Which schools have the best medical school placement rates?

[uafootball27]

I'm applying to schools right now and am looking for schools that are strong in sending students to medical school, or where I'd have the highest chance to gain admission in medical school somewhere.

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[uafootball27]

Looking at colleges where I'll have the best shot at med school.

Preferably larger schools (5000+)

 

[Okazaki Frag Grenade]

I think the best approach is to pick a school where you will be able to succeed and do well, while also having the opportunities to get involved in ECs and projects that you will enjoy. It wont be worth it to go to a top level undergrad for the sake of the prestige, only to have your GPA suffer. N=1 of here, and I dont say this to brag at all, but I've gone to small LAC schools (undergrad, grad, post-bacc) that no one has ever heard of, and I've been fortunate to get a number of II this cycle (one top-10). I was able to do well at all these schools and get to know the profs very well because the programs were all very small. I think this was huge and helped my LORs immensely. I'm not necessarily advocating small schools though. Just know that you don't have to go to prestigious undergrads to have a shot at med school.

Short version - go where you will do well

 

[Lucca]

Anyone from anywhere can get into a medical school somewhere. The rate limiting factor in med school admissions is you and your performance at whatever undergraduate you choose. You will be at an advantage if you go to schools with more resources (therefore allowing you to do more cool stuff, exploring unique opportunities, learning about different perspectives, finding new interests etc) but you will not be prevented from attending medical school by going to a no-name school.

my advice to all high school seniors:

Go to the best school that:

1) accepts you
2) you can afford
3) fits your goals and preferences

Honestly, the name of your school only makes a very modest difference in the grand scheme of things and even then only if that school is one of HYPSM. For MD/PhD that's a different story but you are too early in the process to know if that's right for you.

 

[Goro]

Brown.

If you want to go to Brown.

I'm applying to schools right now and am looking for schools that are strong in sending students to medical school, or where I'd have the highest chance to gain admission in medical school somewhere.

 

[Lost in Translation]

I've heard good things about Haverford in Philly but no idea because they don't post numbers.

 

[WedgeDawg]

You can get into great medical schools from nearly any school. It's far more dependent on you than it is on the school you go to. Generally, schools with stronger students have higher placement rates, but if you translocated a strong premed student from Princeton to Montana State, the student would likely still get into medical school.

 

[dextertrip]

https://www.brown.edu/academics/college/advising/health-careers/medical-admission-data-snapshot, not that there was ever any doubt that Goro was right. But just in case, here's some pretty compelling evidence for Brown. Rice claims a similarly high rate.

 

[Dr Tony T. Chopper]

I'm applying to schools right now and am looking for schools that are strong in sending students to medical school, or where I'd have the highest chance to gain admission in medical school somewhere.

University of California San Diego undergrads account for 1.8% of the entire US physician population. There are also tons of M4 from UCSD SOM looking for UG research students to help out at the VA medical center that is within walking distance. Plus the entire school is very nerdy and minimal in distractions.

 

[claduva94]

Data can also be deceptive. There are schools that claim 90% acceptance rates for their students but they also won't write a committee letter for anyone they deem uncompetitive.

 

[dextertrip]

Going to a California school could be the worst thing for somebody looking simply at matriculation stats. It may better prepare them to be a physician one day, if they can outshine the countless other premeds. Just look matriculation data of incoming California schools compared to other public schools in the country.

 

[dextertrip]

Any Texas school will give you the chance to get Texas residency with a little work. That drives your chances up significantly if you want to go to a Texas school

 

[dextertrip]

Data can also be deceptive. There are schools that claim 90% acceptance rates for their students but they also won't write a committee letter for anyone they deem uncompetitive.

Very true

 

[Dr Tony T. Chopper]

Going to a California school could be the worst thing for somebody looking simply at matriculation stats. It may better prepare them to be a physician one day, if they can outshine the countless other premeds. Just look matriculation data of incoming California schools compared to other public schools in the country.

Admittedly, most UC kids default to pre-med because of generic reasons, but the notorious "weeder" classes usually give a good indication of your academic competitiveness relative to your peers pretty early on. I guess its mostly what you make of it as well, the kids in my club had a 4 for 4 this year in getting into med school.

 

[Teioh]

.

 

[Donald Juan]

Data can also be deceptive. There are schools that claim 90% acceptance rates for their students but they also won't write a committee letter for anyone they deem uncompetitive.

This. I forget which big name school it was I remember looking at when I was applying to med school; they had a high acceptance rate, but they would only consider you a "pre-med" if you had a 3.4 GPA or something. On top of this, schools aren't usually publishing how many 100's - 1000's of students enter undergrad planning to go to med school and self-select out of it after dropping intro bio or chem.

 

[Dr Tony T. Chopper]

On top of this, schools aren't usually publishing how many 100's - 1000's of students enter undergrad planning to go to med school and self-select out of it after dropping intro bio or chem.

Self selected students aren't really relevant when we are talking about admission rate though.

 

[Donald Juan]

Self selected students aren't really relevant when we are talking about admission rate though.

I don't see why not, since we are talking to a high school student who wants to know what undergrad would give him the best chance. Very difficult weeder classes could potentially have an affect on how many students at a school ultimately end up going to med school after starting there. Students could also be discouraged against applying to med school by certain schools faculty because they perceive their scores to be too low, while another school may encourage them to give it a shot, retake courses and apply DO, get an SMP, etc.

 

[Ismet]

Merging cross-posted threads, as OP is in high school.

 

[md-2020]

https://www.brown.edu/academics/college/advising/health-careers/medical-admission-data-snapshot, not that there was ever any doubt that Goro was right. But just in case, here's some pretty compelling evidence for Brown. Rice claims a similarly high rate.

My most interesting takeaway is that 70%+ of Brown kiddies take gap year(s)? The number at my school was roughly half that.

 

[Ismet]

https://www.brown.edu/academics/college/advising/health-careers/medical-admission-data-snapshot, not that there was ever any doubt that Goro was right. But just in case, here's some pretty compelling evidence for Brown. Rice claims a similarly high rate.

Brown has a massive BS/MD program. That skews things.

 

[GrapesofRath]

My most interesting takeaway is that 70%+ of Brown kiddies take gap year(s)? The number at my school was roughly half that.

The majority of people who get into Brown med school who aren't from Brown have taken 3+ gap years. Their BS/MD program allows their students to take up to 2 gap years(and I've heard cases of where 3 has been granted). They just go to the beat of their own drum at that place.




OP if you want the best guranteed acceptance to a strong med school it really is Brown BS/MD: Hard as hell to get into, but if you do you are set. No GPA requirements. No real requirements at all from the people I've talked to. Eat, sleep, breathe, dont commit any felonies and you'll likely be a sure thing for the MD program. I consider it the holy grail of BS/MD programs.

There are other fantastic schools with BS/MD programs. Pitt is one(3.75 sGPA requirement). Northwestern, WashU and Baylor/Rice are several others with varying requiremeents that basically demand you to be one of the nations best students to get in(ie the absolute top 5% of the admitted students at these type of schools). There a bunch of lower tier institutions with BS/MD programs like Drexel, Toledo and NEOMED.

These stats that schools tout of acceptance rate to medical school are largely useless. Many schools have a weeding out process where they wont allow weak applicants to apply. Others do all kinds of games to manipulate their stats. There's also a huge difference for these top schools of applicants who sneak into their state school and those who get into top schools.

Honestly your focus should be on doing as well as you can. Plenty of people from generic State U's do plenty fine in med school admission. Plenty of people do mediocre at top institutions and are dissapointed they realize their name brand won't carry them as much as they had hoped. A school like Brown with its notorious grade inflation policies and prestige is the rare combination everybody craves, but those are few and far between. Best bet is to focus on the schools you can do well in, not the name brand.

 

[Obnoxious Dad]

Don't believe anything from the admissions "salesmen" at undergraduate colleges about med school acceptance rates. That's just malarkey. That school may have weeded out tons of otherwise worthy applicants who have been shafted by mean spirited professors.

When you examine an undergraduate school there are three key pieces of information to consider. The first is the 75th percentile ACT/SAT score at that institution. If your score isn't higher than 75% of the incoming freshmen, forget that place. You need to be the smartest guy in the room in all of your classes. The second key data point is the availability of algebra based physics at that school. If the college does not offer a year of algebra based physics with laboratory every year, forget that place. Colleges that are too uppity to offer algebra based physics are inhibitors rather than facilitators on your path to med school. Finally, look at the attrition rate from Organic Chemistry I to Organic Chemistry II. If the number of places in ORG II is substantially lower than the number of places in ORG I, forget that place. If the jerk who teaches ORG I hands out Cs and Ds like Tic Tacs, you need to run like hell from that college.

When you get to college flunk your advance placement exams, avoid honors classes, stay sober and work your butt off.

 

[mcworbust]

Not sure how you'd want to interpret this as it is only applicants, not matriculants, but here's data on applicants from different undergrads broken down by race. As others have mentioned the UC schools have crazy numbers of applicants coming out of them...

https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/86042/table2.html

 

[ComputerGuy365]

The school you will do the best in. The prestigiousness of the university means almost nothing to Adcoms.

 

[WedgeDawg]

The school you will do the best in. The prestigiousness of the university means almost nothing to Adcoms.

Yeah, see this isn't always true. @efle

 

[efle]

According to AAMC survey, private med schools rank "selectivity of undergrad" among highest importance factors, public med schools rank it among lowest importance. So big difference in how much it matters if you're gunning for top 20 vs your public school in a lucky state.

https://aamc-orange.global.ssl.fast...5b5844a/mcatstudentselectionguide.pdf#page=12

I would, however, still caution people about going to some of the top ranked undergrads - everyone there was a great high school student with top couple percentile test scores, and ~2/3rds will get weeded out. A high GPA at an Ivy can be a big booster, but it's also very dangerous to assume you'll be a standout student against that kind of crowd.

 

[bobbyjoey]

Don't believe anything from the admissions "salesmen" at undergraduate colleges about med school acceptance rates. That's just malarkey. That school may have weeded out tons of otherwise worthy applicants who have been shafted by mean spirited professors.

When you examine an undergraduate school there are three key pieces of information to consider. The first is the 75th percentile ACT/SAT score at that institution. If your score isn't higher than 75% of the incoming freshmen, forget that place. You need to be the smartest guy in the room in all of your classes. The second key data point is the availability of algebra based physics at that school. If the college does not offer a year of algebra based physics with laboratory every year, forget that place. Colleges that are too uppity to offer algebra based physics are inhibitors rather than facilitators on your path to med school. Finally, look at the attrition rate from Organic Chemistry I to Organic Chemistry II. If the number of places in ORG II is substantially lower than the number of places in ORG I, forget that place. If the jerk who teaches ORG I hands out Cs and Ds like Tic Tacs, you need to run like hell from that college.

When you get to college flunk your advance placement exams, avoid honors classes, stay sober and work your butt off.

Wow, I had never considered factors such as these ones.
Where would one be able to find specifics like these?

 

[efle]

Where would one be able to find specifics like these?

Nowhere. Students are not meant to get any clue about weedout before matriculating. Your best bet is to talk to people that have gone through premed at the school(s) you are considering.

Edit: Also take Obnoxious Dad's advice as a very specific n = 1. My test scores were median rather than top quartile and I was able to make As; my school uses calc-based physics instead of algebra-based but that is actually the lowest attrition rate class among the prereqs, with many more dropping from the Chem/Bio/Ochem series. A school having a general reputation for misery and deflation (say, Johns Hopkins or U Chicago) should give an accepted student pause, but something so minor as algebra vs calc physics should not be a deciding factor in where you study.

 

[app1]

When I was in undergrad (2008) Rice, Brown, and Cornell had the best placement rates (>93%) with no screening process.

That being said it is much more up to the individual than the school. The best undergrad is the one where you will have the least debt and where you think you will be successful.