Question about undergrad....?

Question

Hi!

I am planning on becoming a doctor and after completing my undergrad, I know that I am going to med school. I am a senior in high school, and as that frightful time of college apps approaches, I am not sure where I should apply. I am a pretty good student, and I got a 32 on my ACT. Should I apply to a small school or even a state school since they are cheaper (I was thinking UNC-Chapel Hill or OSU or U of Michigan), or should I try and get into a really good university like Vanderbilt or Cornell or something for my undergrad?

Answer 1

Though it sounds cliche, your college experience may very well end up being the best four years of your life. I know that as a senior in high school you are probably experiencing a lot of uncertainty in the college application process. It's sometimes hard to sift through all the information out there about which schools are the best, the cheapest, the most fun, etc. Thus, to keep it simple, I will say you should pick the college where you feel you will be the most happy.

The reality is, doing well at pretty much any decent college will give you a shot at getting into medical school. Sure, Ivy League schools and Vanderbilt look great on paper. However, I would argue it's better to be at the top of your class at OSU or UNC - Chapel Hill than to be just another bright student at Harvard. If you mesh better with a state school or a small, liberal-arts college, go there! Your happiness in college far outweighs a brand-name degree.

Another thing to consider if you're sure you want to go to medical school is what pre-med programs and resources your prospective colleges offer. Some universities are better than others at getting their students into medical school; this is definitely something to consider. In my own experience, the pre-med program at Boston College was a big selling point for me, causing me to apply there and ultimately choose to do my undergraduate studies there. The numbers showed BC students had a high rate of acceptance to medical school (compared to the national average) if they completed the pre-med requirements and ended up with about a 3.5 GPA and decent MCAT scores. In addition, BC has a great program with Tufts University School of Medicine that allows students to apply to Tufts during their sophmore year, well before they even take the MCAT! If succesful in the application process, BC students are accepted to Tufts during the summer between their sophmore and junior year (Over a year before normal admissions take place)! Look for programs like this that may fast-track your road to medical school. I got into Tufts via this program, and it saved me countless hours of headaches studying for the MCAT and filling out the AMCAS (med school application), and 1,000s of dollars in applications/plane flights for interviews.

The bottom line; however, is that you should definitely choose the school at which you think you're going to be most happy. Leave worrying about medical school to when you get to college, and try to find a place that fits your personality, lifestyle, and budget. Ask yourself where you want to live, if you want to root for major athletic teams, what type of student body do you want to be a part of, etc. Sometimes these issues are overlooked and undervalued when compared to the prestige and brand-name factors. Finally, enjoy your senior year of high school and get excited for what very well may be the time of your life!

Good luck!

Answer 2

You should tour some schools and find out what matters more to you. Are you comfortable in a big school--thousands of students and classes of 300? Or do you like more individual attention of a smaller school?

I think you should stay in state as it is cheaper and your undergrad doesn't matter--just where you go to med school. And in order to do that you have to get incredibly good grades. So you need to go to a school that you feel very comfortable that teaches in the same method that you learn best in.

Your GPA matters a lot, as well as where you live and if you are a minority. Therefore a school may not accept you --based on you--if they have already taken a lot of people from your area. They may accept someone with a lower GPA if that person represents a minority they are lacking.

I think it is in your best interests to apply to at least 5 schools--and I recommend more than that. Then after you have been accepted you can make that choice. But you'd hate to only apply Ivy league and then have to go to a lesser school b/c you didn't apply to enough schools. Look at Princetons school rankings too--they have that book at the library. It rates many things that might interest you--how active the student body is, athletics, general atmosphere. Things to thing about is the school's environment. Michigan is very cold--much much colder than UNC-CH. So if so many month so snow may make you depressed, and make it difficult to study....then again I know many students who went to schools close to a beach and had to transfer b/c they couldn't study on sunny beautiful days.

Picking a school all depends on you and your personality--and after you get in you should definitely do campus tours to get a feel for it. However, once the decision is made, it's not permanent. You can always transfer if you don't like the school!

Answer 3

An undergrad is a student who has not graduated with a bachelor's degree yet. Most undergrads are 18-25 but nontraditional students may be older yet still considered undergraduates. Graduate students are the students that have already graduated with a bachelor's degree and are in pursuit of their master's or higher leveled classes.