Question

[SBubba18]

This is not Disney related, but it is a college board so I thought maybe some of you have some advice for me.
I am only 15(16 in January) and a sophmore in high school. I live in Cleveland Ohio and I have been really worried about college. I have a 3.75 average GPA, so I can see that I am smart. I am planning on going to college to become a doctor. I know I can reach my doctor goal if I set my mind to it. My question is, do any of you know what it is like being in the medical field? What a good college might be? I know I am still young but I really want this goal to happen so I am trying my hardest for it..Thanks everyone!

 

[Kookaburra2211]

It’s great that you’re thinking about college; now is the time to start doing that! As you start looking at colleges and universities, you can see if they have a pre-med program. If so, find out how many of the school’s graduates make it into med school. Taking the pre-med load of courses is challenging and you’ll work harder than any of your friends. But if you like to learn you’ll have no trouble getting through it.

As far as where you end up—there’s no right or wrong place. Make some visits and mail-away for those full color brochures. Go online and look at course catalogues. Get in touch with students at the schools. Find a school that is in the right place, with the right programs, the right size…for you! It doesn’t matter whether you go to Hartford or Haverford or Harvard, as long as you’re willing to suck every single resource that you can out of the school.

I’ve got a friend here at my small liberal arts college doing the pre-med program (while majoring in English!) and I know people at large universities majoring in pre-med. You can do it anywhere, but finding the right fit is important.

Hope that helps, best of luck with the college search process.

 

[orangekid13]

keep in mind for now you want to find all the schools you like by cost, distance, and born and raised rivalry factor, that have good pre-med programs. most of the time you'll go to med school somewhere other than where you get your undedgraduate degree.
There's bound to be a lot of information on the internet about people's opinions of different school's programs.

oh, another big thing you should think of when you choose a college that A LOT of people don't consider is what kind of college life you want. I'm a Junior at Washington State University and it's out in Pullman (map it) and there's not much but wheat fields around the town, spokane is 2 hours north and there's plety to do there, there's a mall 8 miles east in moscow, but Pullman really has a small college town feel, you will make some really tight friendships here and it's a pretty laid back place.
My sister goes to the University of Washington (what made me think of the rivalry thing, she was born a Cougar but now she's a Husky (BOO!)) and it's quite close to downtown seattle and the whole area is urban... lots of concrete and stuff to do and busy people and everyone's lives are spread out. Some people prefer it but I'd rather pay 1/4 the rent she pays, skip the traffic, pollution, smokers, bums and druggies.

You'll be there for 4 years (realistically 5 because otherwise you'll go crazy with your course load, degree requirements just don't fit well in 4 years anymore) so there's a lot of stuff to consider.