People lie

[twicetenturns]

Though this has nothing to do with where anyone went to undergrad or how it may have helped or hurt them. I gotta say that the MCAT is not a test of effort and dedication. OK, some of it, but I still think that it is 30% retention of knowledge and 70% time appropriate analysis, synthesis, and application. All the stuff you need to know (way more than you need to know actually) are in the prep books. What differentiates scorers, I feel, is their ability to hang on for 8 hours, not fold under the pressure, quickly cut to the heart of the question asked, combine basic science knowledge to passage info, and crank out answers. That is what they want to see mostly. Can you memorize it? OK fine. Can you pull it out and work it in the clutch? Hell yeah.

Whether people at Elite schools vs. not-so-elite schools can do this better, hey I think it's a balance.

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[rcd]

my old pcp, on the washu adcom, told me a year ago that gpa is much more imporatant then undergrad institution (yeah, so maybe washu is an extreme, but that's my top choice).

but i started doing random searches for lower-prestige undergards schools on mdapplicants, and still have yet to hit someone where this doens't ring true for getting into med school in general...

undergrad - UMSL (missouri-st. louis), not a great undergrad
accepted - SLU, Loyola
http://www.mdapplicants.com/viewprofile.php?id=1074



then i looked at top med schools and tried to see how undergrad instituion affected acceptances
http://www.mdapplicants.com/schoolsummary.php?schoolid=14
a quick run-down
16 total, here i guess to arrange them in order of prestige

2 Stanford
3 brown
2 Univ Mich
1 UVA
1 UC Berkely
1 UCLA
10 from top schools 10/16 = .625

1 creighton
1 Univ Tex
1 florida a&m
1 Univ Colorado
1 McMaster University
1 William & Mary
6 from non-top schools 6/16 = .375

there. 1 and 2/3 people (.625 / .375) from top schools were accepted into duke per 1 person from non-top accepted into duke.

assuming that there are less top undergrad school applicants applying to med school then non-top school undergrads (because there are so many more non-top schools then top schools), the correlation of undergrad institution will be even higher. correcting, probably 2-2.5 top undergrad school grads : 1 non-top undergrad school grads

2-2.5 : 1

scrutinize this please.

 

[velo]

This is exactly why I don't believe people when they say it doesn't matter where you go...

http://mdapplicants.com/viewprofile.php?id=424

huh? less prestigious school? U of I is a great school, and our basketball team kicks ass

I'm at a top med school right now and there are 3 other U of I kids in my class. silly to blame this guy's lack of success on the school...

 

[velo]

wait, plus he got into U Mich...that's a great med school! I don't understand the point of this thread