Reply to Why do top US universities weed out most pre-med kids & then we import foreign MDs?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am one of the "weeded out" Duke undergrads who dropped pre-med.  Wow you guys are harsh!  Honestly, I struggled with depression in college and was unhappy at Duke and was even more miserable in pre med courses and did poorly.  I was so unaccustomed to flailing so miserably and it seemed like everyone around me seemed so brilliant and was happy and doing awesome (although that wasn't true!).  If I could do it all over again I would have majored in something less rigorous at Duke, tried to graduate in 3 years, [b]and then taken my science courses at an easier school. [/b] I think sometimes we have different capacities at different times in our lives.  For my own child, my advice would be that a job is a job and not who you are, no matter how prestigious or lucrative it is.  [b]My family pushed me so hard and made everything so much worse.[/b]  Even now I think my family perceives me as a failure for going to such a prestigious college and failing to go to medical school.  That's hurtful to me, honestly.  I went to a top law school on scholarship and graduated with no debt and have a great job now.  Everything turned out really well, and yet I suppose I will always wonder what if...[/quote]

So, you couldn't do premed courses because those courses are "harder" @ Duke? Maybe med school wasn't meant to be. [/quote]

Exactly. Med schools are going to notice if you do poorly in your science classes - which could very well have happened in the community college classes as well.  You can’t hide a lack of science aptitude on the intense MCAT’s either.
Why have regret? [/quote]

I knew more than a few students who realized they could not compete in science classes at Duke and took them at less rigorous schools. [b] I don't think anyone could tell you the level of competition and rigor at Duke vs. some random school are the same[/b].  I am jealous of their savvy, not regretful.  I eventually realized I needed to make things work for ME, which is how I made some good choices and positioned myself much better than most of the posters on this board.  You have to learn from mistakes.

But I think it's silly to think our system rewards only aptitude- it rewards savvy and parents who can pay $$$$.  [/quote]

But that's why you also need MCAT score. It "normalizes" the playing field for everyone. If Duke kids are truly smarter/courses harder/better prepared than typical state Us, their MCAT scores will show and US med schools will be full of Duke kids. And no state U kids will be able to go to decent medical schools, right? [/quote]

I don't think that the kids who drop out of pre-med are not getting as far as the MCAT.  This is not some sort of national tragedy- maybe they do lack aptitude, maybe they changed their minds.  Everyone *I* discussed it with said the science courses outside of Duke were MUCH easier.  Maybe they are making that up.  Some of them are doctors now.  This is totally anecdotal and maybe you are right.[/quote]

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