Please help me rank the rigor of these schools!

[aalamruad]

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[Kochanie]

Don't go to Northwestern. I can't speak for the rest of them, but I'm sure one of them is a better option. Also, it's very expensive but they do give good financial aid if you need it, not based on merit at all. If you're premed, they'll make you retake all of the science classes so it's not worth it (cc credit doesn't transfer). My friend is a 5th year senior (which is actually hard to be here) after transferring in from a CC. She had to retake all her As and got Cs.

 

[gyngyn]

I like Pomona.

 

[unnumzaan]

Well, Stanford and WashU are on opposite ends of the perceived grade inflation spectrum, from what I hear.

 

[godawg300]

First I would recommend getting in and then deciding.

 

[aalamruad]

Well, Stanford and WashU are on opposite ends of the perceived grade inflation spectrum, from what I hear.

Stanford inflates and WashU deflates?

 

[raiderette]

With many of these private schools, transfer applications do not get much financial aid. Of course UCLA and UC Berkeley are excellent choices, though you shouldn't ignore the other UC campuses. Most of the privates that you listed have miniscule transfer rates. I recommend you add a few safety schools to your list and look for schools that give aid to transfers.

 

[aalamruad]

First I would recommend getting in and then deciding.

Haha I knew this would come up, but I want to rule out some schools before wasting money applying to them. For example, with Kochanie's comment about Northwestern, I would have wasted like $100 applying needlessly. So getting accepted to a school isn't always a prerequisite for posting a question like this.

 

[aalamruad]

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[efle]

I'm a community college student, and I'm applying to transfer soon. I like all of the following schools from everything that was available through online research (and my stats/overall application makes me very competitive at these schools, except for Stanford, Duke, and maybe WashU, which are basically all crapshoots). So far, my list is as follows:

Public:
UCLA
UC Davis

Private:
Stanford
Duke
WashU
Rice
Pomona
Claremont McKenna
USC
Northwestern

Regardless of where I get accepted, I'll attend the school that ends up being cheapest. However, if two or more end up costing the same amount (full ride/other scholarships that make the privates as cheap as the publics, etc.) how would you rank these schools in terms of rigor? All else equal, I want to go to the one that will allow me to most easily get a good GPA while leaving me enough time for the EC's that I'm passionate about. Are privates generally more grade-inflated than publics? Are the higher-ranked schools more difficult to get a good GPA at? Etc.

Any input, even anecdotal evidence, is welcome and appreciated!
🙂

The average GPA at the UCs is kept low (~3.1) so they are your worst bet if you want a good GPA for med apps/

The rigor at top-tier schools will be comparable, but the grade inflation will not - you're better off being average at Stanford than at Wustl by about +0.2.

See where you get in first.

 

[godawg300]

Haha I knew this would come up, but I want to rule out some schools before wasting money applying to them. For example, with Kochanie's comment about Northwestern, I would have wasted like $100 applying needlessly. So getting accepted to a school isn't always a prerequisite for posting a question like this.

Well, it's entirely possible to do well at Stanford but this will depend on what courses you are taking and your major. If you are going to be taking most of your premed courses at any of those schools, it will be tough. Also, you practically have to walk on water to get into Stanford as a transfer and most are not coming from CC, but other top institutions. UCLA will be tough if you have to take some of the major premed courses, otherwise upper division courses are easier. I don't have experience with those other schools, but I hear USC ain't too bad (but expensive).

 

[Porkloins]

No matter your stats, these are all very competitive universities to get into by transfer (unless your CC is in CA?), so consider adding at least 1 safety school that has a combination of easy to get into + good academics (e.g. Pitt). Here's my opinion on the rigor/'namebrand' of these schools:

Stanford
Duke/UCLA
Pomona
WashU/USC/CMC/Rice/NW
UCD

Keep in mind that for undergraduate academics the difference between a school like WashU and Duke (or even Stanford) is minimal... you sure know how to pick your feeder schools x)

edit: Ok didn't realize you wanted to know 'rigor' in terms of how easy it is to get a high GPA. In this case, Stanford, Pomona and Rice are probably easier (not easy) to get higher grades at than UCLA. Not sure about the other schools.

 

[Boolean]

No matter your stats, these are all very competitive universities to get into by transfer (unless your CC is in CA?), so consider adding at least 1 safety school that has a combination of easy to get into + good academics (e.g. Pitt). Here's my opinion on the rigor/'namebrand' of these schools:

Stanford
Duke/UCLA
Pomona
WashU/USC/CMC/Rice/NW
UCD

Keep in mind that for undergraduate academics the difference between a school like WashU and Duke (or even Stanford) is minimal... you sure know how to pick your feeder schools x)

Even if their CC is in CA, admissions at Stanford and Duke are going to be a crapshoot.

 

[aalamruad]

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[aalamruad]

Even if their CC is in CA, admissions at Stanford and Duke are going to be a crapshoot.

I know, they accept like 20 transfers each year haha I'm not getting my hopes up

 

[Porkloins]

OP, I recommend checking out the pre-health pages for these schools and seeing what percentage of their grads are accepted into MD programs. If it is 85%+, then you can be pretty certain that even if there is grade deflation going on, then adcoms are taking that program's rigor into account when looking applicants' GPA.

 

[efle]

Here's my opinion on the rigor/'namebrand' of these schools:

Stanford
Duke/UCLA
Pomona
WashU/USC/CMC/Rice/NW
UCD

McKenna and Pomona are really not directly comparable to the rest because they are tiny LA colleges while the others are larger, research-heavy universities.

UCLA certainly does not have a reputation above Northwest/Wustl/Rice; even Berkeley (the public school) is lower in rank/test score/accept rate metrics.

More like:

Stanford
Duke
NW/WashU/Rice
USC/UCLA
UC Dave

Libral urts are a different beast, I've no idea how acdoms view them compared to the big name universities.

 

[Kochanie]

I forgot to add, if you do want to go to Northwestern, you obviously wouldn't have to retake any pre-reqs if you don't major in Biology/Chemistry. But you will be extremely (like totally) limited with what science classes you can take besides the rest of the pre-reqs.

 

[Porkloins]

McKenna and Pomona are really not directly comparable to the rest because they are tiny LA colleges while the others are larger, research-heavy universities.

UCLA certainly does not have a reputation above Northwest/Wustl/Rice; even Berkeley (the public school) is lower in rank/test score/accept rate metrics.

More like:

Stanford
Duke
NW/WashU/Rice
USC/UCLA
UC Dave

Libral urts are a different beast, I've no idea how acdoms view them compared to the big name universities.

The top liberal arts schools (Williams, Amherst, Pomona etc.) are pretty much near or equal to Ivy in terms of where their students end up after graduation (http://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/). Not to mention these school tend to produce well-rounded and well-spoken premeds (all the rage nowadays) AND offer really good research opportunities for the undergrads. I think they are sort of undermentioned simply because of how few people go to these schools.

You're right though about me ranking UCLA too high. Though is OP talking about WU or WUSTL? New prestige list:

Stanford
Pomona
Duke
NW/Rice/CMC
WU/UCLA
USC

Though these are all great schools, so it's pretty pointless to pull out hairs worrying over the relative 'prestige' of these places unless you're OP's mom and want to brag about how smart US News says OP is x)

 

[efle]

WU = Wustl = Washington University, the one with average test scores in the 99th percentile and USNAWR ranked alongside NW, Johns Hopkins, Brown and Cornell. You thinking of University of Washington?

Yeah there is really no going wrong with these options, but if he cares a lot about manageable rigor and kind grading then going somewhere like USC is >>> Duke or Wustl

 

[aalamruad]

Just to clarify, I did mean Washington University in St. Louis, sorry for the confusion. But yeah, I think it might be a good idea to rule out wustl; there aren't too many things drawing me to it besides rank and a few good things I've heard about it from a couple friends, and those things definitely don't offset the difficulty of getting good grades.

 

[efle]

Just to clarify, I did mean Washington University in St. Louis, sorry for the confusion. But yeah, I think it might be a good idea to rule out wustl; there aren't too many things drawing me to it besides rank and a few good things I've heard about it from a couple friends, and those things definitely don't offset the difficulty of getting good grades.

Spot on. They have very high reported student happiness levels (compare to somewhere like JHop where they are miserable) so it's a great choice if you want to be competing against hundreds of other best-and-brightest premeds without hating your life. But if you want to have any confidence in making decent grades, and a campus culture where having an evening to relax, drink a few and watch crappy B movies with some buddies is normal...take it off the list.

 

[aalamruad]

Spot on. They have very high reported student happiness levels (compare to somewhere like JHop where they are miserable) so it's a great choice if you want to be competing against hundreds of other best-and-brightest premeds without hating your life. But if you want to have any confidence in making decent grades, and a campus culture where having an evening to relax, drink a few and watch crappy B movies with some buddies is normal...take it off the list.

I've heard Vanderbilt has reallly high student happiness levels, have you heard anything good about it?

 

[Ace Khalifa]

Stanford inflates and WashU deflates?

Yes. Wash U alum here. Can confirm Wash U deflates, so if you can get a 3.7+ GPA here, you're solid for med school application.

 

[efle]

I've heard Vanderbilt has reallly high student happiness levels, have you heard anything good about it?

Yes, I toured both Vandy and Wustl when deciding where to attend and have had high school friends go to both. They are both excellent, very beautiful clean campuses in good spots near the happening parts of their cities, happy and friendly students roaming around who were happy to pause and rave about it to me. I've heard nothing but good things about Vandy, it sounds similar to Wustl with less of a premed presence (but still very smart people in all the classes, and rigorous). They are also incredibly generous with their financial aid, offering me $10k more aid than the next best in their initial offer - they have also started receiving a big boost in applicant numbers from this policy (now down near 10% accepted). I'd stick that on the list to replace wustl.

 

[efle]

Yes. Wash U alum here. Can confirm Wash U deflates, so if you can get a 3.7+ GPA here, you're solid for med school application.

Deflates compared to other top private schools. By no means are we as low as state schools with 3.0-3.1 cGPA averages, but we are deflating compared to the ridiculous 3.6-3.8 averages you see in HYS for example

 

[Ace Khalifa]

Deflates compared to other top private schools. By no means are we as low as state schools with 3.0-3.1 cGPA averages, but we are deflating compared to the ridiculous 3.6-3.8 averages you see in HYS for example

Sorry, that's what I meant. But yes, med schools know this about Wash U.

 

[Fedekz]

OP, I recommend checking out the pre-health pages for these schools and seeing what percentage of their grads are accepted into MD programs. If it is 85%+, then you can be pretty certain that even if there is grade deflation going on, then adcoms are taking that program's rigor into account when looking applicants' GPA.

Or their pre-health "advisors" discourage students from applying unless they have a pristine app - that's what my school does. A lot of schools boast their stats on sending their students to grad school, but there is more to it than just a simple percentage.

 

[aalamruad]

Yes, I toured both Vandy and Wustl when deciding where to attend and have had high school friends go to both. They are both excellent, very beautiful clean campuses in good spots near the happening parts of their cities, happy and friendly students roaming around who were happy to pause and rave about it to me. I've heard nothing but good things about Vandy, it sounds similar to Wustl with less of a premed presence (but still very smart people in all the classes, and rigorous). They are also incredibly generous with their financial aid, offering me $10k more aid than the next best in their initial offer - they have also started receiving a big boost in applicant numbers from this policy (now down near 10% accepted). I'd stick that on the list to replace wustl.

I heard the same thing about the ~10% drop in acceptance rate, but their website said that it dropped from 40% to 32% for transfer students. How in the world is the acceptance rate so high at such a good school?! It's like mind-boggling easy to get into as a transfer! I'm really confused...

 

[Porkloins]

Or their pre-health "advisors" discourage students from applying unless they have a pristine app - that's what my school does. A lot of schools boast their stats on sending their students to grad school, but there is more to it than just a simple percentage.

Very possible. However, I'd still say if you graduate with a 3.5 at a rigorous institution with deflation but that's enough for cum laude, then you're certainly going to be looked upon favorably in relation to the 3.5 from a lesser institution.

 

[efle]

Vandy loves transfers, just one of their many awesome society-friendly policies like their unbeatable financial aid

 

[aalamruad]

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[efle]

Do you think Vandy has a shot at beating the cost of public schools like Davis, though? Especially if I end up getting scholarships at both schools?

I was a middle class California resident who was accepted to all the UCs (with Regent scholarship at Davis) and ~5 Top 20s, of which I was most interested in Wustl and Vandy.

Out of all of them, the UCs offered by far the worst aid, only about $5k in merit scholarship, such that they'd end up costing about $25-30k/yr. Vandy was by far the most generous offer - full tuition scholarship right off the bat, so I'd only be coming up with about $10k/yr for living expenses. Wustl was initially a little less generous but came up to meet Vandy.

Vandy generally has a "no or very little loans" policy - they give you however much you need so that you graduate debt-free with parental support or well below the natl median if you are on your own. I'd predict Vandy would be the best financial option.

 

[aalamruad]

I was a middle class California resident who was accepted to all the UCs (with Regent scholarship at Davis) and ~5 Top 20s, of which I was most interested in Wustl and Vandy.

Out of all of them, the UCs offered by far the worst aid, only about $5k in merit scholarship, such that they'd end up costing about $25-30k/yr. Vandy was by far the most generous offer - full tuition scholarship right off the bat, so I'd only be coming up with about $10k/yr for living expenses. Wustl was initially a little less generous but came up to meet Vandy.

Vandy generally has a "no or very little loans" policy - they give you however much you need so that you graduate debt-free with parental support or well below the natl median if you are on your own. I'd predict Vandy would be the best financial option.

Wow, that's incredible, I had no idea. I definitely need to look more into schools that are generous with financial aid, I just assumed that state schools would be the cheapest. Thank you so much for the information, this is really helpful.

 

[efle]

Wow, that's incredible, I had no idea. I definitely need to look more into schools that are generous with financial aid, I just assumed that state schools would be the cheapest. Thank you so much for the information, this is really helpful.

State schools are cheaper if you are upper class and would actually have to pay full tuition wherever you went. If you are middle class or lower, the aid from private schools usually makes them the same price or cheaper than state since state gives next to no aid. In the UCs you also have yo consider the high chance of needing a fifth year, several UCs have over a third of students unable to graduate in 4 yrs because of overcrowding in necessary core courses.