Is less preference given to students coming from a rival school such as ASU>UofA

[JPodel]

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Basically everyone (teachers) are telling me to go to University of Arizona for pre-med opposed to ASU because obviously U of A has a med school. I really want to go to ASU (Barrett Honors College) because I know it is a pretty highly ranked school. Since ASU is basically rivals with U of A and vice versa, would that make a difference when I apply to UofA med school in the future? Is less preference given to those applying from ASU to UofA med school? Sorry if its a confusing question!

 

[NickRiviera MD]

Since it's a state med school they will love you the same either way.

 

[rain4venus]

You could probably look up what percentage of U of A med students went there for undergrad.

They will definitely not hold it against you that you went to the rival school. You're an in-state applicant and that's all they care about. Some med schools do give a bit of an edge to students from their undergraduate college, but others actually prefer people from other schools because of diversity. In this case though probably a ton of U of A med students went to U of A and a ton went to ASU and like Dr. Nick said, they're just going to be happy that you're a Zoni.

I'd say...go to the one you want to go to.

 

[ChemEngMD]

Basically everyone (teachers) are telling me to go to University of Arizona for pre-med opposed to ASU because obviously U of A has a med school. I really want to go to ASU (Barrett Honors College) because I know it is a pretty highly ranked school. Since ASU is basically rivals with U of A and vice versa, would that make a difference when I apply to UofA med school in the future? Is less preference given to those applying from ASU to UofA med school? Sorry if its a confusing question!

KDizzle over in the allopathic-school-specific forum went to UNC and has a full ride to Duke (one of the most bitter rivals in collegiate history)...so I'm gonna say that it won't affect you

 

[sector9]

Moving thread to hSDN

 

[JPodel]

Moving thread to hSDN

Sorry bout that, I just thought current pre-med students would have a better insight on my question. Thank you for all the quick responses guys🙂

 

[Medstart108]

I would go to UofA. I think the reason people tell you to go to the place with a medical school is because of the access to medical research and profs that you can get. If you manage to get to know the profs and impress them, it might get you into medical school

 

[NickRiviera MD]

I would go to UofA. I think the reason people tell you to go to the place with a medical school is because of the access to medical research and profs that you can get. If you manage to get to know the profs and impress them, it might get you into medical school

Except U of A also has a Phoenix campus so you can do that from ASU

 

[weezynation]

Basically everyone (teachers) are telling me to go to University of Arizona for pre-med opposed to ASU because obviously U of A has a med school. I really want to go to ASU (Barrett Honors College) because I know it is a pretty highly ranked school. Since ASU is basically rivals with U of A and vice versa, would that make a difference when I apply to UofA med school in the future? Is less preference given to those applying from ASU to UofA med school? Sorry if its a confusing question!

Going to ASU will not hurt you at all. You should be more concerned about whether or not to do the honors college. That could potentially be a terrible idea.

 

[mmmcdowe]

The Barrett Honors College is a great experience, but it shouldn't be undertaken for the sake of pre-med. There are some pretty solid pre-med perks though like early scheduling for class and priority for research funding. If you like Barrett and ASU go there and don't worry about U of A. I assure you the adcom isn't influenced by sports rankings.

 

[Solomon]

ChemEngMD example is perfect. Pretty much sums it up completely

PS: GO HEELS! (UNC 😀)

 

[JPodel]

Going to ASU will not hurt you at all. You should be more concerned about whether or not to do the honors college. That could potentially be a terrible idea.

Why do you say it can be a terrible idea?

 

[nysegop]

Why would the honors college be a bad idea?

 

[mmmcdowe]

Why would the honors college be a bad idea?

Extra work (thesis), harder classes. If you enjoy them, it is totally worth it.

 

[weezynation]

Why do you say it can be a terrible idea?

"Potentially" bad idea. More often than not it is a situation in which taking honors courses is not going to be a deciding factor in holding your application in higher regard than someone who takes regular courses. A 3.7 with regular courses will look better than a 3.5 with honors courses. However, if you know you can excel and get the same high gpa as you would with regular courses, then that's great. The only thing is, you won't know the difficulty of college courses until you get there. I only say all this because I would hate for you to get to senior year or later during the application process and potentially regret getting lower grades just for the sake of saying you took honors courses.

 

[nysegop]

Extra work (thesis), harder classes. If you enjoy them, it is totally worth it.

Good point.

 

[JPodel]

Stupid question but would a student that did the honors program have a better chance in getting into the same med school than a student who didnt do the honors program? How important is it?

 

[Tolbert]

Stupid question but would a student that did the honors program have a better chance in getting into the same med school than a student who didnt do the honors program? How important is it?

More often than not it is a situation in which taking honors courses is not going to be a deciding factor in holding your application in higher regard than someone who takes regular courses. A 3.7 with regular courses will look better than a 3.5 with honors courses. However, if you know you can excel and get the same high gpa as you would with regular courses, then that's great.

Doubt it has really any weight compared to the rest of your app.

 

[mmmcdowe]

Stupid question but would a student that did the honors program have a better chance in getting into the same med school than a student who didnt do the honors program? How important is it?

If it was the only difference, maybe it would push them, but that is never the only difference. The extra effort it requires to do an honors college outweighs the light possible benefit that just "being in the honors college" gives you. That extra effort be more efficiently channeled into another EC, research, etc. It is only important in terms of what it provides you (community, enjoyment, class or funding perks, etc). Those things are what shifts the balance potentially, not the "name".

 

[weezynation]

If it was the only difference, maybe it would push them, but that is never the only difference. The extra effort it requires to do an honors college outweighs the light possible benefit that just "being in the honors college" gives you. That extra effort be more efficiently channeled into another EC, research, etc. It is only important in terms of what it provides you (community, enjoyment, class or funding perks, etc). Those things are what shifts the balance potentially, not the "name".

+1. There are so many "bases" you need to cover with med school admissions (community service, shadowing, research, leadership positions, extracurriculars, etc). Sometimes it's difficult to find the time to accomplish it all while making sure you are receiving a meaningful experience from those activities. Honors classes can make it even more difficult to do so.

 

[JPodel]

Thank for all the answer, keep them coming guys! Its kind of confusing to me because to me, it feels like just going to ASU as a regular student wouldnt make me seem like I'm out of the ordinary... Do you guys kind of understand what I mean? I respect ASU but I feel like Barrett will give me a bit of an edge with all the interships, research programs just for honors students as opposed to just ASU... Idk. Would going to Barrett make all of my classes into honors or just some of them?

 

[JPodel]

+1. There are so many "bases" you need to cover with med school admissions (community service, shadowing, research, leadership positions, extracurriculars, etc). Sometimes it's difficult to find the time to accomplish it all while making sure you are receiving a meaningful experience from those activities. Honors classes can make it even more difficult to do so.

Btw, I love your name and pic. Weezy nation all the way (;

 

[NickRiviera MD]

Thank for all the answer, keep them coming guys! Its kind of confusing to me because to me, it feels like just going to ASU as a regular student wouldnt make me seem like I'm out of the ordinary... Do you guys kind of understand what I mean? I respect ASU but I feel like Barrett will give me a bit of an edge with all the interships, research programs just for honors students as opposed to just ASU... Idk. Would going to Barrett make all of my classes into honors or just some of them?

if there are good opportunities only available to honors students then it could very well be worth it. Try to talk to some current Barrett students and see what they have to say

 

[JPodel]

if there are good opportunities only available to honors students then it could very well be worth it. Try to talk to some current Barrett students and see what they have to say

Thanks. I am trying to figure out if doing all the extra work into the honors program would be worth it instead of doing regular classes and having that extra time and putting it into studying and other ec's like shadowing, interning, and research... Btw, do adcoms like students who graduate with honors on their diploma better?

 

[weezynation]

Btw, I love your name and pic. Weezy nation all the way (;

Lol thanks

 

[NickRiviera MD]

Thanks. I am trying to figure out if doing all the extra work into the honors program would be worth it instead of doing regular classes and having that extra time and putting it into studying and other ec's like shadowing, interning, and research... Btw, do adcoms like students who graduate with honors on their diploma better?

they don't care. It may help you become a more well-rounded person tho and the benefits of that are hard to quantify. Just don't sacrifice GPA or your sanity

edit: they may care a little about your thesis/senior project if it is substantial but it's probably not going to make a big difference

 

[mmmcdowe]

Thank for all the answer, keep them coming guys! Its kind of confusing to me because to me, it feels like just going to ASU as a regular student wouldnt make me seem like I'm out of the ordinary... Do you guys kind of understand what I mean? I respect ASU but I feel like Barrett will give me a bit of an edge with all the interships, research programs just for honors students as opposed to just ASU... Idk. Would going to Barrett make all of my classes into honors or just some of them?

Just some, like 30ish credits I think. Their sweet summer study abroad programs knock out like 6 of them.

 

[nysegop]

I know UVM prefers applicants from the undergrad college (all get interviewed and about 50% get accepted), though we don't really have any enemies. We don't even have a football team. haha