Life at Vanderbilt (Alumni)

I would like to open up this discussion as I am curious to see where the alumni of vanderbilt go. I was also like to know any thoughts about vanderbilt undergraduate and its benefits/connections with med schools.

My son just graduated this May 2016 3+2 program (Tulane Physics and Vandy in Mechanical Engineering). So, he is the fresh/rookie alumni of Vandy and got a job in Cali-Redondo Beach working for Northtrop Grumman (NG) as engineer within 2 weeks after graduation aka right away. More importantly, thanks to Vandy for being generous school in giving money (scholarship, internship etc) for him.

What percentage of medical school applicants are accepted?
The national average for acceptance of 1st time applicants into US allopathic medical schools in 2015 was
42%. The Vanderbilt average for acceptance of 1st time applicants in 2015 was 70%. Vanderbilt’s average
over the last 9 years has been between 61-70%. In 2015, the national average for the MCAT score was 26.4,
and Vanderbilt’s MCAT average score was 29.5. For more Vanderbilt acceptance statistics, view the HPAO
website of http://as.vanderbilt.edu/hpao/ and click on the link: “Click here to view the HPAO Annual
Report with ACCEPTANCE STATISTICS”

http://as.vanderbilt.edu/hpao/documents/2015_Annual_Report_2016-01-18.pdf

Look at the PDF posted by by Faline2. It shows a list of where/how many students from Vanderbilt applied and were admitted to various med schools.

@Faline2 : I think the average MCAT there (I thought like 30.5-31, something- I wish such a difference was splitting hairs, but it isn’t apparently) is higher if you only take into account the accepted students, which I would. I would really only take into account a certain bracket with the threshold starting at stats that are at least “somewhat” competitive.

hmm, interesting point, bernie, re MCAT scores of students who are accepted vs those who apply. Perhaps a current premed at Vandy knows where this distinction is recorded. I hope your PhD program is going well for you! (if I have that right)…

I will answer as an open-ended “where do they go” question (since many high school students who think they want to go to med school actually change plans along the way): D graduated 5 years ago. She has been working in health care consulting since she graduated. Her first job was with a medium-sized firm, working on electronic medical records implementation. She took a chance on a small firm last year, because the opportunities it provided were amazing - the firm closed shop this summer, but not before she got incredible experience she would not have been able to get elsewhere, setting up a managed care system from the ground-up. She was offered another job immediately, working as a project manager for a health care plan. She firmly believes her Vanderbilt credentials have opened doors that might not have otherwise been open to her - and she gets calls from headhunters on a regular basis.

Thank you for the comment @kelsmom

Yes, the HPAO from faline’s post has great data for pre-meds. It’s also worth noting about 75+ applicants/yr have an MCAT of 33 or higher (old MCAT). Typically your state med schools will be your best bet. Once qualified by numbers it becomes an issue of how well you “fit” into a med schools mission. Med schools have a lot of overlap but tend to break down as follows:
Top privates: research and academic oriented applicants
State schools: In state applicants looking to practice in state
Regional state schools: Applicants interested in primary care in their under served region of the state.
Minority schools: Looking for URM
Service oriented: Applicants with extensive service backgrounds
Non-traditional applicant oriented: Mature applicants with life experiences outside of college
DO schools: Did not get into med school.

@bud123

You forgot about mid-tier privates and some upper tier (say top 30 or top 25 looking to improve rank or something) which tend to throw money (as in merit aid) at those with high stats where the other top privates would not (perhaps because they are already pretty confident in their reputation). There are also some top privates that have research integrated into the curriculum that are very stats sensitive (WUSTL for example). They are still very hard tyo get into, but are more predictable as well in the sense that if you have high stats and they choose to interview a student, the student does okay in the interview they may have a better shot than the student who was awesome in the interview but had stats below the mean. Like WUSTL may have like 2-3 point MCAT advantage over their nearest ranked peers (mind you WUSTL is generally top 5 and certainly top 10 for research) and often students will not be cross-admitted to say…Harvard which has lower scores. So there are some tricks of the trade for many people who are in that upper range of stats and want either a tuition break at certain mid or upper tier privates (maybe their state doesn’t have many public schools as options) or who may really want that top tier school. While a top tier is never guaranteed (or close to it), some schools clearly make it easier for the high stats students and some show kind of show huge diminished returns once one is around the mean (ECs have to be insane for some places and others, not clear what they want whatsoever).

In addition, lump top privates and publics together. This isn’t really like undergrad where privates completely rule the top. Many top publics perform extremely well, but unfortunately are out of state for students who are interested and end up more unlikely than top private research oriented programs.