Prestigious private liberal arts colleges & medical school admissions

[Carleton College kid]

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I am currently attending a pestigious private liberal arts college in the midwest and I was wondering what impact that has on medical school admissions process. Do they take into account what type of school you went to? Or does it not really matter? Also, if your school has a national reputation of zero grade inflation do medical school's take that into account? I am aware the the MCAT's are the true test of how much you have and it evens the playing field, but I was just curious what doors going to a good undergraduate institution opens.

 

[Smoke This]

I would imagine that Carleton College has a premed advising office, or at least some records of where Carleton alumni have gone to med school. Why don't you start there? I think that would be your best bet.

I'll bet you're in pretty good shape, though. Going to such a school can't hurt.

 

[fishtolive]

i'm sure it won't hurt but as long as you're not in community college, they probably don't scrutinize that much...my college won't even accept summer credits at community colls and i'd say that says a lot...other than that, it probably makes a big difference at the ivies and to a lesser extent at all the others.

 

[pre-hawkdoc]

I know that there's at least one kid in the class of '04 at Iowa that went to Carleton, if that connection helps at all...

 

[Katy2004]

I'm also a private liberal arts school (not as good as Carelton, but top 20). Although I don't have any evidence, I'd also hope that tough classes would help performance on the MCATs.

I went to a prestigious high school, and I know that certainly helped me in college admissions... my grades were less than stellar, but I had amazing SATs and APs. I know med school is different, but I can at least fantasize that the same thing will happen.

 

[lilycat]

Smoke This probably gave the best advice -- start with your premed advising office, or general undergraduate advising office. Many schools keep track of where their grads have been accepted. I know that at least at my school, each year they prepare a handout summarizing the admissions results from the previous year -- for each school they show how many students applied, how many admitted, how many matriculated, and the GPA range for the accepted and matriculated students. I found this to be extremely helpful when applying. Hopefully your school has a similar system.

Katy2004, I know what you are talking about with the high school prestige and college admissions -- I went to a fairly prestigious college and noticed the same trend. I have not noticed it quite as much with med school admissions. I think it is one of those things that if all else is equal, the student from the more prestigious undergrad will get the boost, but I wouldn't count on your school name to make up for a lackluster GPA or MCAT, if that is the case.

 

[Stephen Ewen]

Originally posted by Carleton College kid:
•Also, if your school has a national reputation of zero grade inflation do medical school's take that into account? •

Usually, in the letter from your pre-med commitee, they will go to considerable length in an opening paragraph to detail that before even discussing you. So I do not see how it could not be taken into account.

 

[mdhopeful]

hey there carleton kidd. thought i could resist this thread, but i could not. i went to a tough liberal arts college outside of philly. it's been 4 years since i graduated and from where my friends have gotten in over the years, i can say that it does matter at some schools. some schools in the northeast and local in PA definitely have a soft spot for my school. however, like others have said, this probably won't make up for lackluster grades, mcat. since the mcat is standardized, you'll only make a better case for the difficulty of your school if you come out with a high MCAT but grades that don't necessarily correspond. honestly though, many schools don't give a hoot. science courses are difficult at most schools that are highly ranked both liberal arts and big schools, so many med schools do screen out by gpa & mcat regardless of undergraduate institution. others, do seem to weight the gpa. take a look at GWU's admission criteria. they explicitly say they "view grades within the context of the school from which they were received and the academic load carried by the student." my only advice is that if you are still in college, boost up those grades. when you are old and grey like me, it's too late.

 

[lilycat]

Originally posted by Stephen Ewen:
•Usually, in the letter from your pre-med commitee, they will go to considerable length in an opening paragraph to detail that before even discussing you. So I do not see how it could not be taken into account.•

Unless of course your school doesn't have a premed committee, and the AdComms may have differing views on your school's level of grade inflation.

 

[Stephen Ewen]

The letters I have read from the College of William and Mary, who does not have grade inflation, go to considerable length to detail it all and compares it up against grade inflation grades and standardized test scores, and prior students success, blah-blah-blah, and the like. There seemed little way one could not get an accurate impression, especially with the high standardized scores there.

 

[Atlas]

WHAT'S WRONG WITH COMMUNITY COLLEGES?!!! 😡 Nothing! In fact, 80 or 90% of the Doctors I know did some, most, if not all of their pre-reqs at a CC. Going to the best school is not always a requirement. Doing the best that you can at whatever school to you go to is necessary, however. Stop worrying about what school you go to and worry about which medical school you're going to pick. I transferred to a "prestigious" liberal arts school from a CC in full standing. I'm making honors grades and have been told I'm a strong candidate. I'm not familiar with Carleton College, but I'm sure it's a fine school. Don't sweat it...you'll be viewed highly.

 

[connietinoco]

Hi, I'm really interested in becoming a DO and I'm planning on attending Cornell College in Iowa. I'm currently studying at UC Berkeley as a Molecular Biology Major as a first year but the economy is really bad here in CA and UCB has lost funding of a scholarship I had. Luckily I've gotten an offer from Cornell and they told me that if I attend their college I will get a full ride scholarship, but I don't know if this will look good when I apply to medical school. Now I have a dilemma, I don't know whether I should stay with UCB and graduate with a prestigious diploma and have tons of debt or if I should go with Cornell College and stay debt free. Can you please give me your opinion on this? Thanks!

 

[mmmcdowe]

WHAT'S WRONG WITH COMMUNITY COLLEGES?!!! 😡 Nothing! In fact, 80 or 90% of the Doctors I know did some, most, if not all of their pre-reqs at a CC. Going to the best school is not always a requirement. Doing the best that you can at whatever school to you go to is necessary, however. Stop worrying about what school you go to and worry about which medical school you're going to pick. I transferred to a "prestigious" liberal arts school from a CC in full standing. I'm making honors grades and have been told I'm a strong candidate. I'm not familiar with Carleton College, but I'm sure it's a fine school. Don't sweat it...you'll be viewed highly.

🙄

 

[morning]

we just had this thread like one week ago.

 

[slowbutsteady]

I am currently attending a pestigious private liberal arts college in the midwest and I was wondering what impact that has on medical school admissions process. Do they take into account what type of school you went to? Or does it not really matter? Also, if your school has a national reputation of zero grade inflation do medical school's take that into account? I am aware the the MCAT's are the true test of how much you have and it evens the playing field, but I was just curious what doors going to a good undergraduate institution opens.

search function. really. no, i mean, really.

 

[Avoidthetiger]

search function. really. no, i mean, really.

was there a search function 9 years ago? haha.

new OP -- go to Cornell College if you think you will be happy there and can get As. You will be able to get into med school without the UC Berk degree.

 

[NickNaylor]

Epic bump is epic.

 

[orthomyxo]

Ancient thread is ancient

 

[TallScrubs]

hey there carleton kidd. thought i could resist this thread, but i could not. i went to a tough liberal arts college outside of philly. it's been 4 years since i graduated and from where my friends have gotten in over the years, i can say that it does matter at some schools. some schools in the northeast and local in PA definitely have a soft spot for my school. however, like others have said, this probably won't make up for lackluster grades, mcat. since the mcat is standardized, you'll only make a better case for the difficulty of your school if you come out with a high MCAT but grades that don't necessarily correspond. honestly though, many schools don't give a hoot. science courses are difficult at most schools that are highly ranked both liberal arts and big schools, so many med schools do screen out by gpa & mcat regardless of undergraduate institution. others, do seem to weight the gpa. take a look at GWU's admission criteria. they explicitly say they "view grades within the context of the school from which they were received and the academic load carried by the student." my only advice is that if you are still in college, boost up those grades. when you are old and grey like me, it's too late.

I was going to say something before i realized this thread was a hundred years old

 

[Mizoodles]

this thread tickles me

 

[Stixman28]

search function. really. no, i mean, really.

We always dish out the search function advice...but then **** like this happens where someone bumps a 10 year old thread bc both threads are about colleges.


This bump is just ridiculous

connietinoco, u need advice, but it's not about med school, its about using forums appropriately.

 

[christene]

I am just checking all the colleges through web ranking....

 

[christene]

I would like to know more about this college..

 

[christene]

infact i was just going through all the liberal arts colleges and could not decide which one is better because there is always ros and cons of one or the other college...

 

[LizzyM]

I wonder what happened to that kid?

 

[Residual]

 

[SOcash]

I wonder what happened to that kid?

is my guess. 🙄

Wow, I was 9 when this thread was posted.

 

[gravitywave]

I am currently attending a pestigious private liberal arts college in the midwest and I was wondering what impact that has on medical school admissions process. Do they take into account what type of school you went to? Or does it not really matter? Also, if your school has a national reputation of zero grade inflation do medical school's take that into account? I am aware the the MCAT's are the true test of how much you have and it evens the playing field, but I was just curious what doors going to a good undergraduate institution opens.

lol what a pest

 

[christene]

I was just going through the websites of liberal colleges... I found www.liberalartscolleges.org to be a very useful site.. This will help u out to search for better colleges...