transfers

[scleedmd]

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how many med school applicants transfer from one 4-yr university to another after, say 2 years, with the thought that the second is an "upgrade" of sorts from the first and will look better on a med school application?

 

[hnbui]

how many med school applicants transfer from one 4-yr university to another after, say 2 years, with the thought that the second is an "upgrade" of sorts from the first and will look better on a med school application?

you better come up with a better reason than that if you want to transfer. 👎

 

[WatchingWaiting]

how many med school applicants transfer from one 4-yr university to another after, say 2 years, with the thought that the second is an "upgrade" of sorts from the first and will look better on a med school application?

I don't think that's a very good reason to transfer. A high gpa with corroborating MCAT and activities will get you into a good med school from pretty much any undergrad institution. Also, a 3.9 from a lesser school is almost always better than a 3.6 from a better school (assuming MCAT validation of high gpa!). Your more prestigious school will likely have little positive impact on your admissability, especially if your gpa goes down at this new, likely more competitive, institution. Financial reasons or you really dislike your undergrad or something along those lines would be a much better reason to transfer.

 

[neuropower]

how many med school applicants transfer from one 4-yr university to another after, say 2 years, with the thought that the second is an "upgrade" of sorts from the first and will look better on a med school application?

i transferred after sophomore year to Brown, but it was more because i hated my other school (which will remain nameless) than because i thought it would help my med school application. maybe it did, who knows? i do know i had better access to research/hospitals because it was a big university.

 

[hnbui]

i transferred after sophomore year to Brown, but it was more because i hated my other school (which will remain nameless) than because i thought it would help my med school application. maybe it did, who knows? i do know i had better access to research/hospitals because it was a big university.

wow!!!! you must be up to your neck in debt. i still don't get why brown doesn't give finaid for transfers

 

[neuropower]

wow!!!! you must be up to your neck in debt. i still don't get why brown doesn't give finaid for transfers

yeah, pretty much. i didn't get financial aid from my first school either though, so i didn't make it any worse by transfering.

 

[scleedmd]

you better come up with a better reason than that if you want to transfer. 👎

that is what i thought. i am asking for my daughter, a senior in high school, who has some pretty far-fetched ideas about getting into med school, not helped along much by the college counseler. i never came up with these schemes when i was trying to get into dental school. thanks for the reply.

 

[scleedmd]

I don't think that's a very good reason to transfer. A high gpa with corroborating MCAT and activities will get you into a good med school from pretty much any undergrad institution. Also, a 3.9 from a lesser school is almost always better than a 3.6 from a better school (assuming MCAT validation of high gpa!). Your more prestigious school will likely have little positive impact on your admissability, especially if your gpa goes down at this new, likely more competitive, institution. Financial reasons or you really dislike your undergrad or something along those lines would be a much better reason to transfer.

my daughter is a senior in high school and seriously wants to go to med school. she has some pretty interesting schemes for getting in. my husband and i (he's a surgeon) concur with your comments. just hope i can get the message across to her. the local med school admissions chairman said the same things you did. we are going to hook her up with him soon; maybe she will listen to him. thanks for the reply.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Undergraduate university reputation is such an insignificant factor in medical school admission that its generally not worth the trouble.

Caveat: if she were transferring from Podunk U with a poor reputation for education to a Top Ten university AND were able to maintain the same gpa, etc., then it might be worth it. Trouble is, most students aren't in this situation and again, school reputation is MUCH less important in the grand scheme of things than grades, MCAT scores, ECs, LORs (if she transfers she will have little time to get to know the profs at her new school), etc.

She's young, uninformed and allowed to have some "crazy" schemes. She will soon learn that schemes don't work; the old tried and true generally does: grades, good letters and scores, community involvement, and the like.

 

[scleedmd]

Undergraduate university reputation is such an insignificant factor in medical school admission that its generally not worth the trouble.

Caveat: if she were transferring from Podunk U with a poor reputation for education to a Top Ten university AND were able to maintain the same gpa, etc., then it might be worth it. Trouble is, most students aren't in this situation and again, school reputation is MUCH less important in the grand scheme of things than grades, MCAT scores, ECs, LORs (if she transfers she will have little time to get to know the profs at her new school), etc.

She's young, uninformed and allowed to have some "crazy" schemes. She will soon learn that schemes don't work; the old tried and true generally does: grades, good letters and scores, community involvement, and the like.

Thanks for the good advice. I am patiently waiting for her to learn that schemes don't work, but she is relatively pigheaded, not a good trait for a hopeful med student. I teach at our local dental school, however, and have noticed that scheming is much more of a concern among our student population than it was when I went to dental school (same institution). Having 17 years of private practice experience prior to joining academia, I found that only the basics, the tried-and-true methods work in almost any situation. Those lessons I learned, unfortunately, are not genetically encoded. The good news is that she has spoken with a couple of the old school professors here at the medical school, and they gave her the same advice you have passed along to me. Great minds, and all that.
Thanks again.

 

[LSUwannabe]

...but she is relatively pigheaded, not a good trait for a hopeful med student. .

Sounds like she'll fit right in... 😀


Agreed w/ previous advice (except the poster indicating having a "better" reason to transfer-perhaps that poster was thinking about transfering while IN medical school; who cares why one transfers as an undergrad?).

If she maintains MS-resident status (and wants to attend there) she should be golden as long as she does reasonably well. As I understand it they (like the LSU schools) only accept residents. Consequently, if you shoot for national accepted averages (3.6/29 or 30 MCAT; volunteering and extracurrics) her odds will be great in my opinion.

Good luck (to both of you)!

 

[jmeyers52]

If she is definitely going to go to med school and there is no chance that she'll change her mind.....then I agree, a higher GPA from a lesser known school will likely play better as those above have stated.

If there is a chance of her changing her mind and looking for a job after graduation, that could be a different ball game. Looking back, as a med school applicant, I might have rather had a higher GPA from my state school. When it came to looking at the job market, though, there's virtually nothing I would have traded for my undergrad degree (except maybe one from that engineering school in the northeast, starts with an M I think....). Just two pennies for you to consider.