5 Best Colleges for Pre-Med Students

While medical schools do not explicitly require that their applicants be pre-med majors, or even STEM majors at all, they do typically require a set of curriculum that must be completed prior to graduation. This usually includes courses in biology, chemistry, and math. Doing well in these courses is important in obtaining medical school admission. At the most prestigious medical schools, admissions is even more competitive.

Students at the top medical schools typically boast impressive MCAT scores and GPAs along with extensive lists of extracurricular involvement. Having access to the best undergraduate institutions, research opportunities, and school support systems can ease the rigor of medical school admissions for many students and increase chances of admission into the top medical schools.

It’s no wonder that Harvard is at the top of the list of best colleges for pre-med students. Harvard routinely ranks among the top educational institutions in the world in all areas. Its partnerships with some of the best hospitals and medical centers, such as the Boston Children’s Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, provide great opportunities for pre-med students to get hands-on experience in the heath field.

Harvard features a pre-med advising program, where students can meet with advisors regarding their future medical careers. As previously mentioned, medical schools like to see candidates with high GPAs. At Harvard, grades have been continuously on the rise for the past ten years. This has raised some broader concerns about grade inflation but is good news to those pre-med students looking to keep their GPAs high before medical school applications.

Located in the heart of New York City, Columbia University offers unparalleled pre-med opportunities for its students. Like other Ivy league schools, undergraduate prestige carries some weight in medical school admissions. Proving you can handle (and succeed) with the curriculum at Columbia signals to the medical school admissions committee that you are prepared to handle the volume and rigor of work in medical school.

When it comes to research, Columbia offers the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) where students can directly do research with professors over the summer. Columbia’s location, however, sets it apart amongst the top medical schools. Having access to some of the world’s best medical centers and hospitals makes it extremely appealing to pre-med students looking to get some work experience.

UPenn provides an outstanding pre-med advising service. Known for its rigor, pre-med students at UPenn that then matriculate at medical schools average an MCAT of 511.7. For reference, the average MCAT is 500.7. UPenn students average an entire ten points higher on the test! UPenn students that matriculate at medical schools have a median GPA of 3.81 – making them competitive at lots of medical schools. UPenn pre-med students also frequently matriculate at some of the other top medical schools in the United States such as Yale, Harvard, and Johns Hopkins. The data doesn’t lie – UPenn is a great option for pre-med students.

Also located in New York, but not in the hustle and bustle of New York City, Cornell provides a great option for pre-med students. Cornell offers the Health Professions Advising Center (HPAC) which counsels students in their coursework, directs them toward research opportunities, and encourages them to attend relevant events. Cornell also maintains a medical school acceptance rate for their pre-meds of around 20-25% higher than the national average. If you’re looking to attend a medical school in New York, Cornell may be the right option for you. 8 out of the 12 most attended medical schools by Cornell pre-meds were located in New York in 2019.

Ultimately, the right college for pre-meds depends on more than just hard factors like rigor and location. Students should choose the college that is the best overall fit for them, where they can succeed and get the best shot at attending medical school.