<p>I want to go to med school, but don't want to have to pay a pretty penny for undergrad. I live in Texas and could get basically a full ride to Texas State (I know, not the best school) and would love to be debt free going into Med School. Does the undergrad school matter to Med Schools ?? Thanks</p>
<p>For the most part no. GPA and MCAT score matter.</p>
<p>So let’s just say I came out of there with a 3.8 or higher and a 35 on my MCAT… Even though the school is considered to be a “not good school”’ I should still get into Med School? </p>
<p>Contact the Texas State pre-med advisor for details about their placement. That person will be happy to tell you which med schools their graduates have been admitted to in the past few years.</p>
<p>I don’t know about Texas specifically, but my sister went to Grinnell (not really known for feeding med schools) and went on to med school. Her scores were above average for the MCAT. She had a tough time applying because I don’t think she got a lot of help from the school but it worked out for her as she graduated top of her med school class this year!</p>
<p>It can make a difference if you’re marginal and it’s possible it will make a difference on which schools you get in. A 3.8 and a 35 from Harvard and Texas State will both get you in somewhere, though the Harvard grad will probably get a better mix of schools. With a 3.2 and a 30, the Harvard grad would likely have a better shot at getting in than the Texas State grad, though a lot of factors come into play, so it’s not cut and dried.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of yall’s responses! I will call the Texas State pre med advisor and figure some of the stuff out! @lottechar What kind of doctor is your sister going to be? What did she major in during undergrad?</p>
<p>My cousin is a resident in radiology right now and faced this exact same predicament. He was accepted as an undergrad to Georgetown but knew he wanted to go to med school… so he went in-state at Michigan State, got good grades and good MCATs, saved a boatload of money and was able to be accepted to several medical schools and had the money to pay for med school.</p>
<p>@sooners375 My sister is going into family practice! She majored in chemistry (and I think double majored with another science, I’ll have to ask her) and minored in history. The most important thing she said she did was that when she still didn’t know for sure if she wanted to go to med school, she took all the required classes anyway. This obviously doesn’t apply to you since you have your goal, but it’s good to know what you can come from anywhere!</p>
<p>@lottechar:</p>
<p>Grinnell isn’t exactly a no-name school in the academic world.</p>
<p>To the OP: See if you can get full-tuition/full-ride offers elsewhere as well. For the most part, the name of your undergrad isn’t going to be a factor in med school admissions, but you’d want a place where you can do research or other extra stuff that med schools look at (which Texas State may offer; I know next to nothing about that school).</p>
<p>What are your stats? You may get similar offers elsewhere.</p>
<p>What is Texas State’s award? Free tuition? or is it free tuition, room, board and books</p>
<p>My son went to Alabama on a near free ride and he’s now in med school. Med schools don’t really care where you go, but do check to see if a school does have students go on to med school. Does the school have good premed advising. Does the school do Mock Interviews and write Committee Letters. Those things are important. </p>
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I got about a 2100 on the SAT (670R,740M,660W) and 32 on ACT (32E, 36M,27R, 31S)
I have to pay for my own college and will be doing either engineering or Business/Finance along with a premed program with the hope to go to medical school. I want to keep my undergrad years cheap so that my loans aren’t too outrageous. BTW I live in Texas so in-state Texas costs.
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<p>Well, you would get free tuition from Alabama if you apply before the Dec deadline …and the app is EZ…no essays, no LORs.</p>
<p>And if you major in engineering, then you’d also get 2500 per year. </p>
<p>Bama has over 2000 Texas students, so you might know some students there.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids If I went to Alabama, would that affect admission to TEXAS med schools? Is it more likely that i get accepted into texas med schools coming from a texas school?</p>
<p>@PurpleTitan I’m aware of that. I was simply using it as a point to say that you don’t need to come from a big pre-med school to go into a medical school. </p>
<p>“Does the undergrad school matter to Med Schools ??”</p>
<p>What matters to med schools are your GPAs, MCAT, ECs, LORs, PS, interviews, not so much name at top of your diploma.</p>
<p>“So let’s just say I came out of there with a 3.8 or higher and a 35 on my MCAT… Even though the school is considered to be a “not good school”’ I should still get into Med School?”</p>
<p>No. You could have a 4.0 GPA and 40 MCAT, and if you do poorly at interviews, your chances at med school may very well disappear.</p>
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went to Alabama, would that affect admission to TEXAS med schools? Is it more likely that i get accepted into texas med schools coming from a texas school?
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<p>It would NOT affect your chances in any negative way at all. </p>
<p>Yesterday, I was talking to a mom who has twin premeds at Bama. They are from Ohio. The twins are in the current med school app cycle. Both have been accepted to OSU SOM, and both have other OOS SOM acceptances and interviews as well. </p>
<p>I agree that a graduate – with a fine GPA, in the proper and rigorous courses, with excellent MCAT results, and also with outstanding recommendations – from any reputable undergraduate program can be admitted to a fine med school. HOWEVER, all circumstances being equal (and they rarely are), a first-tier undergraduate program is a “plus” (probably not decisively so, but nevertheless an advantage, due to (among other factors) academic competitiveness and professorial contacts). </p>
<p>Like the name on the diploma, I don’t think the rigor of one’s courses has much weight in decision making process. What’s rigorous to one is easy to another. Competitive GPAs (science and cumulative) and MCAT are the initial keys. The weight of ECs, LORs, PS will vary from school to school. Again an applicant with a 4.0 GPA with a 40 MCAT from a “first tier” college does not guarantee an offer of admittance if he/she bombs interview.</p>
<p>It depends what you expect. If you want to go to the top 20, you better go to a great undergrad program. It is easy to toss out half the apps from the lower schools. Of course, that is less true the lower you go. Do you know how many people apply to med school these days? It is insane. OSU is ranked about 34th it looks like.</p>
<p>@jugulator20 @mom2collegekids Well my aunt is a really good doctor in dallas and got a 31 on her MCAT but attended The University of Texas, so what your saying makes me think that college does matter since she didn’t do great on her MCAT but is a really good doctor and got into many Med Schools. </p>