Top Premed Colleges

Top premed colleges can be ranked several ways, but the title of best academic program is indicative of the overall quality of medical students that a premed college produces. There are several ways to rank top premed colleges, such as MCAT and GPA, United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) scores or applications received, but the fact remains that you should find a school that is a good fit for your personality and in a location you would enjoy attending. Some feel that for many students, their success, or lack of it, might be largely unrelated to the individual medical school.

Using Student Scores and GPA

When you consider MCAT scores that are greater than 31.5 and GPAs of greater than 3.5, the list gets narrower and can give you a better indication of competitive med schools that turn out the highest achievers and therefore, get more prestigious academic acknowledgement. The average USMLE scores are better statistics to consider than USMLE pass rates, but med schools don't publish board scores for confidentiality reasons. There are some premed colleges that have high pass rates, but lower average USMLE scores. It is a combination of several factors that make up the top premed colleges on this listing of colleges.

The Ten Top Premed Colleges by MCAT and GPA

1. Washington University St. Louis: 1 Children's Place, #4S20, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, Phone (314) 454-6120, www.medschool.wustl.edu
2. Harvard Medical School: 25 Shattuck Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, Phone (617) 432-1000, www.hms.harvard.edu/hms
3. John Hopkins University School of Medicine: 733 N. Broadway, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, Phone (410) 955-5000, www.jhu.edu
4. Vanderbilt School of Medicine: 215 Light Hall, Nashville, Tennessee 37232, Phone (615) 322-2145 www.medschool.vanderbilt.edu
5. Yale School of Medicine: 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, Connecticut, 06510, Phone (203-785-2696), www.med.yale.edu
6. Duke University School of Medicine: DUMC 3710, Durham, North Carolina 27710, Phone (919) 684-2985, www.dukemed.duke.edu
7. Stanford School of Medicine: 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, California 94305, Phone (650) 723-4000, www.med.stanford.edu
8. Mayo Medical School: 200 First Street S.W., Rochester Minnesota 55905, Phone (507) 284-2316, www.mayo.edu
9. New York University: 550 First Avenue, New York, New York 10016, Phone (212) 263-7300, www.school.med.nyu.edu
10. University of Pennsylvania: Suite 100, Stemmler Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, Phone (215)898-8001, www.med.upenn.edu

Rankings of Premed Colleges by Student Applications

The number of student applications gives an indication of the most popular choices made by premed students, but a larger portion of students will not be admitted due to admissions limits. Harvard and Stanford also make this listing, but the other eight choices are not in the top ten that are ranked by MCAT and GPA scores.

• University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine: 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90095, Phone (310) 825-4321, www.universityofcalifornia.edu
• University of California Berkeley Medical School: 110 Sproul Hall, #5800, Berkeley, California 94720, Phone (510) 642-6000, www.berkeley.edu
• University of Michigan Medical School: 1301 Catherine Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, Phone (734) 763-9600, www.med.umich.edu
• University of Texas Medical School: 6431 Fannin Street, MSB G420 Houston, Texas, Phone (713) 500-5116, www.uth.tmc.edu
• University of Florida Gainesville: P.O. Box 100235, Gainesville, Florida 32610, Phone (352) 273-7500, www.med.ufl.edu
• University of California San Diego: 9500 Gilman Drive, LaJolla, CA 92093, Phone (858) 534-2230, www.ucsd.edu
• Harvard School of Medicine: 25 Shattuck Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, Phone (617) 432-1000, www.hms.harvard.edu/hms
• University of Wisconsin Madison: 750 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, Phone (608) 265-6344, www.med.wisc.edu
• University of Virginia School of Medicine: P.O. Box 800725, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908, Phone (434) 924-5571, www.healthsystem.virginia.edu
• University of Illinois Medical School: 601 S. Morgan Street, Chicago, Illinois, Phone (312) 996-7000, ww.uic.edu
• Stanford School of Medicine: 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, California 94305, Phone (650) 723-4000, www.med.stanford.edu

Choosing a College

There are many fine colleges for premed students and while some names are more recognizable than others, there is a good selection in a variety of regions across the country. The best advice when searching for the premed college choices that offer the best programs, is to find the ones that are best suited to all facets of your life and your medical education goals. Accredited colleges offer similar basic programs, but some might offer more specialized courses that are tailored to different healthcare fields. This is a consideration that most premed students use when determining the best premed college to meet their medical career goals.