undergrad schools and their med schools

[Columbia09]

If you go to lets say Penn State, will it be easier to get into their med school because you went there for undergrad?

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[yuiness]

There are only a few schools that give an "official" advantage to their own graduates, but I think that most schools will consider their own students more closely. It probably won't help if your stats are far below their averages, but it may push you over the edge if you're a borderline applicant. There are a few reasons for this. The first is that going to a school's affiliated undergrad institution gives you the potential opportunity to meet and interact with med school faculty/administration staff. The people reviewing your application will also be more likely to know/recognize your LOR writers and give those letters more weight. In addition, adcom members will be more familiar with the classes that you took and the grading schemes (which may be helpful if your school has grade deflation). Lastly, all schools want their graduates to succeed, and admitting a few of their own can help their numbers look a little better.

 

[Ismet]

Depends on the school. I met someone on the interview trail from Stanford who said that Stanford med doesn't like to accept Stanford alumni because they want their alumni to get a diverse experience (I don't know if that's actually true, just going by what he said). On the other hand, a relatively substantial portion of my class went to Pitt for undergrad (I think there are 18 of us in a 147 person class). I'm not sure about Penn State.

If you buy the MSAR, each school has a statistic about the % of the class that attended that institution for undergrad.

 

[Osteoth]

Some for sure do. I know on here Brown has been mentioned as a school that primarily selects from its own undergrads for acceptance to its med school.

 

[phikapdoctor]

Texas, I believe Arizona does too. That's where I'm from..
Check AAMC for OOS acceptances, and Instate. Also check mdapplicants and you can see what schools the acceptes went to.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN Mobile app please excuse punctuation and spelling

 

[darkjedi]

I will tell you that, for whatever reason, BU hates their undergrad applicants.

I would say that generally speaking, you will probably find an over representation of undergraduates from the same university in the medical school. I'm inclined to say that's not necessarily because they give preferential bias towards their own school, but that kids from that school are more likely to be from the area and stick around in the area.

Some for sure do. I know on here Brown has been mentioned as a school that primarily selects from its own undergrads for acceptance to its med school.

Brown has a special track known as PLME that is basically a combined BA/MD program. It's a program that students have applied to in HS and is basically a guarantee into the medical school after ugrad. I don't believe the general applicant pool has any preference to it's undergrads.

 

[ComradeDoktor]

I will tell you that, for whatever reason, BU hates their undergrad applicants.

I would say that generally speaking, you will probably find an over representation of undergraduates from the same university in the medical school. I'm inclined to say that's not necessarily because they give preferential bias towards their own school, but that kids from that school are more likely to be from the area and stick around in the area.

This can lead to bias. Schools want to accept applicants who are likely to come if accepted. If you had a good reason to pick a school for undergrad, you could have the same reason to pick it again for medicine. I think that explains why my undergrad university's medical school is my only acceptance right now, despite being one of the most competitive schools I applied to.

 

[darkjedi]

This can lead to bias. Schools want to accept applicants who are likely to come if accepted. If you had a good reason to pick a school for undergrad, you could have the same reason to pick it again for medicine. I think that explains why my undergrad university's medical school is my only acceptance right now, despite being one of the most competitive schools I applied to.

Probably so, my thought was that it is more likely a function of the student, at least more so than that of their undergraduate institution

 

[Life Sucks]

My school has a thing with Meharry, where if you achieve a certain G.P.A and M.C.A.T., you are almost an automatic acceptance, but it's not a guarentee.

 

[jesse120]

If you go to lets say Penn State, will it be easier to get into their med school because you went there for undergrad?

hmm, well they rejected me lol.

but penn state hershey is usually one of the top three md schools at which PSU alumi matriculate

 

[Praefectus]

I'd chalk it up to familiarity with the quality of applicants coming out of the undergrad. They have historical data to compare you with, so it could be a negative for some applicants.

 

[kpcrew]

Depends on the school. I met someone on the interview trail from Stanford who said that Stanford med doesn't like to accept Stanford alumni because they want their alumni to get a diverse experience (I don't know if that's actually true, just going by what he said). On the other hand, a relatively substantial portion of my class went to Pitt for undergrad (I think there are 18 of us in a 147 person class). I'm not sure about Penn State.

If you buy the MSAR, each school has a statistic about the % of the class that attended that institution for undergrad.

It's probably true, I've heard it said by an admissions officer at MIT as well.

 

[NickNaylor]

While some schools might prefer their own students explicitly, I think the main advantage of "inbreeding" is that the people evaluating your application might know the same people writing your letters, serving as your research mentor, etc..

One thing that is definitely true is that a strong applicant will be desirable at every school. That's your best shot at getting an acceptance to any school.

(sent from my phone)

 

[Bangersandmash]

A few florida schools show preference to their undergraduates. I know at my institution the ADcom is very close with many of the faculty on the undergrad campus. When they get a letter or see research with a certain professor, they know what they are getting from you.

 

[Mountaineer12]

I was told by an ADCOM at WVU that even though I was OOS going there for undergrad would qualify as having good ties to the state. So at least in that case I think it helps, but I don't think they would ever take a completely unqualified alumni instead of a really great candidate that went to a different school.