<p>PSedrishMd:
"Where you go to college is usually less important. Folks who go to top-notch undergrad schools will certainly get a bump from the med school adcom, but how much of a bump varies and is not something you'll find in print anywhere. Likewise, low-ranked schools will probably cost the applicant some credibility with the adcom, though this can be mitigated by having had a very good reason for attending a less-than-competitive school."</p>
<p>If someone went to a lower ranked school because of financial reasons, how would that play into med school admissions?</p>
<p>What you've quoted is probably really not that accurate. I'd check the date it was posted.</p>
<p>We've rehashed this over and over. The best school for you to attend is the one where you will achieve the most. There's just not any data that significantly proves that students going to "name" schools do better than those who don't - for a number of different reasons. And there are plenty of people who could get into "name" schools, but those would be the worse possible places for them to go. </p>
<p>Med schools care WHAT you've accomplished, not WHERE you accomplished it.</p>
<p>I know quite a few people personally who did undergrad programs at Ivy leagues. However, when it came time for medical school, they ended up only getting acceptance in smaller med schools. By pursuing "big names", they only ended up at smaller schools with loads of loans to pay off. </p>
<p>It's better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond. Bigredmed is right; medicine, unlike many other fields, do not really emphasize the school you go to. It is more important that you succeed wherever you do go.</p>
<p>But if you're going to be a middle sized fish no matter where you go, may as well go to a big pond.</p>
<p>Wow, I'm bad at analogies.</p>
<p>The point is: there do exist some people -- not all people, but many -- who will adjust themselves to the realities of their new school. I'm one of these. In that situation, surrounding yourself with "big fish" is exactly the way to go, because you'll grow to match them.</p>
<p>To clairify a bit of what I posted earlier. There's no data to show that going to a name school is significant causative factor that will improve your chances of getting into medical school. You can't say that going to a "name school" alone is an independent variable factoring into med school admissions.</p>
<p>This is not to say that these schools are 100% equal to less prestigious schools. Every school has positive and negative aspects to it. The advising and name recognition may be balanced out by the increase in difficulty one finds in getting on-campus leadership positions or the more difficult coursework compared to a state university.</p>
<p>I do suspect that people going to a "name school" are more likely to get accepted to a more highly regarded medical school, simply b/c they are more likely to apply to "name" medical schools than their counterparts with equal stats who are at state schools.</p>
<p>I visited Temple University's Med School and the Director of Admissions said that she would accept a 3.9 from a "no-name" school over a 3.7 from Harvard.</p>
<p>All things being equal, yes. But I have a feeling the Harvard person with a 3.7 will have a higher MCAT than a typical state schooler with a 3.9.</p>
<p>As far as I know, most doctors went to state colleges (they are really big you know). There are certainly far more doctors who did not attend elite colleges (however you want to define it) than who did.</p>
<p>Medical school is expensive. If you can save significant amounts of money by going to your "less prestigious" college, then do so.</p>
<p>As BRM said, go where you will do well. There is a long way between Harvard, to pick a random prestigious college, and some place with standards so low that it will not prepare you for medical school. Within that group of several hundred colleges that routinely send students to medical school with strong educational backgrounds there is little reason to think on average one is better off at one place than another. You, as an individual will almost certainly be better off at some places than others. </p>
<p>If you can spend a little more time studying, and less time working to pay your bills, then you will almost certainly do better in gpa and mcat score at the less expensive place. </p>
<p>Lots of students go to medical school from the so-called top colleges because these colleges enroll lots of students with the academic ability to get there. Not at all clear that these students would not have made medical school if they came from less well known places.</p>
<p>Why's that surprising? The median score is 25. Practically no one with a MCAT score below a 25 will make it to med school. That's 50% right there. Another 30% of test takers lie in the 26-29 territory which is still below average for med school. If you assume a 33% acceptance rate of applicants with scores in that range, you're up to 70% of the test takers already.</p>