Is it true that it doesn't matter what undergrad school you go to if you want to go to med school?

Pre-Med & Medical School
21

<p>@EricLG, would you please elaborate how does one’s major make a difference in SOM admission? Are certain majors preferred?</p>

22

<p>In 2011, the AAMC published a comprehensive survey of the factors that Medical School Admissions Deans used when tendering interview invitations and offers of admission.</p>

<p>No where on the list was major or college attended even mentioned. </p>

<p>The AAMC report is available here:</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/download/261106/data/aibvol11_no6.pdf”>https://www.aamc.org/download/261106/data/aibvol11_no6.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>For Interviews:

  1. GPA
  2. sGPA
  3. MCAT
  4. LORs</p>

<p>For admission:

  1. Interview reports
  2. LORs
  3. sGPA
  4. Clinical volunteer experience</p>
23

<p>Thank you, @wayoutwestmom, this is helpful. Based on the list above, clinical volunteer experience is then recommended for pre-med students. What would be some good examples of the preferred clinical volunteer experience.
In addition, I don’t see research on the list. Is it not important to the selection committee?</p>

24

<p>Clinical volunteering is any medically related volunteering situation where the volunteer has direct patient contact. It doesn’t need necessarily to take place at a hospital. In fact, exposure to a variety of healthcare settings is useful. </p>

<p>The value is research is school-dependent. Research is not equally valued by all med schools. Some schools value research experience very highly; some hold it in moderate importance on it; some don’t care much at all. AMCAS reports that ~15% of matriculants report having done zero lab research. </p>

25

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<p>Med school admissions are highly subjective just like college. My husband has been a physician for 38 years and has many friends in academic medicine. They will admit privately that yes, major(degree of difficulty) and school reputation, just like some clinical experience make a difference (soft factors) but just like in any other surveys Deans are going to stay PC. As in college ranking surveys, no one holds it as the absolute truth. In all honesty, Deans are never directly involved in the admission process. They are like the CEO of a major company who really doesn’t get involved in lower level hiring.</p>

<p>The majority of our physicians’ friends kids who have pursued medicine graduated from top schools (top 20) and they are in top medical schools. They have the option of going into academic medicine(which is not a bad lifestyle) from top schools. I have never heard, this is from our many physician friends, that they are sending their kids to lower ranked schools to preserve the GPA.</p>

<p>Many kids change their minds about careers during college so parents I know send their kids to the strongest schools because the degree that they get there may be their terminal degree.</p>

26

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At my school, the dean of admissions (who the survey was sent to) reviews every single file that goes in front of the committee.</p>

<p>Given the competitiveness of the process, I would bet that school prestige is often a factor but I still stand that’s far less important than the myriad of other things. Usually this discussion comes up because someone is worried that if they go to state U on a full ride and do well that they shot themselves in the foot by not saddling themselves with debt to be at an ivy, and the answer is that successful students get into medical school. Top 20 UGs have a higher concentration of successful students and thus a higher concentration of people going to medical school but they are not getting in because they went to a top 20 UG.</p>

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Agree.</p>