Does your undergrad make you more competitive?

[currentlypremed]

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I am a sophomore at Boston College with a 3.5 cum and 3.49 science gpa. I got an A in Orgo and I plan on acing Orgo II. Do adcoms take into consideration that im going to a competitive school like Boston College? I feel that BC is really cut throat and I would have a higher gpa if I attended a lower tier school.

 

[ranson]

There is no clear answer on HOW MUCH your undergaduate school factors in but admission committees do take it into account.

 

[Barcu]

It may be taken into account, but it won't make up for lower grades. Your grades aren't bad. Just keep doing well, and you should be fine.

 

[gyngyn]

Not much.

 

[HughMyron]

If your super difficult college makes you inherently superior to the rest of us mortals, you should be able to prove it with a 37+ on your MCAT.

 

[FSU2013]

There may be some preference given, but a lot of the initial filters will be automated. Plus, I imagine it would be regional. That is to say Tufts/Harvard/etc may know that BC is "tougher" but schools in Cali won't have as much contact with BC applicants.

 

[Charles Darwin]

I am a sophomore at Boston College with a 3.5 cum and 3.49 science gpa. I got an A in Orgo and I plan on acing Orgo II. Do adcoms take into consideration that im going to a competitive school like Boston College? I feel that BC is really cut throat and I would have a higher gpa if I attended a lower tier school.

 

[235009]

you're not going to get any kind of boost for going to BC. if you were at an ivy league school or a school with a better national reputation you might get a leg up at some schools.

 

[Bluto385]

You plan on acing Orgo II. Do you also plan on acing the MCAT?

 

[Josh7]

you're not going to get any kind of boost for going to BC. if you were at an ivy league school or a school with a better national reputation you might get a leg up at some schools.

I'm glad someone said it...

 

[CoxMD]

The average gpa for matriculants to med school from BC is over I tenth of a point lower than the national average, indicating that going to BC or another competitive school helps in the admissions process. BC had 76% acceptance rate last cycle (also above national average). According to my premed committee, some schools adjust your LizzyM score based on the competition tiers in the Barron's college guide.

FWIW

Sent from my Nexus 10

 

[La Presse]

I don't think I have ever heard of Boston College.

 

[Josh7]

I don't think I have ever heard of Boston College.

It's a great school.

 

[mcloaf]

It's a great school.

It's fine, but not a school that will boost OPs app. I swear, if I see one more of these threads...

 

[Josh7]

It's fine, but not a school that will boost OPs app. I swear, if I see one more of these threads...

Agreed, and yeah it's getting out of hand. Think it's just high school people trying to see if it's worth the money? Or pre-meds trying to figure out if they'll get an extra boost? We'll never know.

 

[mcloaf]

Agreed, and yeah it's getting out of hand. Think it's just high school people trying to see if it's worth the money? Or pre-meds trying to figure out if they'll get an extra boost? We'll never know.

It's been ugly this week. WAMC isn't even worth checking with the end of semester spam "zomg I got a C" threads.

 

[Bangersandmash]

The average gpa for matriculants to med school from BC is over I tenth of a point lower than the national average, indicating that going to BC or another competitive school helps in the admissions process. BC had 76% acceptance rate last cycle (also above national average). According to my premed committee, some schools adjust your LizzyM score based on the competition tiers in the Barron's college guide.

FWIW

Sent from my Nexus 10

I'd be more willing to believe that if an actual medical school ADcom said that. My premed advisers aren't well known for disseminating correct information.

 

[hobbity]

Undergraduate institutions can make an applicant more competitive - but it's conditional, I think. For example, if adcom had to choose between two applicants with similar stats, ECs, and GPA - well, the student from an undergrad with a better reputation (for pre-med reqs) may get a boost especially if there's the perception that it's harder to get a good GPA at a better school.

I've heard that colleges have regional "specialists" on their admissions committees, it wouldn't surprise me if some med schools had that as well. Another thing is that we don't know about internal adcom gossip - some members might have heard or have the impression that certain (premed) programs are better than others. The overall reputation of an undergrad wouldn't necessarily reflect those biases, though. So just do well GPA and MCAT wise and hope for the best. Boston College is a good school, but I don't think it'll give you a strong boost.

 

[molarseeker]

What about ucla?

 

[gettheleadout]

The average gpa for matriculants to med school from BC is over I tenth of a point lower than the national average, indicating that going to BC or another competitive school helps in the admissions process. BC had 76% acceptance rate last cycle (also above national average). According to my premed committee, some schools adjust your LizzyM score based on the competition tiers in the Barron's college guide.

FWIW

Sent from my Nexus 10

According to your premed committee...

Also, search function. This has been settled guys.

Sent from my iPhone using SDN Mobile

 

[Midifelder10]

Take it from me a rejected candidate the adcoms have 10K applicants and do you think they will start adjusting GPA? You only make yourself competitive and no one else. Goes back to my age old gripe, GPA gives you no information but unfortunately it is weighted heavily. This is coming from someone who was curved brutally.

 

[damitusbrown]

BC is one of the top 25 colleges in the US according to Forbes and is in the top 30 schools according to USNEWS for those of you who dont know what it is. That has to count for something, and it does. But either way, BC students should have higher MCAT's anyways so the "competitiveness" of your school will show on you MCAT score.

 

[mcloaf]

Or people who spend all their time studying to squeak out a 3.5 GPA as they watch their friends from high school that did consistently worse in high school that are at less competitive universities easily get straight A's all the time.

And yet, the search function seems to bd broken for these people?

 

[sunflower18]

I think I've said this before on these forums, but I'll say it again -- there is an issue with the idea of certain colleges giving one a "boost" as far as evaluations by adcoms. Someone from Boston College might say, "Hey, I have a 3.5, which is equivalent to a 4.0 at a state school!" but how do they or the adcoms know that a person who got a 4.0 at a state school isn't also capable of a 4.0 at Boston College? Treating high grades at a school with less prestige, while not directly in question here, is wrong because there is no way of knowing how that applicant would have fared at a more competitive university. And, in my opinion, you can't fairly "boost" an applicant with a lower GPA from a more prestigious school without inevitably lowering the accomplishments of someone with a high GPA from a less competitive school. It's a fundamental flaw in trying to make these comparisons.

 

[Mako555]

some schools' students will get some lenience in terms of grades, because the schools are known to be tough. BC is not one of those schools. Sorry that you think your life is hard. We have Ivy/Hopkins/Duke/etc... folks here who would love to trade classes with you.

 

[gettheleadout]

I'd also add that, averaged over the spectrum of schools and their preferences/policies, the difference isn't likely to be extreme. Someone from known-deflationary School X may have a 3.75 and be seen as academically competitive with someone from Podunk State with a 4.0, but for someone in the OP's position with below average (for matriculants) grades, I wouldn't expect to be viewed as top caliber with the people who have near all A's.

 

[phunky]

Don't mean to be a dick, but BC probably won't give you much of an advantage. A top 10 school might, but it even then it isn't a huge factor. That's why we have the MCAT. It equalizes everyone.

 

[supafly0]

Hehehe across the nation all my interviewers loved that I was from USC. FTFO! 😀

 

[gettheleadout]

Hehehe across the nation all my interviewers loved that I was from USC. FTFO! 😀

Cool? I'm sure any interviewer would be delighted to interview an applicant from a school they respect. Whether that says anything specific and generalizable about overall applicant competitiveness, especially with regard to quantitative measures like GPA, is a different question entirely.

 

[gettheleadout]

The moral of the story is go to college where you want to independent of some nebulous factor like the possible effects of your school name on your chances as an applicant. Do your best in college to become the best applicant you can. Schools accept you, not your school.


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[mcloaf]

So moral of the story is go to a university that has low average high school GPA and SAT score and you'll be good to go for medical school. You'll have to stress much less about your grades and people will think you're working just as hard as people from competitive schools that aren't ivies.

No.

 

[H Y F R]

Answer to OP- no. doesn't matter.

Rhetorical thought- these threads are a joke