Sometimes it’s hard to work out the statistics to see who does and doesn’t weed out. For instance, my kids’ school reports a 91.7% acceptance rate to med school last year for all students who worked with the medical studies committee. (11 out of 12 or 22 out of 24) and a 100% rate for vet and dental school (could be a single student or a dozen). Many other students reapply or apply for the first time after taking some time to study for MCATS or do internships that would strengthen their applications.
https://www.bates.edu/career/class-outcomes/ (scroll down to med school outcomes)
http://www.bates.edu/career/application-process/when-to-apply/2017-applying-to-medical-or-dental-school/#9-primary-application
The school will write a letter for any student who works with the committee. There’s no official GPA or score cutoff. At the same time the stat is only for students who work with the committee, and that’s a long process, including submission of a resume, self-assessment, transcript, and references and doing mock interviews and a formal interview with the medical studies committee. I’m sure some kids are counseled out along the way. As in “Hey kid, we’ll write a letter for you, but with a 2.8 GPA you’re just not gonna get in. Are you sure you really want to pursue this?” Doubtless more drop out along the way as they realize their freshman dream of becoming a surgeon isn’t realistic or they discover their interest in a different field of study.
It seems to me that it’s important to compare apples to apples as far as that is possible and to realize that a higher ranked school may get a higher percentage of their applicants into med school but that the courses may be tougher, meaning more self-weeding of kids who can’t stand up to the rigor of slightly tougher science courses. It may also be that kids admitted to the more selective undergraduate school as a group had higher SATs, a factor that correlates with higher MCATs.
One advantage to attending a lower ranked school if you’re sure med school is for you and you aren’t going to get a lot of need based aid is that you can often get merit money so that you can save some money for med school instead of having to bust the family’s budget for 4 years of undergrad. If you need substantial aid it could be a wash or you could actually come out ahead at a needs-met school.
I’d advise digging around the med school/graduate outcomes pages of the schools you’re considering, paying close attention to the language used. Is there a competitive process for a committee letter? A minimum GPA? Does the committee support all applications? How hands-on is the committee in advising students? For instance, will they advise students on course timing and internships? Are there any special programs available to students, like guaranteed entry for students who have met certain criteria by the end of sophomore year? If you have specific questions you can’t find answers to on the school’s website you can email the head of the school’s medical advising committee.