transfering to UGA from GSU for the sake of med school... PLEASE READ!

[ashjamar]

Right now i attend Georgia State University, im a sophmore majoring in bio with 3.84. I work at the school clinic through tenet health care. I am about to start working in a lab as well and I am also getting everything sorted out with Grady to volunteer and shadow there. I feel great knowing that i have these opportunities here and taking them but a part of me wonders if the ranking of Georgia State will bring my application down. Many of my friends say that UGA is a much better school to go to as a pre med and the school ranking is higher than GSU, so sometimes i think they might be right. I applied to transfer there for the spring of this year (all of my classes transfered, so i wouldnt be losing anything/waisting time) but i dont know if it is the right thing to do. Other than it having a higher ranking, i doubt ill be able to work at the clinic there and for the rest of the extracurriculars i would have to finddd as well... but is the higher ranking of UGA worth transfering?

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[funkydrmonkey]

I went through this same problem. I say it was worth it. I also transferred from a pretty good school to a higher ranked school, and I was glad I did so. On the advice of many of the SDNers of the past, almost all convinced me that where you go for undergrad actually does matter.😱
But remember to keep your gpa up high at your new school, because you will not get any kickbacks, just cuz you transferred. What I actually did was I took extra classes so that I could have a buffer for my GPA.
I hope this helps. 😀

 

[ChemGrad08]

UGA is a huge school compared to GSU, I personally would be worried about advising issues especially coming in so late (and getting letters etc). I think difference between one state school and another just isn't that big to justify such a move. And Atl is such a better place to live compared to athens (mostly oppurtunity wise--as you mentioned). If you were asking if you should transfer to Emory I think there wouldn't be a question (besides the financial one), but GSU to UGA isn't a humongous jump for the lost oppurtunities you will face. I think I repeated myself like ten times...ultimately do what you think is best, but I wouldn't transfer.

 

[RoyBasch]

Ashjamar, I would suggest not transfering to UGA. I am not extremely familiar with that part of the country so I do not know if UGA is a quantum leap from GSU or not. Let me discuss my experience, I go to a top 20 school with a fierce reputation for grading, so whenever medical school admission representatives come to our school to give a chat, somebody ALWAYS asks the question or something like it: "We go to a really hard school, your average matriculant undergraduate GPA is very high, will we get consideration because our undergrad is tough/well ranked?" To which the medical school admission representative would almost always respond either "No" or "Only very slightly." of the dozen chats like this I went to, only one medical school said their would be "some" consideration and they have a relationship with my undergraduate (10+ students a year fill their class from my undergrad).

The consensus I have gotten is that medical schools don't give a **** about where you did your undergraduate as long as it was an American four year college (not a junior college). The only red flag is if your MCAT is very low despite your high GPA (I could not say as to what is the cut off for an MCAT that would be considered suspiciously low).

Another thing to take in consideration: Sometimes it's better to be a big fish in a small pond. At a higher ranked school you might find more ambitious people competing for opportunities like research, leadership of organizations, etc. Although I do not know your situation exactly, it sounds like you have a great GPA and great opportunities at GSU. I frequently think to myself, that if I knew, as a high school senior, I would be applying to medical school in four years and how important GPA is for that process I would have definitely gone to a less competitive undergrad.
-Roy

 

[Pinkertinkle]

I've never heard of either, what's the difference in ranking?

 

[TarHeelEMT]

I've never heard of either, what's the difference in ranking?

Massive, to put it lightly.

 

[StIGMA]

It really depends how far along you are. If you are a freshmen, then yeah it may be worth it. If you are a junior, nope.

UGA has an enormous number of pre-med students, and you would surely not stand out. The science training is only superior in biology/perhaps Ochem, while the physics/chem at uga are sub-par. UGA does fill some stupidly large number of seats at MCG, but there are certainly more medical schools than that one.

I would suggest not transferring for only the reason of school ranks, but only if there were other important issues such as friends, looking for research opportunities, new major, etc. Transferring from a good school to a slightly better school is not really going to matter much imo. Just keep a good record where you go and ace the MCAT. Plenty of people at UGA do below-average on the mcat (<25), while some do get into the 40's. It all depends on the student. If you are capable of attending a medical school, your undergrad will not be the dealbreaker or dealsealer.