How does this affect my application?

[Mac11]

When applying to med school, does it matter much which school you got your bs in?

For example if you have the same GPA and MCAT scores, but you have a bs from UMass vs a bs from, say, Yale; does it make a big difference?

If it does, would transferring to another school look good or bad on an application?

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[Depakote]

When applying to med school, does it matter much which school you got your bs in?

For example if you have the same GPA and MCAT scores, but you have a bs from UMass vs a bs from, say, Yale; does it make a big difference?

If it does, would transferring to another school look good or bad on an application?

Short version of what I know:

MCAT is the great equalizer, but a point on the MCAT buys a lot of credit. If students are equal in all respects, the student from the precieved more difficult school might get a little more leeway, but not much.

I would avoid transferring, makes you look like a quitter.

 

[Sporky]

Major in what you are interested in. I don't think there is any longer such a thing as a "best pre-med degree", for someone who wants to be an MD. If, however, you want to be a researcher, (MD/PhD) because you hate people and love carrying around 23 pens in your pocket, then majoring in a hard science would be a plus. Also, should you decide at some point you don't want to be a doctor, then if you struggled through something you hated because some monkey in a college counselling office told you it would "look good" on your application, then you will be hosed, because you don't really want to work as a biochemist or chemist for the rest of your life!

don't transfer to create an appearance.

 

[DoctaJay]

Most medical schools have a good bearing on what schools produce students that do well. I'm sure medical schools have accepted enough UMass students to know that their school is up to par. In the same way, I go to a completely no name college in Alabama, but since our students have done well at the schools we get accepted, schools trust our grades are legit.

 

[_ian]

Political answer: It doesn't matter what school you attend as an undergrad.

Real answer: It's not like adcoms don't notice what school your degree came from, whether you're explicitly given points for it or not.

Practical answer: It's certainly not going to make enough difference to bother with transferring.

 

[drjewel]

When applying to med school, does it matter much which school you got your bs in?

For example if you have the same GPA and MCAT scores, but you have a bs from UMass vs a bs from, say, Yale; does it make a big difference?

If it does, would transferring to another school look good or bad on an application?

I suppose I can't really judge what will look good/bad/ugly on applications, but I can offer my own experience and opinion... I went to Hopkins as an undergrad and received my degree from there, before I intended to pursue medicine. After graduating, I took some post-bacc classes at UMass to finish off my prereqs. I don't see how any adcom could truly compare the value of GPAs at the two schools, but I guess they do.

The advice I can offer is this: at UMass, to be adequately prepared for medical school, all those required prereqs should be followed by higher level science courses. The intro classes I took were a waste of time.

 

[Mac11]

I guess I should stay at UMass then.

On the bright side, getting/maintaining a high GPA should be relatively easy

Drifting away from the original question, is it true that *most* people accepted to med school have some kind of experience working in a clinic or some other health-related experience? I was reading the forum a bit and some of what I read scared me...

Would it make sense to take an EMT-B course and work as an EMT during the summers or on weekeneds? Does that add to my application? What about volunteering at the local hospital?

I'm not only thinking about doing this to add to my application; in all seriousness, cutting the "why i love being a doctor" bull you have to write, it is interesting...

Thanks for the replies, you're great!