Medical School

[Anonymous]

Your DD needs to talk to the medical school advisor at her school for a realistic opinion. Although it’s hard to believe, there are some colleges that have a medical school committee that has to recommend/approve the students who plan to apply to medical school. The MCAT is another deciding factor.

PA and pharmacy schools are very competitive. This is why students opt for a direct entry program right out of high school.

You need to be an RN before you can become a NP.

Some students opt for post graduate work to raise their GPA. This means the expense of 2 more years of graduate school tuition without any guarantees. Other options could be podiatry school or optometry school.

Good luck to your DD. This career choice is a journey and not for the faint of heart. Then, you throw in a pandemic 😷

My DS went to a SLAC known for hard work and grade deflation. He will complete his residency in a few months. I will say his education taught him to study and he did very well on the MCAT and subsequently, successful in his medical school boards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your DD needs to talk to the medical school advisor at her school for a realistic opinion. Although it’s hard to believe, there are some colleges that have a medical school committee that has to recommend/approve the students who plan to apply to medical school. The MCAT is another deciding factor.

PA and pharmacy schools are very competitive. This is why students opt for a direct entry program right out of high school.

You need to be an RN before you can become a NP.

Some students opt for post graduate work to raise their GPA. This means the expense of 2 more years of graduate school tuition without any guarantees. Other options could be podiatry school or optometry school.

Good luck to your DD. This career choice is a journey and not for the faint of heart. Then, you throw in a pandemic 😷

My DS went to a SLAC known for hard work and grade deflation. He will complete his residency in a few months. I will say his education taught him to study and he did very well on the MCAT and subsequently, successful in his medical school boards.

Yep, this is the mom with DC1 in med school. I know someone from my undergrad who did just that and also worked two jobs in the hospital to show commitment. She was admitted to GW but this was decades ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your DD needs to talk to the medical school advisor at her school for a realistic opinion. Although it’s hard to believe, there are some colleges that have a medical school committee that has to recommend/approve the students who plan to apply to medical school. The MCAT is another deciding factor.

PA and pharmacy schools are very competitive. This is why students opt for a direct entry program right out of high school.

You need to be an RN before you can become a NP.

Some students opt for post graduate work to raise their GPA. This means the expense of 2 more years of graduate school tuition without any guarantees. Other options could be podiatry school or optometry school.

Good luck to your DD. This career choice is a journey and not for the faint of heart. Then, you throw in a pandemic 😷

My DS went to a SLAC known for hard work and grade deflation. He will complete his residency in a few months. I will say his education taught him to study and he did very well on the MCAT and subsequently, successful in his medical school boards.

There are direct entry NP programs. You get the RN along the way but you don’t need it to apply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Mine is in med school too and the dirty secret is to go to a very very easy undergrad.

+100. My brother went to UVA Echols no major and took symphonic masterworks and construction management and all the other "gut" courses with guaranteed As with no work. He not only got into medical school, he got a $$$$ scholarship and they put him in a 3-year vs 4-year program.

[Anonymous]

You realize you still need to take bio x2, gen chem x2, organic chem, physics, and often calc to be able to apply to medical school, right? and that your science and pre-req gpa is HEAVILY considered in admissions?

[Anonymous]

i agree that a 3.2 is going to be a major challenge at a minimum.

[Anonymous]

"Mine is in med school too and the dirty secret is to go to a very very easy undergrad."

how do you know which undergrad to pick for this? How do you know which will be easy for your DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Mine is in med school too and the dirty secret is to go to a very very easy undergrad."

how do you know which undergrad to pick for this? How do you know which will be easy for your DC?

I understand PP's point but the reality is not that simple. Kid still has to take science heavy pre med required courses, the kid also has to score high enough in MCAT, the kid has to have research exp...etc. There are qualifications applicants cannot sidestep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Mine is in med school too and the dirty secret is to go to a very very easy undergrad."

how do you know which undergrad to pick for this? How do you know which will be easy for your DC?

I understand PP's point but the reality is not that simple. Kid still has to take science heavy pre med required courses, the kid also has to score high enough in MCAT, the kid has to have research exp...etc. There are qualifications applicants cannot sidestep.

I get that and am aware of all the other stuff that needs to happen - MCAT, clinical, research, etc....but I've got a senior trying to decide on which undergrad, with plans of going pre-med. I keep hearing pick where they'll have the best GPA, there's just no real way to know that is there? Do you pick the lowest rank school assuming it would be the easiest? If all other necessary things are equal - volunteer opp/research opp/clinical opps...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Mine is in med school too and the dirty secret is to go to a very very easy undergrad."

how do you know which undergrad to pick for this? How do you know which will be easy for your DC?

I understand PP's point but the reality is not that simple. Kid still has to take science heavy pre med required courses, the kid also has to score high enough in MCAT, the kid has to have research exp...etc. There are qualifications applicants cannot sidestep.

Yeah, but it's one thing to be a communications major and only have to take chem/o-chem/bio/physics and another entirely to be a chemistry major and have to slog through physical chem (a beast of a class), etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Mine is in med school too and the dirty secret is to go to a very very easy undergrad."

how do you know which undergrad to pick for this? How do you know which will be easy for your DC?

I understand PP's point but the reality is not that simple. Kid still has to take science heavy pre med required courses, the kid also has to score high enough in MCAT, the kid has to have research exp...etc. There are qualifications applicants cannot sidestep.

Yeah, but it's one thing to be a communications major and only have to take chem/o-chem/bio/physics and another entirely to be a chemistry major and have to slog through physical chem (a beast of a class), etc.

LOL. That's the only course DC got a C in undergrad. DC was studing for MCAT at the time so not enough time to study. During interviews, a number of interviewers asked "what happened with pChem?" so DC had to explain it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your DD needs to talk to the medical school advisor at her school for a realistic opinion. Although it’s hard to believe, there are some colleges that have a medical school committee that has to recommend/approve the students who plan to apply to medical school. The MCAT is another deciding factor.

PA and pharmacy schools are very competitive. This is why students opt for a direct entry program right out of high school.

You need to be an RN before you can become a NP.

Some students opt for post graduate work to raise their GPA. This means the expense of 2 more years of graduate school tuition without any guarantees. Other options could be podiatry school or optometry school.

Good luck to your DD. This career choice is a journey and not for the faint of heart. Then, you throw in a pandemic 😷

My DS went to a SLAC known for hard work and grade deflation. He will complete his residency in a few months. I will say his education taught him to study and he did very well on the MCAT and subsequently, successful in his medical school boards.

There are some combined rn/np programs that are 2 years total, but admission is highly competitive.

[Anonymous]

I would suggest posting more generally for what LACs are a good path to medical school. I have seen discussions on this subject on here in the past but the names of the schools escape me. There are some mid tier LACs that really excel at this. I also have read discussions re Elon being strong for pre med and it gives good merit aid to strong students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Mine is in med school too and the dirty secret is to go to a very very easy undergrad."

how do you know which undergrad to pick for this? How do you know which will be easy for your DC?

The science GPA matters, so, for example (these are JUST examples), the probability of getting a high GPA at CalState or UT El Paso is higher than at MIT or Hopkins, where everyone is supersmart. Your kid would still need to have all the pre-med classes done so the major is not that important and they like to see a high GPA overall, including non-core classes. Mine is in a combined BA/MD 8 year program and studied neuroscience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Mine is in med school too and the dirty secret is to go to a very very easy undergrad."

how do you know which undergrad to pick for this? How do you know which will be easy for your DC?

I understand PP's point but the reality is not that simple. Kid still has to take science heavy pre med required courses, the kid also has to score high enough in MCAT, the kid has to have research exp...etc. There are qualifications applicants cannot sidestep.

Yeah, but it's one thing to be a communications major and only have to take chem/o-chem/bio/physics and another entirely to be a chemistry major and have to slog through physical chem (a beast of a class), etc.

My 80 year old mom has a PhD in organic chemistry and she will fistfight you for saying that . She got DC1 a child version of the periodic table when he was 4 years old and she would read it to him like it was Goodnight Moon.