<p>Hello guys, I am planning to go to med school in the near future. The problem is what college i should go to. My parents have been telling me that going to a less competitive college will be better for med school because it is easier for me to be at the top of my class whereas at a very competitive college, i will be competing with very very smart people and it will be harder to get to the top. Med schools look at gpa and MCAT scores(and other factors).</p>
<p>So i was just wondering, should i go to a less competitive college so my grades will be better and also be easier for me to raise my rank?
I've always wanted to go to Duke university which is a very competitive school with tons of bright people, but at the same time i'm considering Andrews University(its in michigan, never heard of it right?) which is far less competitive, and easier to excel.
Four of my cousins went to less competitive schools like Andrews University, and they all got accepted to med school, and i have two friends that went to yale and princeton which are highly competitive, but got rejected from med school.</p>
<p>I agree with your parents, however, you need to factor in grade inflation as well. Many of the Ivy League universities have crazy grade inflation so it’s fine to attend the schools. (The GPAs are often so inflated that the competition becomes irrelevant.)</p>
<p>Public universities, however, are notorious for suffering grade deflation and top publics, in particular, are not great choices if you intend to become a physician. Top publics are a combination of harsh grade curves and keen competition.</p>
<p>My son is pre-med at a state flagship. He does have straight A’s, but he does work for them. The benefit that I see is that by being a top student, his profs know him, he has gotten great reseach opps, and great LORs. He spent the summer doing a REU at another university…another great opp.</p>
<p>I do agree that it can be hard to be “the top” at an elite. </p>
<p>As for grade inflation at the elites…I don’t think that exists as much in the weeder pre-med courses. Everyone doesn’t get an A. </p>
<p>There are kids posting in the pre-med forum who haven’t gotten great grades in their pre-reqs at elites. It seems like schools do limit the number of A’s in those courses.</p>
<p>So you guys agree i should go to a less competitive school?
Can you guys list some schools that are less competitive?</p>
<p>My whole life i’ve been in the private school system (i’m a seventh day adventist), and i just recently transferred to a public school and i loved it. I wanted to spend my college years at either a bigger private university or a big public university. Duke University and University of michigan both caught my attention.</p>
<p>But since my future after college is more important, i guess i’ll have to go to one of the schools my parents suggest.</p>