Which undergraduate University has the highest MD school acceptance rate among its premed applicant?

[dengwei_01]

Hi, all, I don't know if anyone has asked this before or not? Does any of you know where can we find the overall MD school acceptance rate based on applicant's undergraduate University?

And if there's no geographical restriction, which universities are the best to get your premed curriculum done (considering premed advising, class size and rigor, MD school acceptance rate, clinical volunteering opportunities and etc.)

Personally speaking, I prefer a public school over private school.

Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[KnightDoc]

You cannot find this information. AAMC does not publish it, and every school compiles the information it disseminates differently by choosing who to include and exclude in its reported numbers.

In any event, it is totally irrelevant. Your success or failure is totally up to you. People come from community college, go on to a no-name 4 year institution, and then enroll at Harvard Medical School while people applying out of Harvard undergrad end up being accepted nowhere or enrolling at a Caribbean medical school.

"Better" schools have better students who have better results, but YOUR results will depend 1,000% on you, not where you go to school. HYPSM might give you a tiny boost at top med schools due to a certain amount of inbreeding and confidence in the general level of excellence of people coming from those schools. Beyond that, truly, no school will significantly help or hurt you, and, even at the top schools, it's a tiny boost for some applicants at some schools. Nothing more.

 

[dengwei_01]

That's true, but still a better premed school will offer better resources, better opportunity, better premed advising and all in all better education. And those will definitely set you up for success than others.

 

[KnightDoc]

That's true, but still a better premed school will offer better resources, better opportunity, better premed advising and all in all better education. And those will definitely set you up for success than others.

Sure. Good luck trying to objectively measure that. HYPSM will have better results because they have superior raw ingredients (incoming students). They won't necessarily have better anything else, although they might. It's pointless to focus on that. You don't need HYPSM level research resources to get involved with research, pretty much anywhere.

Same with any other extracurricular activity med schools value. Education? GPA trumps all, and it's easiest to get the highest grades at the schools that inflate the most, not at the schools that necessarily provide the "best" education, however you want to define that. Advising? It's hit or miss everywhere. Some very poorly ranked schools have great counselors and overall great offices. Many people complain about the quality of guidance at the so-called "best" schools in the country, so good luck trying to get a handle on that.

It's a noble quest. Good luck in your compilation of the data. Please report back on your findings so future premeds can benefit from your efforts.

 

[LizzyM]

Small class size will get you better letters of recommendation than classes in the hundreds.

A metro area with good transportation systems will make it possible to go to volunteer gigs more easily than a school in a rural area that is miles from anything.

A school with a small population of pre-meds may result in a smaller pool of competitors for slots as a hospital volunteer, community volunteer, research assistant, TA, etc.

A school with enough grade inflation that you can walk away with a good GPA but not so easy that your study skills atrophy or fail to mature to what is needed for college and beyond.

A small net cost of attendance thanks to low cost of living, low tuition and/or generous grants and scholarships, or enough family money to cover expenses such that your college debt is minimized.

 

[SeaAtDusk]

You can see the number of applicants from undergraduate schools with more than 50 applicants on AAMC's table A2. UCLA, UT Austin, Florida, UC Berkeley, UMich, UCSD are pretty consistently at the top. But that doesn't really tell you anything about the schools themselves, just that there are a lot of premeds there. I suspect that the greatest factor for these schools is that they're very large and are in populous states (CA especially).

As others have said, there's a lot that goes into a good pre-med experience and there's probably no good objective measure. What's good for one person may not be good for you.

Edit to add: Even if these statistics were published somewhere, they could also be misleading. I've heard of some schools which have a "premed committee". The committee can choose to not write a letter of recommendation or provide other support if they feel that an applicant is not competitive enough, inflating their acceptance statistics.

 

[dengwei_01]

I agree. I don't want to offend anyone. But to be honest, I feel public school's statistics seems more reliable than private school's. I have studied in both public and private schools and I felt you can never trust what private school says on their website. Because private schools are expert on branding and advertising, while public schools are not incentivized to do so as they are publicly funded. I use ratemyprofessors.com before I register for a class but I don't know if there's any other way you can check to see which undergraduate school offers best premed experiences or not.

 

[LizzyM]

I agree. I don't want to offend anyone. But to be honest, I feel public school's statistics seems more reliable than private school's. I have studied in both public and private schools and I felt you can never trust what private school says on their website. Because private schools are expert on branding and advertising, while public schools are not incentivized to do so as they are publicly funded. I use ratemyprofessors.com before I register for a class but I don't know if there's any other way you can check to see which undergraduate school offers best premed experiences or not.

You are misinformed if you think that public schools are not branding and advertising themselves. Public funds are not limitless and with the differential between in-state and out-of-state tuition, some schools are incentivized to market themselves to out-of-state and international applicants.

 

[Proudfather94]

Hi, all, I don't know if anyone has asked this before or not? Does any of you know where can we find the overall MD school acceptance rate based on applicant's undergraduate University?

And if there's no geographical restriction, which universities are the best to get your premed curriculum done (considering premed advising, class size and rigor, MD school acceptance rate, clinical volunteering opportunities and etc.)

Personally speaking, I prefer a public school over private school.

Thanks!

What's really going to matter is going to school that's a great fit for you. Medical schools only care a little about what university you went to for undergrad so go to the one that you think you'll do the best at.

 

[officialmedschoolfan]

I agree. I don't want to offend anyone. But to be honest, I feel public school's statistics seems more reliable than private school's. I have studied in both public and private schools and I felt you can never trust what private school says on their website. Because private schools are expert on branding and advertising, while public schools are not incentivized to do so as they are publicly funded. I use ratemyprofessors.com before I register for a class but I don't know if there's any other way you can check to see which undergraduate school offers best premed experiences or not.

i went to a public school. my school's pre-health committee advertised a matriculation rate of 97% meaning that 97% of students who applied from my undergrad were accepted to at least one med school. what that stat fails to mention is the intense vetting process they go through. my premed advisor turns away good-great applicants in favor of exceptional applicants to ensure that the success rate stays high. if there is even one red flag, they discourage you from applying at all until you are deemed ready. even then, they don't really provide the resources to push yourself into that category of being an exceptional applicant if you are stuck in the good-great applicant tier.

if you're looking for good premed schools, don't go by the rate in which students matriculate bc that statistic is not reliable.

 

[LizzyM]

I'm beginning to feel that this is like deciding where to play basketball or football based on which school sends the most players to the NBA or NFL. Attending Duke or USC will not get you drafted into a professional sports team more easily than if you attended Oklahoma State or Clemson.

 

[alwaysrunning]

Check out Carroll College in Montana. I have no connection to the college and I'm sure they manipulate their stats a bit, but they do produce a lot of medical students for such a small college.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

When I was a Freshman at a liberal arts pre med mill, 100 in my class started out as pre med. 17 ended up taking MCAT. 14 got in the 1st yr, the 3 others got in the following year. % who matriculated can be quite misleading.

 

[gyngyn]

All schools put the best spin on data that they curate.
The only data that you can trust comes from a disinterested third party that uses acceptable metrics applied equally.

 

[gyngyn]

Personally speaking, I prefer a public school over private school.

But they may not prefer you if you are OOS!
...and you may not prefer to pay OOS tuition, frankly.

 

[KnightDoc]

All schools put the best spin on data that they curate.
The only data that you can trust comes from a disinterested third party that uses acceptable metrics applied equally.

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^.

The only party that has access to the data OP seeks is AAMC, since all MD applications run through their AMCAS system. For whatever reason, they do not release it.

 

[gyngyn]

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^.

The only party that has access to the data OP seeks is AAMC, since all MD applications run through their AMCAS system. For whatever reason, they do not release it.

There are lots of things I wish they would release, but they require a fee to run those reports (even from me, a constituent).
Most of the MSAR data fits my description, though.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

This is actually harder to determine than you think. (I've tried to find a way to get that answer.)

First of all, a lot of students have an academic record where multiple undergraduate institutions are represented. This includes those students who take summer courses at a different undergraduate institution than their degree-granting institution. You also have your career-changers who are doing DIY postbac work, but there's not a way to filter them out. It's not any better when you pick a "primary college" in the applications.

Furthermore, prehealth offices who do analyze their data are restricted to know about applicants for whom the applicants have consented to share their acceptance information with the office. You know... that question on your primary application for advisor disclosure?

In-state seats also matter.

There's also the issue of gap/growth years, formal postbac programs, etc., and articulation/early acceptance tracks. It's hard enough to get that breakdown for incoming students on the MSAR, which would be a very nice thing to disclose if there were an easy way to report it.

What anyone can do is identify feeder schools. You can identify the universities with the highest number of applications associated with the school (note how this is phrased). But to really get what the original question wants requires a lot more analysis than conveniently possible.

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

"Undergraduate Institutions Supplying 50 or More Applicants" from AAMC. I admit this table doesn't even come close to answering your query but may have some useful information. Namely, these are schools all likely have pre-med advising and a pre-med community. But note that these are applicants, not matriculants so not much to be gleaned here.

Going out on a limb here but I'm assuming your goal with this line of questioning is to determine what school will give you the best chance at matriculating. I posit data relating MCAT performance and GPA to chance of acceptance are more relevant than data relating UG and acceptance, if we're talking about easily quantifiable data points that you control (or at least attempt to control).

Your UG doesn't matter as long as it meets the basic threshold of offering science classes and certain pre-med opportunities (see table above). I've heard people complain about attending prestigious UGs because then they're competing with gunners from day one. Personally went to a large public uni and had trouble getting personal attention from profs but there were plenty of research opportunities to go around. Also attended a community college and a liberal arts school at various points. The liberal arts school was lacking in research opportunities and it could be very difficult to get into pre-med classes.

You can be successful where ever you go if you make an effort. The differences between schools, in my estimation, are minor as long as the school has the basic resources, as almost any state university does.

Edit: just realized someone already posted the table

 

[cerebelle2]

From my experience, I think there is great benefit to attending a school that is very close to or affiliated with a medical school/hospital network. Research, especially clinical research, is typically well funded and very accessible to you. It’s easier to find med student/physician mentors (your premed clubs will likely have mentorship programs connecting you), ample and more diverse clinical opportunities, no shortage of doctors and the doctors in teaching hospitals often more eager to train students.
Also, if the affiliated med school is one you like, you’ll likely have great connections with the faculty and community by the time you apply which can possibly make you stand out in your app.

 

[NeuroRed]

Just my 2 cents, but I think you should look to optimize cost wherever possible; this will take an enormous amount of pressure off of your shoulders and give you the time necessary to study. Once you've locked up your GPA, you can use that as collateral to get into research labs, tutoring positions, etc. From there, just find what you like and specialize (for me, this was research). Approach this as a step-wise process.

Attending a smaller school may certainly force you to be more proactive in your search for opportunities, but that tradeoff comes with decreased competition and cost. Vice-versa for larger schools.

Always remember, this is a very long game. You don't want to get bogged down in the middle of it with debt, excess stress, etc. Start humbly and build yourself up into a matured, competent, and confident applicant. You'll rock the world.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

I agree. I don't want to offend anyone. But to be honest, I feel public school's statistics seems more reliable than private school's. I have studied in both public and private schools and I felt you can never trust what private school says on their website. Because private schools are expert on branding and advertising, while public schools are not incentivized to do so as they are publicly funded. I use ratemyprofessors.com before I register for a class but I don't know if there's any other way you can check to see which undergraduate school offers best premed experiences or not.

Public school especially flagships are notorious for weeding people out:

From my experience at a top school, there is no formal weeding out. Ie everybody who wants a committee letter gets a committee letter