Any hope?

[tavokeri9]

---

Members don't see this ad.

.

 

[AlexMack12]

For better or for worse, your undergraduate institution (ranking, etc.) in and of itself has no bearing on medical school admissions. Any impact has less to do with the school name and reputation and perhaps, more resources and opportunities that a better-funded institution may have. That being said, just because certain things might not be easily or readily available at your school just means you have to look a bit harder for what you need. But at the end of the day, school name does not affect your chances to be admitted to medical school.

What DOES impact your chances are your MCAT score, letters of recommendation, GPA, and extracurricular activities. You don't need to have a "good" premedical committee- as a nontraditional, I applied (and was accepted to) medical school without ever getting any advice from my premedical committee. Although I did receive a committee letter from my committee, every school I applied to had letter requirements listed to fulfill if a student did not have or utilize a premedical committee. Your school's committee will not impact your chances if you have strong letters (and that's all up to you!) and if you do your research on the application process.

Just focus on doing your absolute best in all of your courses (premedical requirements and otherwise), study for and do well on the MCAT, put yourself in a position to get quality letters of recommendation, and develop a good set of extracurricular activities (i.e., shadowing physicians, volunteer work, leadership experience).

Good luck! And remember- sometimes, the best opportunities to do some really unique and fulfilling stuff occur when you don't have everything at the ready for you!

 

[Aerus]

School name does affect admissions a little bit, but not a whole lot. Your biggest disadvantage would be the amount of resources that are available to you. However, if you are a highly motivated student, I'm sure you can still make the most of what you have and perhaps seek out more opportunities beyond what is given to you.

Also note that because there aren't many high achieving premeds at your school, it is much easier to stand out and rise to the top! Take advantage of the opportunities that you DO have (and since you don't have that much competition, I'm sure you'll have no problem with this) and be motivated enough to seek out other opportunities elsewhere. Do well in school, study hard, and stay motivated. It's definitely possible.

 

[Vans42]

I had an interviewer come out and say that he had never heard anything about my university and asked me about it. I think he was just generally curious and I was able to say some really good things about my school (a public school in New England). I ended up getting accepted. I agree with everything else and I think you should focus on doing stellar and work on the things you have control over. There were very few premeds in my school (by the time it was time to apply anyway lol), and I can't compare my committee with others, but I was ultimately pleased with the help they gave.

 

[kyamh]

I think part of the reason we see so many students at top medical school interviews who went to a top college is simple self-selection. Putting together a good application is a skill. You cultivate this skill, certainly, but student who were good at doing all the "right" things in high school and were able to write good essays for their applications and tell a unique story are probably still good at those things now. That's not to say that students who didn't go to a fancy school for undergraduate cannot put together a stellar application for medical school, but many such students lacked something in high school that they needed to have gained in college (good test taking skills, knowing how to get good grades, knowing how to get great LORs, knowing how to find cool volunteering opportunities, being able to balance many commitments, finding leadership opportunities).

Disclaimer: yes, some students don't go to fancy schools because of socio-ecomonic reasons, I understand. Regardless, I think my point stands for a large portion of potential pre-meds. In addition, students who have had socio-economic difficulties getting into college yet have all the necessary "skills" for a stellar application will probably do just fine regardless of their institution because medical schools care about this kind of diversity.

 

[Vans42]

I think part of the reason we see so many students at top medical school interviews who went to a top college is simple self-selection. Putting together a good application is a skill. You cultivate this skill, certainly, but student who were good at doing all the "right" things in high school and were able to write good essays for their applications and tell a unique story are probably still good at those things now. That's not to say that students who didn't go to a fancy school for undergraduate cannot put together a stellar application for medical school, but many such students lacked something in high school that they needed to have gained in college (goo test taking skills, how to get good grades, how to meet and enchant teachers/professors, how to find cool volunteering opportunities, how to balance many commitments, how to become a leader).

Disclaimer: yes, some students don't go to fancy schools because of socio-ecomonic reasons, I understand. Regardless, I think my point stands for a large portion of potential pre-meds (that is to say, undergraduates). In addition, students who have had socio-economic difficulties getting into college yet have all the necessary "skills" for a stellar application will probably do just fine regardless of their institution because medical schools care about this kind of diversity.

Lol yes, I think that many people who didn't go to fancy schools didn't want to go to get into fancy debt (unless you get scholarships, then that's awesome), myself included.