I am thinking the same way. I want to know where she will have the best chance of maintaining highest GPA (main consideration is presenting as a strong candidate for traditional MD applications). We can afford the cost. Given that objective - which school offers the best chance to go to MD schools through traditional route (best chance of having higher GPA) ? Unfortunately, she is leaning towards UNC Chapel Hill - mainly because of the reputation.
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BTW, I thought at RPI, it is difficult to maintain high GPA ?
If you know whom to ask, you can find that out.
I would be happy to update my knowledge if you have more insights.
In this scenario I guess only Pitt BSMD comes in top 20. I think even brown med school is ranked above 20
How competitive is her HS? If she went to a very competitive HS and got 4.5+ weighted GPA then she should be fine at UNC. Our HS kids do well at Hopkins and Berkeley but I know kids who didnât well at Hopkins and I attribute to easier HS.
Yes, Brown medical school is ranked in 40s I believe. Pitt UG is ranked in 60s but Med schools is ranked is 20s
I heard RPI is tough and I donât much about other schools in your list. I only pay attention to some schools. @NoviceDad is more knowledgeable about other schools.
Brown is 35 for best medical schools:research and 14 for best medical schools:primary care
Pitt is 14 for best medical schools:research and 10 for best medical schools:primary care
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She went to a very competitive HS in NJ (Ridge High School in Basking Ridge- if you know them). Kids from here routinely get selected to top colleges every year - MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton etc. She did maintain 4.5 GPA in this competitive school but I guess was not good enough (she likely was in top 10%)âŠ
@NoviceDad (and others), please provide your expert opinion. This is an extremely difficult decisionâŠ
Now that a majority of hospitals have opened up in person shadowing, that should be preferred.
About percentage of Asian kids admitted to med schools there is another caviat to consider. Even if a med school takes 30% or 35% Asians, the cut off for Asian kids for MCAT and GPA is much higher than other ethnicities/races. It is just more competitive for Asians and that is a fact.
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VikasP you can DM me and we can discuss
Clemson is a great school (says an alum who is in my body)!
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I am from California so no clue about NJ schools. If she is in top 10% then itâs good. If you think she wasnât stressed in a competitive HS then you can take a chance on UNC. Stress factor is very important and people donât want to admit that come up with other stories.
Not surprised, but is it a good premed school? I visited the campus back in 90s .
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She just got accepted to UC San Diego (Neurobiology major). Does that change anything ? Waiting on Berkeley, UCLA, Santa Barbara as well among CA schools that she has applied.
Isnât Toledo a 6 program with an auto MD transition?
Clemson is a good engineering school and has a lot of internationals at masterâs level because South Carolina wanted to attract science talent to state by making all international students instate and funding schools for that. I thought they started medicine recently but I see there are 3 MD schools, all with USC label.
One of our friends kids went last year to UNC from houston. I was told they were given several scholarships making it competitive with Texas where instate is around 11k. If I remember correctly, the school was giving some research scholarship upfront and giving them research option in year 1.
NJ instate has reasonable instate bias for medicine so one can pretty much go anywhere and if they do reasonably well be able to get back for medicine.
@VikasP Would say go for traditional route. Choose where she is going to be happy. Factors non academic also based on her personality since going away from home. If she likes to stay away from parents or like to visit or ok if parents visit once a quarter / month etc. If she is doing reasonable diligence with planning she can get in to MD whether it is UNC or UCSD or Clemson or Rutgers. No special reason to come all the way to UCSD (when have UNC). CA schools cost a lot too for OOS.
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I wouldnât come to California as OOS for premed.
I wouldnât recommend Californians to attend premed in California. Its brutal competition for grades.
On a sidenote, now I am all for Fairley Dickinson for new jersey natives. 
They are biggest underdogs who beat a number 1 seed just now.
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Are the admissions into BS/MD or pre-med ?
If cost is not prohibitive, UNC Chapel Hill is good choice as it has good Carolina weather without snow. For pre-med UNC, Chapel Hill has better pre-med program and advising than all schools above.
My friendâs daughter dropped out of St Bonaventura/GW BS/MD program due to remoteness of St Bonaventura and got into Pharmacy a year later at U.Pitt.