Pre Medicine at Harvard
Mark
A Word to Pre-Meds
Last Reviewed: Fall 1995
You do the math. 45,000 applicants. 16,000 openings. Last year, quite a
few pre-meds did not go to medical school.
Yes, but this is Harvard, you say. Here, everyone who wants to go to med
school gets into med school.
Au contraire.
A Harvard degree does not guarantee a chance at a doctor of medicine
degree. Competition is fierce; some students at Harvard are lucky and
thankful that they were accepted at their respective state medical
schools. Take the case of a member of the class of 1995 who had a 3.7
GPA and a 35 on the MCAT. He applied to 25 schools... and got into his
state school only.
And then there were the not-so-lucky. One student with a 3.35 GPA, a
relatively low but not horrendous MCAT score, research experience and
volunteer work, applied to 27 medical schools, including her state
school. She's working in consulting at the moment and not by choice.
The bleak outlook hangs like a dark storm cloud over the dreary life of
a pre-med student. Nevermind the optimistic advice given by OCS or other
glossy self-help books. If you want to go to medical school, you have to
work hard, sacrifice much of your time at college and constantly worry
about how well you stack up against the competition.
Of course, there are a few students out there who lead charmed lives.
You know who they are: the Westinghouse finalists who were presidential
scholars and worked two jobs in high school, then came to Harvard, took
five courses a semester, worked 10 hours a week, published two
scientific papers, volunteered overnight at the homeless shelter and
scored above 40 on the MCAT. And, oh, yes, they rowed, too. All power to
Dr. God's chosen few. But you, the average Harvard pre-med, will find
out what knowing these fellow students can do to your self-esteem.
The standard pre-med courses are poorly taught, particularly in the
biological sciences. The Chem 17/27 sequence often taken by pre-meds
does not even cover 'infrared spectroscopy or nuclear magnetic
resonance, two topics that appear on the MCAT. And the growing number of
students in science has led to curriculum changes, with
less-than-stellar results.
Advising is haphazard, to say the least. Some advisers are quite
cynical. Others are Harvard Medical School students who have a skewed
perception of things (do you know what kind of student gets into HMS
these days to preserve the "diversity" Harvard is proud of?). Some House
pre-med committees advise those with a GPA of below 3.4 not to bother to
apply.
Of course, if you really want to go to medical school and are willing to
make sacrifices, you can. Some advice: Keep your grades up. That means
at least a 3.5 or 3.6. Talk to your house pre-med adviser early-like in
your sophomore year. Take the MCAT during the summer, when you don't
have classes interfering with your reviewing. And may you have the best
of luck. You'll need all of it.
Darccity
medicine, MBA, etc.), should avoid colleges with reputations as preparing
people for these schools as undergrads. The most common class question there
is "will this be on the exam?" Intellectual discussions and "finding yourself"
takes a backseat to a grade grubber atmosphere. Check the stats on the percent
going to med and law schools before you apply. Another givaway is if biology
is the leading major. These majors are seldom interested in devoting their
talents to research (unfortunately). If you are looking for an thoughtful and
nurturing environment, opt for places that crow about the high percentage who
go on for research-based graduate education: Masters and PhDs in academic and
public policy areas.