A few questions about college?

Question

I'm going to be a junior this coming fall so I just wanted to get a head start with college things.

First off, is pre-med considered a major?

And are these colleges good for pre-med:

Brandeis University

Vanderbilt University

Fordham University

University of Vermont

University of Rochester

Stony Brook University

and DePauw University

(I prefer colleges that are NOT in New York)

Answer 1

Basically to get into med school you need the following:

A BA/BS degree and the American Medical Association pre-reqs:

1 yr bio,phys, chem, Ochem, w/lab and 1 yr calc and stats. Alot of people do a bio degree or soemthing science related.

But I also know philosophy and history majors who got in as well.

Also you need great letters of Rec., Experience in a hospital (find a training hospital and shadow or volunteer there) and volunteer in school organizations.

Also you need MCAT scores of 40 and above and a 3.5-3.8 GPA for M.D. programs

You can apply to D.O programs as well and they accept lower GPA's and MCAT scores.

Most people take MCAT classes at KAplan or wherever to help improve their score.

When you apply to med school, apply to 10. You only need to get into 1. If you don't get in then go to an AMA approved post-bach school and apply the following year to DO or MD schools and you will probably get in.

Med school is 2 yrs bookwork and 2 yrs of hellish rotations of 60-90hr work weeks in some nasty environments. You will seriously want to quit. Then after that its 3-7 yrs in residency depending on your specialty.

Med school will pay for your housig so you wont have to work unless you want to. This is done through loans.

In residency you will make between 40-65k a year and work alot of hours. Then after residency your pay increases alot but you still work alot of hours.

Its a demanding job and I advise everyone to seriously consider this path.

Some people choose to go into pharmacy for the better hours and very generous pay.

Whatever you do make sure you keep the grades up.

Visit the studentdocnetwork online (google it) and go the the forums for detailed answers

good luck!

Answer 2

Fordham, Rochester and Stony brook are all ny colleges..not sure about some of the others, i go to a SUNY though..its not a bad system. and yeah pre-med is a major..depends where u go..not sure about those places though sorry

Answer 3

Pre-med isn't usually considered a major*. It's a course of advisement. It gives you access to the pre-med advisor, who will help you pick the classes you need to fulfill the requirements for med school, who will help you prepare for the med school admissions process, and etc. But you can major in whatever you'd like. Literally. You can major in biology, English, history, business... even music, so long as you *also* do the pre-med coursework.

If you want to get into a US medical school, you want to go to one of the top 100-150 or so colleges and universities in the US. The schools you list would work. In the case of each one, you can ask them what percentage of their applicants to US med schools actually get in. This is a stat that the colleges track, and it can be telling. In fact, sometimes slightly lower ranked schools do a better job - Holy Cross gets in a higher percentage than BC does, for example.

If you prefer colleges not in NY, based on the list of schools you've given, you may like: Tufts, Lehigh, Case Western, BU, BC, Rhodes College, and Kenyon.

*There are a few schools where you can actually major in "pre-med", but I don't advise this. After all, only about 25% of med school applicants get into med school. What if you do not? What could you possibly do with a major like "pre-med" on your resume? At least if you majored in bio, or English, you could find a fit with employers. But "pre-med"?

Answer 4

pre med is not considered a major at some universities, it just means you want to be a doctor and then they should give you a list of different medical subjects to study and major in, but in some colleges, like for instance UV and SBU, it is considered a major. fordham is good but not really that known for churning out great med students, its better for law and psychology. all the other ones, besdies UV, SBU and UR are great pre-med schools with great programs