Differences in universities

[aggie404]

This may not be the right forum to post in, but I was wondering how much where you got your undergrad degree has on your chances.

My biggest question is, do addmission committees weigh, or look at, gpas from more competative universities differently than a similar gpa at a less competative school? Like for example a teir I vs teir III or something like that...

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[virusgirl]

I think if all other things are equal, school prestige might play a role. But otherwise, no. Plenty of people from the Ivy League don't get into medical school, and plenty of folks from lesser-known schools do. It's not enough to just be a Harvard grad; you still need to have an impressive application.

I'm not going to say it isn't an issue at all, but I don't think it's as important as people make out to be. There are SO MANY POSTS here to the effect of "I have a 3.0 GPA, 27 MCAT, I go to an Ivy, do I have a chance?" Unless an adcom is trying to decide between two people with very similar stats and ECs, I really don't think your undergrad will come into play.

 

[nom de guerre]

I think if all other things are equal, school prestige might play a role. But otherwise, no. Plenty of people from the Ivy League don't get into medical school, and plenty of folks from lesser-known schools do. It's not enough to just be a Harvard grad; you still need to have an impressive application.

I'm not going to say it isn't an issue at all, but I don't think it's as important as people make out to be. There are SO MANY POSTS here to the effect of "I have a 3.0 GPA, 27 MCAT, I go to an Ivy, do I have a chance?" Unless an adcom is trying to decide between two people with very similar stats and ECs, I really don't think your undergrad will come into play.

I had actually heard from one admissions committee member that Ivy league schools aren't at the top of the list when it comes to getting a bump because of grade-inflation issues. Then again, this was a while ago and I don't have any other information, aside from his word, to back that up. Who knows

 

[aggie404]

The only thing I was thinking was is that there is a big difference between a top-10 public school and small state school; not so much in the quality of the education but rather in the overall competitiveness of the students in the university. There are certain schools where students are held to higher standard and much more is expected out of them to get an A in a class like organic chemistry, a class that every premed, regardless of school, has to take. This definitely has an impact on one's GPA, I was just wondering if the addmission committees look take this into account. It's something I'm more just curious about after having experienced this effect as I finished up my pre-reqs after graduation.

 

[Mobius1985]

Adcomms are well aware of the differences in academic rigor at different schools. Each has it's own policy of adjusting, or not, for this factor. The great equalizer is the MCAT score.