Importance of Undergrad School Ranking on Medical School Admission

[Rudycon]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I would like to understand if there is any weight of the ranking of the undergrad school that is taken into consideration by the admission committee of the medical schools. For example, is it better to get all A's from an undergrad school in the 30-40 rank versus getting one or two B's and having A's in the rest of the classes from a top 15 undergrad school.

 

[efle]

It can matter, particularly for the most competitive medical schools. See this AAMC survey of medical school adcoms where private schools identified undergrad selectivity as a high importance academic metric.

You can also find lots of threads on the topic on SDN. For starters, some bonus stuff to check out - Lucca thread on how heavily Yale SOM draws from competitive colleges and a recent post from me with similar data on the composition of the interview cohort this year at a top private MD school.

However, the importance of GPA absolutely dwarfs school name. You are much, much better off having a 3.9+ GPA from U of Maryland than a 3.3 at Hopkins undergrad.

 

[siliso]

You’d rather have the 4.0 from State U than the 3.5 from Prestige U, hands down. If you can get the 4.0 in either place then prestige might help you at some fellow prestige places - but is in no way necessary to get into med school. I’d prioritize being able to get out of undergrad with minimal debt. If you’re a great student you can have a great academic experience at just about any 4 yr university. It may even be easier to stand out and develop strong relationships with professors that lead to jobs, research and recommendations if you’re a bigger fish in a smaller pond of high achievers.

 

[892002]

I have heard that Ivy league med schools tend to favor Ivy League undergrads. Not sure how true that is though. Other than that, GPA/MCAT is much more important than prestige, as others have stated.

 

[Select All That Apply]

@Rudycon Make sure you brand your institution the "Harvard of the South" during your interview to increase its reputability.

 

[Deleted member 737595]

Alls I know is that if I could go back, I would have gone to the State U which gave me a full ride (which I turned down) because A> I would be in the Honors program and have a good relationship with faculty and B> I would have zero undergraduate debt and C> I would probably get higher grades.

 

[700825]

I would like to understand if there is any weight of the ranking of the undergrad school that is taken into consideration by the admission committee of the medical schools. For example, is it better to get all A's from an undergrad school in the 30-40 rank versus getting one or two B's and having A's in the rest of the classes from a top 15 undergrad school.

I honestly doubt that there would be a distinguishable difference. In both cases you are talking about well known schools and excellent GPAs. I would say decide off of other factors like fit with the culture, location, and cost.