<p>Frankly, when my D. did check ranking for Med. Schools, it still did not make her to choose the higher ranked one. She actually choose the lower ranked (and the most expansive on her list), just because she felt better about it for herself (another pre-med from D’s UG made opposite choice, we do not know if he followed ranking or he determined that higher ranked Med. School was actually better for him personally).
You just need to determine the best personal way to make your decisions. It will not be the best way for others, they have their own ways. No general answer about the best school or about the way you should choose.</p>
<p>“I’m not so sure if picking a school where you’ll shine so much is really a great idea. Because if you want to go to a respectable med school, that’s not going to be the case.”</p>
<p>Would you compare and contrast respectable vs (presumably) not respectable med schools, more specifically, what makes a school a respectable one, please?</p>
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In addition to the all important “fit” factor and the personal motivation factor, is there any other factor that may help you shine, or prevent you from shining, as a premed, at a particular (or particular type) of school? For the latter case, maybe an engineering school whose purpose is to prepare you for an engineering career immediately after graduation from college (e.g., Cooper Union, Olin, Harvey Mudd, etc.)?</p>
<p>Also, will you rather be among the top few shining stars at a smaller school, or merely one of the top dozens shining stars (if you can still be called a shining star when you are merely one of the top 30 or 40 :)) at a much larger school? One CCer from Penn once posted that it is relatively difficult to be a “leader” in any major well-established club (that is the reason why many would create their own club every year) within their school just because a very high percrentage of the incoming students were, say, class presidents, etc., when they were in high school.</p>
<p>Is it likely that, on the premed path, unlike on the path leading to the i-banking/consulting career, the choice of school is not as important? After all, almost all public (many private ones too) medical schools are heavily populated with those who are graduated from the flagship state university, but the lucrative/“moneyed” Wall Street companies are populated from the elite colleges.</p>
<p>“Shining” UG student will be hand picked for various opportunites, will have easy time accessing many others of her choice, will build great relationships and will be “showered” by recognitions, awards at graduation…and many other things that should not be underestimated in regard to personal growth as well as many aspects of Med. School application. Academically, I am not aware of anything that possibly could be missied by one who is taking very challenging classes and obtain straight As is every single one, but I am not a judge as I have no experience comparing the same student being at State vs. Ivy / Elite school, except for results, if results are Med. School acceptance and performance at Med. School where majority are from Ivy/Elite UGs.</p>
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<p>False choice. There is no one at Harvard who would not “get an opportunity to work on a research project…” There is no one at Harvard who could not “volunteer at the hospital down the road…” (which happens to be Massachusetts General Hospital!).</p>
<p>There maybe plenty of Harvard graduates who do neither, but not because there are no “opportunities” for them to participate; they just chose not to.</p>
<p>Moreover, there ain’t that much distinction between an Ivy and “good LAC”, but there is huge difference between an Ivy and an unknown/unranked LAC or Podunk Regional college.</p>
<p>To the OP: yes, undergrad pedigree matters, moreso at top research med schools (~20?). As LizzyM – a real adcom – suggests on another thread, if you were an adcom looking at 3.7/34 apps from Yale and the University of New Haven, who would you consider had a more rigorous schedule?</p>
<p>Go where you want to go, forget Med. School for now. This is the only “right” choice, which is different from one person to another. We here are talking ffrom our personal experiences, and they are also different for all of us. Need to learn to trust yourself anyway.</p>
<p>I’m sticking with my decision to attend School B. While going to a more prestigious university would help my chances of getting into a top 20 research medical school, my ultimate goal is to get into medical school at all (not including foreign medical schools). As we all know, the medical school a person would have the best chance of getting into would be the in-state public one. While I’ll still apply to other ones, I would be a fool to have high hopes of getting into a top 20 medical school no matter the undergraduate school I attend. Getting into a top medical school is unrealistic for most people (statistically about 95%). My best chance is at my state’s public medical school, so I’m not going to count on getting into a top school. And for the state public medical school, going to School B will not hurt me.</p>
<p>And yes, I agree with MiamiDAP. I haven’t even started college yet. The only decision I’ve made is what undergrad school I’m going to. And from what I’ve gathered from this discussion, what I do during college in the next few years will be much more important than this decision. Thanks!</p>