Does the undergrad college make a difference to getting into med school?

Applying to College
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<p>Direct experience: a kid very set on med school who could get at least full tuition at Texas State went to their premed special session during this summer’s orientation session (best friend enrolling). What he heard made him cross out the school - wrt to the basic advice given then, and the general lack of specific med school advising. Overall, it seems that very few students from Texas State make it to med school (although the school tries to encourage them and many do find other health-related majors). Texas State is pretty good for nursing, physical therapy, respiratory care, healthcare administration…
It’s NOT because of the school’s name - it doesn’t matter. But the university I guess isn’t competitive enough, or doesn’t offer sufficient support… For instance, opportunities to compete for fellowships aren’t good. There are administrative/redtape problems/blunders/issues. There’s probably a chance to do research, but the person who was leading the session was surprised by the question. There were also issues regarding course registration (asked from the point of view of someone likely to be in the Honors College, it was unexpected).
The positives: there’s a premed learning community organized both as a Theme Community and a FIG (students take BiologyI and Chemistry I first semester together, and BioII and ChemII second semester together). They do committee letters (and apparently everyone who goes through the process gets one along with a “Pre Health Committee Packet” with several other letters of recommendation). The Pre Health advisers try to be supportive for the PreMed students.
Based on what I know, it seems attending Texas State would make it less likely that you’d get through premed+major and into med school, than at some other Texas universities (but I don’t know how that would compare to, say, UT Dallas or North Texas or Texas Tech!) - not that you can’t make it, as I’m sure there are some who make it every year, but… not the best choice if you can find another school that offers you a full tuition or full ride scholarship as well as better support and resources. I think the CollegeConfidential community can help you identify these schools.
Apply to Texas State: if you get in with a full ride and nowhere else, you’ll try and make it work. If you get in with a full ride elsewhere, where you’ll have better support and better odds, go there. :slight_smile: Try to apply to several schools after you’ve run the Net Price calculators. We can help you find schools that match your stats and financials.</p>

<p>Questions to ask the Pre Health Advisers: how many seniors applied to med school last year? And the year before that? And among seniors who applied to med school, what percentage got into ONE med school? How many JAMP candidates do they have each year, and what percentile typically makes it into JAMP?
(Keep in mind that the vast majority students have given up on premed long before they become seniors. In addition, if they’re vague about numbers/percentages, it’s a bad sign).</p>

<p>IMPORTANT: if you can make it into JAMP, that’s another matter. JAMP gives scholarships not only for undergrad, but also for med school. JAMP is offered at many Texas universities, from St Edward’s (Top school in Texas for the percentage of Latinos who go on to med school) to Rice (“Texas’ Ivy League College” :p) to UT Austin and UT Dallas.
<a href=“http://www.texasjamp.org/”>http://www.texasjamp.org/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>One can’t compare Texas State with UAlabama, let alone Grinnell. Texas State is more along the lines of Chico State, Western Alabama, Millersville. It’s not impossible to get to med school, but it’s more difficult than from colleges with better facilities and resources, or a more motivated student body. (I like Texas State and San Marcos, but I should say, not for every major and not for kids with OP’s stats).</p>

<p>Are you first-gen or lower-income? Are you URM (African American, Latino)? Are your parents not contributing because they don’t have money or because they don’t want to spend it on your college?
Which colleges are you applying to beside Texas State?</p>

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<p>By TX law, 90 percent of applicants admitted to TX state med schools are required to be Texas residents. So assuming your aunt was considered a TX resident when she was applied, she had a built in edge over any out of state “well known” school.</p>

<p>See Table 1 at
<a href=“https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/”>https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>A 31 is a good score. See Table 17 above.</p>

<p>Also look at TX’s most recent stats below. An MCAT score of 31 was equal to or better than 65% of TX matriculants. </p>

<p><a href=“https://www.tmdsas.com/medical/homepage.html”>https://www.tmdsas.com/medical/homepage.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I’m sure your aunt is a really good doctor. Good luck to you. </p>

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<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>

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<p>???</p>

<p>Your aunt got a good score, especially if she’s been a doctor for awhile… (when did she enter med school)? How old is she?</p>

<p>She would have likely gotten into several med schools no matter where she had gone to undergrad. </p>

<p>@sooners375‌ </p>

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<p>I think @myos1634 makes a very good analysis, and let’s be honest here, UT-Austin or Alabama are both very good name-brand schools and certainly superior to Texas State, all things being equal. Those going to a Top 100 school, and I like to say that there are probably 150 schools that qualify for that list, are going to have a definite advantage over the vast majority of those who went elsewhere, although those in that 151-300 tier still have a good shot. Students going to a top school will not have their GPA looked at with a skeptical eye, whereas those at lower schools are going to have to make their case. An Ivy degree with a decent GPA and mid-range test score will still get you the benefit of the doubt, where Texas State would not.</p>

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<p>@TopTier, depends on the med school. Some public med schools literally do not care where you went for undergrad.</p>

<p>That doesn’t mean that TX St. has the resources to help you succceed, however.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the advice everyone! @MYOS1634 I am lower income. They can not afford any of my college so it basically falls on my back and I don’t want to take a lot of undergrad debt when I will be getting a lot from Medical School. I am white and I will also be applying to Baylor(Accepted), Ole Miss(Accepted), UT-Austin(Not sent yet), Texas A&M (Auto Admit), Rice(Not sent yet), Oklahoma(Accepted), Notre Dame(Not sent yet), and probably Alabama(Not sent yet). </p>

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<p>@mom2collegekids My aunt is 44 years old so about 20 years ago. </p>

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<p><a href=“https://www.tmdsas.com/medical/residency.html”>https://www.tmdsas.com/medical/residency.html&lt;/a&gt; describes the criteria for Texas residency for Texas medical school purposes.</p>

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<p>Or perhaps Texas State has few strong enough students to get the high GPA and MCAT score to gain admission to any medical school, so there is relatively little institutional knowledge or memory of successful medical school applicants.</p>