I've decided that I want to go to Harvard Medical School. What qualifications will it take to get in? Will I have to go to a private ass Ivy League school for undergrad? Also, would it help if I double major or earned a master's degree before applying?
coach fat titty wrote:
I've decided that I want to go to Harvard Medical School. What qualifications will it take to get in? Will I have to go to a private ass Ivy League school for undergrad? Also, would it help if I double major or earned a master's degree before applying?
Know in advance that there are many extremely high profile medical schools out there, and that even if you don't get into Harvard, getting into any medical school is a victory in itself.
That being said, you will GREATLY increase your chances of getting in by doing your undergrad work at an Ivy, particularly Yale or Harvard.
As far as qualifications, A GPA as close to 4.0 as possible, really hammering the MCATs, and clincal experience are almost a must. Research during your undergrad years (particularly getting published) is definitely helpful as well.
It also helps to get really glowing letters of recommendations from highly regarded, nationally recognized faculty, or even Harvard Medical alums themselves.
And remember that you don't necessarily need to be a Bio major to get in . . . I know Business, Finance, Computer Science, even English Majors that attended medical school and are now physicians.
Most of all, good luck, and be sure that you are willing to sacrifice the better part of a decade after you finish your undergrad work in order to make your dreams come true.
All the best.
how do you gain clinical experience and get involved in reasearch as an undergrad??? EXPLAIN THAT SHIT TO ME!!!!
marijuologist wrote:
how do you gain clinical experience and get involved in reasearch as an undergrad??? EXPLAIN THAT SHIT TO ME!!!!
Internships primarily. You may only end up being a colonoscope cleaner at a hospital, but any experience in the medical field is better than none. Write letters to physicians, hospitals, etc, with a copy of your resume and your intentions. Hopefully at least some in the profession will recognize a future med student and lend you a helping hand, especially looking back and thinking about people who did so for they themselves in the past.
As far as research, this is an often unappetizing endeavor, I certainly stay away from it as much as possible. Some students, however, enjoy this type of thing. It seems to be easier to get into with smaller private schools. Basically, you can opt to develop your own research projects/experiments, or try to get in on some research that faculty members at your school are doing. Again, your job might consist of cleaning petri dishes, but at least it's a start.
A friend of mine was published twice during undergrad for some biology research, yet during most of his interviews with Med Schools, they interviewers cared little about that and were MUCH more interested in the fact that he had been a student trainer for several of his university's athletic teams sine his freshman year. They greatly valued this as a great way for students to develop one on one skills in a caregiving environment.
Just some food for thought.
Not only do you need to get the highest marks at a top end University you will also need to do a little politicin.. Who you know and who you get reccomendations from can make all the difference.. Go For It... Good luck...
half the students are Harvard Med school went to either harvard or yale undergrad.
same with yale medical school.
just so you know.
marijuologist wrote:
how do you gain clinical experience and get involved in reasearch as an undergrad??? EXPLAIN THAT SHIT TO ME!!!!
Go around to labs conducting clinical research and tell the PI you're interested in working part-time in their lab. Lots of researchers need reliable student assistants. If you're a good worker, you might be get your name on a paper or two and a nice letter of recommendation from the PI.
1. Harvard University (MA)
100 4.9 4.8 3.79 11.7 4.9% $1,167.6 $171.5 9.5 $37,400 714
2. Johns Hopkins University (MD)
82 4.9 4.8 3.83 11.4 5.8% $445.6 $204.5 4.5 $34,732 481
What does all that mean?
Be one of the smartest people in the country, have connections, and have some good luck.
~15% of HMS's tudents attended Harvard as an undergrad.
just helpin out wrote:
half the students are Harvard Med school went to either harvard or yale undergrad.
same with yale medical school.
just so you know.
penn doc wrote:
http://www.mdapplicants.com/schoolsummary.php?schoolid=22
those stats are skewed for by the applicants that use that particular serivce.
for instance, my medical school (u. of maryland) shows an avg acceptance MCAT of 33.9, a rejected avg MCAT of 32.2 while the ACTUAL avg MCAT of attendance is 31.
furthermore, of the 35 applicants listed there, only 2 are from Maryland-College Park, while roughly 25% of our school went there.
Here's a question: I attended one undergrad school, then transferred to another one after two years. At the first, I had a solid 3.1 GPA, and when I transferred, all my classes did, but not my GPA. Since transferring, I've done exceptionally well (there were some issues aside from academic ones at my first school) and now have a 3.95 there.
When I apply to med school, obviously I need to send transcripts from my other school, but how poorly will that affect me? Technically my graduating GPA will be right around 3.95 or so most likely, which is good . . . because it discounts the grades I got from my first school. The med schools will no doubt be able to actually see the real grades I got at the first school though, so will that really put them off? I'm hoping they at least give points for recency of work; that is, they'll see that in the past few years my work has been very good.
when you apply, you enter your grades on the AMCAS application (A, B, C, etc. with pluses if your school has them).
AMCAS themselves computes your GPA - not your school. so all your grades, including those from your first school, will be factored into the GPA that medical schools see.
medical schools will look more favorably on recent work, and look more closely at grades in the sciences and grades in your major.
that being said, rock the MCATs. everyone applying to med school has a high GPA - but if your MCATs don't correlate, then it throws up a red flag.
just helpin out wrote:
when you apply, you enter your grades on the AMCAS application (A, B, C, etc. with pluses if your school has them).
AMCAS themselves computes your GPA - not your school. so all your grades, including those from your first school, will be factored into the GPA that medical schools see.
Shit.
Don't be so worried. You don't need a 4.0 by any means. most schools have average undergrad GPAs from 3.5-3.7
You know a handful of those kids have 4.0s in some easy major, so that balances out a few around 3.3
PhillyBorn wrote:
Don't be so worried. You don't need a 4.0 by any means. most schools have average undergrad GPAs from 3.5-3.7
You know a handful of those kids have 4.0s in some easy major, so that balances out a few around 3.3
yeah but this is for harvard medical school... not most schools.
marijuologist wrote:
how do you gain clinical experience and get involved in reasearch as an undergrad??? EXPLAIN THAT SHIT TO ME!!!!
Are you serious? as an undergrad you are required in most programs to have clinicals...8 hours every week for a semester or something like that. My friend helped deliver a baby a month ago in one.