What is considered a well-recognied school?

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Iso4ane

Iso4ane

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There are always post about how a school name, if well-known, may be beneficial to one application. My question is what schools are considered well known.

Well, I sure nearly all the Ivies are on the list along with some of the UC schools. But besides California, what states have State University(ies) which are considered well-known UG colleges.

I go to the University of Arizona, so I am particular interested for what others have to say or know about this school, from a outsiders perspective.
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0kazak1 said:
There are always post about how a school name, if well-known, may be beneficial to one application. My question is what schools are considered well known.

Well, I sure nearly all the Ivies are on the list along with some of the UC schools. But besides California, what states have State University(ies) which are considered well-known UG colleges.

I go to the University of Arizona, so I am particular interested for what others have to say or know about this school, from a outsiders perspective.
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Harvard.
 
I think what you are really asking is how people view the University of Arizona.

Personally, I think of sun, parties, cute girls, and basketball. Academic rigor does not come to mind.

The good news is that it doesn't matter very much when applying to medical school as long as you do well there.
 
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Bearie said:
I think what you are really asking is how people view the University of Arizona.

Personally, I think of sun, parties, cute girls, and basketball. Academic rigor does not come to mind.

The good news is that it doesn't matter very much when applying to medical school as long as you do well there.
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yes
 
Bearie said:
I think what you are really asking is how people view the University of Arizona.

Personally, I think of sun, parties, cute girls, and basketball. Academic rigor does not come to mind.

The good news is that it doesn't matter very much when applying to medical school as long as you do well there.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess it doesn't help that UA was named the one of the top party schools by Playboy.
 
0kazak1 said:
There are always post about how a school name, if well-known, may be beneficial to one application. My question is what schools are considered well known.

Well, I sure nearly all the Ivies are on the list along with some of the UC schools. But besides California, what states have State University(ies) which are considered well-known UG colleges.

I go to the University of Arizona, so I am particular interested for what others have to say or know about this school, from a outsiders perspective.
Click to expand...

When i think of University of Arz, the Phoenix Mars mission comes to mind. I'm sure the school is well regarded in the scientific community. But seriously don't worry about this, have fun, do well and enjoy ur College experience. At least u have national name recognition. My undergrad doesn't even have wide name recognition within the county its in!! I always have to explain that its a small private school next to the huuumongous state school... On the flip side, after 5yrs I went back to get LORs and all the Profs remember my name... so there's that cozy side too...

Anyway don't lose sleep over this..
 
The grades are really all that matter. Going to a more "recognized" school might make a negligible difference depending on an interviewer's / school's bias, but if you have good grades and MCAT, you'll be fine. Enjoy some fun while you still have time to! :D
 
0kazak1 said:
Yeah, I guess it doesn't help that UA was named the one of the top party schools by Playboy.
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I go to Playboy's #1 party school! :zip::banana::highfive::clap::bow::soexcited: Party in the house... party in the house...


Really, Playboy's rankings are bogus. The factors they use? Sports (Oh yea!), campus life, sex, ACADEMICS, and "bikini" (weather + guy-to-girl ratio + cheerleaders).

All the same, proud to go to Playboy's #1 party school... even though I've never been to a (college-type) party in my life :D


Oh, but addressing the question, I pretty much agree with all the above. So yea. :)
 
Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal, UCLA and UC Davis. No other schools have a good reputation.:laugh:

Seriously, as someone else just said, school reputation is a fairly small factor in medical school admissions. If you got to U of A, the possibly less-than-stellar student body should only make it easier for you to get a really good GPA, that couple with a good MCAT score you're schools reputation won't hinder you at all.
 
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Bearie said:
I think what you are really asking is how people view the University of Arizona.

Personally, I think of sun, parties, cute girls, and basketball. Academic rigor does not come to mind.
Click to expand...

Same. But hey, at least you don't go to ASU. And second what others have said re: academic rigor. You really should be able to knock that **** out of the park and be golden...
 
Iterative gunner strategy:

while(accepted(medschool)!=true)
{
1) Establish alcohol budget
2) Hire hookers
3) Invite fellow classmates over night before exam
4) When said classmates fail the exam, offer to tutor them for cash.
5) Put on AMCAS as tutoring experience. Save some cash for applying to medical schools. Put the rest into alcohol budget from (1).
}

Repeat above until graduation.
 
DendWrite said:
Iterative gunner strategy:

while(accepted(medschool)!=true)
{
1) Establish alcohol budget
2) Hire hookers
3) Invite fellow classmates over night before exam
4) When said classmates fail the exam, offer to tutor them for cash.
5) Put on AMCAS as tutoring experience. Save some cash for applying to medical schools. Put the rest into alcohol budget from (1).
}

Repeat above until graduation.
Click to expand...

so pretty much...

while(graduation=false)
{
while(accepted(medschool)!=true)
{
1) Establish alcohol budget
2) Hire hookers
3) Invite fellow classmates over night before exam
4) When said classmates fail the exam, offer to tutor them for cash.
5) Put on AMCAS as tutoring experience. Save some cash for applying to medical schools. Put the rest into alcohol budget from }
}

Btw, even though I haven't taken a comp class, in college, I'm pretty handy when it comes to computers, and I heard med school like it when you know how to use one, So how can I show that very competent with a computer without taking a college-level course.
 
anonymousername said:
Even in jest, one of these doesn't belong.
Click to expand...

Davis is a good school, but you are right it doesn't belong in that group of schools.

UofA isn't a bad school. I saw UofA students at a few of my interviews and so obviously some of them did something right.....Don't worry so much about that.

Most adcomms know that people go to UC's or state schools b/c they are cheap. Few people have the kind of money to send their kids to private schools for undergrad (and personally I think it's stupid unless you get lots of grants). Save your money for medical school.
 
If your school is on first tier in US News... which Univ. of Arizona is, it is well-regarded in admissions. It is simple as that.. I think they dont really differentiate any more than that... unless it is an IVY which possibly helps just a little tadbit more...

But you go to a fine school which is well respect. Much more is now dependent on you... grades, MCAT, community volunteering, medical volunteering, medical shadowing, campus EC's, research
 
Last edited:
BlueElmo said:
No they all belong except two, IMO.
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I assume the 3 above refer to Stanford, Harvard, and Yale.

There is no way UC Davis in in same leage as Stanford. UCLA, Cal and UofA for that matter technically are in the same league (the PAC-10), but there is simply too far an academic gap to equate even Cal with Stanford.

Also, Stanford waives all tuition if your family income is less than 100K. Harvard and Yale have similar policies. So, if your family is truly middle class or poor, it would actually cost less to attend Stanford than Cal. Adcoms know better than to think someone went to Cal because it was cheaper.
 
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Penn, MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore.
 
Williams Amherst Swathmore....is that some sorta English name
 
bannie22 said:
Williams Amherst Swathmore....is that some sorta English name
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hehe, They are all small liberal arts colleges. I debated whether to include Swathmore, but decided to include it since I have friends who go there and as I mentioned this list is completely arbitrary.

Amhert is probably the most selective of the three and admissions difficulty is on par with Dartmouth, Brown, etc. At least when I applied to college it was far more selective than Cornell.
 
Bearie said:
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Penn, MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore.
Click to expand...

I'd add Wellesley Middlebury, Bowdoin, Pomona, Carelton, Duke, U of Chicago, Davidson, Haveford, Claremont McKenna, Wesleyan, Vassar, Northwestern, Washington University in St. Louis, Grinnell, Harvey Mudd, Hopkins... plus any schools in the Sweet 16.
 
bannie22 said:
Williams Amherst Swathmore....is that some sorta English name
Click to expand...

As I recall, Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore is a prominent law firm in Boston. Mr. Williams is the founding partner who specializes in medical malpractice cases, although I am uncertain as to whether he represents plaintiffs or the unfortunate defendants in these cases.
 
metallica81788 said:
I've never heard of these - are they some of those ridiculous liberal arts schools in Massachusetts that don't believe in grades?
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Amhert and Williams are in MA, but do very much have grades. As mentioned only a few post above, amhert is probably the most selective of the three and admissions difficulty is on par with Dartmouth, Brown, etc. At least when I applied to college it was far more selective than Cornell.
 
LizzyM said:
I'd add Wellesley Middlebury, Bowdoin, Pomona, Carelton, Duke, U of Chicago, Davidson, Haveford, Claremont McKenna, Wesleyan, Vassar, Northwestern, Washington University in St. Louis, Grinnell, Harvey Mudd, Hopkins... plus any schools in the Sweet 16.
Click to expand...

You're more generous than I am, but I would include the schools you mentioned with the exceptions of Davidson, Haverford, Vassar, and Grinnell.
 
good Gawd man.

had i gone to UofA, i'd nail a 4.0 among so many other things. :eek:
 
Bearie said:
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Penn, MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore.
Click to expand...

1) Bearie, there is no way U of A is in the same league as UCLA or Berkeley. And to be honest, I would put UCD, UCI, and UCSD well ahead of UofA as well....as would Newsweek

2) Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Wesleyan, Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Claremont Mckenna, etc. and these liberal arts schools that LizzyM mentioned are in my opinion not that strong.

While they are selective, the applicant pool there is no way near as impressive as the UCs (Top 5), or that of other prestigious researchy public schools like Michigan, University of Virginia, UIC, University of Washington, and so on.

I'm not trying to bash these schools. I'm just saying that the pre-med compeitition there is not as tough.

For the OP, just go on newsweek and look up the Top 50 best schools in the country....But I still think it doesn't matter as long as do well.
 
GoBeers said:
good Gawd man.

had i gone to UofA, i'd nail a 4.0 among so many other things. :eek:
Click to expand...

I would be careful of what you say. Depending on the major, those who have a 4.0 or are very close >3.9, are generally a good step or two higher than the rest. And most of the people who have GPAs that are are also taking 17+ units averageing around 19-20, work in lab, and have other EC like clubs, volunteering and shadowing. And I am not kidding when I say that nearly every science major, pre-med or not works in a lab in some way. So at the top tiers it can get pretty competitive.


But, I would have to agree with the second half of your statment, like of good stuff here.
 
alibai3ah said:
1) Bearie, there is no way U of A is in the same league as UCLA or Berkeley. And to be honest, I would put UCD, UCI, and UCSD well ahead of UofA as well....as would Newsweek

2) Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Wesleyan, Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Claremont Mckenna, etc. and these liberal arts schools that LizzyM mentioned are in my opinion not that strong.

While they are selective, the applicant pool there is no way near as impressive as the UCs (Top 5), or that of other prestigious researchy public schools like Michigan, University of Virginia, UIC, University of Washington, and so on.

I'm not trying to bash these schools. I'm just saying that the pre-med compeitition there is not as tough.

For the OP, just go on newsweek and look up the Top 50 best schools in the country....But I still think it doesn't matter as long as do well.
Click to expand...


You obviously do not know much about the quality of undergraduate education offered by the elite liberal arts colleges. It is quite common for faculty at institutions such as Harvard to send their children to schools like Amherst or Williams for the simple reason that their kids will get a better undergraduate education than is provided by Harvard which frankly is more focused on its graduate students and professional schools. And that goes double for schools like Michigan.

The only Ivy league school that would interest me for undergrad is Princeton (and possibly Dartmouth) because of its focus on undergraduate education. And I am not an Ivy League basher - I attend an Ivy league med school.
 
alibai3ah said:
1) Bearie, there is no way U of A is in the same league as UCLA or Berkeley. And to be honest, I would put UCD, UCI, and UCSD well ahead of UofA as well....as would Newsweek

2) Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Wesleyan, Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Claremont Mckenna, etc. and these liberal arts schools that LizzyM mentioned are in my opinion not that strong.
Click to expand...

I said UofA is technically in same league as Stanford, UCLA, and Cal (the Pac-10), but academic rigor is not comparable. I did not rank UCLA, Cal, and UofA except to include none of them in my arbitrary list. I would agree, of course, that UCLA and Cal are more selective than UofA.

As for point 2, I think you mean USNews, not Newsweek. USNews has separate ranking for liberal arts colleges so they would not be inlcuded in top 50. But, I assure you that the top ones are as selective as the Ivies and much more selective than UVA or Michigan.
 
alibai3ah said:
1) Bearie, there is no way U of A is in the same league as UCLA or Berkeley. And to be honest, I would put UCD, UCI, and UCSD well ahead of UofA as well....as would Newsweek

2) Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Wesleyan, Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Claremont Mckenna, etc. and these liberal arts schools that LizzyM mentioned are in my opinion not that strong.

While they are selective, the applicant pool there is no way near as impressive as the UCs (Top 5), or that of other prestigious researchy public schools like Michigan, University of Virginia, UIC, University of Washington, and so on.

I'm not trying to bash these schools. I'm just saying that the pre-med compeitition there is not as tough.

For the OP, just go on newsweek and look up the Top 50 best schools in the country....But I still think it doesn't matter as long as do well.
Click to expand...

UofA would be equally regarded as University of Washington... and possibly equal as Virginia and Michigan despite the much stronger academically student body.... now i know many of you are thinking that getting into arizona is a joke.. and it is true that it is... but in reality it is equally as regarded as all the other first tier colleges...as i think, if a college is in first tier, most ad com's dont differentiate UNLESS it is an ivy in which it can help sometimes marginally.... I think US News is a better source than newsweek when comparing rankings as US News is regarded as the gold standard in rankings

and btw those small liberal arts colleges are actually excellent schools which are incredibly difficult to get into
 
searun said:
You obviously do not know much about the quality of undergraduate education offered by the elite liberal arts colleges. It is quite common for faculty at institutions such as Harvard to send their children to schools like Amherst or Williams for the simple reason that their kids will get a better undergraduate education than is provided by Harvard which frankly is more focused on its graduate students and professional schools. And that goes double for schools like Michigan.

The only Ivy league school that would interest me for undergrad is Princeton (and possibly Dartmouth) because of its focus on undergraduate education. And I am not an Ivy League basher - I attend an Ivy league med school.
Click to expand...

I agree completely. I'm not sure how someone applying for medical school has never heard of any of the elite liberal arts colleges.
 
Bearie said:
I agree completely. I'm not sure how someone applying for medical school has never heard of any of the elite liberal arts colleges.
Click to expand...

I've heard of a few, but not many of them.

I think I might have not made myself clear before. I'm not talking about the quality of education, but rather the prestige/overall reputation of the school as perceived by a lay person.

I admit that most liberal arts schools probably have a MUCH better quality of education as compared to say a public school, because they don't cram 400 students in one chemistry class. However, I just have a hard time believing that a school that focuses mainly on liberal arts would have a science curriculum that is also up to par with some of the best public science schools in the country.

Again, I may be wrong as I never applied/looked into those types of schools.
 
alibai3ah said:
I've heard of a few, but not many of them.

I think I might have not made myself clear before. I'm not talking about the quality of education, but rather the prestige/overall reputation of the school as perceived by a lay person.

I admit that most liberal arts schools probably have a MUCH better quality of education as compared to say a public school, because they don't cram 400 students in one chemistry class. However, I just have a hard time believing that a school that focuses mainly on liberal arts would have a science curriculum that is also up to par with some of the best public science schools in the country.

Again, I may be wrong as I never applied/looked into those types of schools.
Click to expand...

You do not understand what "Liberal Arts" means. The term, liberal arts, includes the natural sciences, mathematics, the humanities and the arts, and the social sciences. Hard science is an integral part of the liberal arts. So the top liberal arts colleges have some of the best science teachers in the nation on their faculty.

It is not a dance college. Although I did take several dance classes at my liberal arts college and I also studied piano as a hard science major (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology). As as result, I am a great dancer which has been much to my advantage with girls.
 
0kazak1 said:
so pretty much...

while(graduation=false)
{
while(accepted(medschool)!=true)
{
1) Establish alcohol budget
2) Hire hookers
3) Invite fellow classmates over night before exam
4) When said classmates fail the exam, offer to tutor them for cash.
5) Put on AMCAS as tutoring experience. Save some cash for applying to medical schools. Put the rest into alcohol budget from }
}

Btw, even though I haven't taken a comp class, in college, I'm pretty handy when it comes to computers, and I heard med school like it when you know how to use one, So how can I show that very competent with a computer without taking a college-level course.
Click to expand...

while (!graduated && !accepted(medschool))
{
1) Establish alcohol budget
2) Hire hookers
3) Invite fellow classmates over night before exam
4) When said classmates fail the exam, offer to tutor them for cash.
5) Put on AMCAS as tutoring experience. Save some cash for applying to medical schools. Put the rest into alcohol budget
}

Graduation = false is an assignment, not a comparison. Since accepted(medschool) both values are booleans, you can just use them directly. Lastly, the checks can be combined.

Sorry, but I'm also pretty good at computers, and I can't resist. :)
 
nonsciencemajor said:
UofA would be equally regarded as University of Washington... and possibly equal as Virginia and Michigan despite the much stronger academically student body....
Click to expand...

Are you high? A little outside reference for you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_Ranking_of_World_Universities

Check out the rubrics used too (Arguably mor objective than USN and Newsweek)

This is how the rest of the world views US universities (& their international peers)

For reference:

#1: Harvard
#2: Stanford
#3: Cal
#4: Cambridge (UK)
...
#8: Princeton
...
13: UCLA
...
15: Penn
16. UW
...
22. U.Mich
...
...
...

77(!): University of Arizona

It's not backwater state A&M, but to say it compares with those top research institutes in terms of reputation, well it just isn't true
 
0kazak1 said:
Btw, even though I haven't taken a comp class, in college, I'm pretty handy when it comes to computers, and I heard med school like it when you know how to use one, So how can I show that very competent with a computer without taking a college-level course.
Click to expand...

I think this is pretty much assumed of most people in college these days.
 
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