Would the med school take into account that if the applicant comes from an ivy? Because the classes are a lot iharder in the ivies than many other schools, the GPA is most likely the biggest problem during admission. Any suggestions?
My suggestion: Yes. The classes in ivies are a lot than other schools. People know this. These people include admissions committees. However, I think some other real benefits to ivies are the myriad high quality extracurricular opportunities available to students. So take advantage of this and do not rest on the fact that classes are a lot in the ivies than other schools.nancy0223 said:Because the classes are a lot in the ivies than many other schools, the GPA is most likely the biggest problem during admission. Any suggestions?
nancy0223 said:Would the med school take into account that if the applicant comes from an ivy? Because the classes are a lot in the ivies than many other schools, the GPA is most likely the biggest problem during admission. Any suggestions?
nancy0223 said:Would the med school take into account that if the applicant comes from an ivy? Because the classes are a lot in the ivies than many other schools, the GPA is most likely the biggest problem during admission. Any suggestions?
nancy0223 said:Would the med school take into account that if the applicant comes from an ivy? Because the classes are a lot iharder in the ivies than many other schools, the GPA is most likely the biggest problem during admission. Any suggestions?
Einsteinemc2 said:What studies have you read that provide evidence that an Ivy education is harder than others? Because if you're just accepting that at face value, you might want to re-evaluate.
rogerwilco said:In fact, many people claim the opposite, that Ivies are notorious for grade inflation.
rogerwilco said:In fact, many people claim the opposite, that Ivies are notorious for grade inflation.
solitude said:Before this erupts into a flame war, let's just all agree to disagree. Yes, there is grade inflation at *some* of the top undergrads. Yes, the average student is better at the top undergrads. Yes, there are good and even great students at other undergrads. How we interpret these facts to decide whether classes are "a ton harder" at one school vs. the other is a point that we will not agree on. This discussion has been attempted many times and in the end nobody changes their mind.
netspiderx said:I think we are somewhat digressing from the OP's initial question. Out of curiosity, does anyone actually know someone on an admissions committee that can definitely say if they do take into account an Ivy League undergrad education...and, if so, how much of a difference it makes?
netspiderx said:I think we are somewhat digressing from the OP's initial question. Out of curiosity, does anyone actually know someone on an admissions committee that can definitely say if they do take into account an Ivy League undergrad education...and, if so, how much of a difference it makes?
nancy0223 said:Would the med school take into account that if the applicant comes from an ivy? Because the classes are a lot iharder in the ivies than many other schools, the GPA is most likely the biggest problem during admission. Any suggestions?
nancy0223 said:Would the med school take into account that if the applicant comes from an ivy? Because the classes are a lot iharder in the ivies than many other schools, the GPA is most likely the biggest problem during admission. Any suggestions?
nancy0223 said:Would the med school take into account that if the applicant comes from an ivy? Because the classes are a lot iharder in the ivies than many other schools, the GPA is most likely the biggest problem during admission. Any suggestions?
pancarre12 said:I think I can offer a valuable example here. I've yet to post my GPA and MCAT score on this site, since I, like most of you, am pretty disenchanted with people who come on here to brag about how great they are and to ask us to assess their chances at getting into Harvard. But I think the stats would serve a purpose now. I graduated last May with a 3.97 and a 37Q on the MCAT. One summer was spent tutoring disadvantaged students on campus, one summer REU research program at UConn, and some other at least average EC stuff. Yet I received only 6 interviews after 19 complete applications, with only ONE ivy league interview (at Dartmouth, and despite having applied to every one of them). US News' entire top 20 quite literally just ignored me; my undergrad was a 4th tier public liberal arts college.
Don't mistake this for complaining. I know where I'm going already... I've been accepted to a school that I really love, and given the chance I wouldn't even choose any of the ivies over it. But...I think you see my point: I'm convinced that undergrad prestige can be a huge factor.
Your anecdote proves nothing except that certain schools thought that you were a poor fit for whatever reason. I don't agree that your undergrad had much to do with it. I'm sure there are just as many examples of state school attendees who *have* interviewed/been accepted to top twenty schools as there are who haven't. I'm one who has; I have always attended state schools, I have no undergrad GPA at all and a 3.5 grad GPA, and I was interviewed/accepted by several top twenty schools. Yeah, it helps that I did well on the MCAT, but it also helps that I plan to go into academic medicine and I have ten years of research experience, including clinical research. My anecdote proves nothing either, but I can tell you that if the med schools were evaluating me largely based on the prestige of my universities, I definitely wouldn't be "top twenty" material.pancarre12 said:I think I can offer a valuable example here. I've yet to post my GPA and MCAT score on this site, since I, like most of you, am pretty disenchanted with people who come on here to brag about how great they are and to ask us to assess their chances at getting into Harvard. But I think the stats would serve a purpose now. I graduated last May with a 3.97 and a 37Q on the MCAT. One summer was spent tutoring disadvantaged students on campus, one summer REU research program at UConn, and some other at least average EC stuff. Yet I received only 6 interviews after 19 complete applications, with only ONE ivy league interview (at Dartmouth, and despite having applied to every one of them). US News' entire top 20 quite literally just ignored me; my undergrad was a 4th tier public liberal arts college.
Don't mistake this for complaining. I know where I'm going already... I've been accepted to a school that I really love, and given the chance I wouldn't even choose any of the ivies over it. But...I think you see my point: I'm convinced that undergrad prestige can be a huge factor.
gostudy said:One simple way to put this debate to rest is to present facts.
ND2005 said:But statistics are rarely simple. You point to the fact that Princeton's average accepted GPA is .1 to .2 points lower than the national average for accepted students. But you then make the assumption that it is Princeton's reputation that overcomes this GPA deficit and makes the applicants desirable; you do not focus on the fact that the average Princeton MCAT is almost 2 points higher per section than the national average. The elevated MCAT scores seem a much more likely cause of Princeton students' admissions succsess than a nebulous consideration of reputation.
The reason Princeton (and other Ivy/top school candidates) have success likely has something to do with reputation, but not much. More of a factor is that the type of person who gains acceptance to a top undergrad is the type who, for whatever reason (high GPA, high SAT/MCAT, concert pianist...whatever) plays the admissions game well. They were desirable undergraduate applicants; unless they manage to screw up their lives while in college, they will likely be desirable medical school candidates as well.