suggestions for college for a future pre-med student?

what are some good colleges for me? i want to be pre-med and major in biology but i dont have a clue about college! any suggestions?

i have a 4.2 gpa and am involved in TONS of extracurriculars. i do varsity tennis [4 yr letterman] and am captain. we're a great team and i came 2nd in the state my freshman year and won the state this year. i also won the sectional and qualified for states individually this year. i also do usta and am a eucharistic minister and server. some clubs i am in include key club, earth club, and a church organization. i am also in my youth group at my church and volunteer at food drives and plan charities for a day care in the philippines that my family sponsors. i am also going on a medical mission in the philippines this summer.

for my ACT and SAT scores.. ACT i have not taken yet. and the SAT i got a 710 on writing and low 600s on both reading and math. i am planning on taking this a few more times so maybe i can get these up..

if anyone has ANY suggestions it would be greatly appreciated! and i am also debating if i should play college tennis as well. i think i am good enough for D2 and have already been recruited for D3 but im not too sure.. thank you so much if you read all of this!

xoxo Mia :)

What state are you from?  If you can't get a scholarship to a school maybe an instate college is better usually cheaper tuition.

AZ has some very good universities for premed.  And the Uof A in Tucson has a very good med school.

I don' know anything about colleges - just community college

First thing, don't focus just on biology.  Everybody and their nephew thinks you have to be a biology major to get into med school and that's wrong.  I just reviewed some of my first year classmates and here were their prior activities

Paramedic, Army officer, Teacher, Pre-law, Engineer, animal husbandry, biophysics, philosopy, anatomy, and in my case physiology.

Remember, there are more applicants than positions, and even once obtained, not everyone makes it through the entire four years, so make sure whatever your major is, is something you like and can apply to the real world or to further training.  In my case my backup plan was teaching.

Then once you decide the major, look at the colleges you think will help you in that area and how they rank among med school applicant success.

yeah, you can major in anything &still get into med school as long as you do the required classes.BUT a good major for getting into med is biochem.

I second Marc, major in something that you can use and you like. College is a great opportunity to learn stuff you'll never encounter again. 

Second, don't spend too much since med school will set you back >$150,000.

I second Marc, major in something that you can use and you like. College is a great opportunity to learn stuff you'll never encounter again. 

Second, don't spend too much since med school will set you back >$150,000.

Ahahaha...I will warn you about biochemistry - it is a hard, difficult subject. I suggest you pick a major you like instead of going with biochemistry because it usually overlaps with all the required courses for premed.

Unless you really, really like studying metabolic pathways, protein structure, with loads of time-intensive labs mixed with long, boring, lab reports (oh my god, I still remember deriving error equations that may have been pages long), explaining why your experiment didn't go right (they never do), don't be a biochemistry major.

Well - you don't necessarily have to put in all that work, but if you want a high GPA, you'll slave away most your college career like I did as a biochem major.

thanks for all of your replies :)

well i guess i just wanted to know some colleges with a good pre med program because i know for sure that i want to do that. i come from a family of many doctors but they all went to OSU. i was just wondering what else is out there because i might want to look at other places to see how i like them.. i know that its a lot of hard work because ive seen my family go through it but they are all really supportive of me.

and as for my major, well biology is my favorite subject lol. and i absolutely love it! i mean im sure i can look into other things too but i like protein structures and labs! haha whatadork ;)

Remember too that there are tons of med schools in the US and it can be hard to figure out which one you will wind up at.  So don't tailor your undergrad to a specific school and assume you will go there. There has been an application "arms race" in recent years and people are having to apply to dozens of schools.

Basically, try NOT to do the "pre-med thing", meaning "put your life on hold and only do things that you think will get you into med school". Follow your passions (embrace the dorkness), maintain a balanced life, get excellent grades and a good MCAT score and you will be fine. (It's easier to get in in the US than in Canada). ;)

There is a lot of flexibility in what you can do in undergrad and still go to med school - as long as you include all the prerequisites.  As for extracurricular activities, do what interests you and get involved - it's better to organize and run something non-med-related than to just be a participant in something med-related. And med schools sort of get sick of the med-related ECs, often they like something unique. Seems that pretty much all the applicants volunteer at hospitals, spend summers in developing countries, and play an instrument, y'know? It sounds like you already do the things that you like and I'd recommend keeping them up.  But be prepared for college to throw you for a loop and possibly help you find other passions, too.

Good luck!

Out of curiosity, what are the top 5 specialties you think you would like to do once done with medical school?

Dermatology

Plastic surgery

Hand surgery

Oral surgery

Anesthesiology

personally i think i would love to go into any of these fields. and yes im aware of how long its going to take and how it has crazy hours sometime, but id def love waking up to my job every day :)

trustwomen:: and i know that ive always wanted to be some sort of a doctor since kindergarten. lol what kind of weird child thinks like that jk lol. but i do also have a life too don't get me wrong. lol yes im the typical asian and i play 3 different instruments and tennis. but i also like to do art and ive won a few local contests and i do have a lot of friends lol. i like to dance and sing too. but ya i def will try out some things in college- maybe some cool electives :)

With the exception of anesthesia, you seem to be structure oriented, so you probably would get more intrested in intergrated or cellular biology, perhaps even bioengineering if you want to be challenged.

Here is the bioengineering site from my alma mater as an example of courses offered.

http://www.bioen.uiuc.edu/

Anesthesiology, on the other hand is more function than form, so something like my major of physiology would be more appropriate.

hey that sounds really cool! thanks a lot :)

i will def look into it! so what did you major in jw?

Original Post by helloximhc:

hey that sounds really cool! thanks a lot :)

i will def look into it! so what did you major in jw?

 What is jw?

My B.S. was physiology, my residency was pediatrics

oh it means just wondering haha

but thats really neat :) thanks for the advice too. i will def have to bring it up when i have the whole family over.

Drop me a message if you have any other questions

Hey - I graduated from medical school last year. For undergrad I went to a small liberal arts school on the east coast and majored in philosophy and literature. I took all my premed classes after I graduated. That worked awesomely for me. I could have my cake and eat it too!

Everyone applying has great grades and knows their kreb's cycle. I think what helped me was being myself and not a cookie-cut-out. However, once I got to med school I did have to seek out other non-cookie people to mingle with. (yes, with whom to mingle, i was a lit major, but I write like I talk, so :-P)

Anyway, the point of college is to try out things, take different classes, explore your interests, med school is where you'll hone your medical skills. So don't sweat it and go where you think you'll be happy! :)

Edit to add: you can message me too if you have questions

thanks marc! fosho i will :)

and congrats punkybrew! thats really cool that you majored in that. im an english person myself lol. its probably one of my best subjects. i am taking british literature and i absolutely LOVE it! but ya and i will def message you if i think of any more questions