<p>Well, I'm still a high school student (rising senior), but there's this one thing that's really stressing me out.</p>
<p>I plan to go into medicine, and am looking to apply to med school in America. I currently however live in Abu Dhabi, and cannot go to America for undergrad due to some annoying circumstances. (I am, however, an American citizen)</p>
<p>Because I cannot travel now, I'm left with two options for undergrad. One being NYUAD, my dream school and a fairly prestigious uni, and the other being AUS (American University of Sharjah), a very non-prestigious uni. Unfortunately, chances at NYUAD aren't great :( (2.9% acceptance rate). I'm worried that by not attending a prestigious undergrad my chances at a good med school are crap. Can anyone weigh in on the matter?</p>
<p>Med schools I'm looking at: (don't laugh :S)</p>
<p>-Columbia
-Northwestern
-NYU
-Brown
-UPenn
-Duke
-Yale
-Mount Sinai</p>
<p>Please please please help me with this. And thanks in advance! :D</p>
<p>You should not really be worried about this as a high school student, IMHO. YOU’RE IN HIGH SCHOOL!. Enjoy the life you have, and go chill with friends. Seriously man (woman) you don’t want to be this paranoid so early on. And in regards to your question, med schools do not put much weight on “prestige” of an institution; they’ll consider the difficulty of courses, and such, but not the “name” anything of that nature. You’re going to be a doctor, no one cares where you went to undergrad. Nonetheless, just enjoy your life, stop stressing yourself out. If lucky enough, being premed and a med student will suffice in that regard. Best</p>
<p>This has been discussed a dozen times or more on this forum.</p>
<p>The search function is your friend. Use it.</p>
<p>And all US medical schools are “good med schools.” They all follow the same basic curriculum and all their students take and pass the same standardized licensing exams.</p>
<p>The short version answer to your question is that unless you attend one of maybe 5 top US universities, the name of your undergrad has little influence on what medical school you end up at. The rest of your application package is much, much more important than where you went to school.</p>
<p>Thanks for your opinions! I know I shouldn’t be stressing so early on, but I’m just so worried at how things will end up… not going to pre-med in America and all…
But thank you so much! I really appreciate the input. 
Also, @WayOutWestMom, I did try looking for discussions on this topic, but I feel that my situation is a bit different, since I’m concerned about attending a university that is not only non-prestigious, but also overseas. Thank you for your input as well though! :)</p>
<p>Your list of med schools is, frankly, ridiculous. You shouldn’t worry about the name of a med school. It’s not like undergrad. ALL med schools are good med schools. Don’t worry about the name of the med school.</p>
<p>If you look at pp. 25-26 of the AMCAS Instruction Manual for 2012, there will be a list of acceptable American Schools Overseas.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/students/download/182162/data/amcas_instruction_manual.pdf[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/students/download/182162/data/amcas_instruction_manual.pdf</a></p>
<p>So long as you attend one of those, you shouldn’t have issues with your application.</p>
<p>Seriously, don’t stress over the name of the school on your diploma. Concentrate on creating a strong and meaningful CV. Med schools are looking for interesting, diverse people.</p>
<p>Also, You need to attend a US undergrad or one of those listed in wayoutwestmom’s link for at least part of your education if you want to apply to a US med school, in many cases.</p>
<p>Thanks for that link! Fortunately, AUS is on the list, so I guess I shouldn’t have too much trouble if I don’t get accepted to NYUAD.
The thing is, I wanted to attend a med school with a good name because my dream of attending one for undergrad has been cast away due to my strict parents. I just wanted to have that feeling of attending an Ivy League or a strong named university I guess… Anyway, thanks for all the help! I really really appreciate it!</p>
<p>With the exception of big-time research, med school is med school. IMNO, with the exception of Harvard, Johns Hopkins easily trumps every other Ivy med school (they have a better lacrosse team, too). Three UC Med schools (horrors, they are public) easily beat a couple of Ivy med schools.</p>