School tiers?

[nohika]

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So I keep seeing "school tiers" for undergrad mentioned here, and it really confuses me. Would someone mind either explaining it to me (and giving examples, per se) or pointing me to where I could find out where schools classified, etc? I'm doing most of my pre-reqs at a community college, but plan to transfer to a four-year to do a bunch of upper-level science classes (if I choose to pursue vet med).

Thanks in advance!

 

[GellaBella]

Tiers is a type of ranking system for colleges/universities in the USA. I believe they are awarded by the US News and World magazine.

You can find info here
http://www.usnews.com/articles/educ...9/frequently-asked-questions-rankings.html#23

Basically Tier 1 are the top schools ( i believe the top 25 or 50 %).

You can find a schools ranking by searching on the usnews website and clicking on the university.

For example, if you search Drew University, which is where I went, it shows it is Tier 1 # 68 or something like that for colleges of liberal arts.

 

[deleted266066]

Generally... the "top" tier includes schools like the ivy leagues (think Harvard, Brown, etc), as well as Stanford, MIT, CalTech etc. The next tier down is schools like UVA or UCLA, then schools like BU or Tufts, then PennState or Virginia Tech, then something like George Mason, then your "easy" state schools.

Those are obviously just ones I'm familiar with, but you can look up their rankings. Essentially, "tiers" distinguish schools by their academic rigor and the school's selectiveness, as well as some other various details (endowment, sports, etc.).

Basically though, "upper tier" schools are generally more difficult to get into, and have more rigorous academic programs. They are generally viewed as providing a better education... which generally seems to be the case, but as always, your education is whatever you make of it; if someone never attends classes at Harvard and doesn't do any of the necessary work, they're not using their time wisely and aren't getting as much out of their schooling as someone at a lower tiered school who actually takes their classes seriously and gets involved. However on the other hand, if you have two students trying their darnest, one at a top tier and one at a lower tier, the one at the top tier school is probably going to have a lot more opportunities to have a more valuable education because the school should theoretically have more resources for them to use to get ahead.

 

[nohika]

So would it really matter if I did my coursework at a state university (like the ones that have veterinary schools) as compared to...a private university? If you take like a 20-credit courseload, could that change the perception?

I've never heard of such a thing, so I apologize for stupid questions. 😍

 

[deleted266066]

Definitely not a stupid question! Applying to vet school is weird because the vet schools don't seem to have a set "standard" as to what they expect of their applicants...

One thing I would suggest doing is contacting the schools themselves about this, and how important the ranking of the undergraduate institution is. For example, I know that VMRCVM doesn't care what "tier" school you attended and won't give much preference to those who went to more competitive schools, where as somewhere like UPenn highly takes a school's academic reputation into consideration when accepting students.

Aside from that, not all private schools are better than all state schools. Just as an example, UVA is state school and is FANTASTIC (they rejected me back in the day... lame!), and is a better school than where I currently go, even though I attend a private institution now. Private schools also tend to cost an arm and a leg, so if monetary resources is an important consideration (which I remember you mentioning in other posts), then unless you can score some nice financial aid and/or scholarships, a state school would make more sense since it would be much cheaper, and would still provide a good education.

I also wouldn't necessarily suggest overloading in course work either, unless your plan is to graduate faster. If pre-reqs have been tough for you so far (and to be honest, I don't think they're easy for most... I hated chemistry ugh!), then focusing on just a normal work load and getting As and Bs rather than overloading and getting Bs and Cs (and Ds!) would be a better use of your time.

But yeah, overall... contact some schools you think you might be interested in. If you don't have much of a preference for which vet school you might eventually attend, then you could find out which schools place less of an emphasis on undergraduate school tier. This doesn't make the school any worse of a vet school, but it might help you get in and narrow down your search a little.

 

[cowgirla]

Definitely not a stupid question! Applying to vet school is weird because the vet schools don't seem to have a set "standard" as to what they expect of their applicants...

One thing I would suggest doing is contacting the schools themselves about this, and how important the ranking of the undergraduate institution is. For example, I know that VMRCVM doesn't care what "tier" school you attended and won't give much preference to those who went to more competitive schools, where as somewhere like UPenn highly takes a school's academic reputation into consideration when accepting students.

Aside from that, not all private schools are better than all state schools. Just as an example, UVA is state school and is FANTASTIC (they rejected me back in the day... lame!), and is a better school than where I currently go, even though I attend a private institution now. Private schools also tend to cost an arm and a leg, so if monetary resources is an important consideration (which I remember you mentioning in other posts), then unless you can score some nice financial aid and/or scholarships, a state school would make more sense since it would be much cheaper, and would still provide a good education.

I also wouldn't necessarily suggest overloading in course work either, unless your plan is to graduate faster. If pre-reqs have been tough for you so far (and to be honest, I don't think they're easy for most... I hated chemistry ugh!), then focusing on just a normal work load and getting As and Bs rather than overloading and getting Bs and Cs (and Ds!) would be a better use of your time.

But yeah, overall... contact some schools you think you might be interested in. If you don't have much of a preference for which vet school you might eventually attend, then you could find out which schools place less of an emphasis on undergraduate school tier. This doesn't make the school any worse of a vet school, but it might help you get in and narrow down your search a little.

I agree-- Go state Schools!
University of New Hampshire is a Tier 1 school.

 

[badcats]

Definitely depends on the school with whether a state college would be better than a private, plus it is also what you want from your school. I think I remember you saying you are in Washington, so in that case UW would probably be better than Western*, and then maybe WSU. Personally I think UW would be better than say Seattle Pacific, plus the cost of a state college is WAY less than a private school. It also depends on what degree program you want to pursue since each offers different things.

*I know as prevetters we see western and think western health, but I mean Western Washington in Bellingham.

 

[nohika]

I picked WSU partially because 1) It's cheap, 2) My mother attends there as well, and 3) the only vet school in the state is them. Plus I remember seeing somewhere on their statistics that they tend to take in a higher number of WSU students.

I (may) start pre-reqs next quarter, but do plan to not go over two sciences a quarter for at least that one quarter, maybe two if I still want some "practice". Eventually I'll have to take two sciences and a math class at least three quarters - need to get to Calc 2 for my associates' degree.

That's a good idea, contacting the colleges...I was going to start making a list soon (I'm meeting my new/potential advisor Tuesday, yay!) and getting a good "layout" of the pre-requisites and whether or not I could take some of them at my current CC. Thank you guys so much! 😍

 

[deleted266066]

I picked WSU partially because 1) It's cheap, 2) My mother attends there as well, and 3) the only vet school in the state is them. Plus I remember seeing somewhere on their statistics that they tend to take in a higher number of WSU students.

I (may) start pre-reqs next quarter, but do plan to not go over two sciences a quarter for at least that one quarter, maybe two if I still want some "practice". Eventually I'll have to take two sciences and a math class at least three quarters - need to get to Calc 2 for my associates' degree.

That's a good idea, contacting the colleges...I was going to start making a list soon (I'm meeting my new/potential advisor Tuesday, yay!) and getting a good "layout" of the pre-requisites and whether or not I could take some of them at my current CC. Thank you guys so much! 😍

A lot of vet schools have many students from their undergrad institution mostly just because there are MANY MANY applicants from their own undergrad institution. Ie: OSU has a buttload of their own students applying there (more so than they would get from any other school in the state), UPenn gets many students from PennState and UPenn undergrads, VMRCVM gets oodles of VTech applicants... It doesn't mean these students have a higher chance of getting in though (although it might offer you some opportunities to volunteer at the local vet school). WSU, for example, might get 200 IS applicants, 150 of which are from WSU... and let's say that 50 students from the WSU undergrad applicant pool gets in out of their overall accepted class of 100 students for vet school, so 1/3 of them get in which make up half of the vet school's seats. However, if let's say only 2 students from UW applied, and one of them got in, then they had a 1/2 matriculation right, which is higher than WSU's 1/3... So who has the better shot? Neither really, the numbers are deceiving just because there are more WSU undergrad applicants.

I realize those numbers are totally made up off the top of my head, but it demonstrates my point... Hope that made sense lol🙂

 

[nohika]

A lot of vet schools have many students from their undergrad institution mostly just because there are MANY MANY applicants from their own undergrad institution. Ie: OSU has a buttload of their own students applying there (more so than they would get from any other school in the state), UPenn gets many students from PennState and UPenn undergrads, VMRCVM gets oodles of VTech applicants... It doesn't mean these students have a higher chance of getting in though (although it might offer you some opportunities to volunteer at the local vet school). WSU, for example, might get 200 IS applicants, 150 of which are from WSU... and let's say that 50 students from the WSU undergrad applicant pool gets in out of their overall accepted class of 100 students for vet school, so 1/3 of them get in which make up half of the vet school's seats. However, if let's say only 2 students from UW applied, and one of them got in, then they had a 1/2 matriculation right, which is higher than WSU's 1/3... So who has the better shot? Neither really, the numbers are deceiving just because there are more WSU undergrad applicants.

I realize those numbers are totally made up off the top of my head, but it demonstrates my point... Hope that made sense lol🙂

Ohh. It totally does. Part of it is cost - WSU is cheaper then UW, and UW is harder to get into, and, well, my GPA sucks right now. I think it's about a 2.95. But if I do go into vet, I've got two years of solid sciences to bring it up, so.

 

[rugbychick16]

A lot of vet schools have many students from their undergrad institution mostly just because there are MANY MANY applicants from their own undergrad institution. Ie: OSU has a buttload of their own students applying there (more so than they would get from any other school in the state), UPenn gets many students from PennState and UPenn undergrads, VMRCVM gets oodles of VTech applicants... It doesn't mean these students have a higher chance of getting in though (although it might offer you some opportunities to volunteer at the local vet school). WSU, for example, might get 200 IS applicants, 150 of which are from WSU... and let's say that 50 students from the WSU undergrad applicant pool gets in out of their overall accepted class of 100 students for vet school, so 1/3 of them get in which make up half of the vet school's seats. However, if let's say only 2 students from UW applied, and one of them got in, then they had a 1/2 matriculation right, which is higher than WSU's 1/3... So who has the better shot? Neither really, the numbers are deceiving just because there are more WSU undergrad applicants.

I realize those numbers are totally made up off the top of my head, but it demonstrates my point... Hope that made sense lol🙂

Its more than just the opportunity to volunteer-if you to to an undergrad at a vet school, you have the opportunity to make more connections with vet school professors/admissions committee members, get recommendations from them, work at research labs in the vet school-if its possible for you and you take advantage of it, I think its a definite help. Many of my classmates worked at the vet school during undergrad in research labs or even in the teaching hospital as technicians (LVTs).

 

[bunnity]

Generally... the "top" tier includes schools like the ivy leagues (think Harvard, Brown, etc), as well as Stanford, MIT, CalTech etc. The next tier down is schools like UVA or UCLA, then schools like BU or Tufts, then PennState or Virginia Tech, then something like George Mason, then your "easy" state schools.

This is actually really inaccurate. UCLA and Penn State are both tier 1. Many many state schools are tier 1. I didn't want to look through the whole thing but I would hazard a guess that most of the schools you mentioned are tier 1. There is no tier 2. US News explains why on its page.

 

[deleted266066]

Oh sorry, I'm unfamiliar with which schools are exactly considered "tier 1" "tier 2" and so forth, it's never come up when talking to any advisors either in high school or in college for me. I was more referring to general school ranking, so I shouldn't have used the term "tier", but rather group of rank maybe.. like top 20, top 40, etc. Didn't realize there was an actual definition for "tier 1".

Sorryyyy 🙁... but thanks for the correction!