So as I have been planning out my journey. I have begun to notice some colleges offer guaranteed admission from their undergrad to their med school (Georgetown, Northwestern Pittsburgh, etc). Is it bad if you go to the same undergraduate school as you do the med school, my question is also for colleges that do not have guaranteed admission like UNC under grad -> UNC Med. I’ve heard employers dislike this. On another note, for the colleges without guaranteed admission programs. Does it make it easier or harder to get into their med school if you go to their under grad. What are some examples. I really need, if there are any other threads I should read please post the link below!
Thannksss!
@WaterpoloGod23
Guaranteed admission programs are usually referred to as BA/MD programs. There is a separate forum for discussion of those programs—> http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/multiple-degree-programs/
Admission to BA/MD programs is extremely competitive. Think HPSM-level competitive. All guaranteed admission programs have requirements/benchmarks you need to hit during undergrad to keep your med school admission. These benchmarks usually include maintaining a certain GPA, achieving a certain MCAT score, participation in certain ECs and mandatory interviews/progress reviews along the way.
As for going to a particular undergrad in hope of gaining an admission to the med school. It depends on the particularly school whether it helps or not. The consensus is that it does not and there are actually a few schools where attending the undergrad may actually hurt you in admissions to the med school.
There may appear be some admission favoritism at some med schools where there really isn’t any. For example, large state flagships that have med schools appear to accept a large-ish percentage of their students from their own undergrad; however this isn’t due to some preference for their own undergrads, but because graduates of the that school represent a large portion of the in-state applicant pool.
Adcomms are looking to select the best future doctors that they can.
@WaterpoloGod23 Just to add what WOWM has said.
There are 4 ways to enter MD:
- BS/MD Guaranteed program: Only for HS students and the link above has more details and I am familiar with this since my D is in this path.
- Early Admission program from UG schools. For UG students for MD which is in the same university. Example UCR, will select few students who are currently doing UG in UCR for the UCR MD school. There are many schools offer this.
- Early Admission program from MD schools. For UG students doing UG in any college for MD. Example Mount Sinai NY, will select few students who are currently doing UG anywhere to eventually matriculate in their MD school. There are very few schools offer this.
- Traditional MD admission path.
Ball park, close to 95% of students enter MD via path 4 and around 3-4% enter via path 1 and 2-1% via path 2 & 3.
Your 2 key questions, whether doing MD in the same university (entered either via path 1 or 2 or 4) is bad (employers dislike) or it is hard to get admission to get MD at the same university, both are not statically proven (more of individual statements based on few personal experiences).
I have heard the suggestion that medical students do their residency at a different hospital and PhD students absolutely need to do their post doc in a different lab but I have never heard anyone suggest there’s a disadvantage to doing UG and med school in the same place.
<<<Is it bad if you go to the same undergraduate school as you do the med school,
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No. But don’t expect to unless you’re in a BS/MD program. Many/most med schools do not give a preference to their own undergrads.
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my question is also for colleges that do not have guaranteed admission like UNC under grad -> UNC Med. I’ve heard employers dislike this.
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?? What employers? Many doctors don’t even have employers, but even those who do, those employers (likely hospitals) don’t care where a doc went to undergrad.
That said, no one gives a rat’s patootie if the undergrad and med school are the same university. Who ever told you such nonsense???