Well said, @blossom. And once again, an N of 1 is anecdotal.
Blossom,
We are not discussing my D. here who was at her HS for totally different reasons than the HS being one of the top, the fact was not even known to us at the time she applied there.
We are discussing different options for pre-meds. It is NOT fair to the OP to show one sided picture while, OP did not state any intentions to be engaged in the Top Medical Research. Vast majority of the medical school graduates have full intentions to be practicing physicians and some of them will be engaged more or less in research as some specialties are heavier in research than others. It did not sound to me though that impoverished locations where OP is planning to serve would be heavy in research. I might be incorrect there, but I believe that the focus of serving this type of community is medical practice rather than research.
Also, when people apply to medical schools, it is very rare that they have many choices, most are accepted to one school and in vast majority of cases it is not Harvard or Yale. OP is very far from applying to the medical school, this discussion is dedicated to the choice of the colleges for a pre-med. If OP wants to choose Ivy, then why not? But there are other options. So we are not allowed to mention them?
Of course anyone can, but when they make seemingly sweeping generalizations about several aspects of the undergrad experience of a pre-med with nothing to back it up, you can expect to be challenged on it. To use your own phrase, are we not allowed to do that?
Frankly that whole section leaves me confused, but again I will especially challenge the few words “…not with academics”. I simply find that to be likely to be untrue on the whole, again because any student is going to be more challenged as an undergrad if they are surrounded by higher achievers than an alternative choice. Not saying anyone cannot do perfectly great in med school no matter where they went undergrad, but in the aggregate the people who went to the top schools undergrad will be more prepared from day 1 of med school, at least in the sense of competing against the best. But people are usually quite resilient and adaptable, especially the smartest ones, which all these med students are. Most can figure it out quickly.
This is poppycock as well. The implication is that Ivy grads are the bulk of med school students. I say…not true. Just not true.
OTOH…I also doubt those IN medical school from the Ivies regret their undergrad educational experiences. After all…they DID get accepted to medical school.
Fallenchemist, weeding may seem egalitarian, but the complaint is about that higher bar, some colleges where it’s brutal, goes beyond lectures, reading and supplemental efforts, versus others where the situation is more collaborative.
MiamiDAP, you may not think you’re stating “opinion,” but you’re basing many CC comments on what your daughter did or said or says she heard. It doesn’t hold past that. It;s not even your own experience as a med student. And it doesn’t matter to the whole crowd what any of her peers on her track thought.
In part, I work with med students. They come from wherever. Some even did post-baccs, to complete requirements. The bottom line is that, as individuals, they were qualified for admission. They had the right drives, experiences at the right level of involvement. Absolutely nothing says a public college is worth more than a private. It’s silly to generalize, when the burden is on the individual student.
Honestly…the day after you graduate from HS, no one (except maybe your family) will care where you went…or,your class ranking.
The day one gets acceoted to medical school…no one will care about HS or undergrad school. Every med school student in the class will be on equal footing when they start.
Carry on.