Undergraduate universities

[GSM]

Do medical school admissions committees factor in where one received their undergrad degree in their decisions?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[rowerlauren]

Most definitely is the short answer.

 

[RySerr21]

yes they do.....but if you think "i go to a competitive undergraduate so its okay to have a 3.3" is a legitimate excuse for the adcoms....you are sadly mistaken. too many other people go to your school and have a 3.8.

study hard and do well and you will get into med school, regardless of where you go to undergrad.

 

[redlight]

(for the record, i agree with ryserr21)

OP... try the search feature next time.. this topic has been...


...yea

 

[MichiganEMTInt]

undergrad institution matters. this goes without saying but you can set yourself apart in the applicant pool (you can be unique, just like everyone else...) and have a good chance at some schools if you have the numbers.

 

[neurocirujano]

Get a high GPA, prove it's legitimate with a high MCAT, and you'll be fine.

 

[Artimacia]

I was wondering about this too since the school I go to is very small, relatively new, and not well known.

My biology teacher was explaining something like this to a guy who wanted to get into a graduate school. Basically, he told him that people who go to a school well known for its high academics, which our school isn't known for currently, have a higher chance of getting in somewhere as opposed to us.

That makes me wonder if I should transfer. I have a 3.9 or so GPA at this school, and it's close to home, with small classes, etc... I'm worried that if I transfer, I will be placed in to larger classes and do worse.

I'm really on the fence about it but I heard if you try hard, you should be fine.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

I was wondering about this too since the school I go to is very small, relatively new, and not well known.

My biology teacher was explaining something like this to a guy who wanted to get into a graduate school. Basically, he told him that people who go to a school well known for its high academics, which our school isn't known for currently, have a higher chance of getting in somewhere as opposed to us.

That makes me wonder if I should transfer. I have a 3.9 or so GPA at this school, and it's close to home, with small classes, etc... I'm worried that if I transfer, I will be placed in to larger classes and do worse.

I'm really on the fence about it but I heard if you try hard, you should be fine.

why would you do worse in larger classes???? It would still be the same material, Right???

 

[MCP1]

If you are going to a small school that doesn't have a "very well" known reputation, it shouldn't matter as much for state schools. Those schools usually have a good idea of the program quality of other in-state schools At least based on what I know of Michigan.

It really doesn't matter that much though if you have good stats (validate you good gpa with a good MCAT)

 

[redlight]

why would you do worse in larger classes???? It would still be the same material, Right???

maybe this person is the kind of student that needs a lot of 1on1 time with profs? it would be harder to get quality time with profs at a bigger institution with bigger classes, i would imagine.

and Artimacia, i wouldn't be too eager to transfer based what 1 person told you... theres a mentor part of sdn where you can ask adcom or w/e your questions.. try them

imo, id stay right where you are.. it's the whole big fish in a little pond theory. if you do well on mcat, no one will discredit your academic achievements. plus id imagine it would be easier for you to get quality lors, leadership positions, etc, at a smaller school. you could really end up having an outstanding application at a smaller school due to (what im assuming is) less competition

 

[ChubbyChaser]

maybe so...I go to a small school and none of the professors are going to sit down with you and spoon feed you the material, though.

 

[aster]

why would you do worse in larger classes???? It would still be the same material, Right???

Yea, but same material doesn't dictate curve. A lot more people in class means a lot more competition for the highest grade as well as a larger probability that there are many people on your level which makes it more competitive to get the grade you want. Small classes, less diversity, less competition, even if it's same material. Science classes curves

 

[redlight]

maybe so...I go to a small school and none of the professors are going to sit down with you and spoon feed you the material, though.

true, but i have a feeling that most profs at liberal arts colleges are there only to teach/because they love teaching.. im not sure this is the case with larger (research) schools.
and i believe that profs at smaller schools may be more willing (or more able in terms of availability of time) to go the extra mile for their students (on an individual basis) than profs at larges (research) schools, on average.

 

[redlight]

Yea, but same material doesn't dictate curve. A lot more people in class means a lot more competition for the highest grade as well as a larger probability that there are many people on your level which makes it more competitive to get the grade you want. Small classes, less diversity, less competition, even if it's same material. Science classes curves

i dont think it is fair to assume larger schools have more competitive people on average. for example, if your state school is a big party school, im gonna doubt that most of the folks in ochem are gunning for As.
try convincing kids at schools like swarthmore that students at public school X have a harder time getting good grades...

and i can easily see smaller liberal arts science classes being curved so that roughly 15% get A's. this would make it really heard to get an A, possibly harder than in bigger universities. it all depends on the composition of the class and the profs grading/teaching methods.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

Yea, but same material doesn't dictate curve. A lot more people in class means a lot more competition for the highest grade as well as a larger probability that there are many people on your level which makes it more competitive to get the grade you want. Small classes, less diversity, less competition, even if it's same material. Science classes curves

I have found the opposite to be true...Ive been in classes with only 10 ppl and only 1 can get that A...but in a class with 1000 ppl you can have 100 get As....If you are put in a class with 10 ppl, it might just happen to be that the other 9 are all highly intelligent as well...but if in a class with 1000 theres definitely gonna be some idiots.

But overall...I dont think it matters much...large vs small.

Do they consider your UG university?? yes...and I have first hand account of this...but is it a big factor?? nope and this is coming from the words of an adcom

 

[RySerr21]

true, but i have a feeling that most profs at liberal arts colleges are there only to teach/because they love teaching.. im not sure this is the case with larger (research) schools.
and i believe that profs at smaller schools may be more willing (or more able in terms of availability of time) to go the extra mile for their students (on an individual basis) than profs at larges (research) schools, on average.

this is very true in my experience at a school with about 1800 students. i have only come across 1 professor (physics) who was more interested in his research than his students. he was absolutely awful and i had a miserable expereince. i have no idea why he teaches at a liberal arts college. he belongs at a huge university where it is okay to neglect your students for research purposes...at a small college, it just doesn't fly.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

i dont think it is fair to assume larger schools have more competitive people on average. for example, if your state school is a big party school, im gonna doubt that most of the folks in ochem are gunning for As.
try convincing kids at schools like swarthmore that students at public school X have a harder time getting good grades...

and i can easily see smaller liberal arts science classes being curved so that roughly 15% get A's. this would make it really heard to get an A, possibly harder than in bigger universities. it all depends on the composition of the class and the profs grading/teaching methods.

oopps should have read this first....

well said

 

[neuro1617]

Ohhh not this topic again
There are soo many threads on this. Of course the institution factors in some but no one knows to what extent. And going to an ivy does not excuse a 3.2 GPA-that is not equal to a 3.9 from a state school. I've heard if you go to a rigorous school they may * your GPA by a certain # though. This is why they have the MCAT-do well on that and they can't question a high GPA from a less well-known school.

 

[aster]

i dont think it is fair to assume larger schools have more competitive people on average. for example, if your state school is a big party school, im gonna doubt that most of the folks in ochem are gunning for As.
try convincing kids at schools like swarthmore that students at public school X have a harder time getting good grades...

and i can easily see smaller liberal arts science classes being curved so that roughly 15% get A's. this would make it really heard to get an A, possibly harder than in bigger universities. it all depends on the composition of the class and the profs grading/teaching methods.

I didn't suggest more competitive people in the sense of higher achievements, I'm saying more competition. If there are a few other people in the class that perform at the same level as you and would usually get similar grades, they are your competition, you are battling for that grade since there has to be people under the curve for you to be above.

However, if there is a class that only has 10 people like ChubbyChaser suggested, I haven't heard much about curves in a class that small, as that defeats the purpose of a curve with such a small sample. Smaller classes are usually graded on a more objective scale, as opposed to a "relative to the class via bell curve" scale. And plus, from statistics, greater diversity in larger samples, less in small, so in a large class with many different rate-performances, there are a lot more people separating grades from the next grade...competition.

I guess it comes down to where you draw the line between a large class and a small (50 vs. 10? 150 vs. 50? 300 vs. 50?) to better compare apples to apples.

 

[87138]

 

[TehDoc]

Do you know how to use search?

 

[ChubbyChaser]

EDIT: Didnt see the gigantic *** part....might not go over well with "mods"