Hey everyone. I’m a sophomore at Oberlin College (a small LAC in Ohio with a med school acceptance rate of 74%) and recently got accepted to University of Michigan (where I live), but I don’t know if it is a good idea to transfer.
Here are some of my information:
My goal is to apply for a MD/PhD program in Microbiology/infectiology drug development. I major in biology and biochemistry (two majors) with a 4.03 GPA. Currently doing a full-time research on organic drug synthesis (related to infectiology), and will continue to do so for a year, then switch to an immunology synthesis lab to do a honors project in my senior year. My relationships with my mentor and my professors are very solid; they know me well. I will be working a year or two either in the industry or in a university research lab after graduation (so won’t be taking MCAT until later), then apply for med schools.
Michigan is no doubt a great school. I’m just not sure if it is worth it to transfer to a more prestigious school with more opportunities in research while the trade-off is potentially lowering my GPA. Of course, there are bunch of other concerns too. (o_o)
Please let me know which option would be better, and it would be great to hear some reasons behind it. Thanks!
stay where you are. there is NO reason to transfer to UM. what matters to med schools is your GPA in the classes med schools pay attention to, your MCAT scores, your LORs, and any research you can do.
transferring puts ALL of those important factors at risk.
Oberlin is WELL known by Med schools, so stay on course…
Is UM significantly less expensive than Oberlin?
If it is that may be a consideration.
FWIW, you cannot get any GPA over 4.0 at UMich. However, you can get various levels of distinction if your GPA is over 3.5, IIRC.
If you’re smart and a hard worker at Oberlin, then you’ll probably be the same at UMich. As a transfer, you likely have taken the larger “weeder” courses already and will likely be taking the smaller-sized upper division courses. And any GPA deflation won’t really affect you nearly as much as an upperclassman.
FWIW, you certainly can get to know your professors at UMich. Surprisingly, though not anymore, they’re available and happy to see students, although there are exceptions to every rule. 
Regarding the “4.03 GPA”…
GPA for medical school application is recalculated by the AMCAS method. The highest possible GPA in that method is 4.0, since A+ grades are converted to 4.0. See https://aamc-orange.global.ssl.fastly.net/production/media/filer_public/78/1c/781c2478-d685-4f1e-ae78-07a765ad4e61/amcas_grade_conversion_guide_students.pdf .
Looks like Oberlin calculates its GPA using A+ = 4.33: https://www.oberlin.edu/registrar/policies-procedures-forms/grades .