Why your big-name, large university sucks.

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...you will get curved like crazy at those schools. They specialize in keeping most pre-meds out of medicine. I highly advise people to go to small liberal arts colleges cause the name on your degree doesn't mean **** when you have a 3.3 and I'm graduating magna cum laude. My friends at the local state school in the same town as my college are struggling like crazy to get a 3.4-6, with the possibility of a 3.2. I pulled down a 4.0 this semester on 4(2) hard sciences(with lab). It won't matter that it isnt a large well known institution... my cousin got a 4.0 straight at his no-name undergrad and had 6 md acceptances with a average mcat and average ec's, and was offered a few half and quarter tuition scholarships. Your paying for that degree.. so buyer beware.

Only if "big name, large university" refers to top public like UCB, UCLA, UMich, etc. where you are actually competing against intelligent and hardworking people. But for the vast majority of "big-name, large universities" the curve should be no big deal since most of the people came in with mediocre-low scores/GPA's and have the priorities elsewhere (football games, getting into frats, getting laid, getting wasted, etc.).

I'm afraid you are mistaken. When admissions officers look at applications they will in fact look at your undergraduate university. They recalculate your GPA with a grade inflation/deflation algorithm. Basically it works like this:

A 3.5 from purdue (where the average GPA is 2.8) is weighted higher than a 3.5 at brown (where the average GPA is 3.5).


But don't get me wrong, going to a big-name university doesn't give you any advantage. I'm just saying it doesn't matter weather you go big-name or liberal arts. Makes no difference in the end.

Originally Posted by nysegop

I'm afraid you are mistaken. When admissions officers look at applications they will in fact look at your undergraduate university. They recalculate your GPA with a grade inflation/deflation algorithm. Basically it works like this:

A 3.5 from purdue (where the average GPA is 2.8) is weighted higher than a 3.5 at brown (where the average GPA is 3.5).


But don't get me wrong, going to a big-name university doesn't give you any advantage. I'm just saying it doesn't matter weather you go big-name or liberal arts. Makes no difference in the end.

Nope, being average at Brown may be harder than being above average at Purdue. So it's hard to say... either way a Brown grad with a 3.5 and a 30 will almost 100% get into a decent if not top medical school.

Originally Posted by flatearth22

Only if "big name, large university" refers to top public like UCB, UCLA, UMich, etc. where you are actually competing against intelligent and hardworking people. But for the vast majority of "big-name, large universities" the curve should be no big deal since most of the people came in with mediocre-low scores/GPA's and have the priorities elsewhere (football games, getting into frats, getting laid, getting wasted, etc.).

So so, the Bio program at UMD is pretty competitive. Our top 20% are pretty much kids who turned down Ivys for cheap schooling. So sure it's easy to manage a B, but the A is extremely competitive here, almost always bimodal distributions establish the curve.

Originally Posted by ineed2stpsmurfn

...you will get curved like crazy at those schools. They specialize in keeping most pre-meds out of medicine. I highly advise people to go to small liberal arts colleges cause the name on your degree doesn't mean **** when you have a 3.3 and I'm graduating magna cum laude. My friends at the local state school in the same town as my college are struggling like crazy to get a 3.4-6, with the possibility of a 3.2. I pulled down a 4.0 this semester on 4(2) hard sciences(with lab). It won't matter that it isnt a large well known institution... my cousin got a 4.0 straight at his no-name undergrad and had 6 md acceptances with a average mcat and average ec's, and was offered a few half and quarter tuition scholarships. Your paying for that degree.. so buyer beware.

Pretty much, small pond big fish. I never knew the importance of this and attended my state school, and though I did manage a 3.7 average without much problem I did do mediocre (Bs) in chemistry. I know had I gone to a LAC I'd have probably put in a lot less effort into my major.
But regardless, I'm not complaining otherwise. I enjoyed attending my big state school and barely paid anything for my education.

Originally Posted by nysegop

But don't get me wrong, going to a big-name university doesn't give you any advantage. I'm just saying it doesn't matter weather you go big-name or liberal arts. Makes no difference in the end.

Except how much debt you accrue in the end.

Originally Posted by Kahr

Except how much debt you accrue in the end.

true, I have a lot now, just from undergrad. But i just clocked a 4.0 this past semester on a 3.8 cumulative and 3 professors OFFERED me lor's... how much is that worth? to me it's priceless. I think at those state schools you pay for exactly the value you get. I hated being just one of say.. 350-600 in a class. that's ridiculous to me :/