Is it better to go to boogah woogah school aka no name 4th tier and below and get straight As or go to the ivy where competition is tough and your prob going to get straight Bs with Cs here and there? I was told the Ivy route because med schools know the curriculum of the ivy's and can sympathize with your grades, i don't know about the Cs but the Bs definitely.
In terms of undergrads what do you think
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I would have to agree with going to a harder/well-known undergrad that has a recognized premed courses in order to boost your chances of succeeding in medical school. Here's my experience with this: one of my high school friends and I applied to same medical school this year and we interviewed there. We were both waitlisted, however, I ended up in the top third of the wait-list while she was in the bottom third. This puzzled us both since we had nearly identical numbers and activities(Her GPA was slightly higher than mine 3.6 versus 3.5, while my MCAT score was higher than hers by 2 pts) yet for some reason, I was in the top third while she was in the bottom third (This was at a moderately competitive medical school whose average GPA is 3.7 and MCAT is 33 and the school waitlists about two hundred people). The only way that I can explain how I ended in the top third of the waitlist is that my grade was "boosted up" by their admissions committee because I went to an Ivy school. My friend is very smart and hardworking, but she went to a somewhat obscure state school that doesn't have the type of academic reputation as the Ivys for putting out premeds. Given the number of people on the waitlist and the number of people separating the upper and lower third of the waitlist, I can't attribute the difference to my MCAT scores alone. I think medical schools do factor school reputation, academic rigor, type of major, among other factors when deciding on applicants.
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the above poster has a point to a certain extent. if you have a high GPA, then yes going to the well known schools is going to give you that little extra something that might put you on the top 1/3 of the waitlist
However, thats a pretty different situation than the one you described. The previous poster and her friend both had pretty resepctable GPAs (even a 3.5 is well above the Bs and Cs you desribe), regardless if one was higher than the other. DO NOT expect to get any liniency for a sh*tty GPA just b/c you go to a top tier school. its not a valid excuse b/c too many other pre meds at your same Ivy did get A's in those same courses....and guess waht, those same people will be applying to the same schools you are. B's and C's won't cut it, it doesnt matter if you are at Harvard.
4.0 at Chico State or 2.9 at Harvard with equal MCAT scores...... who do you think is going to get the acceptance? keep in mind a 2.9 is almost all B's with a few C+s or evevn B- (B- is a 2.7), which is pretty similar to the situation you described.
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There have been endless discussions on this topic. Better to go to an ivy school (according to some, you don't even exist if you don't) and be average or a lesser-known and be great? The school you go to will obviously affect med school admissions, but no one knows to what extent. If you're going to get mostly B's and C's at the ivy, I'd take the lesser known and get a good GPA. People say certain schools X your GPA by a certain number if you go to a rigorous, competitive undergrad but in my opinion, a 3.0 at Harvard does not beat a 4.0 from a state school. That 4.0 shows consistent success and continuous hard work in your classes. I'm not sure about a school that's not known most places though. Also, it doesn't help to just go to a school that churns out lots of premeds..you have to create opportunities for yourself and be successful alone, among those other premeds, for it to help.
Bottom line-the MCAT equalizes all applicants.
Bottom line-the MCAT equalizes all applicants.
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Are there schools below the 4th tier?
college is not just a means to a medschool end. your ugrad years do a lot to define you. i'd go someplace that you will be stoked to have a degree from, where you surround yourself with peers and profs that will challenge you, and that has a football and/or basketball team that you can still follow on a national level when you are 45 
. yes, these things matter.
enjoy the best 4 years of your life, don't spend it all worrying about the numbers. those will come because you maintain an interest in medicine. and if you don't maintain that interest, well that's okay too.
. yes, these things matter.enjoy the best 4 years of your life, don't spend it all worrying about the numbers. those will come because you maintain an interest in medicine. and if you don't maintain that interest, well that's okay too.
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SDN needs a pre-premed forum for the babies lol....
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Going back to what this poster said earlier, med schools do look at what undergrad you went to. However, keep in mind that at the top schools with lots of premeds, you will be competing in classes with 200 other people, 90% of whom graduated in the top ten of their high school classes and scored 1400 on the SAT (2100 on the new SAT I guess). Depending on the type of school that you go to, you may not like the competitive atmosphere. Also, I know that some of these schools curve their classes so that 1/3 get A's, 1/3 get B's, and 1/3 get C's or below so there might be a higher rate of attrition.
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you have to also consider the quality of instruction you get at different colleges.
all in all, it's possible to be successful anywhere. you don't have to among the smartest kids in the country to succeed at an Ivy; you just happen to find those kids there.
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You'd be surprised to learn that there is a lot of grade inflation at many of the ivy league schools and it's actually relatively easy to get higher grades there compared to other schools (for example some of the UC's like Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD.) At the same time, you still need to work hard and get a decent GPA. I would definitely go to the ivy league school if I had a choice. Name recognition can mean a lot to some of these academic doctors.
