What is a good college to attend to be a doctor?

Hi Montez! Great question, I think the best answer is that it actually doesn't matter too much what college you attend, its your MCAT scores and your grades in school that matter the most. I have friends who are attending top Ivy schools or amazing public schools like Berkeley, but they didn't get nearly as much offers as some of my friends at lesser known schools.

It really comes down to how good your GPA is and your MCAT score (the focus on grades, but a stellar MCAT is a huge bonus). Extracurricular activities like research, volunteering, and doctor shadowing are just supplementary to grades and test scores.

I wouldn't be too worried about the school and would just pick the best one that made financial sense (cheapest while providing a good education). Mainly, just work on your grades!

Clarification question: your hashtag is "physics"; did you mean "physician" (medical doctor) or "doctor of physics" (i.e., a PhD physicist)? The answers are going to be very different.

I don't know anything about medical colleges other than that they're all over the place and can emphasize either cutting-edge research (e.g., Stanford University) or more general medical training. There are excellent medical schools at both state universities and private ones across the country.

For physics doctorates, it can depend on the specific specialization you choose, but places like Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Caltech, MIT, Cornell, University of Chicago, UC Berkeley, etc., are all very well regarded. But there are many, many other schools that are also very good generally and outstanding in particular subfields. Various entities try to rank schools, and those rankings can give you hints, but take them with a big grain of salt--many of them are little more than popularity contests. Objective statistics as to the number of PhDs produced per year, the number who find postdocs after graduation, the number who find permanent employment within five or ten years after graduation, the number of research papers produced, the number of citings of those papers, etc., are probably better indicators.

<span style="background-color: transparent;">Collegeboard.org is a great resource for this! I poured through the pages of universities all over the U.S. when I was a senior in high school. Collegeboard was my go-to site! They put all of the information in one place and it is very easy to use. They even have various filters you can apply to see only colleges that have programs you are interested. To determine academic rigor, look at the admissions requirements, G.P.A. of past admitted applicants, SAT/ACT scores, class rank etc. This will give you an idea of what scores and grades you need to be accepted. However, don't be discouraged your application will be reviewed based on the full picture! College-board will help you get an idea of what is most important to the specific school you are applying to.</span>

This professional recommends the following next steps:

• <span style="background-color: transparent;">Chat with your Guidance Counselor</span>
• <span style="background-color: transparent;">Create a Collegeboard.org account</span>
• <span style="background-color: transparent;">Start using CollegeBoard as a resource to look up schools.</span>