<p>The time to make my decision draws near as I will be needing to decide between University of Michigan Ann Arbor and University of Michigan - Dearborn. To most people, it seems that there is an obvious better choice, Ann Arbor. However, I dont find the decision that easy. Last year I chose the full-tuition scholarship at Dearborn over Ann Arbor because of some financial issues. This year, however, I am fortunate to transfer to Ann Arbor. Being a pre-medical student, I need to make a choice about what school will be better for me to get into medical school. I was wondering if people could shed some light to me about what would be a better choice. </p>
<p>I know Dearborn has not had its share of prestige especially when considering where pre-medical students have gained acceptance (or lack thereof) to medical school, but after looking over some statistics of Dearborn and Ann Arbor pre-med students Ive noticed that the reason Dearborn students dont get into med school is simply because they are not competitive (did the ~2.5 GPA/ 16 MCAT student really think he/she could get into medical school?) NOT because of the name of the school. Recently there have been students who were accepted to prestigious schools such as University of Michigan Medical School and Harvard Med School, but these were very very few examples. Dearborn does have its advantages. The classes are not as competitive as Ann Arbor. Classes are much smaller (Organic Chemistry: around 70 kids in lecture at Dearborn vs. 500 kids at Ann Arbor), and if youre bright then it is much easier to standout and get good research/internship opportunities or letters of recommendation. </p>
<p>On the other hand, there is Ann Arbor that is a world of its own. The universitys prestige is shared around the world. Not only that, but the school has many more opportunities for research, MANY more options for classes, and a much better intellectual environment that Dearborn may be lacking. The town of Ann Arbor is amazing with lots to do.</p>
<p>During my almost two semesters at Dearborn, Ive gotten the feeling that I may not belong here. Im a very hard working student and Ive gotten a 4.0 last semester and am looking at another 4.0 this semester (depending on finals next week). Im worried, though, that if I go to Ann Arbor I might face a dramatic drop in GPA. After reading threads here, Ive noticed that maintaining a high GPA (3.8 4.0) is very difficult at Ann Arbor. Also, even though I can afford to go to Ann Arbor, is it worth it? I would have to pay an extra ~$60,000 (total) for the next 3 years. The last thing I would want is to pay that much money, get a 3.0 GPA, and find out that I don't get accepted into any medical schools. People have asked me "how do you think your GPA will be at Ann Arbor?" and to be honest I DON'T KNOW since I've never actually taken classes at Ann Arbor and won't know until I go there. I would like it if people could share their opinions about what they do if they were in my situation AND explain their opinions (instead of just saying Ann Arbor is better duhh). Does the school one goes to really make a big difference for medical school? For those who have transferred from Dearborn to Ann Arbor, was there a significant dent in your GPA? Any opinions/comments will be appreciated! Sorry for the extremely long post.</p>
<p>The pros and cons you listed are exactly the same as the ones making my own decision tough, lol.</p>
<p>I made a thread about the importance of undergraduate prestige for med school (it’s in the pre-med forum on this website if you’re interested), except mine was for UMich-AA vs Wayne State. Most people said that the school you go to doesn’t have any effect on med admissions. I’ve also heard this from doctors and students I met at a hospital internship.</p>
<p>I’m not an expert on this by any means, but I think I would stay at Dearborn unless you totally hate it there. $60,000 is a hell of a lot of money if you don’t become a doctor.</p>
<p>Goto Ann Arbor
don’t be scared of your GPA dropping. If you have learned the study skills (and it seems you have) you should be fine at a2.
A2 will open many many more door for you than dearborn can.
and 60k isn’t that much in the grand scheme of things.</p>
<p>FYI, top publics like Berkeley and Michigan tend to have fairly low acceptances rate to medical school (in comparison to Duke, Northwestern and the like). Why exactly this is, I don’t really know. I highly doubt its the quality of applicants (although many with very low stats do apply, but there are many top students as well), as evidenced from the chart above. If you do well here, though, you can go to any medical school you want. I’m not sure the same can be said for Dearborn.</p>
<p>And, generally, where you do your undergraduate work is not particularly important, UNLESS you are aiming for the top schools. Adcoms do take into account prestige of undergraduate institution, but its not a make or break thing. MCAT and GPA are, far and away, the most important factors. </p>
<p>Ann Arbor is significantly better than Dearborn, but if you feel you won’t excel here (which isn’t hard if you put in the work), than I recommend you chose the latter. Med school admissions is becoming more and more a numbers game, which is pretty unfortunate IMO.</p>
<p>svtcobra, I was looking at your thread and it has a lot of relevance to my situation. Thanks for letting me know. Your situation seems very similar to mine.</p>
<p>CCRunner, you state that “if you feel you won’t excel here (which isn’t hard if you put in the work), than I recommend you chose the latter.” The thing is, I really don’t know how well I can do at Ann Arbor. From the people I have asked, I have gotten a WIDE range of opinions. Many people saying that it is impossible to get good grades while others saying I should be just fine. And btw, I’ve seen that chart before that you sent and I constructed one from the data I had on Dearborn pre-med students for the same year (though it was extremely difficult to compare it to Ann Arbor’s because of the very small sample size at Dearborn). </p>
<p>What I found: when I controlled for MCAT scores the % accepted was nearly identical to Ann Arbor’s with a few exceptions (there were no applicants in the 35+ category at Dearborn, the 20-24 MCAT category had about a ~7% acceptance compared to Ann Arbor’s 22%, and the below 20 MCAT category had a 0% acceptance compared to Ann Arbor’s 23%).</p>
<p>When I controlled for GPA, the percentages were significantly lower at Dearborn (obviously, the overall lower MCATs played a role in this). </p>
<p>The bottom line: applicants at Dearborn had lower stats and thus lower percentage of acceptances, BUT those with similar MCAT AND GPA had about the same chance being accepted to med school regardless of the school. </p>
<p>A disclaimer: the sample size was VERY small (35) that I had to use from Dearborn (not all had reported but I’d imagine this would only exclude a few). Because the sample size was so small the percentages were also very skewed and I would not be surprised if the percentages were completely different looking at data from another year.</p>
<p>So I guess I do agree with you that MCAT and GPA are by far the most important factors.</p>
<p>I would stay in Dearborn. For those exact reasons you’ve listed. I think premeds are some of the most risk-averse individuals, and I think it’s for good reasons. It it a numbers game, and one guy I know had a 3.2 GPA from MIT in an engineering discipline, with good MCAT scores and didn’t get into any med school, and had to do a post-bacc. He got into a very good med school later, and even though he was denied from all the med schools initially, he said that he still would have gone to MIT for the experience.</p>
<p>I think you have all the right ideas, and you understand the decision you are making, the pros and cons, right now you just have to make a decision for yourself. </p>
<p>What’s more important to you? If you stay at Dearborn, and maintain a 3.9-4.0, get a great MCAT score, do some volunteering/internship/research, and you’ll get into a med school. </p>
<p>If you come to Ann Arbor, your GPA will drop or at least you’ll end up spending more time studying, your surrounding environment/peers will change, maybe you might decide that med school isn’t for you anymore, and maybe that’ll be a good decision. What is certain is that you’ll be paying 60k for this experience. </p>
<p>So the idea is that, staying in Dearborn has almost a certain outcome, coming to Ann Arbor has uncertainties, it might be good or bad.</p>
<p>kb10, you make some really good points. Coming to Ann Arbor could open up many doors to me but then again I guess it could also close doors for me. As of now, I’ve paid my enrollment deposit for Ann Arbor but am not entirely sure if I’ll be going there. I think I might just stay at Dearborn and try my best here. </p>
<p>I’d like to pose a question for everyone and that is: how much would the prestige of UM - Ann Arbor play in med school admissions? Would adcoms prefer a student from Ann Arbor with a 3.8 GPA over a 4.0 Dearborn student given they have similar stats? I’m curious what people have to say.</p>
<p>“I’d like to pose a question for everyone and that is: how much would the prestige of UM - Ann Arbor play in med school admissions? Would adcoms prefer a student from Ann Arbor with a 3.8 GPA over a 4.0 Dearborn student given they have similar stats? I’m curious what people have to say.”</p>
<p>The MCAT is the great equalizer. If two students have identical GPA and MCAT, the Ann Arbor student is most likely going to be accepted. Med schools do, indeed, take into account rigor of ungraduate, and obviously, Michigan has the edge in that category. However, it really isn’t all that important. A 4.0 Dearborn student with a 32 MCAT and a 3.8 Ann Arbor student with a 32 MCAT, the Dearborn student will get in. That’s really how it works, it’s mostly a numbers game.</p>
<p>But, if you are aiming for Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Michigan and other top 15 schoos, I advise you to go to Ann Arbor. These schools pick their students largely from top undergrads. The lower ranked med schools, not so much.</p>
<p>Thanks, CCRunner. I guess for the top medical schools I have to go to a top undergraduate school. Is there any chance for me to get into a top medical school from UM-Dearborn? Let’s say if I can get a killer GPA and MCAT such as 4.0 & 39 (I know I’m being a bit optimistic here), do I still have a shot for top notch med schools coming from Dearborn? Or will lack of prestige at Dearborn put me down?</p>
<p>I have just enrolled at UM-D. I could have chosen AA, but decided that the choice was better for me at UM-D.</p>
<p>I did alot of research and found that UM-D, being a Tier 1 school was better than WSU, OU and right on par with MSU.</p>
<p>This is also something I found to be very interesting, I too am going to be applying for medical school when the time comes. So with that being said, I was going to make da** sure that this was a wise decision. Not sure if you had seen this but I will cut and paste it…</p>
<p>Graduates of the Universirt of Michigan- Dearborn are currently matriculated in a variety of professional programs (medical school)</p>
<p>The University of Michigan Medical School
Wayne Stats Medical School
MSU College of Human Medicine
MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine
Medical College of Ohio
Michigan State College Of Veterinary Medicine
University Of Michigan School of Dentistry
University of Detroit School Of Dentistry</p>
<p>I tried to paste this article in its entire context here, however it was in PDF format so I just typed the medical school acceptance instead. This article came directly from the UM-D website. </p>
<p>**Please shoot me an email, I would like to ask you some questions about UM-D’s pre-med society if you do not mind.</p>