Selecting a Premed Undergraduate Program

By Elizabeth LaScala, PhD

July 9, 2020

Like all educational opportunities, premed programs vary in terms of focus, quality, and the support they provide students. While some of these differences are reasonably intuitive (e.g., smaller class sizes give you a more personalized learning experience), other differences are counter intuitive. For example, attending an elite, highly selective school may not be in your best interest.

For medical admissions, earning a high GPA, especially in medical school prerequisite coursework, is much more important than attending a “brand-name” school. It is imperative that pre-med students get strong grades, preferably all A grades in the 5-6 prerequisite courses for medical school, including organic chemistry.

Achieving a high GPA is easier if a student is a “big fish in a small pond” so to speak. This concept applies to the academic rigor of the program but also to the physical size of the school. Generally, large public research universities do not have as many personalized resources, like professor office hours and a medical admissions committee available to students to help them to succeed. They also have larger class sizes and often a tougher grading scale. Regarding the latter, medical schools do not take the rigor of the college nor its reputation into account – they simply assess the prerequisite grades and MCAT scores.

The Role of MCAT Scores

Since the screening process for medical admissions does not take into consideration the rigor of the undergraduate program or how difficult it was to earn a high GPA, it can be said that MCAT scores are used to ‘validate’ a student’s GPA. For example, a high GPA from a lesser-known school is affirmed when a student scores well on their MCAT. It proves that the applicant knows the subject matter well and their academic success is not limited to the confines of undergraduate coursework. Contrarily, if a student is unable to score well on the MCAT, even with a high GPA, the low score is a red flag to medical schools. As such, medical school applicants must take the MCAT very seriously and aim to score well the first time. Unlike standardized tests for college admissions, it is not wise to plan to take the MCAT multiple times. My advice is to take the required coursework, set aside 16 weeks for focused study, and get your best score the first time. The only times I recommend retesting is a) if you are certain you can achieve a higher score, or b) if you have older scores that many schools you want to apply to will not accept.

Access to other important pre-med requirements

High school students selecting a college must take into consideration the opportunities they will have access to through their premed track undergraduate program. If research opportunities are reserved for graduate students, as they often are in jumbo sized public research universities, then undergraduates may end up having a critical gap on their resume. Further, some medical admissions committees at the undergraduate level focus their support on applicants who excel in the early premed coursework at their institution. They may counsel (directly or sometimes less directly) lower achieving students to pursue a different health profession or aim for a research career. Be sure you have the support you need and the resources you require to assemble a strong profile. Ranked ordered, the main factors are grades in premed coursework, complimentary MCAT scores, clinical experience, volunteer experience (teaching in any capacity carries great weight), and research experience; the latter is absolutely critical for those who plan to apply to the highly competitive MD/PhD programs.