How is pre-med going for your DC at a selective college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At any top school pre med will.be brutal.

premed is brutal everywhere. what makes you think "top schools" are unique?

It’s been covered up thread, classes are more difficult and competition is stiffer.

Statements like this drive me nuts. How do you know exactly? Have you attended all of them?

When you have experience working with multiple premeds who come from many different schools, you start to gather data on what the tests are like, what the syllabus covers, how prepared they are for the MCAT comparing similar SAT scores going into different colleges. The elites in general have much more demanding coursework including the exams(most or all of the grade at elites). The peers add a different layer: when the majority of peers are the kind who were top of the high school, have high scores, love to learn and have very high work ethic/discipline with studies it can be hard to compete against them. When the grading curves are taken into account (80% get Bs and As) it helps but it is not “easy” for most to be above average and get a 3.8+ in that setting.

Precisely which is why it is a bit of a risk choosing this path. It will pay off but it won’t be the easiest route.

Agree the student needs to understand the undergrad options, investigate each as much as possible and accurately assess where they are likely to stack up once there.
Two real examples:
3.85 GPA school ranked around 70, flagship in the deep south, science major. Did not get in to UVA in state but did get into VT just did not choose it. With a 3.9 and department honors this student thought med school was in range until started prepping for mcat(premed advising recommends a year off to study!) cannot get above 492, does not fully grasp a lot of the material. One year post graduation and is just starting to realize they are not cut out for it. Would they have been better off being weeded out at a harder school probably. They could have studied something that suits them better.

3.7, but upward trend (3.3 one semester early on), elite, told as a soph to spread out the sciences to help the GPA, knew would have a gap year to take the MCAT after biochem as a senior, did the standard 6weeks prep summer after senior, got 517 first try. Thought it was easy. That score is around the undergrad school average. With the knowledge a gap would be needed they planned and secured NIH year of paid research after undergrad. They already had lots of research at the school. They got into multiple med schools on the list of best-100 hospitals and picked a research med, instate and cheaper for them. Sure they had to give up on chasing the top10 like their 3.9 elite peers did but they realized the instate one they got was probably the one they would have picked anyway because it saves them tons.
TLDR pick premed undergrad according to the student need

Sounds like both of these people had nothing to do other than study for the MCAT after graduation. What about someone who doesn’t want to take a gap year and takes MCAT during junior year, while also working, job shadowing, and researching? Are they viewed the same as people who have an entire year to devote solely to studying and polishing their med school application?

Med schools prefer someone who takes a gap year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is at a top school, with lots of premed and lots of grade DEflation. Keeping grades up is difficult, but the resources at the school are amazing.

Name the school, no top school has DE flation. I work in med school consulting and know the typical GPAs from all top schools. The medians are all between 3.65 and 3.9 Harvard/Brown being at the top and Princeton/Penn being lower. MIT has a 5 point system and is in its own group. It is a very small percentage of the graduates across all areas that have less than a B+ average/3.3 the past few years. Sure it is hard work to get above the average but there is no deflation

Cornell
WashU
UChicago

WashU?

WashU ???? Lol

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to Alabama for free.

Not a smart move if medical school is the goal (or a great education, for that matter): https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-feeders-medical-school

Meh, I don’t think this is across-the-board true. If you had the stats to get a free ride to Bama, then you had a good SAT/ACT score and should be able to do well enough in the pre-med classes. GPA and MCAT score are the primary factors to getting into a MD program. You can make it known on the app that you got a free ride to Bama.

GPA and MCAT scores are very important, but I wouldn't call them "primary" factors. You need to have a complete pkg - GPA, MCAT, volunteering, clinical experience, research, strong LOR...

What is your source for this? I disagree. A lot.

MCAT score is incredibly important. Your app won’t make it through to a holistic review if it’s too low. It’s a dealbreaker. Therefore saying it’s a primary factor is very true. It is waaaay more important than SAT/ACT score for undergrad.

You can disagree all you want but it doesn’t change the fact. No clinical experience? Forget it! No good LORs? Nope!! Your kid needs to have all of those. Why do you think kids end up taking a gap year (even two years)??

These things won’t likely get you through unless you have a high MCAT score though. You need both. For the first look at your med school application, MCAT is definitely a “primary” consideration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At any top school pre med will.be brutal.

premed is brutal everywhere. what makes you think "top schools" are unique?

It’s been covered up thread, classes are more difficult and competition is stiffer.

Statements like this drive me nuts. How do you know exactly? Have you attended all of them?

When you have experience working with multiple premeds who come from many different schools, you start to gather data on what the tests are like, what the syllabus covers, how prepared they are for the MCAT comparing similar SAT scores going into different colleges. The elites in general have much more demanding coursework including the exams(most or all of the grade at elites). The peers add a different layer: when the majority of peers are the kind who were top of the high school, have high scores, love to learn and have very high work ethic/discipline with studies it can be hard to compete against them. When the grading curves are taken into account (80% get Bs and As) it helps but it is not “easy” for most to be above average and get a 3.8+ in that setting.

Precisely which is why it is a bit of a risk choosing this path. It will pay off but it won’t be the easiest route.

Agree the student needs to understand the undergrad options, investigate each as much as possible and accurately assess where they are likely to stack up once there.
Two real examples:
3.85 GPA school ranked around 70, flagship in the deep south, science major. Did not get in to UVA in state but did get into VT just did not choose it. With a 3.9 and department honors this student thought med school was in range until started prepping for mcat(premed advising recommends a year off to study!) cannot get above 492, does not fully grasp a lot of the material. One year post graduation and is just starting to realize they are not cut out for it. Would they have been better off being weeded out at a harder school probably. They could have studied something that suits them better.

3.7, but upward trend (3.3 one semester early on), elite, told as a soph to spread out the sciences to help the GPA, knew would have a gap year to take the MCAT after biochem as a senior, did the standard 6weeks prep summer after senior, got 517 first try. Thought it was easy. That score is around the undergrad school average. With the knowledge a gap would be needed they planned and secured NIH year of paid research after undergrad. They already had lots of research at the school. They got into multiple med schools on the list of best-100 hospitals and picked a research med, instate and cheaper for them. Sure they had to give up on chasing the top10 like their 3.9 elite peers did but they realized the instate one they got was probably the one they would have picked anyway because it saves them tons.
TLDR pick premed undergrad according to the student need

Sounds like both of these people had nothing to do other than study for the MCAT after graduation. What about someone who doesn’t want to take a gap year and takes MCAT during junior year, while also working, job shadowing, and researching? Are they viewed the same as people who have an entire year to devote solely to studying and polishing their med school application?

Med schools prefer someone who takes a gap year.

Kid just returned from an advising meeting where they said 75-80% of students do a gap year now. Many are doing two.
Its madness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At any top school pre med will.be brutal.

premed is brutal everywhere. what makes you think "top schools" are unique?

It’s been covered up thread, classes are more difficult and competition is stiffer.

Statements like this drive me nuts. How do you know exactly? Have you attended all of them?

When you have experience working with multiple premeds who come from many different schools, you start to gather data on what the tests are like, what the syllabus covers, how prepared they are for the MCAT comparing similar SAT scores going into different colleges. The elites in general have much more demanding coursework including the exams(most or all of the grade at elites). The peers add a different layer: when the majority of peers are the kind who were top of the high school, have high scores, love to learn and have very high work ethic/discipline with studies it can be hard to compete against them. When the grading curves are taken into account (80% get Bs and As) it helps but it is not “easy” for most to be above average and get a 3.8+ in that setting.

Precisely which is why it is a bit of a risk choosing this path. It will pay off but it won’t be the easiest route.

Agree the student needs to understand the undergrad options, investigate each as much as possible and accurately assess where they are likely to stack up once there.
Two real examples:
3.85 GPA school ranked around 70, flagship in the deep south, science major. Did not get in to UVA in state but did get into VT just did not choose it. With a 3.9 and department honors this student thought med school was in range until started prepping for mcat(premed advising recommends a year off to study!) cannot get above 492, does not fully grasp a lot of the material. One year post graduation and is just starting to realize they are not cut out for it. Would they have been better off being weeded out at a harder school probably. They could have studied something that suits them better.

3.7, but upward trend (3.3 one semester early on), elite, told as a soph to spread out the sciences to help the GPA, knew would have a gap year to take the MCAT after biochem as a senior, did the standard 6weeks prep summer after senior, got 517 first try. Thought it was easy. That score is around the undergrad school average. With the knowledge a gap would be needed they planned and secured NIH year of paid research after undergrad. They already had lots of research at the school. They got into multiple med schools on the list of best-100 hospitals and picked a research med, instate and cheaper for them. Sure they had to give up on chasing the top10 like their 3.9 elite peers did but they realized the instate one they got was probably the one they would have picked anyway because it saves them tons.
TLDR pick premed undergrad according to the student need

Sounds like both of these people had nothing to do other than study for the MCAT after graduation. What about someone who doesn’t want to take a gap year and takes MCAT during junior year, while also working, job shadowing, and researching? Are they viewed the same as people who have an entire year to devote solely to studying and polishing their med school application?

Med schools prefer someone who takes a gap year.

100% false. 35% of my kid’s ivy went to med school with no gap year. The list of schools is very impressive. There are similar top schools on the list with one gap year. For the list with 2or more gap years the med schools are notably less selective. They tell the students gap years are needed for some and chosen for others, Med schools do not have a preference. This ivy does extremely well with over 85% of applicants getting into at least one MD program, 96% if they have above a 3.80. For some students, their application is better with a gap, even for highly selective: ie they got a prestigious fellowship to study abroad for a year in public health after undergrad, but already had top grades Mcat and research/clinical, all the rest. the fellowship ads positively to the resume for a highly selective med school and could help but is not preferred over someone who had a similarly prestigious opportunity that they were able to do during the 4 yrs undergraduate. An extra year of regular research or clinical work if they already had plenty would benefit because it would not anything extra that the applicant did not have

[Anonymous]

*would Not Benefit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At any top school pre med will.be brutal.

premed is brutal everywhere. what makes you think "top schools" are unique?

It’s been covered up thread, classes are more difficult and competition is stiffer.

Statements like this drive me nuts. How do you know exactly? Have you attended all of them?

When you have experience working with multiple premeds who come from many different schools, you start to gather data on what the tests are like, what the syllabus covers, how prepared they are for the MCAT comparing similar SAT scores going into different colleges. The elites in general have much more demanding coursework including the exams(most or all of the grade at elites). The peers add a different layer: when the majority of peers are the kind who were top of the high school, have high scores, love to learn and have very high work ethic/discipline with studies it can be hard to compete against them. When the grading curves are taken into account (80% get Bs and As) it helps but it is not “easy” for most to be above average and get a 3.8+ in that setting.

Precisely which is why it is a bit of a risk choosing this path. It will pay off but it won’t be the easiest route.

Agree the student needs to understand the undergrad options, investigate each as much as possible and accurately assess where they are likely to stack up once there.
Two real examples:
3.85 GPA school ranked around 70, flagship in the deep south, science major. Did not get in to UVA in state but did get into VT just did not choose it. With a 3.9 and department honors this student thought med school was in range until started prepping for mcat(premed advising recommends a year off to study!) cannot get above 492, does not fully grasp a lot of the material. One year post graduation and is just starting to realize they are not cut out for it. Would they have been better off being weeded out at a harder school probably. They could have studied something that suits them better.

3.7, but upward trend (3.3 one semester early on), elite, told as a soph to spread out the sciences to help the GPA, knew would have a gap year to take the MCAT after biochem as a senior, did the standard 6weeks prep summer after senior, got 517 first try. Thought it was easy. That score is around the undergrad school average. With the knowledge a gap would be needed they planned and secured NIH year of paid research after undergrad. They already had lots of research at the school. They got into multiple med schools on the list of best-100 hospitals and picked a research med, instate and cheaper for them. Sure they had to give up on chasing the top10 like their 3.9 elite peers did but they realized the instate one they got was probably the one they would have picked anyway because it saves them tons.
TLDR pick premed undergrad according to the student need

Sounds like both of these people had nothing to do other than study for the MCAT after graduation. What about someone who doesn’t want to take a gap year and takes MCAT during junior year, while also working, job shadowing, and researching? Are they viewed the same as people who have an entire year to devote solely to studying and polishing their med school application?

Med schools prefer someone who takes a gap year.

I don’t think it’s a matter of preferring it, it’s more like the requirements to get in are very hard to squeeze into undergrad now. If your kid does anything other than study, they need the gap year to complete the MCAT and hours in each of the buckets they need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At any top school pre med will.be brutal.

premed is brutal everywhere. what makes you think "top schools" are unique?

It’s been covered up thread, classes are more difficult and competition is stiffer.

Statements like this drive me nuts. How do you know exactly? Have you attended all of them?

When you have experience working with multiple premeds who come from many different schools, you start to gather data on what the tests are like, what the syllabus covers, how prepared they are for the MCAT comparing similar SAT scores going into different colleges. The elites in general have much more demanding coursework including the exams(most or all of the grade at elites). The peers add a different layer: when the majority of peers are the kind who were top of the high school, have high scores, love to learn and have very high work ethic/discipline with studies it can be hard to compete against them. When the grading curves are taken into account (80% get Bs and As) it helps but it is not “easy” for most to be above average and get a 3.8+ in that setting.

Precisely which is why it is a bit of a risk choosing this path. It will pay off but it won’t be the easiest route.

Agree the student needs to understand the undergrad options, investigate each as much as possible and accurately assess where they are likely to stack up once there.
Two real examples:
3.85 GPA school ranked around 70, flagship in the deep south, science major. Did not get in to UVA in state but did get into VT just did not choose it. With a 3.9 and department honors this student thought med school was in range until started prepping for mcat(premed advising recommends a year off to study!) cannot get above 492, does not fully grasp a lot of the material. One year post graduation and is just starting to realize they are not cut out for it. Would they have been better off being weeded out at a harder school probably. They could have studied something that suits them better.

3.7, but upward trend (3.3 one semester early on), elite, told as a soph to spread out the sciences to help the GPA, knew would have a gap year to take the MCAT after biochem as a senior, did the standard 6weeks prep summer after senior, got 517 first try. Thought it was easy. That score is around the undergrad school average. With the knowledge a gap would be needed they planned and secured NIH year of paid research after undergrad. They already had lots of research at the school. They got into multiple med schools on the list of best-100 hospitals and picked a research med, instate and cheaper for them. Sure they had to give up on chasing the top10 like their 3.9 elite peers did but they realized the instate one they got was probably the one they would have picked anyway because it saves them tons.
TLDR pick premed undergrad according to the student need

Sounds like both of these people had nothing to do other than study for the MCAT after graduation. What about someone who doesn’t want to take a gap year and takes MCAT during junior year, while also working, job shadowing, and researching? Are they viewed the same as people who have an entire year to devote solely to studying and polishing their med school application?

Med schools prefer someone who takes a gap year.

Kid just returned from an advising meeting where they said 75-80% of students do a gap year now. Many are doing two.
Its madness.

It depends on the undergrad school. Duke has almost 40% getting in without a gap year, 45% one gap, less than 15% with 2. The med school acceptance list has a high number going to Harvard, UCSF Penn, Duke—tops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At any top school pre med will.be brutal.

premed is brutal everywhere. what makes you think "top schools" are unique?

It’s been covered up thread, classes are more difficult and competition is stiffer.

Statements like this drive me nuts. How do you know exactly? Have you attended all of them?

When you have experience working with multiple premeds who come from many different schools, you start to gather data on what the tests are like, what the syllabus covers, how prepared they are for the MCAT comparing similar SAT scores going into different colleges. The elites in general have much more demanding coursework including the exams(most or all of the grade at elites). The peers add a different layer: when the majority of peers are the kind who were top of the high school, have high scores, love to learn and have very high work ethic/discipline with studies it can be hard to compete against them. When the grading curves are taken into account (80% get Bs and As) it helps but it is not “easy” for most to be above average and get a 3.8+ in that setting.

Precisely which is why it is a bit of a risk choosing this path. It will pay off but it won’t be the easiest route.

Agree the student needs to understand the undergrad options, investigate each as much as possible and accurately assess where they are likely to stack up once there.
Two real examples:
3.85 GPA school ranked around 70, flagship in the deep south, science major. Did not get in to UVA in state but did get into VT just did not choose it. With a 3.9 and department honors this student thought med school was in range until started prepping for mcat(premed advising recommends a year off to study!) cannot get above 492, does not fully grasp a lot of the material. One year post graduation and is just starting to realize they are not cut out for it. Would they have been better off being weeded out at a harder school probably. They could have studied something that suits them better.

3.7, but upward trend (3.3 one semester early on), elite, told as a soph to spread out the sciences to help the GPA, knew would have a gap year to take the MCAT after biochem as a senior, did the standard 6weeks prep summer after senior, got 517 first try. Thought it was easy. That score is around the undergrad school average. With the knowledge a gap would be needed they planned and secured NIH year of paid research after undergrad. They already had lots of research at the school. They got into multiple med schools on the list of best-100 hospitals and picked a research med, instate and cheaper for them. Sure they had to give up on chasing the top10 like their 3.9 elite peers did but they realized the instate one they got was probably the one they would have picked anyway because it saves them tons.
TLDR pick premed undergrad according to the student need

Sounds like both of these people had nothing to do other than study for the MCAT after graduation. What about someone who doesn’t want to take a gap year and takes MCAT during junior year, while also working, job shadowing, and researching? Are they viewed the same as people who have an entire year to devote solely to studying and polishing their med school application?

Med schools prefer someone who takes a gap year.

I don’t think it’s a matter of preferring it, it’s more like the requirements to get in are very hard to squeeze into undergrad now. If your kid does anything other than study, they need the gap year to complete the MCAT and hours in each of the buckets they need.

As others have said 30-40% of top schools have students getting in without gaps. It is doable to have the prereqs done by the end of 6 semesters. Students commonly put 8- 10 hrs a week into research during the semester, summers for more research and clinical experience. There are 14 weeks every summer. 40 hrs a week for 12-14 weeks for the first two summers adds up fast. Plus students usually are involved with community volunteer groups during the semester, 2-10 hrs a week depending. That type of schedule may sound hard to non-physicians but to be blunt it is no different than what the top students did as premeds back in the 90s. Not all the clinic hours and research were listed as required back then, but my ivy pushed us to do all that if we wanted top schools, plus many of us had work study hours in a lab as the research part: on aid we had to WS. Now all schools expect the hours my school encouraged. It really is not that different now. I could not afford more than one week not working during the summers. Many premeds take 4-6 weeks off each summer or only work 20hrs a week. The national acceptance rate was under 40% when my friends and I applied same as now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At any top school pre med will.be brutal.

premed is brutal everywhere. what makes you think "top schools" are unique?

It’s been covered up thread, classes are more difficult and competition is stiffer.

Statements like this drive me nuts. How do you know exactly? Have you attended all of them?

When you have experience working with multiple premeds who come from many different schools, you start to gather data on what the tests are like, what the syllabus covers, how prepared they are for the MCAT comparing similar SAT scores going into different colleges. The elites in general have much more demanding coursework including the exams(most or all of the grade at elites). The peers add a different layer: when the majority of peers are the kind who were top of the high school, have high scores, love to learn and have very high work ethic/discipline with studies it can be hard to compete against them. When the grading curves are taken into account (80% get Bs and As) it helps but it is not “easy” for most to be above average and get a 3.8+ in that setting.

Precisely which is why it is a bit of a risk choosing this path. It will pay off but it won’t be the easiest route.

Agree the student needs to understand the undergrad options, investigate each as much as possible and accurately assess where they are likely to stack up once there.
Two real examples:
3.85 GPA school ranked around 70, flagship in the deep south, science major. Did not get in to UVA in state but did get into VT just did not choose it. With a 3.9 and department honors this student thought med school was in range until started prepping for mcat(premed advising recommends a year off to study!) cannot get above 492, does not fully grasp a lot of the material. One year post graduation and is just starting to realize they are not cut out for it. Would they have been better off being weeded out at a harder school probably. They could have studied something that suits them better.

3.7, but upward trend (3.3 one semester early on), elite, told as a soph to spread out the sciences to help the GPA, knew would have a gap year to take the MCAT after biochem as a senior, did the standard 6weeks prep summer after senior, got 517 first try. Thought it was easy. That score is around the undergrad school average. With the knowledge a gap would be needed they planned and secured NIH year of paid research after undergrad. They already had lots of research at the school. They got into multiple med schools on the list of best-100 hospitals and picked a research med, instate and cheaper for them. Sure they had to give up on chasing the top10 like their 3.9 elite peers did but they realized the instate one they got was probably the one they would have picked anyway because it saves them tons.
TLDR pick premed undergrad according to the student need

Sounds like both of these people had nothing to do other than study for the MCAT after graduation. What about someone who doesn’t want to take a gap year and takes MCAT during junior year, while also working, job shadowing, and researching? Are they viewed the same as people who have an entire year to devote solely to studying and polishing their med school application?

Med schools prefer someone who takes a gap year.

I don’t think it’s a matter of preferring it, it’s more like the requirements to get in are very hard to squeeze into undergrad now. If your kid does anything other than study, they need the gap year to complete the MCAT and hours in each of the buckets they need.

As others have said 30-40% of top schools have students getting in without gaps. It is doable to have the prereqs done by the end of 6 semesters. Students commonly put 8- 10 hrs a week into research during the semester, summers for more research and clinical experience. There are 14 weeks every summer. 40 hrs a week for 12-14 weeks for the first two summers adds up fast. Plus students usually are involved with community volunteer groups during the semester, 2-10 hrs a week depending. That type of schedule may sound hard to non-physicians but to be blunt it is no different than what the top students did as premeds back in the 90s. Not all the clinic hours and research were listed as required back then, but my ivy pushed us to do all that if we wanted top schools, plus many of us had work study hours in a lab as the research part: on aid we had to WS. Now all schools expect the hours my school encouraged. It really is not that different now. I could not afford more than one week not working during the summers. Many premeds take 4-6 weeks off each summer or only work 20hrs a week. The national acceptance rate was under 40% when my friends and I applied same as now.

Having kids going through it now (and a physician husband) my theory is the ivy grads are getting in partly because of their connections. Everyone that is working in my daughter's lab has a connection somehow and is getting their names on published papers. So I think it's likely a self selecting pool of kids with more money and more connections also contributing to it. I think it's more than just good time management skills. It's also access to personal tutors for the MCAT for the wealthier.
I disagree that med school admissions are the same as they used to be. They are far more competitive.

[Anonymous]

Based on my own going through it at an Ivy and their peer group it isn’t from connections. They all skipped intro bio/chem and so are taking high level courses early on. All are doing many, many clinical and research hours during the school year on top of holding leadership positions and volunteering. There is great opportunity for all of that so don’t know how that compares. Summers are spent adding to already big number of hours. My guess is it’s a proven track record of doing it all at once versus the ones that focus on classes and then use summers to get hours.

[Anonymous]

In quarter system schools like Chicago, it's really difficult to get lots of hours during the quarters because it's fast paced. Summers or gap years are perfect for this purpose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Based on my own going through it at an Ivy and their peer group it isn’t from connections. They all skipped intro bio/chem and so are taking high level courses early on. All are doing many, many clinical and research hours during the school year on top of holding leadership positions and volunteering. There is great opportunity for all of that so don’t know how that compares. Summers are spent adding to already big number of hours. My guess is it’s a proven track record of doing it all at once versus the ones that focus on classes and then use summers to get hours.

🙄 yes, they’re just so special.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on my own going through it at an Ivy and their peer group it isn’t from connections. They all skipped intro bio/chem and so are taking high level courses early on. All are doing many, many clinical and research hours during the school year on top of holding leadership positions and volunteering. There is great opportunity for all of that so don’t know how that compares. Summers are spent adding to already big number of hours. My guess is it’s a proven track record of doing it all at once versus the ones that focus on classes and then use summers to get hours.

🙄 yes, they’re just so special.

lol they are delusional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on my own going through it at an Ivy and their peer group it isn’t from connections. They all skipped intro bio/chem and so are taking high level courses early on. All are doing many, many clinical and research hours during the school year on top of holding leadership positions and volunteering. There is great opportunity for all of that so don’t know how that compares. Summers are spent adding to already big number of hours. My guess is it’s a proven track record of doing it all at once versus the ones that focus on classes and then use summers to get hours.

🙄 yes, they’re just so special.

Not what I said at all, I was merely pointing it out it wasn’t “connections” and no effort as suggested prior?