Do Ad-Coms adjust for the varying rigor at different undergrad schools?

[osprey099]

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😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡

What's preventing her from going ahead and applying anyway? Their committee letter can't possibly be that important, but I'm sure there's other red tape to fight. Thought this kind of stuff stopped in high school.....😱

edit: lol you can only use up to 10 "images" in one post.

Her clinical experience are the same as mine and she has a lot of volunteering. I'm pretty sure it's the GPA that's prohibiting her from applying.

 

[JPodel]

I think this thread should be done, as far as actual debate is concerned. The awkward turtle should formally end this thread?

 

[IncognitoGuy]

Cue exit:

 

[JPodel]

The awkward exit, to accompany the awkward turtle.

 

[Status Sciaticus]

.

 

[JPodel]

Lolol, Mista Chow is the best.

 

[Status Sciaticus]

Lolol, Mista Chow is the best.

dont copy me! you had your chance to use him!

 

[JPodel]

Mishta Chow is necessary in formally closing this thread!

 

[gettheleadout]

Ouch. Tsk tsk SDN for even having something like that! :'(

Red card recognized. Now auto-banning Gandalf.

 

[Status Sciaticus]

Red card recognized. Now auto-banning Gandalf.

Please, I'm one or the few people whose posts you actually enjoy..

Besides, don't you want a wizard as your friend? 😀

 

[JPodel]

Please, I'm one or the few people whose posts you actually enjoy..

Besides, don't you want a wizard as your friend? 😀

I could use a wizard as a friend...... Unless you choose not to have any HS friends?

 

[Dbate]

LizzyM has answered this question before. I took the liberty of looking up her answers:

LizzyM:
Sad to say, some adcoms are snobbish when it comes to undergrad institution. If you didn't go to a top school you have to be twice as good ... a MCAT >40 might help. I wish I were kidding.

This might be a bit of an exaggeration but the lower tier undergrad, 3.8, 36 is not our cookie cutter applicant who gets invited for interview but that's not to say that someone who is extraordinary in some way but who went to a lower tier undergrad won't get an interview offer, just that they are an exception to the typical candidate.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=13477318&postcount=712

LizzyM:
OK, so a 3.8 at Harvard and a 3.8 at Bridgewater State College are pretty much equivalent? Yale and University of New Haven are the same?

Schools have reputations. One reputation is for selectivity in admissions. The very selective schools will have very high performing students while a school with less selectivity may admit students who are less impressive in terms of academic horsepower. Are we more impressed with someone who manages a A in a class of freshmen who have an average SAT score of 2200 or one where the averge SAT was 1500?

MCAT is not a standardized exam by the strict definition. It is a measure of performance on a single day. It has biases. A 8 14 14 is not the same as a 12 12 12.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=13478955&postcount=773

LizzyM
Cornell is a tough school but you are, IIRC, below average among applicants applying to med school out of Cornell. Likewise, your MCAT is a little below avg among Cornell undergrads. About 70% of white applicants with your stats get admitted so you aren't alone if after this cycle you are without a med school.

If this is your first cycle, I'd suggest preparing like crazy and retaking the MCAT in April. Then plan to reapply during the first week of June 2010 if you have managed at least a 34 on the MCAT. Find something (f/t job in research or in a hospital or outpatient setting) to do to support yourself during the year off.

Alternately, take a two year gap. Take some additional natural science courses in 2010-11 to show that you have what it takes to succeed in medical school. This could be undergrad courses, a masters in bio or chem, or a special masters program. Your goal should be a 4.0 gpa, particularly if you are trading down in prestige from Ivy League to state university (regardless of the real difficulty of the coursework the name/prestige is all that an adcom thinks about). Then reapply in June 2011. (If you felt that you needed it, you could retake the MCAT in April 2011). Work during the second year or finish up the academic work need for a degree.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=9061403&postcount=10

 

[SOMBound13]

Quote:
Originally Posted by mihan
20% of all Yalies headed to med school (and 17% of all Yale applicants) end up at Yale SOM. I wonder how many are accepted but don't matriculate...

Are you saying that 20% of Yale's senior class is heading for a US MD school? How many graduates do they have each year? 1000?

I think he meant 20% of Yales "premed" students?

lol 20% of our graduating class of ~1300 does not go to Yale med school. 20% of matriculants go to YSM. And yes, YSM rates acceptance rates are ridiculous. 21% across 12 years of data (another PDF that's not readily accessible to the public contains data since 2000).

I didn't ask about the % of Yale's grad class going to Yale SOM.

I asked if that person is claiming that 20% of Yale's graduation class is heading to a US MD school (anywhere)? I'm trying to figure out what he's claiming.

 

[mihan]

I didn't ask about the % of Yale's grad class going to Yale SOM.

I asked if that person is claiming that 20% of Yale's graduation class is heading to a US MD school (anywhere)? I'm trying to figure out what he's claiming.

I assumed that people would know that I was talking about pre-med applicants. My mistake. I was just pointing out something I found interesting from the link hobbity posted. To clarify, out of 174 pre-med applicants from Yale, 30 (a little over 17%) are accepted into Yale SOM. I did, however, make an error in my original post; I had misread the pdf and somehow thought that 30 were matriculating (instead of accepted) at Yale SOM.

 

[SOMBound13]

I assumed that people would know that I was talking about pre-med applicants. My mistake. I was just pointing out something I found interesting from the link hobbity posted. To clarify, out of 174 pre-med applicants from Yale, 30 (a little over 17%) are accepted into Yale SOM. I did, however, make an error in my original post; I had misread the pdf and somehow thought that 30 were matriculating (instead of accepted) at Yale SOM.

Thanks for the clarification.

This interests me because my parents have a Yale doctor friend (he's about 55) and he claims that his undergrad class and future grad classes have a very large number of freshman premeds, and that few change their career goals (few get weeded out), and nearly all end up matriculating at a US MD SOM.

 

[Cyphix]

LizzyM has answered this question before. I took the liberty of looking up her answers:



http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=13477318&postcount=712





http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=13478955&postcount=773




http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=9061403&postcount=10

Wow, this could have ended the thread on page 1

 

[inycepoo]

Thanks for the clarification.

This interests me because my parents have a Yale doctor friend (he's about 55) and he claims that his undergrad class and future grad classes have a very large number of freshman premeds, and that few change their career goals (few get weeded out), and nearly all end up matriculating at a US MD SOM.

That 174 number fluctuates from year to year, as people take gap years, do stuff abroad, study abroad via Rhodes/Gates/other scholarships, or explore their working options before "enslaving themselves" to medicine.

My anecdotal evidence and perception tells me that yes, few get weeded out, but more than "a few" change their career goals, especially after serving a non-clinical internship or work experience over a summer or post-graduation, which is what we're constantly encouraged to do at school.

But 100-150 premeds graduating out of 1300 per year seems like a right number. Our only large orgo class is around 170, it makes sense. And I don't doubt nearly all get into an MD school, though the stats say that 1-3 per year go to a DO.

 

[inycepoo]

Wow, this could have ended the thread on page 1

No, someone would've found a way to stretch that and then continue on talking. Notice the majority of the thread does not talk about how adcoms view GPAs. Instead, the normative question of whether "inflated" grades mean anything (though that's a crude way of phrasing it) stole the show.

 

[Lamel]

The defensiveness from both sides in this thread is pretty funny.

 

[487806]

Because a mod hasn't locked it up yet.

why is this thread still alive...

Who cares? Free for all!!!!

lets say you and I make the same income.

However, I live in a different state so the cost of living is higher and thus the , NET/DISPOSABLE income would be lower for me than for you....

Consequently, if you receive the same assistance because of the same taxable income, its not fair to me because you have more disposable income than I do but receive the same benefits.

That makes sense now. Thanks for the clarification. 👍

 

[inycepoo]

 

[487806]

Please, I'm one or the few people whose posts you actually enjoy..

Besides, don't you want a wizard as your friend? 😀

You're lucky. I think my Squilliam self got out of control.

/Agent B :cry::cry:

 

[Status Sciaticus]

You're lucky. I think my Squilliam self got out of control.

/Agent B :cry::cry:

🤣🤣🤣🤣

 

[dirigo]

It tends to favor students who are rich. We know that despite efforts to make the top schools accessible to kids who don't come from wealth, the admissions process for college greatly favors the rich. Then use a high stakes exam that favors the rich and you've screwed the lower middle class kid twice, once when they were shut out of an elite school and the second time when you used the MCAT to "level the playing field".

One of the saddest post I've ever read. And it's true...I know firsthand. 🙁

 

[deleted436726]

So, how does UChicago stack up in terms of perceived rigor and grade deflation from an adcom's perspective? 😀

 

[inycepoo]

So, how does UChicago stack up in terms of perceived rigor and grade deflation from an adcom's perspective? 😀

Subtle. Why, do you go to Northwestern?

 

[deleted436726]

Subtle. Why, do you go to Northwestern?

 

[LizzyM]

So, how does UChicago stack up in terms of perceived rigor and grade deflation from an adcom's perspective? 😀

Considered rigorous, and with some brutal grade deflation, too.

 

[inycepoo]

Considered rigorous, and with some brutal grade deflation, too.

LizzyM, how do you keep up with the bajillion threads you must be tracking and all the PMs?!? You obviously ignore all the fluff in between, yet you magically appear again when something relevant comes up. 😕

#impressed

 

[catzzz88]

LizzyM, how do you keep up with the bajillion threads you must be tracking and all the PMs?!? You obviously ignore all the fluff in between, yet you magically appear again when something relevant comes up. 😕

#impressed

Ouch... looks like your post got labeled as "fluff" haha 🙂

 

[Lamel]

Considered rigorous, and with some brutal grade deflation, too.

I always wondered how snobby adcoms REALLY are, because everyone has a bias.

For example do they even break down tiers of Ivys? Like Harvard, Princeton, Yale will be given preference over Cornell, Upenn, Columbia etc.

Because if so, that's rough.

 

[inycepoo]

Ouch... looks like your post got labeled as "fluff" haha 🙂

I know :sad:

 

[I Love Cats]

one of the saddest post i've ever read. And it's true...i know firsthand. 🙁

+1