Detroit Mercy: 80% Med School Acceptance Rate?

[Strudel19]

I live in the Detroit metro area. Detroit Mercy's website says that have an 80% acceptance rate to med school. I guess it IS private, but does that sound right? Or is it one of those schools that heavily screen and don't let you apply?

Thoughts?

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[cer26]

No, there's probably some loop hole that'd allow them to say that. Overall acceptance rate for med school is probably less than 10% (I don't know the exact number) and is getting lower and lower each year. It could mean 80% acceptance rate of students that interview, since the interview is the last hurdle you have to complete before getting accepted.
Some programs, especially international, have really high acceptance rates, but if that 80% number is truly 80%, I would not make that my number #1. Usually schools like that are not accredited or just aren't that good when acceptance is that high. They are probably just trying to attract people to their program, which accredited US med schools do not need to do.

 

[Strudel19]

Sorry, how I worded the thread might of been unclear. 80% of their undergrads get accepted to medical school. I find this strange, because the middle 50% ACT of undergrads is 21-26. I feel like that should correlate at least a little bit, right?

Maybe their trying to attract bright kids to their undergrad?

 

[cer26]

Oh oh I see....I don't think that's extremely high. I went to a state school in PA that advertized around the same number. I also think it's representing of those that actually apply, that's how many matriculate. I don't think it's the number of people that start out as "pre-med" because so so so many people switch out by even end of first semester.

 

[Strudel19]

Ohhh, alright that makes total sense now. Thanks, I appreciate it!🙂

 

[I'm No Superman]

No, there's probably some loop hole that'd allow them to say that. Overall acceptance rate for med school is probably less than 10% (I don't know the exact number).

It's actually around 40-50%

 

[misssciencenerd]

When I applied to colleges I heard similar stats....one school told me they have a 95% acceptance rate to medical school.
You need to ask them how many students they have apply to medical school each year. Also ask them if they allow anyone to be in the pre-med program/track or if you have to "apply" after your sophomore year of college. See what their retention rate is for pre-med students as well.


When I asked these questions to the school with the 95% med school acceptance rate, I found out that they only allow a certain number of select students into their pre-med track. Then they only have 5 students apply to med school. So the numbers can be easily skewed by the school.

 

[HH Holmes]

Also, another thing to consider is that many students who start out as 'pre-med' are weeded out by pre-reqs such as organic chemistry, physics et. al. Some users on here have said that certain schools will not advise you, or won't write committee LORs for students who they don't think will make it to medical school, as those students will bring down their matriculation rates.

 

[cer26]

It's actually around 40-50%

Sorry, I meant per school the acceptance rate is low. For example, the school I am at had ~10,000 apply and had 200 matriculate. So 2%. And I'm not at a top 10 school either. Either way, it is becoming much more difficult every year.

 

[I'm No Superman]

Sorry, I meant per school the acceptance rate is low. For example, the school I am at had ~10,000 apply and had 200 matriculate. So 2%. And I'm not at a top 10 school either. Either way, it is becoming much more difficult every year.

Oh, that makes more sense 😳.

 

[cer26]

Oh, that makes more sense 😳.

Most people apply to 20+ schools, so that then will obviously raise overall acceptance rate

 

[I'm No Superman]

Most people apply to 20+ schools, so that then will obviously raise overall acceptance rate

That's what I thought you were talking about initially, my bad.

 

[Strudel19]

I really don't want to make a new thread, but do you guys think NP's will somewhat phase out primary care physicians? A whole bunch of online articles are saying that it could happen, and a bunch of NP's are whining and what not.

I've been to an NP before. In my mind, they're alright if you've got a cold, flu, or ear-infection, but man. The docs know so much more.

 

[Thoughtfulness]

What's an NP? 0.o

 

[Strudel19]

NP= Nurse Practitioner. Most of them work in Primary Care, which will meet the huge need for Primary Care physicians. They receive MUCH less training than a doctor, yet those in the profession as a whole are demanding more $$$ and responsibility. Because of the direction health care is going, many are predicting that Nurse Practitioners will assume the role of the primary care physician. This also goes for other nursing specialties, such as Nurse Anesthetists. Many are demanding the ability to practice without being looked after by an Anesthesiologist. Nurses are also way cheaper for the government too. Of course nurses are important to health care, but the thought of them replacing doctors? Lol...

There are SO many articles about this online, and here's one: http://takingnote.tcf.org/2010/04/t...urse-practitioners-provide-primary-care-.html

They have a fair argument, but there are some things that are either A) Totally untrue or B) extremely biased and unsupported.

 

[deleted393595]

The answer is somewhere in here:

You might as well mark up the entire list since every undergrad is doing it to be marketable, including the ones that I mentioned. Undergrads that are truthful would receive less applicants (Less application fee money) and less students for those programs (Less tuition). Revealing a low placement rate would also bring into question the value of the institution and its leadership and raise several eyebrows amongst grant granters. Colleges are ultimately businesses and not charitable institutions run by monks. They have to make money at the end of the day, even if it means resorting to less than truthful means.

I've heard from medical students and pre-meds who graduated but couldn't get into med school that Pre-Med programs are only as effective as you make of it. I know plenty of kids who went to Ivy League schools for Pre-Med but couldn't get into medical school even after several application cycles. On the flip side, I know others who went to lower ranked schools like UT Dallas yet ended up in Ivy League medical schools.

But being an active participant is great since you're exposed to a lot more information that you would probably receive from your Pre-Health advisor. But many students out there are unaware of SDN and have no clue that they have to volunteer in a hospital and shadow physicians. And when they do, they often underestimate the number of hours that they have to put in because their pre-health advisors are either:

1. Too busy since they have to advise a ridiculously huge number of students and the school doesn't have enough of money to hire more advisors
2. Unaware of the extent of the application process since they weren't pre-med students and did something else before becoming pre-health advisors.
3. Were pre-med students who failed to end up in med school since they didn't know how to navigate the entire process and became advisors (And some could hold a grudge against other pre-medders)
4. Some poor guy or girl shoved into the role of pre-health advisor since no one else wanted to do it

So go to whichever school offers you the best financial aid package and know that you will excel there not because of the great "program" there but because you are knowledgeable of the med school admission process. Stay on SDN and always ask if you have difficulties with anything. There are plenty of great people on here who are willing to help you with everything.

 

[Strudel19]

😕

 

[deleted393595]

Whoops. Quoted the wrong post. Here's the one I intended:

WARNING: Be wary of the so-called "acceptance rates" for universities. Heard from a provost on how these figures are massaged by colleges. Most pre-med students starting out freshman year switch majors since they find it to be too "rigorous" (Only 1 out of 10 will apply to med school and only 1 out of the 4 who applied will get in).

So, some colleges set high standards to get a recommendation letter from the Health Advising committee and only count the students who get the recommendation. Non-competitive students are ignored. The provost told me more ways on how this figure is messed with, but I can't remember all of them at the moment.

 

[cer26]

Whoops. Quoted the wrong post. Here's the one I intended:

I've definitely heard the same thing, and have experienced the same thing. A lot of people start out as pre-med because it's "cool" and then switch majors when they realize they actually have to do work. So the number they advertize as being accepted to med school isn't always what it seems.