Yes, but the info being conveyed to this poster is…USC uses committee letters, while the two UCs on her acceptance list do not.
I do want to add…hundreds (or more) of medical school students went to undergrad colleges with NO medical school affiliation. None at all.
The existence of committee LORs is quite common. Moreso at private universities than public ones.
And just one reason why any claims about a particular undergrad’s med school acceptance rate is not reliable. Success rates are manipulated in a half dozen ways to put the university in the most favorable light possible.
As @thumper1 says the presence or absence of med school affiliation has zero to do with the likelihood of a MD acceptance.
BTW, It’s a very common pre-med misconception that research is a critical component of a successful med school application. It’s not. In an annual survey of med school adcomms, having research is ranked as being of middling importance–and is ranked behind academic ability, test scores, leadership skills, clinical exposure through physician shadowing and clinical volunteering/employment, and community service with disadvantaged groups. All of the latter are ranked as being “of the highest importance”.
This seems like the relevant question, access for undergrads to the hospital activities to enhance their resume for med schools.
It has been established by several posters that UCI and Berkeley do NOT have HP committees, and I see the clear benefit of not having these gatekeepers if you are not at the top of the class.
Does someone know about the other UCs, in particular, UCLA, UCSD and UCSB? My daughter is still considering these schools for fall 2021 and this would be useful information.
I did Google searches for “does name of college have committee letters for medical school applicants” for the schools you mentioned.
From what I found via Google, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB do not have committee letters. But I’m hoping someone with direct knowledge will verify whether this is correct, or not.
I’m wondering if there is a list someplace of schools that do and don’t use committee letters? @WayOutWestMom
so does having the committee evaluate a good or bad thing when applying to medical school?
also, i just wanted to know which college is better in terms of getting into medical school with a good amount of support, USC or UCI?
I think if you are a top student with all the stats and ECs, having a letter from the committee will obviously be advantageous. But it seems clear from what other posters have described, these committees first priority will be to the institution, not to their students. Thus, if you are a good, but not the best, student, the committee may not give you the benefit of the doubt and choose not to write a letter.
I suppose the decision to not write a letter only serves the University’s purpose if it convinces the student to NOT apply to med school at all. If the student applies anyways, they are much less likely to be accepted, thus hurting the schools acceptance rate numbers.
Look at other threads on CC about premeds and the UCs. These are premed factories. I have seen them and participated in some of these threads. You have to be proactive, get to know your professors, take advantage of office hours, be aggressive contacting researchers and getting volunteer opportunities. Find premed clubs on campus. This is not my advice, but the advice of multiple other posters when asked. This is probably true of USC as well since it is a big institution.
It could be that having medical school recommendation committees increase the chance that qualified students get accepted to medical school. It works both ways. I don’t think they’re necessarily evil or underhanded like some are making them out to be.
@maryanneaziz
There is no “better” college for getting a med school admission.
Getting a med school acceptance is 100% on you. What you do during undergrad. What you achieve. The grades, test scores, leadership positions, honors and recognitions you earn. The quality and duration of your volunteer experiences. The relationships you develop with your professors.
And support–I’m not sure exactly what you’re expecting. No advising office is going to call you up and say–hey, here’s a research lab that looking for help, or call this doctor tomorrow and she’ll let you shadow her. All that stuff is up to you. So is preparing for the MCAT. College coursework by itself doesn’t prepare you to take the MCAT. You’ll need to study for it on your own. Going to a professor’s office hours to say Hi! and chat so they can get to know you and write you a strong LOR later on. Not something an advising office can help you with.
Every college will hold information sessions to help you know what kinds of things (good grades, good test scores, good LORs, significant volunteer experiences, stay out of trouble) you need to do to get a med school acceptance, but no advising office is going to look at your CV and hand you a list of medical schools they think you should apply to.
So what should you look for?
Sites are close by to the campus where you can volunteer in a clinical capacity. These don’t need to be hospitals. It can be a low income health clinic or an outpatient primary care office. It can be at Planned Parenthood or a stand alone day surgery center.
Free tutoring for basic courses like gen chem, calc, ochem, biology, writing skills.
All of the colleges mention in they thread fulfill those criteria.
So you need to look beyond pre-med to find which college is “best” for you.
Pick the college that offers you the best combo of
So does having the committee evaluate a good or bad thing when applying to medical school?
And there are benefits and drawbacks to a HP committee.
The negatives have been outlined above. Great if you’re a very top student; not so great if a marginal candidate for med school.
One benefit is that a HP will put your achievement into context. If a particular prof only gave 3 As in a class 150 students and you got a B+, they’ll explain that. If you make the Dean’s List, the committee will explain how many people qualified for it and how hard (or easy) it is to achieve at your undergrad.
Another benefit is you will get an pre-graduation evaluation of whether you’re a competitive applicant or not. If you need to improve your GPA or MCAT score–they’ll let you know. If you ECs are weak, they’ll tell you. That way you can decide if you want to go ahead and apply (which is expensive–it costs around $4-6K just to send out applications) or delay applying while you work on fixing what’s wrong with your app.
Eliminating Berkeley from the conversation as OP has stated that s/he is not interested in Berkeley.
In my experience as a parent with a student at USC, their goal is not to hold students back. Each student who they can help succeed is a feather in their cap. For a motivated student, there are numerous ways to get involved and create a competitive application for any healthcare field. While a UC may have similar opportunities, a student at a UC needs to make more of an effort to find them. At USC, they almost spam you with emails about all of the programs that are offered. It is up to the student to apply for and be accepted into these opportunities and programs. If a student shows up at the end of their junior year and hasn’t taken advantage of the opportunities or doesn’t have the classes/grades, an advisor might recommend a gap year before applying to med school.
I am in healthcare and have students from USC, UCI, UCLA, UCSB, UCB and many other schools work in my office. USC students are well spoken and well educated about the med school application. They work closely with their advisor and seem to know their advisor(s) personally.
Many colleges do not include students who go outside the HP office and apply on their own in their “success/failure” rate. That’s because HP offices don’t track feedback from “independent applicants”.
Just one more way that colleges manipulate their numbers.
But that was because the OP thought not being affiliated with a medical school would hurt them. People were saying that it won’t make a difference.
But s/he came back in post 26 and again asked just about USC vs UCI.
You have two college choices…USC, and UCI that you are seriously considering. Really, both can get you to the place where you can apply to medical school. Look at the list of things to do in the posts above. Those will be on you regardless of where you go to college.
So…take medical school out of the picture and think about the other qualities these colleges have, and don’t have, and which one suits you best.
My audible response to that: “Wow”
If you would be someone who would still be willing to apply to medical schools (a rather time consuming and expensive process) with lower but possible chance of admission, then being denied a pre-med committee recommendation would be disadvantageous for you.
However, if you would be someone who would only want to apply to medical schools with a good chance of admission, then having the pre-med committee either give you the go-ahead with a good committee letter of recommendation, or tell you to switch to some other direction before spending (and probably wasting) a lot of time and effort applying to medical schools, then the pre-med committee may be a good thing for you.
At colleges with pre-med committees, the medical school admission rate can give some clue as to what threshold of likelihood of admission the pre-med committee uses to give a committee letter of recommendation. If the rate is very high, then it may be denying the letters even to those with moderate chances of admission, rather than just those with low chances of admission.
If you didn’t get into med school, which college would you rather graduate from?