<p>Okay, so there has been other threads like this, but what the heck.
In order, rank the top premed institutions by the percentage acceptance into medical school</p>
<p>There are a number that boast 100% placement...</p>
<p>However, that's no way to rank them.</p>
<p>First, some, by use of a pre-med committee limit the people who apply to medical school from their institution to only the individuals whose applications are deemed "competitive". This typically means that the person is pretty much a lock to get accepted to at least one school. If you meet their criteria, you basically get a letter from this committee that espouses at length about how great a person you are. If you don't meet their criteria, you may get a standard form letter, or no letter at all. Some schools have the pre-med committee so ingrained in their culture that professors will not a write a letter on your behalf unless you have been approved by the committee - leaving you out of luck if you happen to be one of the many, merely "average" candidates in which you have a chance at being accepted, but are no lock.</p>
<p>That of course makes no light of the opposite end of the spectrum in which schools make no effort to screen any of their future applicants. Those schools are penalized by your ranking simply because they get hammered for the student with a 2.6 GPA and 14 on the MCAT who is applying just to make the whole rejection thing final. Plenty of state schools are great places to be pre-med, but since they don't have a pre-screening, you'll look at their stats and say "why would I want to go to a school that only places 54% of their pre-meds into medical school?"</p>
<p>Further, it's extremely flawed thinking to choose any school solely on the basis of one thing, particularly something as difficult as medical school acceptance, particularly when the attrition rate for pre-meds is extremely large.</p>
<p>The other thing is that you rarely can determine just what the impact a school makes on improving an applicants chance for acceptance. Does going to Harvard really make you a shoe in for medical school? Or do the traits that help you gain admission to Harvard also happen to be things that would make you a good applicant to medical school (intelligence, good test taking ability, high work ethic, good time management, etc.)?</p>
<p>Excellent post, Bigredmed.</p>
<p>The only thing I'd add is that the "best" school for pre-med will vary somewhat from person to person. What you want to find is a school with a solid undergraduate science program where you will not be in over your head academically yet where you will still be challenged and encouraged to reach your full academic potential. So, the place to start to find the "Best" school for pre-med is really with yourself. Think about how you learn best, what your academic strengths and weaknesses are, the type of school you will be most likely to thrive in academically AND socially. (it never hurts to be able to thrive socially as well -- it's a long haul to get an MD so you might as well be happy in college, and if you decide after a semester or two that med school isn't what you want you won't be stuck in a school you hate but picked just because it was supposedly "best for pre-med"). First figure out what you want/need overall -- size of school, support/advising, academic approach (structured curriculum or more open curriculum), cost, location, social fit, etc. As Bigredmed suggests, admit rates won't tell you much about how well YOU will do at any particular school, so worry less about finding the "Best" overall and more about finding the best for YOU and your particular needs and learning style.</p>
<p>Muhlenberg and Ursinus: two often-overlooked schools with great pre-med programs...</p>
<p>Best "undergrad" reputation + highest grade inflation: Brown, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Dartmouth, Amherst, Williams, Penn. LACs tend to do better than expected, 'pressure cookers" like JHU and Chicago do worse than people think except for the few at the top.</p>
<p>conversely (to slipper's post), pick a low-ranked state Uni that accepts kids with 2.0 gpa. You are bound to be a star at such a school, likely receive merit money, earn top grades (the first component for med school acceptance), be the first in line for research, and have profs who will write a great rec on your behalf. Of course, such a slacker U may not teach you enough to ace the MCAT, so you'll need to self-study.</p>
<p>Agree with Hopkins -- its top kids can pick their own med school placement. But, a huge mass of Frosh start out premed, and, when they see that first C in Inorganic Chem, they quickly shift to humanities.</p>
<p>Duke, Hopkins, Tufts, Ivies. LAC's-Amherst, Williams, Holy Cross, Bowdoin.</p>
<p>no school prepares you enough to "ace" the MCAT (that's not the goal with that test). There's a reason why MCAT prep is Kaplan's most popular and flagship course, the one they spend the most money on for curriculum development and the exam they face the greatest number of competitors for student dollars. It's because the MCAT is an exam that you have to prepare for outside of classes. Even if you do extremely well in gen chem, most students take that as a frosh, and I don't care how smart you are, 2 years away from the material translates into low scores if you don't adequately prepare yourself in the months leading up to the exam.</p>
<p>The point is this: Carolyn's advice is spot on. The school you attend DOES NOT matter as much as many people would have you believe, so long as you attend the school that is best for you. Big school, small school, StateU, exclusive Ivy, the onus is on you to perform to the best of your abilities and compile an application that makes you a competitive applicant. Some people thrive on the intense competition, others are more comfortable being a big fish in a small pond. Don't choose a school solely on how you think it will affect your chances of getting into med school, because there is no school that can have that big of impact. Only 45% of applicants matriculated last year - and most only received one acceptance (yes, the majority of students got rejected from all the schools they applied to), so you have to do the things that make you stand out in a very competitive and talented applicant pool. </p>
<p>So ignore the names you see being thrown out here. Compile your own list of desired qualities in a school and then find the schools that fit.</p>