MIT/UC Berkeley--Good premed schools?

<p>I'm planning to apply to both of them, but I've heard because of their challenging curriculum they don't help or even hurt you when it comes to medical school admissions. Is this true?</p>

<p>If you can get into MIT, go to another one of the Ivies that you would likely get into (may except Cornell) and you will stand a much, much better shot at Medical School admissions. Keep in mind that while the Medical School AdCom will highly respect your graduating from MIT, it's hard to pick someone with a 3.5 GPA (out of 5.0 @ MIT) over someone with something like a 3.8-3.9-4.0 at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Dartmouth, Brown.</p>

<p>Thanks for your answer. The thing that bothers me is that I've heard any decent college (doesn't have to be ivy-caliber) can give you decent chance at a top three med school as long as you have high GPAs and a good MCAT score.</p>

<p>For example I've heard that someone who has a 4.0 gpa at university of [insert random state] will have a better chance at getting in Med School than a person with a 3.5 gpa at MIT (assuming they have the same MCAT scores). Do AdComs factor in a school's academic rigor and reputation even if you have a lousy GPA?</p>

<p>may i ask why you said except cornell?</p>

<p>I think truazn said except Cornell because it is probably the lowest of all the ivies (in terms of reputation). On top of that, to my knowledge, Cornell doesn't have a premed program.</p>

<p>Johns Hopkins, Penn, UChicago</p>

<p>"On top of that, to my knowledge, Cornell doesn't have a premed program."</p>

<p>yeah, Cornell has like the largest pre-med program in the Ivy league with like 3 separate bio majors spanning something like 800-1,000 incomming freshmen. </p>

<p>Cornell's med school placement rates are far better than UC-Berkeleys as well, though I dont have the exact numbers on me (they've been posted plenty of times before). Not sure about MIT.</p>

<p>MIT actually has worse placement rate than Cornell despite a stronger student body. Something's wrong there.</p>

<p>Berkeley's has worse rates but that's expected from a larger state school.</p>