<p>Is UNC a top tier premed program? What is the acceptance rate for UNC students that apply for medical school?</p>
<p>Top tier? No. Good. Yes.</p>
<p>I believe UNC is a large school that has no committee. So you will be on your own. If this is important to you it might be something to consider.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure they do have a committee</p>
<p>[Let</a> me google that for you](<a href=“LMGTFY - Let Me Google That For You”>LMGTFY - Let Me Google That For You)</p>
<p>Underlined, near the bottom of the page. It could mean that they just won’t do a letter. I just remember talking to a UNC student at a symposium and she mentioned something about “no committee”.</p>
<p>I was also amazed that a university pre health professional web page would have a link to “Naturopathic Medicine”!! Wow. Very strange.</p>
<p>S is a UNC grad ('08) and at that time there was no committee or letter.</p>
<p>Science departments are very strong at UNC and historically grads do well in med school applications. FWIW, there is a pretty strict grading curve in the sciences at UNC.</p>
<p>If you aren’t aware, out of state admission to UNC can be tougher than at many other privates. Students are often admitted to Duke and some Ivies like Columbia, Penn and Brown and rejected at UNC.</p>
<p>Is UNC a top tier premed program? What is the acceptance rate for UNC students that apply for medical school?</p>
<p>?? What is a “top tier premed program”??? And what determines such? There isn’t a ranking system for this. Is this just someone’s opinion so the answer will vary depending on who is answering? </p>
<p>As for the acceptance rate for any school, this really means nothing to you. All applicants are not presenting with the same stats nor are they all applying to the same mix of schools. </p>
<p>YOUR chances for acceptance will be high if you have top grades, a very good MCAT, and good ECs.</p>
<p>mom2ck</p>
<p>I believe the OP was asking about UNC undergrad being a good prep for med school. I was referring to undergrad admission for an OOS student, not med school admission.</p>
<p>If the OP is OOS it’s important to know about it since no decisions have gone out yet and many are unaware of the short odds for OOS students.</p>
<p>iI believe the OP was asking about UNC undergrad being a good prep for med school. I was referring to undergrad admission for an OOS student, not med school admission.</p>
<p>I know that is what he’s asking. My point is that there’s no such thing as being a “top tier pre-med school.” That implies that there’s a list of undergrad schools that med schools look at as being better at providing applicanats. SOM Adcoms are not sitting around saying, “oooh, this applicant went to a top tier premed undergrad. Let’s accept her. Oh, too bad, this other one didn’t. Send out a rejection.”</p>
<p>I’ve spent a lot of time looking at the linked profiles of the premed applicants on that “other” premed website. I’ve looked at the profiles of students who’ve gone thru the last 2-3 app cycles. The kids from top 20 undergrads generally have similar stats to those who went elsewhere. Some have high GPAs, some have “ok” GPAs, and some have lowish GPAs (heck some even have 2.X GPAs). Some have very high MCATs, some have very good MCATs, and some have problem MCATs (very unbalanced or low). The same goes for the students who went elsewhere. </p>
<p>I’ve certainly noticed that those from top 20 (or so) schools are not given any forgiveness for having lesser GPAs, even with strong MCATs. They’re finding themselves outright rejected or never coming off WL. The lucky ones either finally get accepted to their “safety SOM,” or going to a DO school. Many of them end up reapplying the following year. </p>
<p>If the OP is OOS it’s important to know about it since no decisions have gone out yet and many are unaware of the short odds for OOS students.</p>
<p>Yes, very true. That said, the OP is instate for UNC. :)</p>
<p>He’s also a junior in HS.</p>
<p>you’re right that there isn’t really top tier pre-med per se, but there are top-tier schools and not top tier schools and where a student went is noted by the AdComs - at least certainly in the MD/PhD processs (witnessed first hand from my experience attending them for the students I interviewed). Of course it’s not as absurd as your example, but I have heard “how hard is it to get an A at X state university” for a kid with a 4.0 from a state flagship but no one asked how hard it was to get an A at an Ivy for a kid with a 3.8.</p>
<p>From my experience, any UG with good committee would be fine. committee was crucial in D’s application process.<br>
However, it is not crucial in others’ people experience, which is apparent from the fact that applicants get accepted from UG’s that do not have committee as well as older applicants who definitely do not rely on any committee.<br>
Your personal choice. At the top of criteria list is a good personal fit of student / specific UG. Other factors will have lesses effect, but again it is from the D’s experience, cannot comment on everybody else.</p>
<p>*and where a student went is noted by the AdComs - at least certainly in the MD/PhD processs *</p>
<p>Maybe things are different for the MD/XXX process. Could be. That process makes the regular MD app process look like a cake-walk. lol</p>
<p>I’m just not seeing that in the results on the profiles on that other forum. I’ve seen many kids from not-quite-but-close-Podunk-U’s get accepted at very good SOMs because of strong stats. I’ve seen kids from top undergrads have horrible results because various issues (GPA, MCAT, top-heavy list, etc). The name of their undergrad doesn’t seem to make a difference. </p>
<p>Being from Calif where the commonly-held wisdom was always, “don’t go to a CSU if you want to become a doctor,” I’ve seen profiles of CSU kids getting into UCSan Francisco and other very good SOMs.</p>
<p>Of course it’s not as absurd as your example</p>
<p>lol…yes, I was purposely being ridiculous, but sometimes that’s needed to get thru to young kids who think that a Top Undergrad is some kind of free pass to Harvard Med.</p>
<p>^I have seen the same and we are not in CA. In addition, I have known applicatns from no rank Med. School, the lowest on the list getting into amazing residencies. They were so good, that spouse of one of them has quit his very good position to follow his resident wife. He had to seek employment in locality where he had no connections whatsoever. He was very successful at that, but besides the point, apparently he followed his wife for a spectacular reason - Cardiology Residency at Mayo Clinic (she was coming from no-name Med. School in OH). And again, I know another one from Youngstown, OH Med School (specifically mentioned somewhere else as no-ranked anything), who also matched to Mayo Clinic residency. And he was from accelerated bs/md bashed so many times on various thread!! Yes, it took him only 6 years to complete BS and MD, so, apparently not only he did not have ANY type of significant name of school attached to his application, he was one of the youngest residents.<br>
Yes, work hard and you will be there too!!</p>
<p>I don’t know why I always get sucked into this conversation.</p>
<p>Maybe I’m being picky, maybe I’m not being clear, or maybe I’m not understanding what others are saying (or some combo of all 3), but I really don’t see how anything said after my post refutes the idea that the name of the school plays SOME role in the process.</p>
<p>“I’ve seen many kids from not-quite-but-close-Podunk-U’s get accepted at very good SOMs because of strong stats.”</p>
<p>The cream will always rise to the top, this does not refute the fact that the name of the school is A factor. I’ve never said it’s a huge factor but it is one of many factors and is certainly not one of the first, most important ones.</p>
<p>“I’ve seen kids from top undergrads have horrible results because various issues (GPA, MCAT, top-heavy list, etc).”</p>
<p>I’m sure they did. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they had better results than kids with various issues who are from not top undergrads. Again, I’m not saying that you can waltz in with a poor GPA or MCAT because you went to a top school but that’s a different statement from whether the name of the school has any impact.</p>
<p>“Being from Calif where the commonly-held wisdom was always, “don’t go to a CSU if you want to become a doctor,” I’ve seen profiles of CSU kids getting into UCSan Francisco and other very good SOMs.”</p>
<p>This doesn’t invalidate the statement that there are other schools in california that will provide you with a better chance of admission because of their name.</p>
<p>Miami, I can rattle off plenty of examples of people with super pedigrees who went from top undergrad to top med to top residency. I’ll certainly never say that that’s the only way to do it though.</p>
<p>I dont understand why this board shies so heavily away from subtlety and nuance. You can’t make a blanket statement like “undergrad makes no difference” when it’s simply not true. You can say undergrad name matters very little, you can say top schools aren’t worth the debt, you can say that there are plenty of opportunities to succeed without going to a top school, but none of those things change the fact that the name of the school you write on the application is factored in some way into the process. It’s like using the phrase “defense wins championships” (if you do well you will be fine) to mean that offense plays no role in the game (name of the school has zero impact)</p>
<p>High school to college is basically an exaggeration of this. The top students from poor high schools still get into great colleges. The real difference between your average school and a prep school isn’t the valedictorian, it’s that the kids at the bottom are better. If your med school app is phenomenal you’re going to get in on that because everything will far outweigh the omission of a top school’s name. As you start to slide down the spectrum though the name of the school will start to carry more weight. I’m still not going to say it ever plays a huge factor because you all are right that it’s definitely not a component that makes or breaks an application but that’s different from saying it’s not a factor in any way shape or form.</p>
<p>
This is an interesting point. If my memory serves me well, some CCer (maybe BDM?) mentioned a similar point, along the line that when a student’s GPA is around 3.5 (maybe +/- 0.1), his school name could possibly come to “rescue” to a certain extent. If his GPA is below this, his big school name would not save him. If his GPA is above this, his school name does not have the boost effect but he does not need such a boost either. </p>
<p>Another CCer (I forgot who pointed this out, maybe norcalguy?) mentioned that, if you have a high stats from a big name school, it is likely you could have a little bit slack in the area of ECs. You still need a reasonably level of your ECs, but it does not have to be as “astonishing” as the one from not-quite-but-close-Podunk-U. – Heck…a CCer once pointed out that this could be the case for DS, who had a relatively good stats (his LizzyM = 10*GPA+MCAT-1 = 77) from a big name school, but has never been a super-enthusiastic premed like “I-have-always-wanted-to-be-a-doctor-since-middle-school”. He’s relatively balanced as a student/person though; whenever the interviewers of a med school noticed his non-premed-centric ECs and complimented him on this, he got into that school. It appears that at least some med schools like a student who is good enough in academics but still has some other intense interests out of academics.</p>
<p>Brown,
You are too tense, just take it easy, people have different experiences, and we are sharing them. The key is DIFFERENT. What would be the reason for any sharing, if we all have exactly the same lives / experiences / surroundings. The existances of discussions indicate that what people find here would be different from poster to poster. There is not reason to get annoyed with that. WE ARE NOT TRYING TO RECONCILE OUR DIFFERENCES HERE, we are trying to show how everybody is different. That is why my advice is always RELY ON YOUR OWN, treat your own desires and goals with utmost respect, advise from others is always secondary. And if you want my personal life story, I never ever listen to others and my family knows about it. I am very thankful to my stubborness, it got me where I am now. I would be in a deep hole if I listen to others. But again, this is my personal approach and we do not have to put disclaimers on every post, like you want us to do. It is assumed.</p>
<p>mcat2,
I wholeheartedly agree with " It appears that at least some med schools like a student who is good enough in academics but still has some other intense interests out of academics." The contribution of these kids si great and schools know about it. they calm down everybody around them, bring them down to earth, try to live a normal as possible, There are lots of very intense people who need to be balalnced out, otherwise it will be psychologically unbearable. This is again from my prospective as a mother of a girl, I know that boys are not affected that much. Have to put disclaimer or…</p>
<p>Intense? I thought it is by and large a trademark of med school students as it is that kind of personality which gets them there.</p>
<p>With this said, I agree with you that when people are intense most of the time, it will even make him/her less effective in learning.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I am the parent who is sometimes accused by my child being intense. As he grows up, my strategy to help with our relationship is to try to keep my mouth shut (e.g., keep my opinions mostly to myself) unless absolutely I could not control myself. I have been quite successful on this during the previous holiday. I did not say a work that wolg get on his word (partly because I was down with the flu so I kept myself some distance from him. lol.) But I know my weakness.</p>
<p>DS did mentioned he had met two MD-PhDs who as he described are friendly but intense. (One was his TA in college, the other is his current classmate – who studies real hard,) It appears to be that he does not mind being with intense people, as long as they are not their parents. (Being an intense parent is a big “no-no”, IMO.)</p>
<p>My advice to my D. has always been to stay away from intense people. She has many friends who are like her, down to earth, other interests. Being with intense people is unavoidable in med. School. She is not used to them, she has been avoiding them her entire life. Well, here is personal growth lesson, and she is lookng positively to this new experience. However, emotionally she is affected and she is learning to cope with it. Nope, she has not been intense, she has been extremly busy in her life with very wide range of unrelated interests that has helped her to be who she is now. But she also recognized that others have a different approach in their lives, what works for one might not work for another. But intense people are not part of D’s regular crowd, not her personal choice.</p>
<p>Oh trust me, I know everyone has different experiences, but if I gave everyone advice solely based on my experiences it would be useless to the large majority of people posting here because, as you said, they have different experiences. That’s why I try to give generalizable advice and when I can’t I make it clear that what I’m saying may or may not apply to them.</p>
<p>That being said there are certain things about this process that are universally true. Someone else just posted in another thread that it makes no difference if you go Harvard. You just have to be deluding yourself if you think there is zero impact of having Harvard on your app. Again, I’m not saying everyone should think “Harvard or bust,” but just because there are plenty of good reasons to avoid Harvard or where the boost from Harvard is not needed/overshadowed doesn’t not mean the boost from Harvard doesn’t exist.</p>
<p>I’m not annoyed. This doesn’t affect me. I’m just confused as to why people don’t want to acknowledge the complexity of it all and be willing to admit that there is a middle ground between “vital” and “meaningless.” I feel bad for the kids who come on here looking for advice without even enough advice to know that not everything said here is dogma and seeing things written as factual statements by people who do not intend for them to be factual statements. ([The</a> Washington Monthly](<a href=“http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/028869.php]The”>http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/028869.php))</p>
<p>And if looking out for the interest of others and trying to get the best possible information available to students and parents of applicants makes me intense then I don’t want to be laid back.</p>