University of Washington has reputable premed program OPINIONS WANTED

[jgbenjamin]

Does the U of W really have the 8th best premed program in the US; please give your thoughts on this ranking.
Also, with its 55% acceptance rating, what can a student due to up the chance of being accepted?

[bluebooger]

what premed program ?

UW Undergraduate Advising: Undergraduate Majors

[davewill]

what premed program ?

UW Undergraduate Advising: Undergraduate Majors

Premed isn't a major, so you won't find it there. Look here:

UW Undergraduate Advising: Medicine

[bjcheung77]

what premed program ?

UW Undergraduate Advising: Undergraduate Majors

Haha, This one here. Us, West Coasters have awesome programs...
Pre-med Course Requirements | UW Medicine

As with many who fail to gain admission, they go to International MD programs that mirrors the US.

Unless someone has gone through with the program, there won't be many updates.
I guess original poster was looking at this page in regards to the TOP 10.
CM

[bluebooger]

Premed isn't a major, so you won't find it there. ...

but that's what I'm saying

there isn't a premed program, because there isn't any such thing as a premed major

Course Requirements FAQs | UW Medicine

Q) ​​​​Does the University of Washington have an undergraduate premed program?
A) ​The University of Washington does not have a premedical degree program. Students major in any field of their choice while completing the course requirements that the majority of medical schools require.

and even the link you posted doesn't really describe a "program"
it just says "these are some of the courses some med schools require"

funny thing is that it says
"Coursework required/highly recommended for most medical schools
1-2 quarters of biochemistry"

and yet their own med school doesn't require biochemistry

Course Requirements FAQs | UW Medicine
Q) Is biochemistry a prerequisite course?
A) A biochemistry course is not required, but applicants are required to know basic biochemistry concepts, which may be garnered in other classes.

Haha, This one here. Us, West Coasters have awesome programs...
Pre-med Course Requirements | UW Medicine

and that's not describing any type of program or degree at the undergrad school

its just saying what courses are required for their med school

you're correct, that the link you posted ( CM ) probably is what they're referring to

but I would say the quality of the "program" totally depends on what major you choose

while I'm sure the biology major and the chemistry major and the anthropology major are all great, I just don't see how you can measure the quality of one over the other
especially since you could even major in Dance or Drama at UW and still get into the med school as long as you took the additional courses as electives

[Prloko]

Instead of attempting to tear the OP apart, or arguing the semantics of premed, we probably could have inquired where they received their information about the school having "the 8th best premed program in the US". We can then maybe have seen their reference and better assisted.

So OP, if you are still monitoring this thread, and to better assist, where did you receive this information from?

[Life Long Learning]

The Dogs (Washington Huskies) have a great academic reputation on the Left Coast. That being said I still like the Ducks better in football.:roflol:

[cookderosa]

Does the U of W really have the 8th best premed program in the US; please give your thoughts on this ranking.
Also, with its 55% acceptance rating, what can a student due to up the chance of being accepted?

My suggestion is to find a college with a cadaver lab. This gives your anatomy class an amazing leg-up on the competition. There are not many, but if you can land in one of those colleges, you'll really have a great experience.

Secondly, choose a college that your test scores place you in the top 1/3 of the entering class. If you want to read more about this, check out Malcolm Gladwell's book David and Goliath. Your chances of success are almost always predicted by where you sit on the spectrum of incoming class. In short- don't attend a college where you "just" make the GPA/SAT cut off. Top third all the way.

Since you can go into medical school with any major (pre-med isn't a major, rather it's a set of classes that can fit inside of almost any major) you'll want to choose your passion. It might not be biology, but that's the typical path because it means no extra credit. If you choose a major like business, getting those 8 pre-med courses to fit inside your degree might add a semester or more to your degree, and not everyone is willing to do that.

My other suggestion is to consider that med school will be expensive, so keeping costs down at the undergraduate level means you're ROI happens sooner rather than later. You could either enter your career with a 5 year loan or a 25 year loan - obviously the person with less debt will be making BANK while the other will drag that bag around for most of their career.

Finally, this is a test-out forum, so finding out IF you can test out of your classes is important before you jump in. I'm 100% certain that you can NOT test out of sciences using CLEP. They won't give you grades or labs, both of which you'll need for your medical school application.

Good luck!

[Gaz]

There are plenty of premed programs at the graduate level. Usually a Master of Science in Medical Sciences. These programs are designed to prepare you for the MCAT and satisfy med school entrance requirements. I have often wondered if someone with a Big 3 degree, hefty in credit by examination, completely rocked a postbacc program how it would play out. If they managed a perfect post graduate GPA with a high MCAT score, but have an undergraduate degree full of CLEP, DSST, ECE, TECP, etc. I wonder if they have a shot. My gut is that they would.

[jgbenjamin]

I got this off study.com (Best Universities for Pre-Med Students); Harvard was on this list along with Northwestern University and John Hopkins (very low acceptance rates).