Efle's Most Premedical Universities, 2016-2017 Edition

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efle

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Hello everyone!

A couple years ago, I ran a quick calculation using AAMC Table A-2 for 2014-2015 and US News data to find which universities churn out the highest volume of medical applicants per capita.

Since it is quick and easy, I thought I'd do the same now with the brand new dataset posted by the AAMC, Table A-2 for 2016-2017 (specifically, I used the tables for white and Asian). I again found class size by dividing the current undergrad enrollment values in US News by four. Here is a link to the full datalist.

The results again, two years later - The 10 schools with the highest % of graduates applying MD:

1. Johns Hopkins - 24.2%
2. Duke - 24.0%
3. Rice - 22.4%
4. WashU - 20.9%
5. Emory - 20.8%
6. Yale - 17.3%
7. Stanford - 16.8%
8. Vanderbilt - 16.3%
9. Harvard - 15.8%
10. Brown - 15.7%

Here's a spiffy new chart of universities with 10% or more of the class applying to medical school:

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For schools making the chart in both 2014 and 2016, the percent change between years:

92uOzHi.png


Please note that there are many smaller universities that will be missing from the list, because the AAMC will only report your university if it produces 100+ white applicants or 50+ Asian.

The big takeaway - not much changed, looks like it's something ingrained in certain schools' cultures and fluctuates little between years.

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Oh one more fun fact:

The universities on that 10%+ chart contribute a total of 8891 applicants, or 16.8% of the overall pool!
 
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24% of the class applying to medical school. Wtf.

I go to a non flapship state school, im pretty sure ours is less than 1% by far.
 
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I go to a non flapship state school, im pretty sure ours is less than 1% by far.
Considering some state flagships with their own medical schools are only at 2% (e.g. West Virginia U, Mizzou) you are probably right.

And some of these places like Hopkins are famous for their weedout, so the incoming class must be 2/3rds or 3/4ths "premed" every year.
 
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Is there any info on percent of those applying that are accepted?
 
Is there any info on percent of those applying that are accepted?
Nope, not from the AAMC at least. Many of the individual schools brag about their admit rates in prehealth materials though, for example WashU reports a 78% accept rate for their ~900 applicants in the last few years (see here, page 21)
 
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To me an interesting follow up is to ask, where is the best school to be a pre-med? Do you want to be at the premed-heavy schools because there's such an established pipeline from them to the prominent medical schools? Or do you want to avoid them and the competitive culture that would follow? To me the best option would be whichever of these schools have the most grade inflation -- i.e., H - Y -- but I'm not sure.
 
Yay Data! Prettier than last year too. It's worth mentioning big state schools like UCLA might not be as "premedical" as Hopkins but if I recall from your original chart, they graduate the most applicants by sheer numbers
 
To me an interesting follow up is to ask, where is the best school to be a pre-med? Do you want to be at the premed-heavy schools because there's such an established pipeline from them to the prominent medical schools? Or do you want to avoid them and the competitive culture that would follow? To me the best option would be whichever of these schools have the most grade inflation -- i.e., H - Y -- but I'm not sure.
If I had a sibling interested in medicine that could go anywhere, I'd say pick a top feeder school with high student happiness and rampant grade inflation (Stanford or Brown for example).


Curious about this table. What likely led to a 3% decrease in % premeds for Harvard and Notre Dame?
Yeah it is a little weird, something like 80 less people than before. Can't even guess as to why.
 
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UCLA had the largest number of applicants again this year (1,011).
That's more than the total number of Californians that matriculated IS (964)!
And this is why I wish I wasn't a CA resident :bang:
 
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And this is why I wish I wasn't a CA resident :bang:
I think it was worth it to grow up in SoCal though!

More scary CA numbers:

The six UCs that made the list collectively produced 3497 medical applicants. Add in USC and Stanford, and you have 4133 applicants just from Californian premed powerhouses.

That's 4.3x as many Californian applicants as matriculants, just from eight colleges.
 
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For the lazy, these are the ten that produced the most by sheer numbers:

4TTdlC9.png
 
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To me an interesting follow up is to ask, where is the best school to be a pre-med? Do you want to be at the premed-heavy schools because there's such an established pipeline from them to the prominent medical schools? Or do you want to avoid them and the competitive culture that would follow? To me the best option would be whichever of these schools have the most grade inflation -- i.e., H - Y -- but I'm not sure.

I think the benefits that a student currently attending one of these pre-med heavy schools are going to run more along the lines of opportunities that are well-established. Volunteering and research opps are usually plentiful and easily accessed, and the pre-med advising office knows what's up.

The competitive culture is quite an interesting aspect - because the competition will result in many pre-med students quitting halfway through, but if you do make it all the way to applying to med school, there's a strong sense of camaraderie and support for each other. Personally, I really enjoyed being a small fish in a big pond. Being surrounded by brilliant people really helped push me to keep bettering myself. I can't speak to how much grade inflation there was at my institution (I really think it varies from department to department) but I will say there was more than a handful of BCPM professors who took into consideration that pre-meds needed high GPAs.
 
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UCLA had the largest number of applicants in the country again this year (1,011).
That's more than the total number of Californians that matriculated IS (964)!
You're welcome?
 
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CA applicants matriculate at the national median
? The average MCAT nationally for matriculants is two points lower than the average Californian matriculant. Californian applicants carry an above-average MCAT mean yet matriculate at slightly below the national rate.
 
? The average MCAT nationally for matriculants is two points lower than the average Californian matriculant. Californian applicants carry an above-average MCAT mean yet matriculate at slightly below the national rate.

?

California applicants matriculate at a rate of 40% nationally. 1 percentage point below the median.

https://www.aamc.org/download/321466/data/factstablea5.pdf

Odd that the 10+ other states with worse matriculation rates aren't complaining about their place of residence. Including states where their in-state matriculation rates are on par.
 
California applicants matriculate at a rate of 40% nationally. 1 percentage point below the median.
Right...which they do while carrying more competitive stats. You're not adjusting for that. Higher stats + higher bar = similar matriculation rate. The higher bar is real.
 
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Right...which they do while carrying more competitive stats. You're not adjusting for that. Higher stats + higher bar = similar matriculation rate. The higher bar is real.

The higher bar is not real. CA applicants can apply in their state and anywhere in the US. Interestingly enough, even these so called elite CA premeds matriculate OOS at no better rates than other premeds.
 
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The higher bar is not real. CA applicants can apply in their state and anywhere in the US. Interestingly enough, even these so called elite CA premeds matriculate OOS at no better rates than other premeds.
CA does matriculate OOS at higher rates than almost all other states containing public schools, save for a few of the other very competitive states in the Northeast. That's shown in the same table you linked before.

Higher than average stats and slightly lower than average matriculation, yes that does indicate that admits are tougher to come by. If I say internationals can apply all over the US, does that meant they face no disadvantage?

Don't get me wrong, there are even crazier states than CA, for example Vermont had an insane 514 mean matriculant MCAT. But it is in the handful of toughest places to be from. It just isn't as visible in the overall matriculation rate because it's counteracted by being above-median in scores.
 
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Oh one more fun fact:

The universities on that 10%+ chart contribute a total of 8891 applicants, or 16.8% of the overall pool!

That means that a lot of students from hot shot schools are not hot shots on paper (MCAT & GPA).

If you went to a public school and got accepted MD, go ahead and give yourself an extra pat on the back.
 
And some of these places like Hopkins are famous for their weedout, so the incoming class must be 2/3rds or 3/4ths "premed" every year.

QFT.
 
That means that a lot of students from hot shot schools are not hot shots on paper (MCAT & GPA).
I don't follow, how does a huge chunk of applicants coming from a handful of schools tell you anything about their stats??
 
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Oh one more fun fact:

The universities on that 10%+ chart contribute a total of 8891 applicants, or 16.8% of the overall pool!

There are only 4271 applicants this year with GPAs > 3.6 and MCAT scores > 510. See: https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstablea23.pdf

Even if somehow all applicants with the above stats were from your 'premed powerhouse' schools, then there would be more than half of those applicants that fall below a GPA of 3.6 and an MCAT of 510, by definition.

I realize we're talking about 2015 v. 2016 numbers, but the argument undoubtedly holds true.

Basically, those these schools make a lot of premeds... they don't necessarily produce premeds with hot-shot stats.
 
There are only 4271 applicants this year with GPAs > 3.6 and MCAT scores > 510. See: https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstablea23.pdf

Even if somehow all applicants with the above stats were from your 'premed powerhouse' schools, then there would be more than half of those applicants that fall below a GPA of 3.6 and an MCAT of 510, by definition.

I realize we're talking about 2015 v. 2016 numbers, but the argument undoubtedly holds true.

Basically, those these schools make a lot of premeds... they don't necessarily produce premeds with hot-shot stats.
That table contains only ~50% of applicants, read the fine print at the bottom. There were 53,000 applicants this cycle, not 28,000

I'd also expect a lot more of the mediocre GPAs to pack competitive MCATs than you think. Out of WashU this year for example, ~90% of students with 3.4-3.59 GPAs had a 30+ equivalent.
 
That table contains only ~50% of applicants, read the fine print at the bottom. There were 53,000 applicants this cycle, not 28,000

Okay, let me argue the same point again. Double the number. Not all those 510+ 3.6+ candidates are coming from your set of schools, therefore not all the hot-shot school premeds have hot-shot stats.
 
Okay, let me argue the same point again. Double the number. Not all those 510+ 3.6+ candidates are coming from your set of schools, therefore not all the hot-shot school premeds have hot-shot stats.
Oh I see what you're saying. Yeah, of course the applicants out of top schools aren't all going to have 3.6+ GPAs, even at the worst inflating places only about half of students are above that!
 
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