<p>There are a million posts by me and BDM saying the same thing, but here I'll say it again.</p>
<p>1) Acceptance rate is the absolute worst metric ever used to determine how good a school is for pre-meds. As stated it's unbelievably fickle. Schools that don't pre-screen potential candidates are automatically at a huge disadvantage because anyone and everyone who wants to apply can with little regard to their actual qualifications. I've oft told the story of one of my good friends who absolutely knew 100% that she wasn't going to be accepted anywhere b/c of her GPA and MCAT scores, but applied to only our home state school in hopes of getting an interview. That was it, that was all she wanted, and that would have been closure to her. But her school would be "punished" by the Acceptance rate criteria because it didn't prevent her from applying. Total BS.</p>
<p>2) Choosing a college based on how good you think it's going to be for getting into medical school is a horrible idea. Simply looking at the numbers, most people who start pre-med aren't going to finish as pre-meds, let alone get accepted to medical school. Choosing a school that isn't a good fit for you as a whole person could mean disaster if you decide that medicine is not for you. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to "ruin" your life if you change your mind (which the statistics say you'll do).</p>
<p>3) Quality of academics is important, but not as important as you'd imagine, at least when looking at the big picture. There are probably some medical schools who do place a greater importance on being from Harvard vs. Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska. However, there are also schools that probably ignore, for better or worse, where an applicant finished their degree. Even for the medical schools that do place an emphasis on where one completed undergrad, is it really possible to quantify what a 4.0 at Fort Hays State in Hays Kansas is equal to at Harvard? A 3.8? a 3.6? Who really knows!?! So since you're probably going to be applying to a myriad of schools all with different weights of undergrad importance, it's probably safest to say that it doesn't matter that much...</p>
<p>4) this is not to say that there aren't schools that are better for pre-meds than others. But the things that make them different are largely impossible to measure in any real meaningful way, and most of the items are nearly impossible to judge from an outside perspective. Things like the quality of advising, the opportunities for getting involved on campus and in the community, the research opportunities, the volunteer opportunities, and the preparation for interviews all vary from school to school, and there is some place out there that has the best combination, but how do you figure that out?</p>
<p>5) Even if you could figure out that UVA or Central Missouri State, or Grinell or the University of Puget Sound or Creighton or Brown or Baylor or UCLA had the best combination of the above criteria, that still wouldn't mean it was right for every pre-med student. Fit and balance are two very key things in finding a school where you can be as successful as possible. That means success academically, socially, physically, and emotionally, with all areas having a good balance. The school that fulfills this criteria is actually the best pre-med school, because it's going to put you in a situation where you can excel. And as I've said many times (though not recently) doing well is a panacea for med school admissions.</p>