Defining Prestigious UG

[MahlerROCKS]

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There have been several posts recently concerning what constitutes as a 'prestigious' UG institution, and whether or not it is pertinent to med school admission. I've also noticed a lot of people in their MDapp links list their UG's simply as US News top 50, or top 125. Therefore, does anyone care to comment on what they think constitutes as prestigious, or if you think this is all BS, please share your thoughts why.

My own list is the top 26 Universities and top 24 LAC's; I'm doing this more out of boredom than out of concern:

Universities:

Princeton
Harvard
Yale
Cal Tech
Stanford
MIT
Penn
Duke
Dartmouth
Columbia
Chicago
Cornell
WashU
Northwestern
Brown
JHU
Rice
Vandy
Emory
Notre Dame
Carnegie Mellon
Berkeley
Georgetown
Virginia
Michigan
UCLA


LAC's:

Williams
Amherst
Swarthmore
Wellesley
Middlebury
Carleton
Bowdoin
Pomona
Haverford
Davidson
Wesleyan
Vassar
Claremont McKenna
Grinnell
Harvey Mudd
Colgate
Hamilton
W&L
Smith
Colby
Bryn Mawr
Oberlin
Bates
Macalester
Mount Holyoke

***Honorable mention:
Reed
Kenyon

 

[spicedmanna]

It probably matters some, but your GPA and MCAT matter more.

 

[MadHopsMD]

It probably matters some, but your GPA and MCAT matter more.

if you went to a less pretigious UG and have a high GPA, the focus will be on your MCAT more so ....

 

[BNSN]

Pretty much. Prestige is what US News tells us it is.

 

[kevster2001]

aren't there less LACs than regular universities? I probably woudln't put 24 LACs as still prestigious. honestly some i've never even heard of

 

[braluk]

Theres no real way to define "prestige", after all, some are "prestigious" in creating successful law students, some are prestigious in creating competitive med students, engineers, etc.. etc.. For example MIT, is probably one of the most prestigious universities in the world for creating world-renowned engineers, but certainly isn't as prestigious in creating law students as another university like Yale does. Many probably cite how "household" of a university name is, that is, everyone probably knows Harvard by name, but maybe not so much with another prestigious university. However, on that same tenet, Ohio State, or BU (names not included in your abovementioned list) are probably considered household names for many, on the basis of their sports or location or size- criteria which don't include how good their medical school/law school/etc...etc... is. Thus, there really isn't a way to define how prestigious a university is- its way too broad a descriptor, and based on too many criteria to make it an objective assessment of a school.

 

[MahlerROCKS]

aren't there less LACs than regular universities? I probably woudln't put 24 LACs as still prestigious. honestly some i've never even heard of

All the ones I posted have comparable acceptance rates and standardized test scores to their university counterparts. These LACs also have large endowments, prominent alumni, and are filled with former prep school kids. Other than Vassar (because of the Simpsons) few people have heard of any of them; one of my debate friends at Williams told me how her roommate was pissed when she applied for an internship at a consulting firm in New York, and the man interviewing her had never heard of Williams .

 

[ADeadLois]

If you believe SDN, then 95% of colleges people attend are either "prestigious" or "have a reputation for being difficult."

 

[HumbleMD]

If you believe SDN, then 95% of colleges people attend are either "prestigious" or "have a reputation for being difficult."

...Which is why we look at data and published ranks, rather than subjective opinions of pre-med posters.

 

[Eric Lindros]

Doesn't matter. According to SDN, undergrad doesn't matter and Cal Tech is the same as Cal University of PA. 😉

 

[Wizard of Oz]

In reference to medical schools, the MCAT will set you free. Going to a strong undergrad school can help (especially if they practice grade inflation), but med schools MUST look to a nationally-standardized exam to compare students from different colleges.

As far as measuring prestige is concerned, it's going to be highly variable. Most academics would view Wash (StL), Duke, and Emory to be similarly "prestigious," but the lay public at large would likely only recognize Duke in this class because of the visibility of their basketball team. Likewise in my neck of the woods, Oklahoma is second tier when the football team is strong, third when not.

When describing the USN top 50, they take opinion polls and consider university endowments/alumni giving in addition to acceptance difficulty/applicant competition.

 

[ADeadLois]

...Which is why we look at data and published ranks, rather than subjective opinions of pre-med posters.

Well...yeah.

My point is that "difficulty" is a very subjective term. It's difficult to garner whether or not a school is "difficult" based on published data, since GPA inflation/deflation varies widely. Some medical schools outright admit that they consider difficulty when considering GPA, but how they define this is somewhat ambiguous. Some probably do look at published data, other (more experienced) adcom members probably know from reputation and experience with students from various institutions. As a result, weighing the relevance of the undergraduate institution is probably some combination of published data and subjective experience. Either way, it's too muddled to really make a claim that because school X is ranked highly by, let's say, US News, that med school Y will look at the applicants GPA in a certain way.

 

[maestro1625]

If you believe SDN, then 95% of colleges people attend are either "prestigious" or "have a reputation for being difficult."

glad to be part of the other 5%...

 

[Wizard of Oz]

glad to be part of the other 5%...

lol me 2

 

[ICCONFETTI]

woot. according to that list, my ug is prestigious.

haha.

 

[FemalesCANTDriv]

carnegie mellon... pffff... more like carnegie watermelon

 

[jbrice1639]

if you went to a less pretigious UG and have a high GPA, the focus will be on your MCAT more so ....

do you have a source for that info?

 

[riceman04]

do you have a source for that info?

of he/she does not!!! Most people here just talk out of their a$$.

 

[jbrice1639]

of he/she does not!!! Most people here just talk out of their a$$.

i know...i just enjoy calling 'em on it now and again 😎

 

[HumbleMD]

Doesn't matter. According to SDN, undergrad doesn't matter and Cal Tech is the same as Cal University of PA. 😉

Wait, it isn't? Oh crap!😱