Will transferring to a better college hurt my medical school chances?

[Shaggy99]

Sorry I have not updated my bio at all, but I am a freshman at VCU in the Biomedical Engineering and Honors Program. I basically slacked my junior year in high school (terrible work ethic that I have fixed now) so I just missed the cut for my best instate school U-VA. I want to transfer there for my sophomore year, and I strongly believe I have the work ethic to get in and perform well there now. I have always had the ability, as I came from Thomas Jefferson HS for science and technology, just not the dedication.

It looks like my first semester at VCU is a surefire 4.0 with 18 credits, and with some more dedication (I will be taking calc based physics mechanics and differential equations next semester), a 4.0 for the year is definitely attainable. I have established myself well with research, some shadowing, and am on some committees for pre-med organizations.

SHOULD I go to U-VA? Will it hurt my chances if we assume i do reasonably well there (3.8 GPA at Uva if i work my butt off)?

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[femmegoblue]

You should first and foremost make this decision based upon where you will be happy for the next 3.5 years. The road to med school is a marathon, not a sprint (in the wise words of @Goro ) so do not jump ship from VCU just because you think U-VA looks better on paper. That being said, if you are unhappy at VCU and truly want to transfer to U-VA, I don't believe it will hurt your chances at all. A strong GPA is a strong GPA if it comes from a four-year university, and most medical schools honestly do not care where you went to undergrad (most schools will tell you that themselves). Go with the school where you will be happy, will grow as a person, and where you can achieve academic success. Both schools pump out med school admits, it's up to you to get the grades and the experience.

 

[Shaggy99]

You should first and foremost make this decision based upon where you will be happy for the next 3.5 years. The road to med school is a marathon, not a sprint (in the wise words of @Goro ) so do not jump ship from VCU just because you think U-VA looks better on paper. That being said, if you are unhappy at VCU and truly want to transfer to U-VA, I don't believe it will hurt your chances at all. A strong GPA is a strong GPA if it comes from a four-year university, and most medical schools honestly do not care where you went to undergrad (most schools will tell you that themselves). Go with the school where you will be happy, will grow as a person, and where you can achieve academic success. Both schools pump out med school admits, it's up to you to get the grades and the experience.

Yea that makes sense, I think I will be more happy at UVa not just because a lot of my hs friends go there, but I fit better with the UVa kids i think, at VCU there are very few kids I easily click with due to personality differences.

 

[Lucca]

Yea that makes sense, I think I will be more happy at UVa not just because a lot of my hs friends go there, but I fit better with the UVa kids i think, at VCU there are very few kids I easily click with due to personality differences.

Then transfer. That's all that matters. Transferring won't hurt your chances, doing badly in school will.

 

[md-2020]

Before everyone gets more carried away about transferring, OP its only the first week of October, you cannot say with any confidence that you will have a "surefire 4.0"

 

[Shaggy99]

Before everyone gets more carried away about transferring, OP its only the first week of October, you cannot say with any confidence that you will have a "surefire 4.0"

Yes you are very right, but, trying not to sound like a pretentious ass (tell me if I am)....
VCU is so EASY. I'm in english, calc 3, intro bio 2 and lab, inorganic chem 2 and lab, and I have literally aced all assignments and the first round of exams. If I continue what I am doing, all signs seem to point to a 4.0, and putting in more work for harder courses next semester will probably get me similar, and hopefully perfect results.

 

[md-2020]

Yes you are very right, but, trying not to sound like a pretentious ass (tell me if I am)....
VCU is so EASY. I'm in english, calc 3, intro bio 2 and lab, inorganic chem 2 and lab, and I have literally aced all assignments and the first round of exams. If I continue what I am doing, all signs seem to point to a 4.0, and putting in more work for harder courses next semester will probably get me similar, and hopefully perfect results.

You are, and it's dangerous given that this the early stages of only your freshman year. It'll get considerably harder, don't walk blindly into a trap.

If VCU is actually easy, I'd stay for 2 years to knock out all the pre-reqs (which I think will be hard regardless of school) and then transfer to UVA as a junior to finish up a degree. But do not get this far ahead of yourself, a few months is no indication of how hard a school is.

 

[Shaggy99]

You are, and it's dangerous given that this the early stages of only your freshman year. It'll get considerably harder, don't walk blindly into a trap.

If VCU is actually easy, I'd stay for 2 years to knock out all the pre-reqs (which I think will be hard regardless of school) and then transfer to UVA as a junior to finish up a degree. But do not get this far ahead of yourself, a few months is no indication of how hard a school is.

Point taken, i'll tone down with the hubris

 

[piii]

Life and college isn't all about premed. Go where you'll be happy, you can get into med school doing well at any college.

And please, for heavens sake, update your bio. We've all been waiting...

 

[BluMist]

Wait, how do I update my bio?!?!?! Is it too late? What are my chances? *neuroticism ensues*

And please, for heavens sake, update your bio. We've all been waiting...

 

[Spector1]

Sorry I have not updated my bio at all, but I am a freshman at VCU in the Biomedical Engineering and Honors Program. I basically slacked my junior year in high school (terrible work ethic that I have fixed now) so I just missed the cut for my best instate school U-VA. I want to transfer there for my sophomore year, and I strongly believe I have the work ethic to get in and perform well there now. I have always had the ability, as I came from Thomas Jefferson HS for science and technology, just not the dedication.

It looks like my first semester at VCU is a surefire 4.0 with 18 credits, and with some more dedication (I will be taking calc based physics mechanics and differential equations next semester), a 4.0 for the year is definitely attainable. I have established myself well with research, some shadowing, and am on some committees for pre-med organizations.

SHOULD I go to U-VA? Will it hurt my chances if we assume i do reasonably well there (3.8 GPA at Uva if i work my butt off)?

Doesnt VCU also have that guaranteed admission program to their own med school for their own undergrad students in the honors college?

 

[WedgeDawg]

UVA isn't going to "wow!" anyone anymore than VCU (except maybe UVA med). If you're an honors student at UVA with a 3.9+ GPA and a 37+ MCAT, you can go anywhere you want, but I would image the same is true for VCU. Go where you think you'll be happier, but keep in mind that UVA is a very difficult school. Of all my high school friends who went into UVA premed (many from magnet HS programs including TJ), only two were successful (though these two were exceptionally bright and turned down Ivies to go to UVA - both are now at top 20 med schools). There's no guarantee you'll get a 3.8+ at UVA even if you were some hotshot in high school (or think you were), and there's arguably even less of a guarantee you'll get a 37+ (what is that like 519+) MCAT.

 

[altblue]

Depends, can you do significantly better than the average student at UVa? I mean if the average student had like a 3.8 and strong test scores, do you know can do much better than them to get the grades you need?

I have friends who had 4.0 at their state school become B and C students at a deflating school.

 

[22031 Alum]

You're at a school with twenty thousand undergrads and don't click with anybody because of personality?? That problem will likely follow you wherever you go.

 

[NeuResurgens]

Depends on why you transfer. Better fit? Might help you. Grades? May be a bit harder. Really, transferring schools, in my opinion, is best used if you feel your current school is just not the right fit for what you want to do. However, as 22031 noted, being unable to find anyone you get along with may be something you need to look inward to solve.

 

[SuperSlim]

This was me 3 years ago hahahaha. Although not in Virginia and not a school with a reputation such as uva. I slacked off a lot in high school as well. Prob more than you lol. However I stayed at the lower tier state uni. Will finish in 3.5 years. Could have finished in 3 if I took 18 credits per semester and mcat didn't get in the way.

Let me tell you I was a big fish (still am) in a small pond. I honestly cruised my way through college. Will graduate summa. However I put in work to make sure I knew my stuff. Scored 93rd percentile on mcat. And have two interviews , 1 hold, 0 rejections ( as of today) with a late app.

My friend a year younger than me went to that flagship. I commuted and he dormed. I'll graduate with no debt e will have 30-40k debt.

College is a game where they try to steal your money. Sure I would had a blast at the flagship. Made a ton of more friends and got the "college experience" but honestly whatever nothing is worse than debt.

 

[SuperSlim]

I had to supress my ego though. Which was honestly difficult. Ppl rolled their eyes when I told them I'm going for medicine. My uni doesn't pump out premeds but they send students to medical schools every year.

Vcu although not uva has its own med school dude ! And ur in the honors program getting paid to learn ****!! Dude!!!!!


Astonishes me ppl are telling u to go with "best fit". Let your wallet decide my dude.

 

[efle]

Will it change the financial picture to transfer to UVa?

If you're going to be miserable at VCU from classes being too easy then transfer. Just recognize that this may backfire if you find yourself suddenly near the median among the UVa student body, which makes for poor MD chances.

 

[XxThaDoggxX]

Honestly go wherever you think you can keep that precious GPA higher...Transferring to UVA because of prestige and then obtaining lackluster results (not saying you would, but you have to consider this possibility) due to the rigors UVA provides could send your MD chances down in flames.

Also, do not ever "assume" anything. Until the grades are actually made, anything could happen. A 3.8 is not easy to achieve at a school like UVA. Being a VA a resident myself I have seen a fair number of friend's MD dreams get crushed at UVA fairly quickly.

 

[mrspecialist]

Of course go to a more competitive school, 4.0 at VCU means nothing when compared to 4.0 at top 20

 

[efle]

Of course go to a more competitive school, 4.0 at VCU means nothing when compared to 4.0 at top 20

This assumes they'd keep up a 4.0 at a top 20 though, very dangerous

 

[WedgeDawg]

This assumes they'd keep up a 4.0 at a top 20 though, very dangerous

Also p sure UVA isn't top 20...

 

[WedgeDawg]

Of course go to a more competitive school, 4.0 at VCU means nothing when compared to 4.0 at top 20

Wrong

 

[efle]

Also p sure UVA isn't top 20...

Eh Top 20 is a loose term in my mind, I tend to think of UCLA and georgetown being in there too, and I could've sworn Emory was

 

[WedgeDawg]

Eh Top 20 is a loose term in my mind, I tend to think of UCLA and georgetown being in there too, and I could've sworn Emory was

UVA isn't going to "wow" anyone anymore than VCU is (except for perhaps Virginia med schools). If you have a 4.0 at VCU and a monster MCAT and ECs to back it up, you'll do perfectly fine.

 

[efle]

UVA isn't going to "wow" anyone anymore than VCU is (except for perhaps Virginia med schools). If you have a 4.0 at VCU and a monster MCAT and ECs to back it up, you'll do perfectly fine.

UVa along with UMichigan carries weight imo. Same with UCLA especially where I'm from. Not weight like an Ivy but certainly more than VCU which is essentially unknown.

 

[Turkishking]

Sorry I have not updated my bio at all, but I am a freshman at VCU in the Biomedical Engineering and Honors Program. I basically slacked my junior year in high school (terrible work ethic that I have fixed now) so I just missed the cut for my best instate school U-VA. I want to transfer there for my sophomore year, and I strongly believe I have the work ethic to get in and perform well there now. I have always had the ability, as I came from Thomas Jefferson HS for science and technology, just not the dedication.

It looks like my first semester at VCU is a surefire 4.0 with 18 credits, and with some more dedication (I will be taking calc based physics mechanics and differential equations next semester), a 4.0 for the year is definitely attainable. I have established myself well with research, some shadowing, and am on some committees for pre-med organizations.

SHOULD I go to U-VA? Will it hurt my chances if we assume i do reasonably well there (3.8 GPA at Uva if i work my butt off)?

I posted a lot of questions like these because I wasn't really too satisfied with the school I was going to attend. At the same time, it's not good or bad. From what people said, medical schools don't care what UG you came out of. If you transfer to a better school, you will be competing against other students that are determined as you to get a seat. Maybe there might be more courses you can take at that school you want to transfer too. My current situation, my school doesn't even offer ecology. So I want to transfer out so I can choose from a wide variety of science courses to boost my BCPM. But it really doesn't matter unless you go to a community college.

 

[WedgeDawg]

UVa along with UMichigan carries weight imo. Same with UCLA especially where I'm from. Not weight like an Ivy but certainly more than VCU which is essentially unknown.

I think it's regional, but I don't think there's enough of a difference between UVA and VCU for it to be at all the deciding factor between getting into a med school or not. This is because 1) the people from UVA who I know are in med school right now either all had 3.8+ GPAs, extremely high MCAT scores, or both and 2) at the (top-tier) med school I'm at right now, we have plenty of people who killed it at schools as "no-name" as VCU. Is it easier to get into UVA med from UVA undergrad? Likely. Is it easier to get into VCU med from VCU or UVA? Unsure, but chances are if you're interviewing at UVA in state, you're interviewing at VCU regardless of what undergrad you're coming from. Do you have more people from UVA going to bigger name med schools than VCU undergrads? Probably, but that's probably more due to student population than name bias. Most UVA students were in the top 10% of their HS class and had fairly high SAT scores, while VCU takes like 65% of Virginia applicants and has much lower SAT scores, and generally a less driven student population. I don't have the stats for VCU, but for JMU, a comparable state school in Virginia, only 5 people out of 221 applicants (http://www.jmu.edu/iihhs/_files/MDaccept02.pdf) got a 36 or higher score on the MCAT in 8 years. I assume VCU is similar (maybe slightly better). However, if you're getting that 36+ MCAT score and a high (3.9+) GPA, which, for a student who has any chance of being competitive at UVA, should not be a herculean task, you're going to do fine either way. Probably better at VCU than JMU because VCU has an attached medical school and better research/EC opportunities.

This completely ignores the difference in rigor between VCU and UVA. It's a lot more difficult to get a 3.8+ at UVA than it is at VCU. The same student should be able to get similar MCAT scores at both schools, but is likely to have a higher GPA at VCU. Now, perhaps certain private schools might like the UVA name more than the VCU name, but I doubt it's going to have any significant impact on admission unless the student absolutely destroys it at UVA (like near 4.0, sky-high MCAT, great ECs).

Just my 2c as a Virginia resident who is familiar with both schools.

 

[22031 Alum]

VCU which is essentially unknown

This made me laugh. I know you're not in med school yet, but don't fall into the trap of thinking layperson prestige is what matters. Sure, if you walk up to a random person in a Walmart in Fresno they may have no idea VCU even exists. But you are entering (or trying to enter) a different world from Random Guy on the Street, where to be frank, his opinion doesn't matter. No medical faculty member in the country is going to NOT recognize VCU as a perfectly fine school.

(Thanks to Shaka Smart a lot of laypeople know of the school, anyway. But that's beside the point.)

 

[efle]

This made me laugh. I know you're not in med school yet, but don't fall into the trap of thinking layperson prestige is what matters. Sure, if you walk up to a random person in a Walmart in Fresno they may have no idea VCU even exists. But you are entering (or trying to enter) a different world from Random Guy on the Street, where to be frank, his opinion doesn't matter. No medical faculty member in the country is going to NOT recognize VCU as a perfectly fine school.

(Thanks to Shaka Smart a lot of laypeople know of the school, anyway. But that's beside the point.)

I imagine the difference would actually be big then, since people familiar with both schools will know the difference in student bodies

 

[22031 Alum]

I imagine the difference would actually be big then, since people familiar with both schools will know the difference in student bodies

I think you are incorrect here. I would argue that most people in decision-making roles have experienced enough to grasp that the difference isn't all that big. It's not as if we are comparing UVA to Northeastern Virginia Community College. While it may not impress the prestige chasers, VCU is a major research university. It has its own medical school. In the medical world, which is what matters, it isn't unknown in any sense of the word.

 

[tortelliniboy]

classic pre-med telling the attending about how med schools work lol

 

[22031 Alum]

classic pre-med telling the attending about how med schools work lol

I'm just surprised nobody has yet referenced that seminal paper, where undergrad prestige received twenty 2/4 ratings, twenty 3/4 ratings and twenty-one 4/4 ratings for an average of 3.02 (highest importance!!!!1)

I'm an attending but I'm no adcom. For all I know, those guys do exist in a bubble where VCU, UAB, ECU and similar schools are "unknown." But my guess is that they have lived enough and seen enough to know better.

 

[efle]

classic pre-med telling the attending about how med schools work lol

I used to argue with goro about whether Med admissions cared whether your GPA came from an Ivy vs Kutztown. But hey if blind deference floats your boat then stick with it

 

[efle]

I'm just surprised nobody has yet referenced that seminal paper, where undergrad prestige received twenty 2/4 ratings, twenty 3/4 ratings and twenty-one 4/4 ratings for an average of 3.02 (highest importance!!!!1)

I'm an attending but I'm no adcom. For all I know, those guys do exist in a bubble where VCU, UAB, ECU and similar schools are "unknown." But my guess is that they have lived enough and seen enough to know better.

I shouldn't have said unknown, I should've said no reputation for being difficult/rigorous. Eg I do think there's a difference between being from Yale vs Uni New Mexico though both are known to exist!

 

[22031 Alum]

I shouldn't have said unknown, I should've said no reputation for being difficult/rigorous. Eg I do think there's a difference between being from Yale vs Uni New Mexico though both are known to exist!

That makes a lot more sense!! To assert that a major university, let alone one with a med school, is unknown, was a little ridiculous. I'll leave discussions of perceived rigor for med school admissions, to the actual adcom members.

 

[22031 Alum]

I used to argue with goro about whether Med admissions cared whether your GPA came from an Ivy vs Kutztown. But hey if blind deference floats your boat then stick with it

Acknowledging that someone may be in a better position to be informed on a topic than you isn't blind deference. I don't see arguing with an adcom member over an admissions topic as anything to brag about but what do I know?

 

[WedgeDawg]

Acknowledging that someone may be in a better position to be informed on a topic than you isn't blind deference. I don't see arguing with an adcom member over an admissions topic as anything to brag about but what do I know?

Goro and a lot of people disagree about certain things when it comes to admissiosn, and one thing I think people forget is that with 140+ MD schools and 30+ DO schools, you're not going to have one opinion speaking for everyone, so different adcoms are obviously going to have different views about what's important because schools look for different things. This is why you can't take one viewpoint and apply it to everything when it comes to admissions.

 

[efle]

Acknowledging that someone may be in a better position to be informed on a topic than you isn't blind deference. I don't see arguing with an adcom member over an admissions topic as anything to brag about but what do I know?

Not bragging, pointing out that someone in THE position to be informed was largely wrong on the subject. I don't think a doctor is in a better position to be informed anyways unless they have experience in admissions. SDN abounds with this kind of crap, if a Med student or doctor disagrees with a premed over anything tangentially related to medicine many defer to the former.

 

[625233]

I wouldn't transfer. A 3.8+ at any school coupled with a solid MCAT + ECs is better than risking UVA's rigor for pedigree.

 

[tortelliniboy]

Lol dude you are such a "that guy." I can imagine you triumphantly cackling at this post and going "I see you have resorted to ad hominem attacks, you've fallen into my meticulously laid trap."

 

[efle]

Lol dude you are such a "that guy." I can imagine you triumphantly cackling at this post and going "I see you have resorted to ad hominem attacks, you've fallen into my meticulously laid trap."

come on is that the best you've got

 

[22031 Alum]

I don't think a doctor is in a better position to be informed anyways unless they have experience in admissions

I think you're wrong here. You are an extraordinarily well-informed premed, but don't discount the value of actual life experience. I don't participate in admissions myself but I have seen, even tangentially, more cycles than you have. I guarantee I know and have interacted with more people who are on adcoms than you have. Even random private practice doctors are likely to have more access to accurate insider information than you are, with one call to their old buddy who stayed in academics. That's not a slight against you in any way. It's realizing that knowledge doesn't always come neatly packaged and labeled, and that experiential knowledge means something.

 

[efle]

I think you're wrong here. You are an extraordinarily well-informed premed, but don't discount the value of actual life experience. I don't participate in admissions myself but I have seen, even tangentially, more cycles than you have. I guarantee I know and have interacted with more people who are on adcoms than you have. Even random private practice doctors are likely to have more access to accurate insider information than you are, with one call to their old buddy who stayed in academics. That's not a slight against you in any way. It's realizing that knowledge doesn't always come neatly packaged and labeled, and that experiential knowledge means something.

I'm sure a lot of docs do know much more than I do. But I've shadowed physicians that had never heard of Wustl (one asked if that was online school) so I'm far from convinced that the typical doc is well informed. I mean ffs premed advisers are notoriously out of the loop and its their job! If your best bud is an adcom and you discuss that a lot then different story

 

[Med Ed]

SHOULD I go to U-VA? Will it hurt my chances if we assume i do reasonably well there (3.8 GPA at Uva if i work my butt off)?

A better approach is to see if the decision can withstand the assumption of you being average rather than exceptional. The mean high school GPA of UVA matriculants is >4.2 on a 4.0 scale, which is quite high. Despite this, in 2013 the mean cGPA of UVA's engineering students was just over 3.2. How would you feel if you left a pristine 4.0 at VCU and obtained a 3.2 at the more rigorous institution?

I serve on allopathic admissions, by the way, and some adcom members care much more about undergraduate rankings than others. About the only certainty here is that VCU's Guaranteed Admissions Program would be the path of least resistance.

 

[GrapesofRath]

To go off what WedgeDawg said by FAR and away the biggest thing many don't account for in these discussions(and the only reason I'm partaking in this kind of thread for the 6,083 time) is that prestige and how an undergrad institution is perceived varies tremendously by individual school and region. And to go off this there are feeder undergrad institutions to certain medical schools. Now feeder has different variations in terms of just how strong a feeder it is, but the idea of an undergrad being a feeder to certain medical schools certainly does exist. And it's not just the top private schools being feeders.

How Michigan State medical school views graduates from the University of Michigan vs UCLA vs JHU could easily be rather different from how UC San Diego views all three of those schools. This is just one of a variety of examples. Schools within a certain state get tons of apps from State U's in that state; they tend to know what is a good academic performance and what is one that isn't. Familiarity matters; it's rather possible some of these tough liberal arts schools with grade deflation simply aren't well known by certain ADCOMs and hence even some of the better LA schools get little grade adjustment by some ADCOMs. This is kind of analogous to what gyngyn has talked about in the past on how D1 athletes are perceived differently by different ADCOMs simply because some ADCOMS have no idea what D1 means and can't tell you the difference between a Duke basketball player and a New Mexico State squash player.

Prestige and familiarity with an undergrad institution are two completely different things when talking about how much where you go to undergrad matters. People often do not consider the latter. The other thing worth noting is that its also possible that there is a difference in general undergrad prestige and that undergrad's reputation in medicine specifically. School's like Baylor might not do so well in US news general rankings or general public perception of their undergrad. But they are a top 20 med school and it's possible that has some impact on how medical schools view their undergrads and pre-med program. It's possible the difference in how Baylor pre-med students and its rigor from a top ranked State school like Michigan is a lot smaller than many think. This is just spitballing and conjecture, but the key idea is to see one of many potential perspectives and variables we can't account for. This is just one potential example of many in how these discussions are way more complicated than we often make them out to be.

 

[Shaggy99]

You're at a school with twenty thousand undergrads and don't click with anybody because of personality?? That problem will likely follow you wherever you go.

Chhiiiiillll... i sorta meant the atmosphere and campus in general, and I do like the people at UVA better

 

[jaxon]

@Shaggy99 Hey OP. So I actually know about your high school (lots of family in the DMV area). It's probably the best high school in the country for churning out science kids, and I also understand that you are dealing with the fact that VCU is probably the "worst school" amongst all your high school friends. For everyone who doesn't know it, like 50% of their grads go to at HYPSM.

Seriously, dude, do not let that affect your decision making here. You have a great thing going for you--if you are actually acing everything in an honors program, that's really awesome if your end goal is medicine. I went to a really strong high school in California, and all my friends ended up at top 20 colleges, (I only go to a top 30 . One kid in our friend group ended up deciding to take a full scholarship at Santa Clara. Being the immature *****ic 18 y/o's we were, we of course gave him crap about it, but he's having the last laugh. Why? Because my buddies who were "premed BME at Stanford" and "premed chemistry at MIT," or "premed biochem at UC Berks" all dropped out. They all have 3.3-3.5 GPAs competing with hundreds of other ridiculously smart people working against bell curves. My friend at SC cruised through his honors college with a 3.92, all the research the school could provide, plenty of volunteering, and a killer MCAT. He's a smart kid and taught himself most of that material anyway. So while the rest of us are now in need of a few years of GPA repair and EC building, he's ready to go straight into med school with pretty much no debt.

My point after all this is to really let go of the hubris and look at the logistics of your situation. If you were to apply to UVA, I'm sure you'd get it, but just consider all your options and your end goals here.

Btw, I'm pretty much a noob at all this stuff, but the posters above really know what they're talking about, so don't just take the advice with a single grain of salt. Good luck, bud. Rock on

 

[Shaggy99]

@Shaggy99 Hey OP. So I actually know about your high school (lots of family in the DMV area). It's probably the best high school in the country for churning out science kids, and I also understand that you are dealing with the fact that VCU is probably the "worst school" amongst all your high school friends. For everyone who doesn't know it, like 50% of their grads go to at HYPSM.

Seriously, dude, do not let that affect your decision making here. You have a great thing going for you--if you are actually acing everything in an honors program, that's really awesome if your end goal is medicine. I went to a really strong high school in California, and all my friends ended up at top 20 colleges, (I only go to a top 30 . One kid in our friend group ended up deciding to take a full scholarship at Santa Clara. Being the immature *****ic 18 y/o's we were, we of course gave him crap about it, but he's having the last laugh. Why? Because my buddies who were "premed BME at Stanford" and "premed chemistry at MIT," or "premed biochem at UC Berks" all dropped out. They all have 3.3-3.5 GPAs competing with hundreds of other ridiculously smart people working against bell curves. My friend at SC cruised through his honors college with a 3.92, all the research the school could provide, plenty of volunteering, and a killer MCAT. He's a smart kid and taught himself most of that material anyway. So while the rest of us are now in need of a few years of GPA repair and EC building, he's ready to go straight into med school with pretty much no debt.

My point after all this is to really let go of the hubris and look at the logistics of your situation. If you were to apply to UVA, I'm sure you'd get it, but just consider all your options and your end goals here.

Btw, I'm pretty much a noob at all this stuff, but the posters above really know what they're talking about, so don't just take the advice with a single grain of salt. Good luck, bud. Rock on

Dude. Thank you so much. I mean all the advice from other ppl was great and well informed, but you really seem to understand this specific situation. This makes a lot of sense. I'll have to deeply think about this now.
Obviously you know nothing about me and all, but if I kill it at VCU (3.85+ GPA, 520 MCAT), do you think I could make NYU (my dream med school), or do they care enough about prestige of UG to make this a futile dream?

 

[WedgeDawg]

Dude. Thank you so much. I mean all the advice from other ppl was great and well informed, but you really seem to understand this specific situation. This makes a lot of sense. I'll have to deeply think about this now.
Obviously you know nothing about me and all, but if I kill it at VCU (3.85+ GPA, 520 MCAT), do you think I could make NYU (my dream med school), or do they care enough about prestige of UG to make this a futile dream?

You can get into NYU from VCU if your stats and ECs are good enough, guaranteed. I understand it's hard going from TJ to VCU after all your friends went to Ivies or whatever, but that's in the past now, and you have to accept your current situation and make do the best you can with the resources available to you. No one going forward will give a **** where you went to high school, doesn't matter if it's Exeter or TJ or some random inner city school with a 10% graduation rate. You're at VCU, you hopefully have the talent to do well, don't focus on what other people are doing, and know that if you perform exceptionally, you have a good shot at going to an exceptional medical school, no matter where you're coming from.