<p>How much does the prestige of your undergrad college affect your chances of admission at a particular med school?</p>
<p>I had the same question. I don't know whether to go to a top-notch school like Yale and keep a mediocre GPA or go to some state school and keep an extremely high GPA. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>4.0 @ State school is better than a 3.6 at Yale. That's what all the statistics say.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I don't know whether to go to a top-notch school like Yale and keep a mediocre GPA or go to some state school and keep an extremely high GPA.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Of course the presumption there is that you're actually going to get a higher GPA by going to a state school. In many cases, the opposite is actually true - you may end up getting WORSE grades by going to a state school. That's because many elite private schools tend to be grade inflated such that it's almost impossible to get really bad grades. The worst grade you may get is maybe a 'C'. Furthermore, as long as you do the minimum level of work, you're going to graduate. State schools, on the other hand, don't really care whether you graduate or not and consequently happily hand out boatloads of D's and F's and their attitude is that if you flunk out, that's your problem. </p>
<p>Heck, happened to a guy I know. He could have gone to Stanford or an Ivy. Instead he chose Berkeley in order to save money, not only because he had in-state tuition but more importantly he got a full-ride Chancellor's Scholarship. He then proceeded to flunk out of Berkeley, basically because of a combination of personal immaturity and Berkeley institutional indifference - Berkeley just didn't really care whether he graduated or not. I'm almost certain that if he had chosen to go to Stanford instead, he would have graduated. Maybe not with top grades, but at least he would have graduated. Now as it stands, he has no degree at all and no easy way to get one, because no reputable school wants to admit as a transfer student a person who flunked out of his previous school. Now he's stuck taking odd jobs because he has no college degree. </p>
<p>The point is, you cannot simply presume that by going to a lower-ranked school, you will automatically get better grades. Often times the exact opposite is true.</p>
<p>Do keep in mind, however, that at state schools less intense than Berkeley the curriculum is a LOT easier than at an Ivy or other top-notch private school. I have a few friends going to easier state schools (Ohio State, Penn State), and let's just say that their study skills are "underdeveloped"...they drink and party 3, 4, 5 times a week...and they all have 3.4+ GPAs in difficult subjects like electrical engineering, etc. Provided you don't totally f*** up, you won't really need the grade inflation.</p>
<p>However, if you ultimately decide not to go to med school, a degree from HYPS, etc. will be much more valuble.</p>
<p>Hey, the Ivy League also has people who have 'underdeveloped' study skills too - people who spend all their time drinking and still manage to get decent grades in somewhat difficult subjects. That's the beauty of grade inflation, you can get good grades without having to work very hard. </p>
<p>Hence, it's still highly unclear to me whether a lazy irresponsible guy would get better grades at HYPS or at a state school. I believe an argument could be made that that guy might actually get better grades at HYPS. </p>
<p>I think the REAL value of grade inflation is that it sets a strong floor on just how badly you might do. Even if you really screw things up, about the worst you will ever get at HYPS is a C- or maybe a D, and even that is extremely unlikely. However, at a state school, an F is a definite possibility. It's practically impossible to flunk out of HYPS. However, state schools do not flinch from flunking out large swaths of students every year. Hence, as long as you do the bare minimum of work, you're effectively guaranteed a degree from HYPS. No such guarantee exists at a state school.</p>
<p>Good points, sakky, and I do agree that the better private schools seem to put a "glass floor" out gradewise. Your friend's story is a sad one indeed.</p>
<p>However, my point is that we're not talking about the general run of college students here-we're talking about premeds, who seem to be (in my experience) more serious students than most. I haven't encountered too many serious (emphasis on serious) premeds who would find themselves in the positon of recieving a D or F in any class. I think the sort of "lazy, irresponsible" people we've been discussing here aren't likely to be premeds (or, at least, not for long!). </p>
<p>The influence factor, of course, is still important, and that's where the state schools fall down. Unless you're in the state school honors college, you probably won't be surrounded by a serious, studious group of people. That is almost always a bad thing-if you see other people slacking off, you'll want to also-and it might keep you from pulling off a high GPA.</p>