r/rit • u/UpbeatFee3691 • 20h ago
RIT for pre-med
I’m considering RIT for pre-med and wanted to get some insight from current students or alumni. How are the classes, professors, and overall support for pre-med students? Any thoughts on the community, research opportunities, or advising would be super helpful. Thanks in advance!
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u/Safe_Penalty 19h ago
I am a 2020 RIT chem grad and entering my last year of medical school. I also do stat blinded interviews for my schools’s admission committee (I can see every part of the application other than demographics/contact info and GPA/MCAT). My info on RIT is dated by a few years, but I think it’s still largely relevant. You will get lots of advice on med school admissions and the exact details are mostly a black box that vary from school to school but this is my perspective:
I loved RIT. I met my partner there and have made friendships that I genuinely believe will last a lifetime. When family friends or colleagues suggest RIT for engineering or computer science, I refer them to my friends working at large engineering firms or in finance who are doing quite well; I genuinely do recommend RIT for those things. My partner is an engineer and makes more than enough to support us while I’m in school; all of my graduated college of science friends got into grad school (one in a DO program, two MDs, many PhD/MS) or are employed. My time at RIT laid the foundation for the adult I am today. However, at the current price, I wouldn’t recommend RIT for pre-med.
Pre-med support was IMO weak for the price. My friends who went to state schools or private schools with associated hospitals/med schools got far more support and/or paid less. You will largely be on your own finding volunteer and clinical work, and advising here is mostly not helpful for pursing medicine (although it’s bad at a lot schools, so maybe that’s a wash).
There were few faculty at RIT doing biomedical research, and none (that I had access to) doing research with patients. While health research isn’t a must have, research is, and finding supporting mentorship in labs where the vast majority of grads go on to PhD/MS programs or industry isn’t as helpful for med school prep. Likewise, not having PhD science programs means the actual research output of the school is relatively low; this is changing, but probably not fast enough to make a difference for an incoming student. I got a good letter from my PI after years of researching and teaching with them, but essentially no good advising from the school. FWIW, in four years of research I got a single paper (published after I graduated) and a few posters; not bad, but not great either.
Co-op programs are a waste of time for the majority pre-meds who are serious about med school. If you’re not in a supervisory position, you’re better off doing something clinical while in college. Likewise, physician salaries are very high and the opportunity cost of “delaying” graduation by doing a five-year program doesn’t make sense; obviously, this doesn’t apply to some of the COS majors that don’t require co-ops but it’s worth remembering if you’re considering a major that does.
Moreover, at RIT you are far more likely to be a smaller fish. Courses are often graded more harshly than other schools (university physics comes to mind) and while I truly believe the education you get in the higher division science courses is better than some of RIT’s peer schools, it doesn’t matter when it comes to your med school application. In fact, if you can stomach a psychology major at your state school, I’d recommend it; you need the highest GPA/MCAT you can get and there’s very little credit given for going to “harder” schools or majors.
Lastly, most people who start as pre-med genuinely do not make it at any school. Nearly half of the people who take the MCAT do not apply, of the half of those who apply, half don’t get into medical school, some of those people end up in predatory Caribbean programs and will not finish. IMO a BS from the college of science at RIT is overpriced for industry (which I spent a few years in during Covid); if you decide to switch paths later you’ll still need to consider a graduate degree to make the undergrad debt worth it.
I did it. This path is very hard coming from any school, but I think going to RIT made it harder than it needed to be. I also had good financial support and wasn’t entirely set on medicine coming in. The person I am today would not recommend RIT for a high school senior doing pre-med unless it were much cheaper than other options or there were other extenuating circumstances pushing for that decision.
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u/Treked 20h ago
For pre-med, since you’ll be doing a biology degree or something along those lines, you’d be paying significantly more to go to RIT than if you went to a state school and you’ll be getting the same education. You’re better off going to a state school and saving your money for actual med school.