Small school bias

[SU_PREMED_1994]

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Hi, so is it true that medical schools are biased toward decisions on the number of the student at a university? To clear it up, my advisor said, med schools expect a higher gpa from students who go to a small university with less than about 5000 students, due to the coursework being different vs. a big or public university with more than 5000 students.

 

[efle]

Hi, so is it true that medical schools are biased toward decisions on the number of the student at a university? To clear it up, my advisor said, med schools expect a higher gpa from students who go to a small university with less than about 5000 students, due to the coursework being different vs. a big or public university with more than 5000 students.

It is true that public schools tend to be larger and also tend to have less inflated grades than private schools. But, that claim from your adviser is pure nonsense. Nobody is going to value a GPA more or less based on an arbitrary class size threshold.

 

[asdf123g]

It is true that public schools tend to be larger and also tend to have less inflated grades than private schools. But, that claim from your adviser is pure nonsense. Nobody is going to value a GPA more or less based on an arbitrary class size threshold.

what do u mean by inflated grades?

 

[efle]

what do u mean by inflated grades?

Grade inflation is essentially awarding too many high grades. For example Harvard got in some trouble recently when faculty leaked that the median GPA being given was a A- / 3.7, which is an insanely high reward for being average, and unfair when similar schools like MIT and Johns Hopkins give their average students a B / 3.0.

When you compare public and private schools, you see that this practice of grade inflation is much more common in the private schools. So when you're from a private school vs a public one, people might assume your grades are higher than they aught to be.

However there is a huge range within both public and private, and in no case does some random class size mark a cutoff for when inflation stops/starts.

 

[Seth Joo]

Hi, so is it true that medical schools are biased toward decisions on the number of the student at a university? To clear it up, my advisor said, med schools expect a higher gpa from students who go to a small university with less than about 5000 students, due to the coursework being different vs. a big or public university with more than 5000 students.

Allopathic schools might have a bias, but I think DO schools tend to be more open about applicants from less well known schools, they seem to think outside of the box when it comes to applicants.

Coming from a good well known undergraduate school cannot hurt you in my opinion but if you have terrible grades from Harvard and excellent grades from a lesser known school I think admissions committees are not going to overlook the applicant from the less well known school, not at DO schools at least. Also the MCAT is a huge factor in deciding if an applicant has the academic ability to handle school.

Small liberal arts colleges are harder than Ivy League and large prestigious public universities. My former wife went to a small Liberal Arts college not far from my undergraduate school and it was far more intense than my school.

 

[Goro]

Absolutely untrue.

Your advisor, as seems to be sadly typical, is a *****.

Hi, so is it true that medical schools are biased toward decisions on the number of the student at a university? To clear it up, my advisor said, med schools expect a higher gpa from students who go to a small university with less than about 5000 students, due to the coursework being different vs. a big or public university with more than 5000 students.

 

[efle]

Small liberal arts colleges are harder than Ivy League and large prestigious public universities.

Depends on the schools you're comparing. Pomona harder than Cal? Please. Harvey Mudd harder than Brown? Most definitely. In all three types there is a big range of intensities and student body abilities

 

[Seth Joo]

Depends on the schools you're comparing. Pomona harder than Cal? Please. Harvey Mudd harder than Brown? Most definitely. In all three types there is a big range of intensities and student body abilities

Small Liberals Arts Colleges are harder than many large research universities. At research schools most professors are not focused on undergraduate teaching. I went to a school ranked higher than Brown and coasted through my four years my ex-wife went to a smaller Liberal Arts college not far from me and she worked very hard to achieve high grades, I thought her course syllabi seemed a lot more intense.

Cal might be an exception to the rule, its more a meritocracy than other prestigious universities that tend to have large numbers of legacy students, rich kids, etc, at schools like Stanford and Princeton, its a well known fact that there is grade inflation.

 

[efle]

Princeton, like MIT, is actually known for deflation compared to HYS, and ranking certainly doesn't correlate to rigor among top schools.

Your n=1 in two categories doesn't mean anything; my large top school is far tougher than my sisters LAC but not as intense as myparent's small school was. There is a big range in each category and you can find examples of insanely tough schools in all of them (UChicago/Hopkins, Mudd/CalTech, Cal/UCLA for example). You have no real way to back a sweeping generalization about any type of school

 

[Seth Joo]

Princeton, like MIT, is actually known for deflation compared to HYS, and ranking certainly doesn't correlate to rigor among top schools.

Your n=1 in two categories doesn't mean anything; my large top school is far tougher than my sisters LAC but not as intense as myparent's small school was. There is a big range in each category and you can find examples of insanely tough schools in all of them (UChicago/Hopkins, Mudd/CalTech, Cal/UCLA for example). You have no real way to back a sweeping generalization about any type of school

Where would you rank Rice University in difficulty? Those schools are more rigorous but there are prestigious schools that have a well known reputation for grade inflation.

Wouldn't Harvey Mudd be considered a small niche school? CalTech has a fairly small student body as well.

Princeton recently started reversing their policy to improve campus "morale".

 

[efle]

I've heard Rice inflates a lot so probably about the same as Brown, another big inflator. And yes exactly, I was using them as examples of small schools equally tough to bigger ones. My point is just that within LAC, private, public there is a big range and no one can be called hardest as a rule.

Hah! More like to stop losing accepted students to HYS for the easier academics

 

[SU_PREMED_1994]

Thanks guys I just wanted to get this cleared. I thought she was talking nonsense but it was her and another professor.

 

[Seth Joo]

Thanks guys I just wanted to get this cleared. I thought she was talking nonsense but it was her and another professor.

Everyone has their own opinions, just aim for good grades and a solid MCAT score. With some decent ECs and LORs you should be okay.

I think DO schools tend to think outside of the box when it comes to applicants so they won't hold it against you that you did not go to prestigious nationally recognized university. I think to them what matters is what you did rather than where you went to school. MD schools could be different, but even I think a good number of them are beginning to look for more well rounded applicants.

 

[efle]

Everyone has their own opinions, just aim for good grades and a solid MCAT score. With some decent ECs and LORs you should be okay.

I think DO schools tend to think outside of the box when it comes to applicants so they won't hold it against you that you did not go to prestigious nationally recognized university. I think to them what matters is what you did rather than where you went to school. MD schools could be different, but even I think a good number of them are beginning to look for more well rounded applicants.

Both types want strong stats + good other aspects, but DO has to be more forgiving on stats than MD is because of their applicant pools. Some DO schools barely keep a 40th percentile median MCAT...they straight up can't filter for elite alma maters

 

[Seth Joo]

Both types want strong stats + good other aspects, but DO has to be more forgiving on stats than MD is because of their applicant pools. Some DO schools barely keep a 40th percentile median MCAT...they straight up can't filter for elite alma maters

MD also gets more applicants as well, that is probably another reason. If your MCAT is kind of weak, which means under 30, DO schools are more open to applicants with MCATs that are lower, MD schools tend to not look at you if you are less than 30, these are the lower tier MD schools, the upper tier MD schools, its more like mid 30s.