Can you succeed as a pre-med student going to a non prestigious undergrad

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
S

smileMD

New Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2011
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
I go to San Jose State which is not prestigious at all and now that I'm worried I won't make it far in life. I know I know, it doesn't matter what undergraduate school you go to and it matters more about graduate school but I'm getting extremely irritated by my friends who go to UCs who are also pre-med and they're looking down on me and acting all condescending and as a result, make me feel inferior and insecure about the education i'm recieving. First of all, I could of gone to an UC but, a CSU is jus all the more cheaper.. Please give me advice, I would greatly appreciate it.
Members don't see this ad.
 
smileMD said:
I go to San Jose State which is not prestigious at all and now that I'm worried I won't make it far in life. I know I know, it doesn't matter what undergraduate school you go to and it matters more about graduate school but I'm getting extremely irritated by my friends who go to UCs who are also pre-med and they're looking down on me and acting all condescending and as a result, make me feel inferior and insecure about the education i'm recieving. First of all, I could of gone to an UC but, a CSU is jus all the more cheaper.. Please give me advice, I would greatly appreciate it.
Click to expand...

Yes, many of the people in my class went to undergrads I'd never even heard of (and truthfully still have no idea where they are). Like you said, undergrad doesn't matter in the end, get great grades, dominate MCAT, do your extracurriculars and interview well. You'll be fine.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
That's a load of crap. As long as you have the numbers, the experiences, and the dedication, you'll make it no matter where you go. You MIGHT have slight problems at the top-tier medical schools (like Harvard) but even then, you won't be ruled out solely because you went to SJSU. You need to make sure that you, as an individual candidate, present yourself in the strongest way possible. I have seen friends from local universities make it to decent medical schools, and other friends who went to elite private schools enter a second application cycle. It's all about how you make use of the opportunities around you :)
 
School (and life for that matter) is all about what you put into it. You can go to a community college and study your ass off and come out very knowledgeable or go to Harvard and not do a damn thing and not know your ass from a hole in the ground.
 
No admissions committee is going to give a rats ass that you have a degree from San Jose State. My best friend from a Cal State school back in California is an M3 at Duke. This is anecdotal, but your question was whether or not it's possible to succeed coming from an unrecognized school and the answer is clearly yes.
 
^Oh damn that's cold.
 
MrBird said:
No admissions committee is going to give a rats ass that you have a degree from San Jose State. My best friend from a Cal State school back in California is an M3 at Duke. This is anecdotal, but your question was whether or not it's possible to succeed coming from an unrecognized school and the answer is clearly yes.
Click to expand...

I disagree to some extent. At almost every interview I went to, the majority of people I was interviewing with were from prestigious schools (tons of ivy, or Stanford/Berkely/UCLA from the west coast). The pattern broke down more towards the schools that were ranked lower, where there would be A LOT more state/public schools represented.

The real question here (does my choice in undergraduate school matter) has been discussed over and over on these boards. The general consensus is YES, the school you go to matters. Take an average pre-med from random state schol, and take another pre-med with similar stats/ECs from Harvard, and the Harvard kid has the edge. But the most important factor is the student, and what you accomplish. Strive for excellence, and your school will matter less. If you are really bound and determined to get in, and know what you have to do to get there, then your school in the grand scheme of things will matter less because you will know how to stand out and make yourself a strong applicant regardless.
 
Prestigious undergrads are like prestigious med schools...you spend a crap load more money for exactly what everyone else gets.
 
I graduated last May from a tiny school in Colorado (fewer than 1000 undergrad). This was my first time applying and I got interviews at five medschools including UT Southwestern and Baylor College of Medicine. I was accepted to UT Medical Branch, am on the waitlist at Southwestern, and am still waiting to hear from Baylor (my interview was last week). Doing well at a prestigious school may give someone a competitive edge, but you are in no way out of the running just because you went to a lesser known university.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
NeuralNetwork said:
I disagree to some extent. At almost every interview I went to, the majority of people I was interviewing with were from prestigious schools (tons of ivy, or Stanford/Berkely/UCLA from the west coast). The pattern broke down more towards the schools that were ranked lower, where there would be A LOT more state/public schools represented.

The real question here (does my choice in undergraduate school matter) has been discussed over and over on these boards. The general consensus is YES, the school you go to matters. Take an average pre-med from random state schol, and take another pre-med with similar stats/ECs from Harvard, and the Harvard kid has the edge. But the most important factor is the student, and what you accomplish. Strive for excellence, and your school will matter less. If you are really bound and determined to get in, and know what you have to do to get there, then your school in the grand scheme of things will matter less because you will know how to stand out and make yourself a strong applicant regardless.
Click to expand...

I see fallacy. Applicants are self-selecting, anyway. The people who apply to med school are typically harder workers than the average students. These people typically go to schools with better reputations. I guarantee the reason you see more ivy kids at top 20 school interviews is because there are more ivy applicants to those schools in general.
 
I apologize for using the word "could of." My post was partially because I needed to rant.. I was irritated by my snobby friends.
 
This isn't like applying for a prestigious PhD program, which have some correlation to the University your went to plus research and other factors.
Med schools on the other hand, don't give a freakin crap where you came from, as long as the school is accredited.
 
smileMD said:
Can you succeed as a pre-med student going to a non prestigious undergrad.
Click to expand...

Yes.

There may be a bias against you (from nearly non-existant, to slight, to a somewhat large factor). However, who knows how much, and at which school. At this point, just pretend like it doesn't exist, as even if it does, what are you going to do about it?
 
smileMD said:
I go to San Jose State which is not prestigious at all and now that I'm worried I won't make it far in life. I know I know, it doesn't matter what undergraduate school you go to and it matters more about graduate school but I'm getting extremely irritated by my friends who go to UCs who are also pre-med and they're looking down on me and acting all condescending and as a result, make me feel inferior and insecure about the education i'm recieving. First of all, I could of gone to an UC but, a CSU is jus all the more cheaper.. Please give me advice, I would greatly appreciate it.
Click to expand...


By "advice", are you asking us to reiterate what you say you already know, or for us to call your friends snobs so you can feel better about having a community of anonymous premeds backing you up? Either case is a waste of time.

Some say UG prestige matters, some say it doesn't matter. Reading the former will make you feel worse, and the latter will make you feel better. Choose one and move forward. Good luck.
 
you don't have to go to a great school, but you have to be a great student. make sure to do well and be yourself
 
You will be fine as long you keep your numbers up. GPA/MCAT,
 
Well I mean if it's a large gap in ranking and known difficulty.
Let's say someone who went to Harvey Mudd and graduated with a 3.9/34 similar EC's vs. a small liberal arts college with stats that match the former.
The first graduate is definitely going to be more highly considered. Mostly likely will secure and interview first.
The thing is, you MUST make your impression on the interview day.
That will make or break you.
Once you have an interview, they are considering accepting you, otherwise they wouldn't want to waste spots.
 
smileMD said:
I go to San Jose State which is not prestigious at all and now that I'm worried I won't make it far in life. I know I know, it doesn't matter what undergraduate school you go to and it matters more about graduate school but I'm getting extremely irritated by my friends who go to UCs who are also pre-med and they're looking down on me and acting all condescending and as a result, make me feel inferior and insecure about the education i'm recieving. First of all, I could of gone to an UC but, a CSU is jus all the more cheaper.. Please give me advice, I would greatly appreciate it.
Click to expand...

I went to the cheaper option for me too, turning down better schools. I was scared for a bit but it is nothing you can control. I have had a chance to interview at over 15 schools and got accepted to half that amount, including top 20 (and 10) schools. When I went to interviews at "Good" schools, I saw a lot of HYPSM and very few non-elite people. However, I was there and you can be too! Control what you can
 
Last edited:
Yes you can succeed whether you came from a State university or UCs, like what many others have said it's all up to you. Just show the adcoms that even though you didn't came from a prestigious university, you are the same as competitive as them.
 
CSU's aren't looked down upon, but they aren't as favored compared to UC's. Just like how UC's are not as favored as top private schools. You have to come into the game knowing this, and play your cards right. You basically have to give adcoms no reason to doubt you.

It is going to be an uphill battle. If you are only in your first year, I would try to transfer to a UC to give yourself the best chance. There are more applicants every year and I would do everything I can to be competitive. It is what it is.
 
Undergrad does not mean anything. I took a full ride to a school that no one on these forums have ever heard of instead of attending better known school and I was accepted to three medical schools. Never get in too much debt for undergrad just because you think a school has a better reputation because your education is what you make of it.
 
I went to SJSU, currently a med student at BU, and two friends I took classes with went to Columbia, and UCSD, so yes... you can succeed.

Second, contrary to what a lot of people are saying, YES school does matter a little. In my med school class of 170, only three students are from a Cal State school (20% of my class is from CA). You will quickly find out as a CA applicant, there are an enormous amount of people with a 3.7-3.8, with a MCAT of 31-33. So as a Cal-state applicant yes you do have to do a bit more, but that's because there are plenty of people already NOT getting in with the same stats from more well known schools. So your school honestly may be a little thing, but because the competition is so rough, little things add up. (Most of the East-Coast schools I've interviewed at had no idea where San Jose is)

So you're at SJSU, and just focus on the things that you can change, e.g. maintain a 3.75+ get high MCATs, do Research/get pubs, ECs.

Also as a side note:
The comment from Patchy about getting a 3.8 at SJSU, the same person would get a 3.1 at UC Berkeley. Seriously? Seriously?!!? Me and my former roommate who came from Trinity, took classes for a semester at Harvard through our research program, and we were both shocked how easy some of those classes were. Grade inflation definitely seemed more apparent as you went up the totem pole.
 
CoolWhipp said:
If you are only in your first year, I would try to transfer to a UC to give yourself the best chance. There are more applicants every year and I would do everything I can to be competitive. It is what it is.
Click to expand...

If you are only in your first year, I would try to transfer out of the state of California and to a pre-med friendly state like Texas to give yourself the best chance. There are more applicants from California every year and I would do everything I can to be competitive. It is what it is.
 
.
 
Last edited:
smileMD said:
I go to San Jose State which is not prestigious at all and now that I'm worried I won't make it far in life. I know I know, it doesn't matter what undergraduate school you go to and it matters more about graduate school but I'm getting extremely irritated by my friends who go to UCs who are also pre-med and they're looking down on me and acting all condescending and as a result, make me feel inferior and insecure about the education i'm recieving. First of all, I could of gone to an UC but, a CSU is jus all the more cheaper.. Please give me advice, I would greatly appreciate it.
Click to expand...

:laugh:
 
MT Headed said:
If you are only in your first year, I would try to transfer out of the state of California and to a pre-med friendly state like Texas to give yourself the best chance. There are more applicants from California every year and I would do everything I can to be competitive. It is what it is.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Cali is ridiculous.
 
Ahhh, a classic SDN cliche.

Let's just say that you will have to back up a high GPA from an uncompetitive undergrad with a decent MCAT. If your numbers are solid it won't hurt at all-with the exception of a few really prestigious schools of course-, but a 27 MCAT will make your 4.0 (or whatever high GPA) look like it's undeserved. Is this fair? Yes and no:

-"Yes" because the MCAT is there to help equalize between a school like Cornell that is 10x harder (not actual measurement, so keep your pantaloons on) than somewhere like Georgia Southern. I for one am a fan of the MCAT, having come from a very competitive undergrad and getting average-above average grades there.
-"No" because the MCAT is a standardized test, and there are a number of reasons why anyone could score lower than their GPA would reflect. I know a handful of people smarter than I am that didn't break 30, but had good grades and I'm sure would (will) do well in med school.
 
doesn't matter where you do your UG as long as it's not a community college

keep your numbers up and you'll be fine
 
Get a 40/4.0 and show your friends who's boss.
 
canadian18 said:
doesn't matter where you do your UG as long as it's not a community college

keep your numbers up and you'll be fine
Click to expand...

Not quite. I mean it would be much better (cost-effective) to do two years at a CC to finish your intro bio and gen chem, but IMO save Physics, Orgo, and upper level bio for the university. I mean, you do need a degree to matriculate right?
 
I've actually heard that it does matter where you went to UG from a med school dean... He said higher ranked colleges usually work their undergrads more than some random college.
 
Plue00 said:
I've actually heard that it does matter where you went to UG from a med school dean... He said higher ranked colleges usually work their undergrads more than some random college.
Click to expand...

i'm assuming by work you mean work for (if this isn't the case ignore the rest of the post). The other side of this coin is that coming from a higher ranked school the likelyhood of having more kids going pre-med means less time/energy per kid. if you graduate with 5 other pre-meds they can put lots of effort into it. if you graduate with 500 then you're fighting for time. then the argument is well a bigger school has more resources/people and so on and so on. the point is that people have gotten into med school from almost every 4 year university in the nation, you can get in from anywhere as long as you put in the effort.
 
SAvoodoo said:
i'm assuming by work you mean work for (if this isn't the case ignore the rest of the post). The other side of this coin is that coming from a higher ranked school the likelyhood of having more kids going pre-med means less time/energy per kid. if you graduate with 5 other pre-meds they can put lots of effort into it. if you graduate with 500 then you're fighting for time. then the argument is well a bigger school has more resources/people and so on and so on. the point is that people have gotten into med school from almost every 4 year university in the nation, you can get in from anywhere as long as you put in the effort.
Click to expand...

Well, generally, the higher ranked the school is, the more people from it is accepted to medical school. I think Duke has something like 92% get in compared to the national average which is in the 40s I think.

Its easy to get a 4.0 at some random college and study really hard for the MCAT (because the school is easy, you have the time to do that) than to do it at a school like Cornell and MIT. I knew a guy that went to a really crappy school but had a 3.97. The first time he took the MCAT, he got a 24, then he spent a couple of months studying and got a 31. You can learn what is on the MCAT in a couple of months. You can't retake your GPA.
 
I didn't attend a prestigious undergrad by any means and I don't think it hurt me at all. That said, I was frequently the only person not from a top 20 school at interview days. I'm more inclined to think this is because there are likely significantly more high-achieving individuals from these schools and are thus more likely to interview at top places rather than their school name lending them any sort of benefit.

Prestigious universities are advantageous generally because of the numerous opportunities available to students that simply aren't available at less prestigious undergrads. As a result, you have more opportunity to be involved in all of those lovely life-enriching experiences that adcoms so voraciously drool over. By no means, however, does that mean you're screwed if you don't go to a prestigious university - the path is just less well-traveled and doing those things will probably take more effort on your part.

But this topic has been discussed ad nauseum, and the OP probably knew this already.
 
Plue00 said:
Well, generally, the higher ranked the school is, the more people from it is accepted to medical school. I think Duke has something like 92% get in compared to the national average which is in the 40s I think.

Its easy to get a 4.0 at some random college and study really hard for the MCAT (because the school is easy, you have the time to do that) than to do it at a school like Cornell and MIT. I knew a guy that went to a really crappy school but had a 3.97. The first time he took the MCAT, he got a 24, then he spent a couple of months studying and got a 31. You can learn what is on the MCAT in a couple of months. You can't retake your GPA.
Click to expand...
Be very careful with how they get the number above. If Duke pre-screens applicants, only providing pre-med committee recommendations for students who meet their cutoffs, they can greatly increase the acceptance rate by refusing a recommendation for anyone who doesn't have a 3.6+gpa and a 30+mcat, for example. They can inflate their numbers by comparing their pre-screened group of students to the applicant population at large which includes significant numbers of people who shouldn't be applying (at least at that point in time) but are doing so anyway because of ignorance/denial/etc.

Plenty of people get in from "no-name" schools, and I would like to see data that the students from "top" undergraduate schools have a significantly lower GPA than those from the average state university. Will a top school give you a boost? Probably, if you are already a competitive applicant. Will going to a top school get you in despite a poor showing on the MCAT and in your GPA? Most likely not. Will going to a no-name (4-year) school and doing well there keep you out of medical school? Of course not.
 
You're not your undergraduate institution. You're not how many points you got on the MCAT. You're not the extracurriculars you've performed. You're not your GPA. You're not your ****ing hospital volunteering uniform. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.

**** off with your 42 MCAT and HYP undergrad, I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let... lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may.

Know that one day you will apply to medical school. Do not fear it, know it.
 
Last edited:
sliceofbread136 said:
You're not your undergraduate institution. You're not how many points you got on the MCAT. You're not the extracurriculars you've performed. You're not your GPA. You're not your ****ing hospital volunteering uniform. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.

**** off with your 42 MCAT and HYP undergrad, I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let... lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may.

Know that one day you will apply to medical school. Do not fear it, know it.
Click to expand...

What the ****? I'd rather be my undergraduate institution and how many points I got on the MCAT than crap any day. I am my undergraduate institution and my MCAT score.
 
tantacles said:
What the ****? I'd rather be my undergraduate institution and how many points I got on the MCAT than crap any day. I am my undergraduate institution and my MCAT score.
Click to expand...

Undergrad was the beginning, now it's moved out of the basement, it's called medical school.

**** damnation, man! **** redemption! We are medical school's unwanted children? So be it!

Tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of OP's life. His breakfast will taste better than any meal you and I have ever tasted.
 
Man, I see in SDN the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation studying, volunteering; slaves with MCAT prep books. Medical school has us chasing points and volunteer hours, studying subjects we hate so we can get into a prestigious medical school we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and surgeons, and oncologists. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

A
Credit/Non-Credit of a Course that may be a pre-req
Replies
4
Views
163
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
D
Letters of recommendation as an older non-trad?
Replies
11
Views
652
anon2
A
E
Gap Essay as a Super Non-Trad
Replies
1
Views
453
Moko
Moko
j_diggity
Non-trad here. Should I bother explaining a downward GPA in my undergrad?
Replies
6
Views
481
LindaAccepted
LindaAccepted
S
Can I use crocheting in this way for non-clinical volunteering?
Replies
11
Views
958
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
Top