Where to Transfer

S1rik3r

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I am currently attending Sinclair Community College to get some general education requirements out of the way before I transfer to a four year school. I am not sure which college to go to, however. I was solely using the U.S. News College rankings to decide which school to attend. I wanted to go to the best school I can to maximize my chances of getting into medical school. However, I highly doubt medical schools use the U.S. news rankings when deciding on applicants. I do not know, but my guess would be they just look at the type of school (State University, Ivy League, ect.). I do not have good enough grades to get into an Ivy League school. I would like to go to Ohio State University because all of my credits would transfer and I could stay close to my friends, family, and girlfriend. How much would going to Ohio State hurt me in my medical school application as opposed to going to a "better" school like University of Michigan?

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The undergrad school you go to is a very, very small factor in getting accepted to med school. It is much more important to perform well than to attend a big-name school. Ohio State is an excellent school and will not hurt you at all when med school applications roll around.
 
You might consider the relative debt burden that you'd be placed under by attending your different prospective undergrad institutions. If you go to your state school, you may be able to better afford the medical school applicaton and interview process once that time rolls around.
 
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Um, Michigan is not a better school that Ohio State.
 
Ohio State is a fine school, it's not going to hurt you to apply from there. What state are you from? If you're an OH resident it should be smarter to pay IS OSU than OOS Michigan. Michigan's not THAT much better.
 
Agreed on the cost issue for sure. I passed up a full scholarship at Mizzou for full tuition at UNC (mostly for reasons other than prestige, but anyway...), and while I don't regret the decision at all, it wasn't terribly smart. Some people will tell you that being happy with your school choice is all that matters. Take it from someone who knows: not being financially castrated makes happiness a whole lot easier to achieve.
 
(State University, Ivy League, ect.).

While they are excellent schools, Ivy League is a term coined by a reporter which refers to sports. Is that what you're looking for in a university?

Also you should check and see if they even do take transfer students because some don't.
 
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Try Wright State i hear they have a good pre-medical programs and they also have a medical school. It's also not very far from where your from its in the dayton area.
 
While they are excellent schools, Ivy League is a term coined by a reporter which refers to sports. Is that what you're looking for in a university?

Also you should check and see if they even do take transfer students because some don't.

I'm so tired about people throwing this around. Yes it WAS coined by a reporter to discuss a sports league, but "Ivy League" means so much more than that to our society and the world today that just a sports league. I'm not saying that's a reason to attend them, I'm just saying that its silly to try to bat away such a powerful social and educational symbol based on its origin.
 
It is next to impossible to transfer in.

Stick with an inexpensive state school, keep your debt low, and your grades high.


That's true, state schools are the best bet when transferring.
 
I'm so tired about people throwing this around. Yes it WAS coined by a reporter to discuss a sports league, but "Ivy League" means so much more than that to our society and the world today that just a sports league. I'm not saying that's a reason to attend them, I'm just saying that its silly to try to bat away such a powerful social and educational symbol based on its origin.


I wan't trying to "bat away" those schools. Maybe you didn't read my post properly or understand it. Some people don't know that it is referring to sports, or what it means altogether. Of course you can get one of the best educations and experiences at those schools, but I doubt you can't get that elsewhere. Calm down, people are so easily stirred on here.
 
I'm so tired about people throwing this around. Yes it WAS coined by a reporter to discuss a sports league, but "Ivy League" means so much more than that to our society and the world today that just a sports league. I'm not saying that's a reason to attend them, I'm just saying that its silly to try to bat away such a powerful social and educational symbol based on its origin.

In terms of education the Ivies are actually relatively unimpressive with a lot of teaching done by TAs. UChicago is a much better academic and intellectual institution. For the liberal arts Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan and the like offer a better education, as their professors are not so much interested in research as they are teaching. The reality is that the name is much more impressive than the schools actually are. The reason it means so much to our society is they haven't the foggiest idea about what the reality is of New Haven or of Cambridge. MIT and Caltech beat the Ivies in engineering/computers. Social sciences are better at Berkley.
 
Ivy League is the conference of the best schools in America. It just bunches them into a group so you don't have to say each one, or say "you know the best schools".
 
Ivy League is the conference of the best schools in America. It just bunches them into a group so you don't have to say each one, or say "you know the best schools".

Many of the highest-ranked universities in the US are not in the Ivy League, such as MIT, Stanford, Caltech, Duke, UChicago, WashU, etc.

OP, go to the school that 1) makes you feel at home, and 2) makes financial sense. I was fortunate enough to get almost a full tuition financial aid grant from my top-choice undergrad, but I am confident that I would have been happy at my second choice (even though it wasn't as highly ranked) had I not gotten such good aid from the first. If you go to a top-tier school but are miserable and accumulate a lot of debt, you probably will have a harder time getting a good GPA to get into med school. It's difficult to get good grades when you hate where you go to school, no matter what its ranking is. Ohio State is a great school and your chances of getting into med school will be no less there than they would be at UMich. :)
 
Here's my two cents as a recent grad of med school (take it or leave it)..

It seems to me that the prestige of a school is unlikely to make up for deficiencies in your med school application. It is true that some schools are more "prestigious" or whatever, but the great equalizer is the MCAT. So you need to do well on it, which entails learning your bio, chem, and physics well the first time around. In my opinion, this means going to a school that you are confident will give you a good education - you can discern this at least in part by asking about medical school acceptance rates.

I chose a smaller state school for undergrad for several reasons. First, I knew the school was strong (despite the fact that it is not terribly well known outside of the region) in biology, particularly for pre-meds. The smaller size afforded me the opportunity to get to know my professors and therefore get what I assume (based on interview comments) were very strong letters. The smaller size and lack of a significant graduate student population also allowed me to find a research position fairly easily. And finally, the scholarship I received (and the cheaper price tag overall) left me with minimal undergrad debt. Considering that I attended a private med school and my current debt is around $200,000 :)eek:) it helps not have another $200,000 from undergrad.

My opinion is that if you want to get into med school you must 1. do very well on the MCAT, 2. make excellent grades, 3. participate significantly in medically oriented extracurriculars, 4. do a good amount of volunteer work and 5. establish good relationships with professors (not just TAs) so you can have someone go to bat for you on your application. Prestige of an undergrad school I think becomes more important if your dream has always been Harvard Med. But otherwise, do the above plus probably some praying/voodoo/whatever you do and don't come across as the type of person who likes to kill kittens. Where you go is less important (in my opinion) than what you make of it.

Take it or leave it. Good luck to you!
 
Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton,Yale

Sound like some pretty good schools to me. I didn't say all of the best school s in the US. Anyway, go where you want and where you will be happy.
 
Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton,Yale

Sound like some pretty good schools to me. I didn't say all of the best school s in the US. Anyway, go where you want and where you will be happy.

Don't fall into the trap that every impressionable student does regarding USNWR. It's rankings are meaningless. Secondly out of CC it is an exceedingly long shot even with a 4.0 in all of those classes. To get in you would need a 4.0 or close to it, excellent SATs and High School GPA. You are much more likely to get in at Ohio State. The Ivies are really poor as undergraduate institutions. Professors there are there for research, teaching is of secondary importance. Choosing an elite liberal arts school maybe a better choice. In Ohio, Denison comes to mind; Connecticut college and some of the other NESCAC schools come to mind. The Ivies are more smoke than fire.
 
While they are excellent schools, Ivy League is a term coined by a reporter which refers to sports. Is that what you're looking for in a university?

Also you should check and see if they even do take transfer students because some don't.

Harvard and Princeton do not accept transfers, while the other six ivies do. Cornell and Penn are you best options in terms of transferring. To reiterate what others have said, OSU is a fantastic university and as long as you do well there, you'll be absolutely fine.
 
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