How to Choose a College as a Premed Student
Categories: US Education News
Each spring, high school students who want to become doctors have a tough decision: choosing which college to attend. While location, costs and rankings are important considerations, there are other factors to weigh that contribute to a great college experience.
Here are some tips in four areas to help high school students choose a college suited for their medical school aspirations:
- Medical school admissions data.
- Advising and mentorship.
- Majors and academic opportunities.
- Premed opportunities.
- Medical School Admissions Data
Colleges and universities collect data about their students’ success on graduate school admissions, including how many of their students applied to medical school, acceptance rates and where students matriculated. This information can often be found at the university’s career center or health professions advising office.
Advising and Mentorship
First, does the college have a formal career center and health professions advising office? What role does the latter play in helping students during their premed journey? For example, some medical school advisers will write a committee letter – a school-sponsored letter of recommendation – to med schools and will work closely with their students throughout the application cycle.
Majors and Academic Opportunities
Most premed students entering college anticipate majoring in sciences. Therefore, look to see what science majors are offered at each university. Some universities offer only more traditional science majors such as biology and chemistry. Other universities have more interdisciplinary majors such as human biology, public health, nutritional science and health public policy, which examine health more broadly.