<p>which colleges have the highest acceptance rates for med school?
i read somewhere that liberal arts colleges aren't that great, but if i apply to a big university, it will be hard for me to get a good rec from a professor.</p>
<p>also, i don't know where to post this.
thanks.</p>
<p>Great questions. My daughter also hopes to go to medical school. Looking forward to reading the answers from someone who knows,</p>
<p>Approach any college’s published med school acceptance rates with extreme caution. Essentially these numbers are useless since there is no single uniform way acceptance rates are calculated.</p>
<p>Some examples of how school manipulate their numbers:</p>
<p>Does “med school” only mean US allopathic and osteopathic medical schools? Or does it also include US naturopathic med schools? Or does it include other healthcare professional programs (NP, PsyD, PA, PT, OT, AudD)? Or medical schools outside the US (Caribbean, Ireland, Eastern Europe, India, China)? </p>
<p>Does it count only graduating seniors? Or does it also count alumni applying to med school? (Some school include alumni in their counts for up to 5 years post graduation including alumni who attend pre-med post-bacc programs elsewhere.) </p>
<p>Does the school restrict letters of recommendation from its health profession committee? (Schools often limit LORs only to those student they feel have a very strong chance at a med school acceptance in the first place to keep their acceptance rates artificially high.)</p>
<p>Does the school limit the number of students who can take “pre med” courses? Or be designated as “pre-med”?</p>
<p>Does the school count all those who actually apply? Or only those who register their intention/success with the careers office? (i.e. only students who voluntarily notify the career office are counted.)</p>
<p>~~~~</p>
<p>tl;dr Any published rate of med school acceptance is purely fictional and subject to manipulation. Don’t trust it.</p>
<p>~~~~</p>
<p>Students successfully apply to med school from a variety of schools-- from tiny SLACs and huge public universities. </p>
<p>One of my kiddos graduated from a huge state flagship and is now a MS3. One of my kiddos graduated from a medium-small (~6000 undergrad) private research U and is now a MS0 (multiple acceptances but won’t matriculate until this fall). Both kiddos have friends who attended a variety of different types of colleges (from engineering schools to SLACs to Ivies to huge state publics) and have been successfully accepted into US allopathic med schools.</p>
<p>What’s important isn’t the size of the school, or the availability of the pre-reqs (all med school pre-reqs are offered everywhere), but whether the individual student will be happy at the school (happier student = better grades).</p>
<p>One other thing to keep in mind: 67-75% of all freshmen pre-meds never actually apply to medical school. Some fall out due to grades; but most fall out of pre-med because their interests change.</p>
<p>NEVER CHOOSE A SCHOOL YOU WOULDN’T BE HAPPY TO ATTEND IF YOU WEREN’T A PRE-MED.</p>
<p>~~~~</p>
<p>Please read the first 4 threads in this pinned post in the pre-med topics forum:</p>
<p><a href=“Premed Resources Thread - Start Here First - Pre-Med Topics - College Confidential Forums”>Premed Resources Thread - Start Here First - Pre-Med Topics - College Confidential Forums;
<p>Tons of great advice!</p>