Best Premed school = less competitive?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
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<p>I'm a high school junior.</p>

<p>Many people(or most) suggest that it is better for me to go to a school where I can excel at. This basically means "go to a state school, or a very easy school and just get amazing top grades on the required courses, then you'll go to a med school". I think people say this because there are sooo many students that get rejected to med school, and I can already imagine how hard it is. Basically their opinion is "You should worry more about whether you can end up going a med school or not, instead of WHICH med school you go to". But if I'm a student wishing to attend to top med schools like Harvard or JH, should I really just go to a crappy college and just excel there?(I honestly don't care about which college I go to. I wish I can go to a school that will give me the best chance to get into top med schools.)</p>

<p>I'm not saying that I can surely get accepted by prestigious schools like HYPS, but I think I can give a good shot in applying to top ivies. </p>

<p>By the ways, it's obvious to even a little kid that being the #1 student in HYPS premed gives you better chance than being the #1 in some random states school. But it's obviously close to impossible for me to be the best out of best in competitive schools despite my big dreams. That's why I'm asking the question;(should I really just go to a crappy college and just excel there?)</p>

<p>After all those statistics I've looked at in the forum, it kind of sounds reasonable that I should go to a pretty bad school and get amazing GPAs if I wanted to go to the med school I want to. I know its easy to say it for some of you guys, but for me it really is the same as throwing all my money in a poker table. If I get excelling grades at a bad college, and I don't go to the med school I want to, I'm going to regret. On the other hand, if I decide to go to one of the competitive schools and get good grades, but fail to go to the med school I wanted just because someone smarter than me got a little bit better GPA, again I'll regret.</p>

<p>so basically my two question are
1. should I really just go to a bad college and just excel there?</p>

<ol>
<li>If I wanted to go to the top med schools like Harvard or JHU, should I apply to places like Brown? where people say it is easier to get high GPA?</li>
</ol>

<p>OR places like WASHU(WUSTL) where people say that it is extremely competitive despite the fact that it holds less fame.(Again i could care less about the names of schools and fame. By fame I mean fame among the adcoms in med schools since its possible that adcoms will prefer the top ivy students over less prestigious schools)</p>

<p>btws, I might have said words like crappy college or bad college just because i didn't feel like typing "less prestigious", so please don't take it personally. I suck at writing words beautifully and in a way that would less offend people so please understand about that part.</p>

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<p>Ok and I see some ridiculous idiomatic and grammatic errors even starting from the title lol so ignore them plz</p>

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<p>should I really just go to a crappy college and just excel there?(</p>

<p>Wait…no one should go to a “crappy” college…you won’t learn what you need to learn.</p>

<p>That said, there is a vast difference between a “crappy college” and what others seem to have suggested to you …going to a mid-tier state school or private.</p>

<p>Your post seems to suggest that there are only the two extremes…super competitive elite schools and crappy schools. When in truth, there are lots of schools in the middle. </p>

<p>What are your stats?</p>

<p>edited to add…I just saw your endnote about “crappy” colleges. Ok…the point still stands…there are many mid-tier colleges that will challenge you and prepare you for med school. It’s really up to how hard you’re going to work.</p>

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<p>From my understanding, although it sucks, brand name schools will give you a MUCH higher chance of getting into med school. if you go to a “crappy” school, you better have really good stats and extracurrics. however, there are plenty of “good” schools that aren’t as competitive but have high med school acceptance rates. personally, a competitive atmosphere is not productive to me, like at WUSTL. if you work better with competition, you should look for those kind of schools. if you don’t look for a school that has a teamlike atmosphere where everyone helps each other- like Notre Dame.</p>

<p>one thing i recommend- don’t go to a “crappy” school. most likely you’ll have a harder time getting into med school. at a better, “harder” school, just keep up your gpa and do extracurrics and you’ll have a good chance of getting into med school. if you don’t think you’ll do well and don’t want to work hard…think about how much harder med school is than undergrad.</p>

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<p>brand name schools will give you a MUCH higher chance of getting into med school. i</p>

<p>No, they don’t give you MUCH higher chance. The TOP 10 or so schools may give you a slight nudge…</p>

<p>After that…the schools ranked from that point on to about 150 are probably viewed about the same. So, if you go to - say USC - that isn’t going to make it easier for you to get accepted than if you went to - say U Texas-Austin or U Colorado-Boulder.</p>

<p>Once you start getting into the truly lower tier schools (regional/directions publics or lowly ranked privates), then education may suffer and the GPA might not be viewed to be as strong…especially if the MCAT is not so hot.</p>

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<p>see bdm’s thread stickied at the top of the premed forum.</p>

<p>btw: WashU is probably more prestigious for premed than is Brown. (WashU has a top 10 med school.)</p>

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<p>And if you go to a Top xx school, you better have really good stats and extracurriculars. A 4.0 from HYPSM with no/low EC’s ain’t gonna be too successful in med admissions.</p>

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<p>You get you into med school. Not your college.</p>

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<p>I think what a person has to keep in mind is this…</p>

<p>Go to a school that is strong in sciences (many schools are), and do your very best. Getting a strong MCAT will confirm your high GPA. </p>

<p>If you were to go to a true “crappy college” where grades are rather meaningless and you aren’t being taught at a true “college level,” your MCAT will likely reflect that. </p>

<p>I can imagine that an applicant who presents with a 3.8 GPA but a 26 MCAT is going to be seen as someone whose undergrad education probably wasn’t so hot.</p>

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<p>^ so basically the school doesn’t matter much outside the top 10, just make sure you have a good mcat to confirm your gpa and of course all the extracurriculars too.</p>

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<p>I understand you’re a high school junior. </p>

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<p>Why don’t you care about which college you go to? It’s a profoundly important decision and investment into your future, regardless of if you end up in medical school or not. </p>

<p>Why will only a top med school suffice? I wonder if you adequately understand the differences between medical schools in the United States.</p>

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<p>If you want to go to a top medical school, then generally you will see that kids from top 10 undergrad schools (some even say top 15 undergrad schools)are more represented at top medical schools. The question is does correlation imply causation?</p>

<p>You could argue yes that it does, because top undergrad schools have better advising and more opportunities, but you could also argue that top undergrad schools just have a higher caliber of students, who would have gotten into top medical schools no matter where they went.</p>

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<p>^The one correlation-causation is that high test scores=better chance of admissions to professional schools. By definition, top 10 undergrads have the highest testers: they screen for them as part of the undergrad admissions process. The students that top 10 undergrads accept are not only bright, but good test-takers (which is a skill by itself). Such a skill – not the knowledge – gives one a leg up on grad school test-taking, does it not?</p>

<p>Harvard’s Frosh have the highest mean SAT scores (or ~tied with Y & P). Harvard (&Y&P) undergrads also produce the highest mean LSAT scores. And I would not be surprised if those three also produce the highest mean mcat scores.</p>

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<p>^^^ That is more correlation than causation. Is that what you meant to say? That is what I was referring to when I said “higher caliber of students” in my post.</p>