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What are the best schools for medicine?



QUESTION: I have always wanted to be a doctor. I am now searching for materials on the profession and possible college choices to build a successful career. What are the best schools with pre-medical degrees and the best medical schools? Signed, Future Doc

Dear Future Doc: It's great that you have already discovered the career field for which you are passionate and are researching how best to prepare for a future in medicine. The short answer to your question is that the best schools with pre-medical degrees and best medical schools depend on what you want out of your education.

To determine the best match for you, figure out what your priorities are. In which area of medicine do you want to specialize? What kind of learning environment best matches your learning style? Are you more interested in patient care or research? What specifically would you like to do after graduating, and how does that match with the placement record of the school and what its students do after graduating? Your answers to these questions will help determine which schools best match you.

Next, do some research. The Association of American Medical Colleges has a directory of the accredited medical schools in the U.S. on its Web site at http://www.aamc.org. Rankings of medical schools can be found on the "U.S. News & World Report" Web site, and "Rugg's Recommendations on the Colleges" provides rankings of undergraduate programs. The rankings will give you a start for figuring out which program is the best for you, but remember that the most important rankings are your own. Consider what you want out of your education and use your own judgment to determine which program best fits.

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Gen & Kelly Tanabe

Gen and Kelly Tanabe are the founders of SuperCollege and the award-winning authors of 11 books on college admission, financial aid and scholarships. Together they were accepted to all of the Ivy League colleges and won more than $100,000 in merit-based scholarships to graduate from Harvard debt-free.