Undergrad schools?

[Tarallk]

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Hi everyone-
I have a question about admissions to MSTP. Do they look at what undergrad school you graduated from? The reason I ask is right now I go to Penn State, mainly for financial reasons. I have been thinking about transferring, but I'm not sure if I can afford it. Will not going to one of the "top" schools effect my chances of admission? Or will sufficient numbers be good enough? (I'm currently 4th semester. GPA 3.95, in the honors program, and I hope to start doing research this summer or fall) Any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Tara

 

[dl2dp2]

short answer: no. long answer: depends. If you look at rosters, most of the east coast ivy league + jhu + stanford are very ivy heavy. Other excellent schools are less so (i.e UCs). However, if you do well at Penn State you'll be fine anywhere. The bottom line is, if you want to transfer, don't think too much in terms of how it would affect you later on for med school applications. Tranfer if you prefer another school. Ivy type schools can be surprisingly affordable due to generous financial aid options.

MSTPs, and I've come to learn, are less homogenous as far as what schools they want their kids from, mostly due to the fact that some of the better science research schools are outside of the ivy/old boy club. For MSTP, it's ALL about your research experience. Hence, if there is an amazing researcher at Penn State (which I know there are quite a few), then by all means stick around.

 

[Neuronix]

Stay. You are doing excellent there. Get into research ASAP and stay there for the rest of your time before med school. Some of the people in the top programs came from no-name schools. I came from the University of Delaware (similar in prestige to Penn State, if not less I would think) and I have been doing pretty well in the admissions game.

If your undergrad will hurt you, it will be a very minor hit on your application. Your MCAT will help to equalize your school with all those Harvard/WashU/Duke undergrads out there, so do well on it!

 

[Adcadet]

if with your stats and all you can get into a research lab you want to be in at Penn State, then stay there! I think it might be hard to get into a good lab at another school as a transfer applicant. If you are seriously thinking of transfering to a particular school, make sure there's a lab for you before you go.

 

[surge]

Absolutely stay.

I come from Drake University (ever heard of it?), and I'm doing very well in the admissions game. It's all about you as an applicant. Be where you will do your best and be most productive. The name doesn't matter. Believe me.

Serge

 

[Naphtali]

Ha! I laugh! I beat all of you guys, hands down. Ever heard of East Stroudsburg University? I figured not. (It's a small state school in northeastern PA.) And yet, I've had interview invites at 12 out of 17 schools I applied to. (And 2 out of 3 big name schools: Yale and UPenn, but not Hopkinks. Oh well.)

Your GPA is super good-- obviously Penn St. is a school you can do well at. I suspect my there's some good research going on there, so you should be all set. A word to anyone reading this who comes from a school where basically no research is done: summer programs are a great way to fit research in. They certainly helped me get where I am today.

So no, I don't think you should transfer. My feeling is that any MD/PhD program that can't see past my undergrad school wouldn't be attentive to my needs as an individual anyway.

-Naphtali

 

[surge]

OK, Naphtali,
I think you gave yourself up. Did we meet at UTSouthwestern and Yale? 😎

 

[Tarallk]

Thank you to everyone for your advice. Right now I'm in the process of contacting professors about working in their labs, and I hope to do a senior thesis. I think I will stay at Penn State. Also, Naphtali, I live only about an hour away from East Stroudsburg (in schuylkill county), so yes, I've heard of it before! I never thought I'd hear of someone on here so close though!

Tara

 

[Naphtali]

Originally posted by surge
OK, Naphtali,
I think you gave yourself up. Did we meet at UTSouthwestern and Yale? 😎

Yep, that's me. (Seeing as I'm the only MD/PhD applicant from my school, that pretty much blows my cover.)

And that Southwestern 2nd weekend was pretty nice, eh? Still can't compare with the sheer volume of alcohol I was served while visiting U of Rochester, though... I stayed with a student, and he had a party the last night I was there. Whew.

And hey, someone *has* heard of my school! Will wonders never cease! It's a good thing you go to Penn St... if you went to Bloomsburg (the arch nemesis), I'd be duty bound to make fun of you endlessly. 😀

-Naphtali

 

[mjs]

On the whole school reputation thing:

I go to Penn State and I've been to a few interviews this year. At most of them, there's a pretty good mix of people from schools across the country.

At a few the, "Why did you go to Penn State?" question came up in the, "Why didn't you go to one of the US News top 20 undergraduate institutions?" tone of voice. On one interview day, I sat at a table of maybe 8 applicants and I think I was the only one who wasn't from one of those aforementioned universities. So in truth, it's still a bit of an old boys club and you'll hear and see a little bit of it out there, but not much.

 

[Anasazi23]

Hi Tara....

I"m a graduate of PennState ('96) and got an MD/PhD interview at Downstate in Brooklyn. Through a strange turn of events I wound up not going there. But that's a different story.

Penn State is a great school, with accomplishments ever bit as good or better than "more elitist" institutions. Be proud of 'Ol State......

Good luck to you.....
Go Nittany Lions!

--eddie

 

[pathdr2b]

I guess I'll have to be the voice of disagreement here.

In MY expereince it has mattered to adcoms where I went to undergrad. In EVERY conversation I've had with schools in trying to decide where I may want to apply, they ALWAYS ask where I went to school. I'm a URM but I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it or not. My undergrad is VERY low, so I wonder if they see it differently because it's low from a good public school versus being low from Podunk University.