For premed, I would push for a LAC. My DD is finishing at one and will be headed to med school with no gap year. Smaller classes, much closer relationships with professors, lots of research opportunities without having to compete with grad students, wonderful premed committee with personalized attention are just some of the benefits of a LAC for premeds. Having a hospital affiliated with the school is irrelevant for premeds.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would a pre-med undergrad ever have a need to access a teaching hospital? The pre-med emphasis will be on core sciences and not actual medicine.

The 1950s is calling you.

-1 You're wrong. You're describing what people at big med focused schools have to do to get in to stand out among your peers. It's kind of like being in a top high school, the stakes just keep going up in number of APs, EC's etc. because you're comparing to each other. But if you go to a small LAC, get excellent grades, get some med experience, score great on the MCAT you can get in. I know people who have done it in the past 5 years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not attend a hospital affiliated flagship public which also has programs in: nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy, occupational therapy.

You would be competing against all of those students in the pre-med science courses.

If you access to doctors who are doing cutting edge work and have the best technology -thst is research opportunities in areas of medicine you’ve never heard about. That out you ahead of the run-of-the-mill slac pre-med student

Anonymous wrote:Why not attend a hospital affiliated flagship public which also has programs in: nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy, occupational therapy.

You would be competing against all of those students in the pre-med science courses.

Just a couple of data points, but UCLA's pre-med acceptance rate to medical school is is about 50%, only a bit higher than the national average. Washington and Lee's pre-med acceptance rate is about 90%, which is on par with Ivy League schools.

https://mededits.com/premed/ucla-premed/#:~:text=UCLA%20Acceptance%20Rates%20to%20Medical,higher%20than%20the%20national%20one.

https://www.wlu.edu/academics/areas-of-study/health-professions/#:~:text=W%26L%20has%20an%20excellent%20record,schools%20from%20W%26L%20secured%20placement.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS graduated from an SLAC and is now a physician. He completed shadowing, research and volunteering during the summers and breaks. It can be done.

You should put in graduation year for reference. Med school admissions has changed a lot in the last few years. It's shocking what it takes now.

please explain?

Nobody is shocked. It has been this way for a long time.

Percentage of applicants accepted to at least 1 medical school has been about 40% for a long time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS graduated from an SLAC and is now a physician. He completed shadowing, research and volunteering during the summers and breaks. It can be done.

You should put in graduation year for reference. Med school admissions has changed a lot in the last few years. It's shocking what it takes now.

please explain?

Nobody is shocked. It has been this way for a long time.

ALOT of posters on this forum are clearly operating on what it was like years ago to get in to medical school. So I’d disagree. Maybe shocked isn’t the best word but there are a lot of clueless posts here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:About 95% of kids who start premed end up switching. Choose the school where she'll be happiest if she decides not to be premed.

If you are serious about medicine, you probably also want to choose a school that doesn't dissuade pre-meds through cutthroat attitudes, weed-out grading, poor advising, and difficulty in getting a recommendation.

+1 Our country needs doctors and ends up importing a lot of doctors trained outside the US. We need an overhaul of med school and med school admissions. But until then, if your kid wants pre-med, go to a school that supports pre-med very well for all its candidates AND has good back-up options if it doesn't work out.

Yes my pre-med kid will be targeting LACs for this reason. I found 500-person lecture courses taught by not-so-great professors absolute misery and I want DC to have a more enjoyable learning experience and get to know his professors. No weed-out classes either!