

You should really research placement stats for both schools. Also whether you want to spend that much $ on undergrad and then potentially med school if it comes to pass. Remember that college GPA and MCAT score need to be high, so consider where that is more likely to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should really research placement stats for both schools. Also whether you want to spend that much $ on undergrad and then potentially med school if it comes to pass. Remember that college GPA and MCAT score need to be high, so consider where that is more likely to happen.

Can you explain how anyone not attending both schools simultaneously would be able to discern this with any degree of certainty?

[Anonymous]

Sure.

1. Look over prospective majors - what courses are required, how many hours, are the professors well-rated online. Pre-med requires a certain set of classes, but it is not a major, and major requirements can vary from campus to campus.
2. Pre-med population - are you 1 of 2000 students starting out pre-med or 1 of 400 and of what quality are those students? Average ACT, etc. are only directional but worth noting.
3. Social - is one more a party atmosphere that will suck a student in and away from their studies? Is the other a white knuckle cutthroat environment?
4. Pre-health advising - is there an advising office and is it well-rated online and by students - for example on other boards.
5. Some colleges show what % make it to med school - though they game the numbers at times. What if one school has a 60% med school acceptance for undergrads and the other 20%?
6. Does one school offer more opportunities for research and health-related activities that med schools want to see?

There are others - but I think this would be a good start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should really research placement stats for both schools. Also whether you want to spend that much $ on undergrad and then potentially med school if it comes to pass. Remember that college GPA and MCAT score need to be high, so consider where that is more likely to happen.

Can you explain how anyone not attending both schools simultaneously would be able to discern this with any degree of certainty?

A lot of people will be making the same decision as you. If they all decide on Maryland because it should be easier, then you are screwed thinking you are with less competitive kids.
I am beginning to think that your chance to get into med school will be the same which ever you choose. There is some indication that school ranking does matter, not just GPA. But I think the most important thing is where you will be happiest which is not something I know how to assess with just one or two visits. Also if you want to go to the same medical school as your undergrad then you may get a slight preference.

[Anonymous]

I would agree, especially with the last piece. Some schools fast track their own, plus others have the BS/MD programs too.

The happiness part makes sense, but I do think the where matters also. UMD and Vanderbilt are very different.

If it helps, here are reports:

Vanderbilt - https://www.vanderbilt.edu/hpao/documents/2023%20Annual%20Report.pdf

Note that they, nor really any school, can precisely tell you how many students started out as pre-med as first-year students. So 78% accept rate is impressive but consider how many kids dropped out along the way. Also note the top major is Medicine, Health and Society, which allows more customization to student strengths. Biology is lower on the list of majors, which is different than some other schools.

And here is Maryland:

https://prehealth.umd.edu/prospective-students/facts-figures

Also this report might be helpful:
https://www.aamc.org/media/9636/download

[Anonymous]

Premed is going to be a grind for everyone everywhere. A lot of freshmen decide that, nope, not for me once they confront the weed out classes like organic chemistry. It’s similar to engineering. And Vanderbilt is no different. It’s tough all four years.

But Vanderbilt places very well. They’re smart kids. And the medical center next to campus no doubt helps. But you should consider schools in their totality. Is it a happy campus? Do you vibe with the school? With Nashville? It’s a great school. But it’s not for everyone. Usually a visit will settle if it’s for them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would agree, especially with the last piece. Some schools fast track their own, plus others have the BS/MD programs too.

The happiness part makes sense, but I do think the where matters also. UMD and Vanderbilt are very different.

If it helps, here are reports:

Vanderbilt - https://www.vanderbilt.edu/hpao/documents/2023%20Annual%20Report.pdf

Note that they, nor really any school, can precisely tell you how many students started out as pre-med as first-year students. So 78% accept rate is impressive but consider how many kids dropped out along the way. Also note the top major is Medicine, Health and Society, which allows more customization to student strengths. Biology is lower on the list of majors, which is different than some other schools.

And here is Maryland:

https://prehealth.umd.edu/prospective-students/facts-figures

Also this report might be helpful:
https://www.aamc.org/media/9636/download

This. The acceptance rate is not out of the kids who started as "pre-med" freshman year. It's out of the number of kids who complete all the pre-recs and apply to medical school. This number (the ones who actually apply) is probably 10% of the kids who enter college saying they are pre-med. The pre-med classes (at ANY university) are weed-out classes, aren't easy and if you get a B in any of them, you're pretty much out of the running for medical school, at least on a traditional path (some of these kids who get a B but desperately want to go to medical school will repeat a class or do an entire post-bac program or apply to a Caribbean med school, etc). The large majority of the pre-meds with a B (or more than one) will shift courses, never apply to medical school and are not counted in the university's medical school admission numbers.

[Anonymous]

Several posters fail to address the issue of COA.

OP: What is the annual COA (cost-of-attendance) for Vanderbilt and for the University of Maryland ?

[Anonymous]

Faced this delimma in choosing between UVA in-state at $50k and Vandy full pay at $98k for BME with an interest in pre med for twin sons. Simply couldn't justify a $400k undergraduate degree x2!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sure.

1. Look over prospective majors - what courses are required, how many hours, are the professors well-rated online. Pre-med requires a certain set of classes, but it is not a major, and major requirements can vary from campus to campus.
2. Pre-med population - are you 1 of 2000 students starting out pre-med or 1 of 400 and of what quality are those students? Average ACT, etc. are only directional but worth noting.
3. Social - is one more a party atmosphere that will suck a student in and away from their studies? Is the other a white knuckle cutthroat environment?
4. Pre-health advising - is there an advising office and is it well-rated online and by students - for example on other boards.
5. Some colleges show what % make it to med school - though they game the numbers at times. What if one school has a 60% med school acceptance for undergrads and the other 20%?
6. Does one school offer more opportunities for research and health-related activities that med schools want to see?

There are others - but I think this would be a good start.

Thank you. I appreciate that you took the time to write out this response and a lot of it was helpful. But it doesn’t actually answer the question that I asked, which is how would you know the GPAs of likely med school applicants?

For context, I’ve often heard the same advice given to perspective law school applicants. Go where you’re likely to achieve a 3.99 rather than a place like Hopkins or Chicago. But how do you really _know_ ? It seems like conjecture and the presents are absence of a good advisor. Doesn’t really tell us whether organic is graded on a tight curve or not.

[Anonymous]

Ugh. The presence or absence of a good advisor ….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should really research placement stats for both schools. Also whether you want to spend that much $ on undergrad and then potentially med school if it comes to pass. Remember that college GPA and MCAT score need to be high, so consider where that is more likely to happen.

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-feeders-medical-school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should really research placement stats for both schools. Also whether you want to spend that much $ on undergrad and then potentially med school if it comes to pass. Remember that college GPA and MCAT score need to be high, so consider where that is more likely to happen.

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-feeders-medical-school

Didn’t realize Berkeley such a feeder