Applying from recently established UG institution

[autocrave]

Hi everyone,

Per the title of this thread, I'm a student at a very, very recently established university. AFAIK there have been less than five students here who tried applying to any sort of medical program, let alone MD/PhD. Virtually everything I know about pre-med and medical school I have had to look up myself because the advisement services simply do not exist here. I am worried that adcoms might toss my application since they'll have little if any baseline for evaluating my institution or major.

Will being one of the first applicants from a new university hurt me in the admissions process, even if my application itself is very competitive? I read in the sticky that UG institution matters very little but I am still nervous.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Fencer]

You might need to apply more broadly for MD/PhD, but if you MCAT, GPA, and research experiences are excellent, it shouldn't be too much of a handicap. The issue is if your GPA is 3.5, then, nobody would be able to compare it to the MCAT/GPA Report to assess whether your school is competitive or not. It requires that the prior cycle, more than 5 applicants were accepted. An awesome MCAT will perk some interest from top MSTPs. If you apply broadly and you are too successful, you then can triage interviews.
Good luck.

 

[autocrave]

You might need to apply more broadly for MD/PhD, but if you MCAT, GPA, and research experiences are excellent, it shouldn't be too much of a handicap. The issue is if your GPA is 3.5, then, nobody would be able to compare it to the MCAT/GPA Report to assess whether your school is competitive or not. It requires that the prior cycle, more than 5 applicants were accepted. An awesome MCAT will perk some interest from top MSTPs. If you apply broadly and you are too successful, you then can triage interviews.
Good luck.

Thanks, Fencer. I've been doing research since the summer after my freshman year and I am double majoring in physical and biological science fields with s/cGPAs hovering around 3.9. I intend on putting my all into prepping for the MCAT (next January, I hope) so it's good to know I'm heading in the right direction.

 

[Fencer]

You are looking good, but you will need to apply broadly even with an awesome MCAT. If awesome, you pick 5 dream top MSTPs, 5-10 midrange match, and 5 safety programs. PM me when you get your score, and I could be more precise.
Good luck on your test!

 

[autocrave]

You are looking good, but you will need to apply broadly even with an awesome MCAT. If awesome, you pick 5 dream top MSTPs, 5-10 midrange match, and 5 safety programs. PM me when you get your score, and I could be more precise.
Good luck on your test!

Will do, thanks for your help