<p>I'm deciding whether I should go to University of Illinois- Carbondale because I'm in-state and I can get a full ride. However, my concern is that since I'm doing pre-med, whether going to an average school (or is it worse?) like this will affect my chances of getting into med school, even if I have a solid GPA (3.7ish) and a good MCAT score (30-33)?</p>
<p>I have talked to a few people about this and I have gotten a few yes ' it will' and few 'no it wont'. So thats why I am kinda skeptical right now as to whether it will affect my chances or not. Any advice/input would be really appreciated.</p>
<p>It shouldn't affect your chances but why didn't you go to UIUC, I bet they would offer you a full ride too.</p>
<p>I've heard UIUC is not good with giving scholarships, aid. And I doubt if they will offer me a half ride. </p>
<p>Oh ok, yeah because I always thought that if you have a good MCAT score that 's up to par with the scores of people at Princeton and other top colleges, then it shouldn't matter where you did your undergrad from.</p>
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Bluedevilmike: The general consensus is this: they have a list of "good schools" and list of "other schools"...</p>
<p>If you are from a "good" school, and your application has no glaring flaws, then you get an interview. If you are from an "other" school, and your application does not have any glaring HIGH points, you do not get an interview. Once you get an interview, that becomes the most important component of their decision, although other things still matter.</p>
<p>Special features - either good or bad - might be board scores, class rank, a second degree, etc. </p>
<p>Bigredmed: That's a great way of putting it. What I have tried to say all along, whether it's undergrad, or medical school, or even residency, if you do well, then where you went is not likely to impact your chances. Doing well is a panacea for almost everything.
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<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=202936%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=202936</a></p>
<p>This question is asked literally 5 times a day on SDN and CC.</p>
<p>Regardless, there seems to be a lot of disagreement on this subject. Some people will tell you that it really doesn't matter where you go undergrad as long as you do well. Others will say that the prestige of your undergrad will help you because adcoms know it is significantly harder to earn an A at MIT than it is at a community college. I tend to agree with the latter.</p>
<p>The truth of the matter is that if you are going to goto a tier 3 or 4 school, you should be ready to really shine and prove yourself. There really is no room for error. Whereas if you attend a top school, you are given a little more leeway in terms of grades.</p>
<p>Ohhh yeah that explains it. So Devilmike how can i make myself a better candidate from the ''other schools''? What comes to my mind are extra-curriculars, internship, volunteer at a hospital. Is there anything else that I can do?</p>
<p>Yeah I agree but my question is that MCAT scores should tell the officers whether the candidate is incompetent or not....the person who went to MIT will/should have a higher MCAT than someone from a community college ....however what if that's not the case? as is the case for where you get your residencies.....based off of your mle scores</p>
<p>If you have a great MCAT and great grades, you are a strong candidate, regardless of where you go.</p>
<p>What exactly is considered a tier 1 school? I mean every school has their specialty. The university of maryland college park for an example is ranked 54 according to USNWR, is that tier 1? But a school like University of Maryland Baltimore County is not on that list but it supposedly has a better bio program.</p>
<p>I believe Tier 1 is considered to be top 25.</p>
<p>Well, consider instead that schools work on gradients. Schools within a tier are not equal, and it's not as if there's a magic cutoff immediately after UCLA.</p>
<p>Students from Duke need to be a little more special than kids from Harvard. Kids from Case need to be a little more special than that. Kids from a state school, yet more. Kids from a community college, even more so.</p>
<p>A kid from Stanford, you'd better hope he has a Nobel Prize! (That's a joke.)</p>