Good premed programs that are not too competitive to get into?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Medical schools care much more about your GPA than the quality of the university's premed program. For that reason, a "good" premed program is one that doesn't curve core premed classes like orgo, chem, bio, etc. The easier it is to get an A, the better. For that reason, it would be a good idea to have a match-heavy or safety-heavy application profile, as there are downsides to being at a college where everyone is as smart and hardworking as you and there are only so many As.

Look into colleges that give merit aid (you can get your merit's worth while still being a big fish), large universities that aren't super selective (easy research opportunities), and BSMD programs (keep in mind these can easily be as selective as Ivies; apply one or two ranks below what you think is appropriate https://blog.collegevine.com/a-complete-list-of-all-bs-md-programs/), Early Assurance programs (these are conditional on performance at the undergrad, do your research and caveat emptor https://www.prospectivedoctor.com/medical-school-early-assurance-program/)

Good points. A good pre-med school is one where you will be comfortable and do well, where there is not a competitive weed out culture, where you have good counseling and good opportunities to get a good recommendation (close work with faculty e.g. on guided research).

[Anonymous]

Baylor university's pre-med is super good. They send a lot of students to Baylor College of Medicine, Baylor college of dentistry, Baylor school of nursing, Baylor school of physical therapy and other MD, DO, dental, PA, PT and nursing schools. They do have some joint BS-MD programs too. Don't judge them by their religious cover. You can get wherever you want from there. I found all of this recently while researching their scholarships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Medical schools care much more about your GPA than the quality of the university's premed program. For that reason, a "good" premed program is one that doesn't curve core premed classes like orgo, chem, bio, etc. The easier it is to get an A, the better. For that reason, it would be a good idea to have a match-heavy or safety-heavy application profile, as there are downsides to being at a college where everyone is as smart and hardworking as you and there are only so many As.

Look into colleges that give merit aid (you can get your merit's worth while still being a big fish), large universities that aren't super selective (easy research opportunities), and BSMD programs (keep in mind these can easily be as selective as Ivies; apply one or two ranks below what you think is appropriate https://blog.collegevine.com/a-complete-list-of-all-bs-md-programs/), Early Assurance programs (these are conditional on performance at the undergrad, do your research and caveat emptor https://www.prospectivedoctor.com/medical-school-early-assurance-program/)

Good points. A good pre-med school is one where you will be comfortable and do well, where there is not a competitive weed out culture, where you have good counseling and good opportunities to get a good recommendation (close work with faculty e.g. on guided research).

For average candidates? Yes. For high achievers, there is more.

[Anonymous]

Lets not forget that any mediocre college is good enough to get you in some medical school. However, lots of college students change majors and tracks, which makes an overall good college a necessity. What if he decides he loves computers or law or business. For those, mediocre colleges are rather limiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Baylor university's pre-med is super good. They send a lot of students to Baylor College of Medicine, Baylor college of dentistry, Baylor school of nursing, Baylor school of physical therapy and other MD, DO, dental, PA, PT and nursing schools. They do have some joint BS-MD programs too. Don't judge them by their religious cover[b]. You can get wherever you want from there. I found all of this recently while researching their scholarships.

+1. Same is true of Catholic universities. You can get an excellent education at these schools. Don't be judgmental and prejudiced.

[Anonymous]

Not everyone goes to these colleges for religious enlightenment, lot of people go for scholarships, athletics or academic programs. That being said, if you are religious, you can have dual benefits. For others, they go in atheist and come out atheist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone goes to these colleges for religious enlightenment, lot of people go for scholarships, athletics or academic programs. That being said, if you are religious, you can have dual benefits. For others, they go in atheist and come out atheist.

Depends on the school--some are welcoming and open to diverse religious/non-religious beliefs, others are less so. Some say they are, but it can sometimes be really hard for religious institutions and the cultures they create to see how they put pressure on or create uncomfortable situations for the non-religious. Each person has to decide what works for them, but to blithely say it's easy to go to a religious school when you are not religious would be misleading.

[Anonymous]

I'm sure there are some struggles just like religious students face some at liberal colleges. I guess point is that you can get your scholarship and education and find likeminded friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a safety- but agree with Case Western. They have a med school.

You would send your child to Ohio during this catastrophe?

[Anonymous]

Most medical schools won't care about undergrad prestige but ironically most prestigious medical schools mostly admit students from prestigious undergrad schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a safety- but agree with Case Western. They have a med school.

You would send your child to Ohio during this catastrophe?

What a stupid comment.

[Anonymous]

Its much easier to hunker down and focus on your studies there because those aren't really party schools.

[Anonymous]

If your undergrad school has an affiliated medical school or even better if its located next to a medical district with many large hospitals then you get lots of opportunities for internships, research, physician shadowing etc, all year round.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lets not forget that any mediocre college is good enough to get you in some medical school. However, lots of college students change majors and tracks, which makes an overall good college a necessity. What if he decides he loves computers or law or business. For those, mediocre colleges are rather limiting.

Not necessarily--most evidence shows that it's the students that make the school not the school that makes the student. So a good student can still thrive as a big fish in a small pond at a "mediocre college" if they happen to change their minds. The caliber of different colleges is not as diverse as people think--it's not like the best professors are at the best schools--it's competitive to get a tenured position anywhere and people go where the opening is in their field when they graduate and tend to stay there a long time. If you control for 'student quality' at admissions, there are very few differences in outcomes based on college/school as long as you stay within the top 100-150 of national universities or top 100 national liberal arts colleges.

[Anonymous]

UMBC.