LOw tier MD schools

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
P

ph1

New Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
How can I get list of low tier MD schools? Anyone has ratings available anywhere? I may have slim chance in low tier school with 3.5 GPA & 26P MCAT.
Members don't see this ad.
 
A 3.5 and 26 is lower than pretty much every MD school in the nation, the only schools I know with numbers close to that are Howard, Meharry, morehouse, and of course Stewart University.
 
Yeah you may have a shot at a couple of low-tier M.D. schools, but a 26 can make it rough. Get a MSAR (try your library), and look through it
 
Members don't see this ad :)
If you don't want to buy or find a MSAR, check out:

http://www.medschoolready.com/app/medstatistics.asp

Regardless, your best bets will be your state schools, as well as the ones mentioned above. And I think the Puerto Rico schools have lower stats, but I think they have some spanish language pre-med class requirements. Perhaps check out SDN's carib forum to read up on the PR schools. Despite being in the carib, they are considered full domestic US med schools, not international schools. And of course, check out the pre-osteopathic forum, as DO schools would be a very good thing to check out.

A 26 is pretty low, but I do know people who have gotten into state MD schools with a 27, so I would think there's at least a shot depending on the rest of your application and what state you're in. Good luck.
 
You might want to check out the US News & World Report book on med schools. It has a section listing the med schools from most to least competitive. Depending on your home state your stats with some good supporting activities might get you into a MD program... Otherwise, check out the DO route.
 
Phoenix. said:
If you don't want to buy or find a MSAR, check out:

http://www.medschoolready.com/app/medstatistics.asp

Regardless, your best bets will be your state schools, as well as the ones mentioned above. And I think the Puerto Rico schools have lower stats, but I think they have some spanish language pre-med class requirements. Perhaps check out SDN's carib forum to read up on the PR schools. Despite being in the carib, they are considered full domestic US med schools, not international schools. And of course, check out the pre-osteopathic forum, as DO schools would be a very good thing to check out.

A 26 is pretty low, but I do know people who have gotten into state MD schools with a 27, so I would think there's at least a shot depending on the rest of your application and what state you're in. Good luck.
Click to expand...

The daughter of the lab coordinator at my college got into a state school with a 26. I'm not sure about her other stats, but it is possible. I'm sure you're going to have to work harder than those with higher numbers of course. Get face time with the deans of schools if possible, and everything else you can to get noticed.

Edit: lol, not sure why I quoted you phoenix :)
 
ph1 said:
How can I get list of low tier MD schools? Anyone has ratings available anywhere? I may have slim chance in low tier school with 3.5 GPA & 26P MCAT.
Click to expand...

that's a decent GPA. there's absolutely no question: set aside to study HARD for the MCAT, and just retake it. if you can get a 30+, a lot more doors will open for you.
 
ph1 said:
How can I get list of low tier MD schools? Anyone has ratings available anywhere? I may have slim chance in low tier school with 3.5 GPA & 26P MCAT.
Click to expand...


I would plan to apply for 2009 and try to study hard for the next mcat. If you have taken MCAT multiple times, i would say just apply broadly MD and DO programs.
 
There's no such thing as a "low-tier" MD school, otherwise you wouldn't be experiencing the problem you have right now. Admissions are competitive wherever you go, so just retake the MCAT and make sure the score goes up.
 
noskill said:
There's no such thing as a "low-tier" MD school, otherwise you wouldn't be experiencing the problem you have right now. Admissions are competitive wherever you go, so just retake the MCAT and make sure the score goes up.
Click to expand...

There's value in asserting that admissions are competitive everywhere, but saying "there's no such thing as low-tier MD school" is fallacious. This argument gets thrown around a lot when people are trying to make themselves or others feel good. Med schools, like just about anything else, can be stratified. The criteria can vary, but most objective observers will agree that MCAT score and GPA are good baseline criteria for medical school stratification.

It's important to acknowledge the existence of lower-tier med schools in order to help applicants find schools to which they can get acceptances. Some people have a genuine interest in medicine, but for whatever reason are lacking in those objective statistics.

I think you and I would agree, however, that someone's worth as a physician or as a member of society should not be based on the medical school from which they graduated.
 
nu2004 said:
There's value in asserting that admissions are competitive everywhere, but saying "there's no such thing as low-tier MD school" is fallacious. This argument gets thrown around a lot when people are trying to make themselves or others feel good. Med schools, like just about anything else, can be stratified. The criteria can vary, but most objective observers will agree that MCAT score and GPA are good baseline criteria for medical school stratification.
Click to expand...

Your argument that the average MCAT score and GPA of accepted students separates medical schools into tiers is untrue. That criteria is exactly what it is - representative of the student body attending the school. You will receive more or less the same education at any accredited school in North America. As well, upon graduation, you will also have the same opportunities coming from any medical school, be it Harvard or your state school. This is not the case with business schools or law schools, where there are indeed defined tiers. While the class from Harvard may have a more impressive match list compared to your state school, it's simply because of the caliber of students attending the school. That doesn't make a school better.

Also note that I am not saying this to defend myself or make anyone feel good about themselves. It just gets annoying constantly reading the pre-medical advice and opinions of ranking ******.
 
nu2004 said:
There's value in asserting that admissions are competitive everywhere, but saying "there's no such thing as low-tier MD school" is fallacious. This argument gets thrown around a lot when people are trying to make themselves or others feel good. Med schools, like just about anything else, can be stratified. The criteria can vary, but most objective observers will agree that MCAT score and GPA are good baseline criteria for medical school stratification.

It's important to acknowledge the existence of lower-tier med schools in order to help applicants find schools to which they can get acceptances.
Click to expand...

Now you've got me curious. Which MD schools are considered low-tier?
 
Members don't see this ad :)
fisko82 said:
Now you've got me curious. Which MD schools are considered low-tier?
Click to expand...

Just grab a copy of the MSAR and, according to nu2004, look for schools with the lowest GPA and MCAT scores. But be warned, should you matriculate to any school with an average GPA less than 3.7 and MCAT of 34, say goodbye to any hope of obtaining that dermatology residency.
 
noskill said:
Just grab a copy of the MSAR and, according to nu2004, look for schools with the lowest GPA and MCAT scores. But be warned, should you matriculate to any school with an average GPA less than 3.7 and MCAT of 34, say goodbye to any hope of obtaining that dermatology residency.
Click to expand...


I hope you are joking
:thumbdown:
 
noskill said:
Just grab a copy of the MSAR and, according to nu2004, look for schools with the lowest GPA and MCAT scores. But be warned, should you matriculate to any school with an average GPA less than 3.7 and MCAT of 34, say goodbye to any hope of obtaining that dermatology residency.
Click to expand...

:bullcrap:

A "low tier" school is still a U.S Allopathic Medical School, and will not hinder your chances of obtaining that coveted derm spot. Your performance as a student will determine what residency you get.
 
Are you kidding me?

Have you people even read my previous posts and the arguments I've made in this thread?
 
noskill said:
While the class from Harvard may have a more impressive match list compared to your state school, it's simply because of the caliber of students attending the school. That doesn't make a school better.
Click to expand...
While it's completely true that students from all med schools in this country get competitive residencies, I'll disagree with you that a school's name means absolutely nothing (which is what you imply). For whatever reason, be it the opportunity to get a LOR from a famous person in a field or whatever else, name does help a little (how much is always up for debate here). If name meant absolutely nothing, I don't think so many kids would be paying $200K+ to go to Harvard when they could go to their state school for a lot less. That having been said, I repeat that all med schools provide similar educations and that students everywhere can get anywhere they want.
 
Perrotfish said:
If you're not URM you have a chance, maybe

1) At a DO school, if you can shadow a DO and get a letter of recommendation between now and June.

2) At your easiest state school, if you live in a state with a lot of medical schools (Texas, Florida, or maybe VA).

3) If you retake the MCAT.

Are there no more MCATs before the next application cycle? At the very least you could apply, then retake the MCAT, then if you haven't gotten interviews yet you could update your application with your new 30+ score.
Click to expand...

Scratch #2 off the list. Competition is too high to think like that here in Texas.
 
Phoenix. said:
I think the OP used the phrase "low tier MD schools" simply to identify schools that are easier to get accepted to. Not necessarily worse medical schools.
Click to expand...

If there was any med school "easy" to get into, you can bet that avenue would have been exploited already, and increased competition would make it "hard" again.

There's no such thing as an "easy to get into" medical school.
 
TheRealMD said:
If there was any med school "easy" to get into, you can bet that avenue would have been exploited already, and increased competition would make it "hard" again.

There's no such thing as an "easy to get into" medical school.
Click to expand...

I wrote easier, not easy. There's a big difference there. And yes, there are some schools that are easier to get into. It's all relative. UIC vs. Pritzker for an IL resident, for example. Or how about Drexel vs. UCSF? I'm not calling UIC or Drexel easy med schools or even "low tier med schools," but regardless, they are easier to get into than other schools, and I'm pretty sure that's what the OP was getting at with that phrase that really pushes everyone's buttons.
 
People need to calm down. The OP did not meant to infer some schools are inferior but just easier to get into.

Here are a few easier to get into schools

Morehouse
Meharry
EVMS
Harvard
Drexel
VCU
ETSU
RFU

add more if you know of some
 
Op, with the exception of a few random state schools that only accept instate students, none or hardly any medical schools have an acceptance rate greater then 15%. In fact most of them are around 5%.
 
Instatewaiter said:
People need to calm down. The OP did not meant to infer some schools are inferior but just easier to get into.

Here are a few easier to get into schools

Morehouse
Meharry
EVMS
Harvard
Drexel
VCU
ETSU
RFU

add more if you know of some
Click to expand...

I think you meant Howard. :laugh:
 
I wonder if there really are "back ups" in this process...
 
In response to the statement above that most medical schools have acceptances around 5%:

Actually, I went through the MSAR when I was looking for schools to apply to and calculated the percentage acceptance for out of state students at the various private schools I was interested in, and very few are above 2%. Most of the state schools (I'm from Florida) were at about 10%. Some of the schools with the lowest statistics, GWU for example, have lower acceptance percentages than schools with higher acceptances, like Yale. So it might not help your chances to throw your hat into the "low tier" pile. You might be better off just applying broadly... or retaking the mcat (which I think is probably the better option-but I'm not an expert). You still have time.
 
Auron said:
I wonder if there really are "back ups" in this process...
Click to expand...

Technically, no. But you do have better chances at some schools than others.

Case in point (about there being no REAL back ups), I know a guy who is an IL resident and who got interviews this year at Northwestern and Tufts. He got rejected from UIC pre-secondary (and no invites to either Rush or Loyola). Go figure. UIC was definitely what he considered his "back up."
 
We need more cowbell here. And we need more MCAT here.
 
EVMS, VCU and ETSU are not easy to get in anymore. You must have been in Mars for the past few years. :eek:
 
noskill said:
There's no such thing as a "low-tier" MD school, otherwise you wouldn't be experiencing the problem you have right now. Admissions are competitive wherever you go, so just retake the MCAT and make sure the score goes up.
Click to expand...

Noskill, I am assuming you are not a medical student. You will be in shock once you see just how competitive the medical field is and realize that almost everything is stratified (including schools) due to this competitive nature.
 
my best answer for you is apply in later and retake the MCAT! Good Luck in your PROCESS!
 
leftmid said:
EVMS, VCU and ETSU are not easy to get in anymore. You must have been in Mars for the past few years. :eek:
Click to expand...

not easy, unless you are an instate applicant.
 
QuaerensIntelle said:
In response to the statement above that most medical schools have acceptances around 5%:

Actually, I went through the MSAR when I was looking for schools to apply to and calculated the percentage acceptance for out of state students at the various private schools I was interested in, and very few are above 2%. Most of the state schools (I'm from Florida) were at about 10%. Some of the schools with the lowest statistics, GWU for example, have lower acceptance percentages than schools with higher acceptances, like Yale. So it might not help your chances to throw your hat into the "low tier" pile. You might be better off just applying broadly... or retaking the mcat (which I think is probably the better option-but I'm not an expert). You still have time.
Click to expand...
Remember the actual acceptance rate will be higher because a good amount of ppl who get accepted matriculate elsewhere. MSAR just gives you the number of applicants and the number of matriculants NOT the number accepted.
 
.
 
Last edited:
Phoenix. said:
Technically, no. But you do have better chances at some schools than others.

Case in point (about there being no REAL back ups), I know a guy who is an IL resident and who got interviews this year at Northwestern and Tufts. He got rejected from UIC pre-secondary (and no invites to either Rush or Loyola). Go figure. UIC was definitely what he considered his "back up."
Click to expand...

Do you have any idea why that happened with UIC? Because that makes no sense...
 
Albany, Drexel, NYMC...
 
^^ Ok, this is my take on the UIC situation. Likely, the adcoms felt that the student had credentials strong enough for Northwestern and Tufts and did not feel he was really interested in UIC. When that happens, the student is very likely to be rejected. Period. This accounts for some of those seemingly "unusual" rejections letters. Schools do not like to be considered "back ups". Overall, medical schools admissions go beyond the numbers. The adcoms will need to identify a real reason and interest from the student in order to offer admissions.

BTW, a traditionally low tier med school (no matter how many times they have changed its name) and with a so so reputation for the last 20 years I am told, is Rosalind Franklin (former Chicago Med...)
 
noskill said:
Your argument that the average MCAT score and GPA of accepted students separates medical schools into tiers is untrue. That criteria is exactly what it is - representative of the student body attending the school. You will receive more or less the same education at any accredited school in North America. As well, upon graduation, you will also have the same opportunities coming from any medical school, be it Harvard or your state school. This is not the case with business schools or law schools, where there are indeed defined tiers. While the class from Harvard may have a more impressive match list compared to your state school, it's simply because of the caliber of students attending the school. That doesn't make a school better.

Also note that I am not saying this to defend myself or make anyone feel good about themselves. It just gets annoying constantly reading the pre-medical advice and opinions of ranking ******.
Click to expand...

I think you mistook the purpose of my post. What I was asserting is that there is an intersection of statistics and personal values at play for every person applying to medical school. What one person considers important, another person may consider irrelevant.

For example, if you believed that the best medical school for you, as an applicant, was the one that had the most number of clinical hours built into its curriculum, you could make an objective observation as to the number of clinical hours each school has in its curriculum, and then rank them into "tiers" based on your chosen criterion, clinical hours. The same would be true for total cost of tuition, USMLE scores, average debt, etc.

In the same vein, if I believed that the best medical school for me, as an applicant, was the one that had the best student body cohesion or the nicest administrators or the most desirable campus, I could also rank schools into tiers based on my criteria.

My point is this: everyone has a set of criteria that they use to judge things. Whether or not you or I or anyone else likes it, most objective (you could also read this as "outside" or "ignorant") observers believe that MCAT score and GPA averages/medians are the two single most salient criteria to consider when evaluating med schools. This could be because they heard someone else say this, they read it in US News and World Report, or because their kid or cousin happens to go to Harvard.

Regardless, everyone ranks medical schools into "tiers," it's a value judgment that happens when trying to make a decision. Because the OP brought a concern about GPA and MCAT, my points were directed toward those criteria.
 
Auron said:
Do you have any idea why that happened with UIC? Because that makes no sense...
Click to expand...

I believe he spoke to someone in admissions at UIC, and they looked over his application and couldn't point out any weakness in his application. They ended up just saying something along the lines of this process being a crapshoot. :rolleyes:

BrainBuff said:
^^ Ok, this is my take on the UIC situation. Likely, the adcoms felt that the student had credentials strong enough for Northwestern and Tufts and did not feel he was really interested in UIC. When that happens, the student is very likely to be rejected. Period. This accounts for some of those seemingly "unusual" rejections letters. Schools do not like to be considered "back ups". Overall, medical schools admissions go beyond the numbers. The adcoms will need to identify a real reason and interest from the student in order to offer admissions.

BTW, a traditionally low tier med school (no matter how many times they have changed its name) and with a so so reputation for the last 20 years I am told, is Rosalind Franklin (former Chicago Med...)
Click to expand...

I don't think that was the case here - the student was a non-trad, had a relatively balanced 30 on the MCAT, and a solid gpa. Certainly nothing out of the ballpark that would make UIC think that he wouldn't be interested in attending his state school.

While I agree that your theory can be true in some cases for some schools (i.e., rejecting high stats applicants they think wouldn't ever attend), I rarely think it's true for state/public schools. They realize that their tuition is the cheapest, and tend to accept instate applicants with much higher stats regardless. I remember talking to a student at UIC who was accepted to Pritzker, NU, Loyola, Rush and UIC, and chose UIC for the full ride (he had a 35 MCAT and other stellar qualities).
 
I would have to agree with you that the process is definitely somewhat of a crapshoot. Most students get rejected at more than half the number of schools they apply to. The issue of whether one complements whatever qualities etc the school wants, remains very subjective.
 
Crapshoot? No way! I'd rather say it was some fighting in a dark cage where people keep swinging punches and hope that they land on some eluding chin, preferably the one that fits the throwing fist, right on the knuckles of course. :eek:
 
Instatewaiter said:
People need to calm down. The OP did not meant to infer some schools are inferior but just easier to get into.

Here are a few easier to get into schools

Morehouse
Meharry
EVMS
Harvard
Drexel
VCU
ETSU
RFU

add more if you know of some
Click to expand...

Harvard is an easy medical school to get into? Didn't see that one coming. Why is that?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

E
anyone with a disability applied to top tier medical schools?
Replies
3
Views
333
cj_cregg
cj_cregg
J
  • Locked
would quinnipiac be considered a low tier or mid tier program?
Replies
14
Views
1K
wysdoc
wysdoc
Round786
Being a geriatric CNA should be a low-tier x-factor.
Replies
9
Views
1K
LizzyM
LizzyM
B
Low stats applying early decision?
Replies
6
Views
237
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
N
Advice for matching into competitive speciality from low tier med school
Replies
9
Views
3K
aldol16
A
Top