After a lot of mulling over whether to pursue med school, I have decided to do it with the goal of taking the MCAT in Jan, 2015 before the changes hit.
I’ve been doing an analysis of potential public schools to do my pre-reqs, Bio/Chem/Organic Chem, Physics and have the following choices based on space availability and listed their pros/cons.
I’m trying to decide if the qualitative difference between schools will make much of a difference in my eventual med school application (with a focus on allopathic schools).
I was hoping that some of you might provide some insight to help me make a final decision.
Nationally ranked top-50 university (ranked in the 40s). Pros: More in-depth teaching of material, better reputation, potential access to research since this is a research university. Cons: Extremely large class sizes, tests will be more difficult, costs will be higher because I’m going to have to live there part-time as the commute would be a bit extreme.
Thoughts: Since I wouldn’t be an official student in their program, professors may not be interested in taking me on for any research projects, so that pro may be totally negated. As for the tests being more difficult, that shouldn’t sway me at all since I’m going to need to work hard for the MCAT anyways, so I might as well face more difficult tests in my classes.
Middle-ranged state university and Lesser-ranged state university.
Pros for both: A’s are going to be easier, I won’t have to relocate part-time. Cons: Lack of depth in teaching material may severely handicap me for the MCAT. Reputations are not good.
Thoughts: I could supplement the lack of in-depth material through my own studying.
The lesser-ranged state university is extremely close to where I live, the middle-ranged one is an hour drive away. I’m not sure if the driving is even worth it or not.
With all this said and assuming that I can rock the MCAT, do you think the reputation of the school where I did my pre-reqs will matter much to med schools? Any other thoughts you guys might want to share?
Go to a school that you can do well at. That includes not worrying about money, commuting or any other life stresses.
The level of the teaching/material doesn’t matter - every school is different anyway - it’s all about what YOU put into it, to prepare you for the MCAT.
Thanks Doc Gray, I am struggling with somewhat the same questions Galenus has about applying to a post-bacc or DIYing it. I love my DIY state school (services, price, location, campus). I’m doing well so far and feel I can just stay put, continue researching and learning on my own to prep me for MCAT. I could also separately take an MCAT prep course vs the a post bacc.
Go to a school that you can do well at. That includes not worrying about money, commuting or any other life stresses.
The level of the teaching/material doesn't matter - every school is different anyway - it's all about what YOU put into it, to prepare you for the MCAT.
Good luck!
ditto to what the Good Doctor Gray has said
The performance in school is magnitudes more important than any perceived weight or prestige that a school may have. Students should go to the best school that they can do well in.
It should be noted not only does the prestige factor get WAY MORE weight than it should, you have the other issue of competition of the students in the program. Increase academic competition in large courses filled with highly neurotic/OCD premeds gunning for an A makes it that much more difficult to earn a good grade for yourself.
The best example I can think of recently was an SDN post where a younger student was doing extremely well (3.8+) at a medium level state school where he had easy personal access to faculty and some research and paid state tuition yet wanted desperately to transfer to cornell where he self-admittedly could get a 3.5 and have some 2x the debt/costs. In the end I dont think we convinced him it was a very stupid move
Thanks for the responses everyone. It has been helpful. I decided to go with the state-school right around from where I live. What Doc Gray said about minimizing life’s stresses resonates with me. Also, what gonnif said makes sense as well. I might have better faculty access at a less competitive schools.
I’ll keep you guys posted on my journey. Going to start a new thread about scheduling soon…