Do Med Schools look at where you graduate from?

[MrRager]

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Hello everyone, thank you for taking your time to read this. I am a Junior, with a horrible first Semester and a half (20 Hours). My stats are here:
Concurrent Enrollment Grades
Comp 2-C
Poly Science-C
College Alg- B

First Semester in College
Chem1-C
Art History (hated that class so freaking hard)-C
Intro into Religious Studies B

2nd Semester College
Calc 1-A
Zoology-A
Zoology Lab-A
Chem 2-A


Summer Intersession
Psychology-A
Calc 2-A

3rd Semester in College
Org Chem-A
Physics-A
Intro into HES-A
Intro into Buddhism-A

4th Semester in College
Org Chem2-A
Physics2-A
Intro into hinduism-A
HES (health and exercise science) course-A

I believe I gave it my all to turn my life around. I don't know whether it is possible for top tier schools to give me another chance. My dream school is UCSF, which means it is my main goal. I know this is very unlikely given my GPA ( for info on why I had such low grades, http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=783542&highlight=mrrager) but I have been searching up on mdapplicants.com for low gpa + high mcat students who got into UCSF. I even saw a few that were very recent and had 3.3~3.5 with an MCAT of 30~34. I have not taken an MCAT yet but I have started on some practice tests and it looks promising (first practice test score-33). I am aware that it may not what happen on the actual test but I can rest assure that it will be pretty darn close. However, I noticed that students that got into UCSF or even other top tier schools with very low statistics where students that applied from Ivy Leagues and other very prominent undergrad schools. I attend an average public state school. Will this hurt my chances?

PS I know I haven't listed ECs here. I don't know the exact numbers but I do know its over 50 Hours of Shadowing and over 100 hours of volunteering. I am starting research very soon, I have founded an organization on campus, I have coached middle school football (my passion), I have a blackbelt in a martial arts, and I have been the president of a committee that fund raises and donates to lung cancer research for 2 years.

 

[Mithril]

.

 

[MrRager]

This question is asked like every week. Use the search feature.

Tried it, couldn't find one. Maybe I'm phrasing it wrong. Can you give me some links?

Thanks

 

[LizzyM]

First: in the future, please use : rather than - as seeing -A is confusing in a way that :A would not be.

Second: there is a "what are my chances?" forum for these questions. Perusing that forum might have helped you.

Third: It would be nice to know your gpa and your gpa by year. It looks like>2.0 <3.0 in HS, sightly < 3.0 in freshman year and 4.0 in sophomore year. If so, and given a continue fine performance over 2 more years you may be fine, particularly if you plan to apply during a gap year thus having 4 years of gpa to mitigate the rough start.

At any gpa the better the MCAT the better the odds of being admitted to med school. Until you take the MCAT and have at least 3 years of college credits, you really can't use the historical data tables effectively to determine your odds based on stats alone.

100 hours of volunteering after 2 yrs of college is ok but only averages 1 hour/wk.... keep at it as a way of life rather than an activity that "checks a box". Raising money for a cause often involves fun activities and I tend not to give it as much credit as working in a lab or being engaged face-to-face with those in need.

 

[fahimaz7]

Yes they do. This topic is brought up often, as is the idea of a student cherry picking his/her schedule to make the "hard" classes a lot easier.

 

[MrRager]

First: in the future, please use : rather than - as seeing -A is confusing in a way that :A would not be.

Second: there is a "what are my chances?" forum for these questions. Perusing that forum might have helped you.

Third: It would be nice to know your gpa and your gpa by year. It looks like>2.0 <3.0 in HS, sightly < 3.0 in freshman year and 4.0 in sophomore year. If so, and given a continue fine performance over 2 more years you may be fine, particularly if you plan to apply during a gap year thus having 4 years of gpa to mitigate the rough start.

At any gpa the better the MCAT the better the odds of being admitted to med school. Until you take the MCAT and have at least 3 years of college credits, you really can't use the historical data tables effectively to determine your odds based on stats alone.

100 hours of volunteering after 2 yrs of college is ok but only averages 1 hour/wk.... keep at it as a way of life rather than an activity that "checks a box". Raising money for a cause often involves fun activities and I tend not to give it as much credit as working in a lab or being engaged face-to-face with those in need.

First off, I would like to say that I appreciate your reply, it is very insightful. Also, I did not mean this to be a "what are my chances" question, but due to a lot of paranoia and the raging anxiety I have had ever since the end of my first semester, I tend to make almost every question seem like one. My main purpose of this question was to see if Med Schools such as UCSF and UCLA will even count me as a competitive applicant even if I did not attend a university such as Harvard or Yale, but rather went to the U of New Mexico.

Also if you can, will you please tell me where you are an admin at? I am just curious.

 

[Dbate]

First off, I would like to say that I appreciate your reply, it is very insightful. Also, I did not mean this to be a "what are my chances" question, but due to a lot of paranoia and the raging anxiety I have had ever since the end of my first semester, I tend to make almost every question seem like one. My main purpose of this question was to see if Med Schools such as UCSF and UCLA will even count me as a competitive applicant even if I did not attend a university such as Harvard or Yale, but rather went to the U of New Mexico.

Also if you can, will you please tell me where you are an admin at? I am just curious.

What the heck? These schools are vastly overrated.

 

[MrRager]

What the heck? These schools are vastly overrated.

Although you may be right, I don't know if UCSF, USC, and UCLA admins think that way either. I just used those schools as an example of prestige which contributes to thinking that classes are harder at those schools, thus students that graduate from those schools are more qualified than students who go to the average state schools.

lol, I would much rather go to a public school (although not the one I am going to graduate from) than such Ivy Leagues due to financial reasons and just because I think I can get quality undergrad education without going to a top tier.

 

[OrangeandMaroon]

Although you may be right, I don't know if UCSF, USC, and UCLA admins think that way either. I just used those schools as an example of prestige which contributes to thinking that classes are harder at those schools, thus students that graduate from those schools are more qualified than students who go to the average state schools.

lol, I would much rather go to a public school (although not the one I am going to graduate from) than such Ivy Leagues due to financial reasons and just because I think I can get quality undergrad education without going to a top tier.

If it's not something you're considering changing (transferring to a "more elite" university) why are you worried about it? Knowing if someone from an Ivy is more qualified than you is irrelevant.

If you want to get into a top 20 you will need to be a very qualified applicant regardless of your undergraduate institution.

 

[MrRager]

If it's not something you're considering changing (transferring to a "more elite" university) why are you worried about it? Knowing if someone from an Ivy is more qualified than you is irrelevant.

If you want to get into a top 20 you will need to be a very qualified applicant regardless of your undergraduate institution.

I am just simply curious, that's all.

 

[LizzyM]

I am at an undisclosed location.

according to those folks who've entered data in www.mdapplicants.com, most who've been admitted to UCSF have graduated from top tier schools or out of the California system. However, there is one (of 35) who reports having graduated from East Tenn. State U. so it can happen.

Your application is what it is. Getting into any specific school is a 1 in 20 shot on a good day so you have to be open to the possibility that you won't be admitted to your dream school but you may be admitted to a school that will give you the opportunity to work hard and achieve your goal of being a physician.

 

[OrangeandMaroon]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=10391720&postcount=26
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=774498
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/archive/index.php/t-43128.html
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=772274
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=594386
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=268098
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/archive/index.php/t-375966.html
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/archive/index.php/t-777173.html

These threads should answer your question.
As a general tip, starting a thread without first doing a thorough search will not earn you any points on sdn.
Good luck.

 

[MrRager]

I am at an undisclosed location.

according to those folks who've entered data in www.mdapplicants.com, most who've been admitted to UCSF have graduated from top tier schools or out of the California system. However, there is one (of 35) who reports having graduated from East Tenn. State U. so it can happen.

Your application is what it is. Getting into any specific school is a 1 in 20 shot on a good day so you have to be open to the possibility that you won't be admitted to your dream school but you may be admitted to a school that will give you the opportunity to work hard and achieve your goal of being a physician.

You're right. Well time to start focusing heavily on the MCAT. Thank you for your time.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=10391720&postcount=26
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=774498
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/archive/index.php/t-43128.html
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=772274
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=594386
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=268098
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/archive/index.php/t-375966.html
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/archive/index.php/t-777173.html

These threads should answer your question.
As a general tip, starting a thread without first doing a thorough search will not earn you any points on sdn.
Good luck.

Hmmmm, well thanks . Sorry for asking this overly repetitive question, I understand it is annoying. I am a noob here though lol. Although I did try searching once before I submitted the thread, but had no luck. I'll just rearrange phrasings next time.

Wish me luck and thanks.

 

[Signifier]

SUNY Buffalo med school uses a numerical method that dings your GPA, or leaves it unmodified, based on what school you went to. They literally look your school up in Barron's guide to colleges and depending on the score it received modify your GPA in this way. A 4.0 from Middlebury is different than a 4.0 from random unknown state school in nowheres-ville.

I know this because the admissions person told me when I asked him.

 

[MrRager]

SUNY Buffalo med school uses a numerical method that dings your GPA, or leaves it unmodified, based on what school you went to. They literally look your school up in Barron's guide to colleges and depending on the score it received modify your GPA in this way. A 4.0 from Middlebury is different than a 4.0 from random unknown state school in nowheres-ville.

I know this because the admissions person told me when I asked him.

See, thats interesting now, because that sort of process would do A LOT of damage to me...lol

 

[mjscal]

UCSF gives preference to California state residents applying to medical school so if you are not a California resident your chances of admission are very low. UCLA does not give in state preference in admissions. Most of my class graduated from one of the tier one national universities or one of the top liberal arts colleges. Few from the upper tier masters colleges. Most of the students from lower tier schools were URM's. The most common undergraduate colleges represented were UBC, UCLA and Stanford.
I think that generally most applicants to medical school have a regional bias which is magnified if the school is public. Medical schools tend to draw most of their applicants and matriculants from the best colleges in their region.
Yale and Penn for example draw heavily from the Ivy's, MIT, JH, and LAC's such as Amherst, Smith, Haverford etc.
If you are a resident of New Mexico you should be happy that getting into your state medical school is easier than getting into many other state medical schools. Getting into one of the top medical schools requires not only numbers but also luck. Getting into any US medical school will allow almost anyone to pursue the career they desire.