name of undergrad school

[pbehzad]

does it help to go to a top 20 school? does the school name really matter? do you think someone that goes to a top tier school and may have a lower gpa than someone that went to a lower school and has a higher gpa is at a disadvantage? do the med schools realize that some schools are just harder than others, and that if you went to another school of less prestige you could get a higher gpa?
how important is the name of the school you go to?
thanks

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[Doctor&Geek]

A few points:

1] Some schools grade your school and its reputation for putting out good students prepared for medical school. But the portion of the evaluation is like 1 part out of 6 or 7. Moreover, I don't think people care much after you get your offer to interview how good the reputation of your school is.

2] Schools do recognize that although some schools are less reputable than others, that the difficulty of the curriculum and the amount of grade inflation at a school has great effect on your GPAs. I've heard (for example) at WashU they know that schools like Princeton and Stanford grade inflate a lot, and take that into account.

3] Even so, doing really well at a "less-reputable school" still can get you into even into top schools, especially if your MCAT [the equalizer] is high and your EC's are great. Being a standout at a "less-reputable" school gets great offers of recommendations, connections, support, etc. etc.

Yours,

Jason

 

[Doctora Foxy]

-It's always better to have the highest GPA possible.

-The name of your undergrad school matters a little bit :wink:

-If it's top 20 it might matter a little bit more I guess.

-This process is such a crapshoot, who knows?

That being said, I think my undergrad's rep helped me out in getting interviews .....but I guess I'll never know!

 

[Bikini Princess]

My understanding is that, for initial screening purposes, the application scoring system of many med schools employs a "school factor" that usually ranges from 1-1.1. I imagine that school name may have some influence during an interview as well.

Ultimately, I think there are more important factors than prestige to consider when choosing your school.