<p>True, but then how does one decide on any college at all beyond what ‘feels’ right, which is only emotion, an abstract logic, that can be so unreliable in every choice we make. Costs, location, size. these all are important factors. But there IS a variance in education in many schools, I’ve seen it myself, it’s why a lazy and quite stupid (yet entertaining) friend of mine who smoked pot and drank through high school is now pulling A’s and B’s at a party college while my brother, high school class valedictorian, struggles to keep his B’s in a midwestern-ivy league school (won’t say schools name for privacy reasons). Academics vary greatly, yet it becomes so difficult to judge what school will give the quality of education without the glamour and high costs of ‘prestige’ which does nothing for admissions. </p>
<p>And I also must point out that if what you say is correct (and I believe there is much truth to it, but as all things it is only partly truth) then you are discounting the statistics completely, saying that the numbers of students getting into med schools from prestigious schools is only because of the top students going to those premed programs, and thus that any college’s stats are based purely on arbitrary chance of where the smart students decided to reside and not what they learned at their respective college.</p>
<p>None of the Ivy League schools are in the midwest. Also, some of them are known for very high grade inflation (which would be a desirable thing for a pre-med).</p>
<p>There is a big difference in educations, although I am coming to see that the higher up in ‘quality’ school you are the less it matters, each step up is smaller than the previous if that makes any sense. This seems the most logical explanation, and it is only a matter of where on the graph each student fits to get the best education without losing the all important high gpa. </p>
<p>This however does not account for schools linked to med-schools and quality of advising staff and as you said convenience for EC’s, and other school-deciding factors less related to getting into med school such as cost location size and student body type.</p>
<p>I did not mean ivy league, i mean midwestern ivies, top schools the same caliber in the midwest. We call them midwestern-ivies. schools such as Northwestern, U of Illinois Urbana, Notre Dame, U of Chicago…etc</p>
<p>In the end, it kind of is this. If there were only 1 good school, or 10, they would be outrageously competitive and probably expensive (more than schools are now). It’s good that med schools pull from many decent schools. It keeps a wide base for future doctors rather than a single track of semi-clones.</p>
<p>Locate a few schools YOU feel you can succeed at that you can afford, then pick one based upon what factors matter for you, do the work, and don’t look back second guessing yourself.</p>
<p>Been there, done that with my middle son over the past year. In the end, he picked an affordable private school where he felt like he could succeed and felt like he fit in as a student. That latter part makes for an enjoyable 4 year experience. He’ll start this fall and we’ll soon see if he will put in the work needed to succeed. My guess is he will, but I might be a little biased. </p>
<p>Of course, his other love is research, so he might choose that option for his future instead. Time will tell. From his school he could easily go either way - as he prefers.</p>
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