<p>I realize there's another thread on the first page VERY similar to the question I'm about to ask, but I believe it's headed in another direction and isn't asking the same thing I am. I was accepted into Duke, Georgetown, and UPenn and wish to pursue pre-med. However, I was also accepted into less prestigious undergraduate schools, such as Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, and Santa Clara. Say I get a 3.5-3.6 at the more prestigious schools, but I get a 3.7-3.8 at the less prestigious schools. Would I have a better chance of getting accepted into a QUALITY medical school by attending the school with high prestige, but a lower GPA, or lower prestige but higher GPA. Assume I scored a 32 on the MCAT in both situations. I'm debating on whether or not to attend such a competitive school or a school where I can get better grades.</p>
<p>Interesting use of caps. Just to help us know what you’re asking, what’s an example of an un"QUALITY" medical school?</p>
<p>I used the wrong word sorry X_X. I meant one of the top 20 medical schools in the country.</p>
<p>In that case, neither. A 3.7/32, even from Penn, is probably a longshot for a “QUALITY” school.</p>
<p>OK, then how about just for medical school in general?</p>
<p>By the way, I don’t know if it’s a longshot. My friend went to Santa Clara, graduated with a 3.8, 34 on the MCAT, got into UCSF medical school.</p>
<p>I hate the assumption that classes at a less prestigious school are some how automatically easier.</p>
<p>I, personally, wasn’t assuming, I was just going off what I was told -_-. So if the class difficulties are in fact the same, it would be better to go a more prestigious school, because then you at least get the slight benefit of the university name.</p>
<p>I’m not saying that either.</p>
<p>What I maintain, is that it’s ridiculous to choose your UG institution based on how you think it will impact your ability to get into medical school.</p>
<p>In terms of difficulty of classes, it’s not so simple as one school has harder tests than the other. Ask anyone is actually in college - it’s all professor driven. My organic chemistry class sophomore year had two sections, both at the same time (10:30 MWF) and obviously taught by two different profs. One prof had multiple choice exams, the other huge, tests that required you to show all the work of the mechanims, pushing electrons and all that jazz. Multiple choice Prof graded on a standard scale - 90%=A 80%=B and so on. Show your work prof graded on a modified bell curve - essentially plotting out all the test scores in a distribution plot and then looking for the natural breaks between groups of scores and then assigned grades that way. Obviously, looking at testing and grading policies, you’d think Multi Choice Prof would be the way to go…except that SYW Prof was a WAY BETTER teacher. So which class was actually harder? The answer still kind of depends. There were more people who got A’s in the MC Prof’s class, but students in SYW Prof’s class had a better understanding of Organic Chem. So you’re probably thinking take MC Prof’s class, right? Well what if you knew that SYW prof was going to be teaching second semester organic chem, and there was only going to be one section. Then what would you pick? Do you really want to walk in to second semester chem only having heard horror stories about SYW Prof’s class, and taking it with only the students who did well enough in SYW Prof’s class to pass (all the low scorers were back repeating first semester - the class average suddenly got a lot higher). </p>
<p>I’ve got a thousand examples like this of variations within schools, of variations between schools, of Honors courses being about a million times easier than regular courses, of professors overteaching their research ideas (SYW prof was one of the world’s leading Carbon-14 NMR spectrologists (?) and basically didn’t teach Hydrogen-1 NMR at all…and H1 NMR is much more common on the MCAT), of profs simply saying a major tenet of their field was bogus, of second semester of sequenced courses being far easier than the first semester pre-req and so on. That’s why I say it’s fairly impossible to definitively say one school is for sure going to be more difficult. Nevermind the emotional impact of being a school you like better…</p>
<p>The answer really is about fit, go to the school where you feel you will be most motivated to be successful. Some people like to be the smartest kid in the class; some like a big famous school, some people need a small school to find a connection with profs and find their passion- there is not one best school, it is really about what will inspire you to be your best.</p>
<p>I have one kid who was tired of every one knowing everything about her at a small HS; she ended up at a large UC and never liked it, never felt engaged, barely connected with ONE prof. Now doing a masters and with a PhD acceptance in her pocket since January, she has said many times she does better when the profs know her names and any time she is not personally motivated to study she still feels the motivation to not disappoint the prof.</p>
<p>I have another DD at a flagship UC, she has half a dozen LORs coming for med school, I can personally think of at least 4 profs off the top of my head who would know her name if you asked them about her on campus, people who are encouraging her. She is that kid who will connect with profs even at a big school, BUT she would likely have done even better at a small school. </p>
<p>Know yourself, know your style, figure out your best fit. 4 years is a long time, lots could change in time, don’t pick your UG school just based on what will get you into med school. That is like kids in HS trying to check all the right boxes to get into an Ivy- instead find the place that will inspire you to live with passion, that has a much better chance of getting you where you need to be</p>
<p>The above two posts are so true. College is an important time but most certainly should be a happy time too.</p>