<p>i looked through some of the previous threads and found some info on this topic, like it's better to go to a easier school and get a higher GPA vs going to a extremely competitive school with a lower GPA.
is this true??
in my case i want to go into dentistry and im applying to UCLA however if i dont get in my back ups are UC davis and irvine. would there be an advantage for me to just go to ucd or uci b/c it would be easier to keep up my GPA then at ucla?
and would ucd and uci prepare me well enough to even have a chance in getting into dental school??</p>
<p>1.) It's unclear how undergraduate institutions interplay with other factors.</p>
<p>2.) There are DEFINITELY some schools that are more prestigious AND easier.</p>
<p>3.) You have an obligation to learn as much as you can, to prepare yourself for future challenges, and to pursue excellence. In some cases, this will be a lesser ranked school, because the rankings are not always accurate. (For example, does anybody really doubt that Chicago students are better prepared than US News gives them credit for?)</p>
<p>4.) Going to a more poorly ranked school will increase the importance of your MCAT score. Furthermore, you have "wiggle room" at UCLA that you will not have at UCD in your GPA.</p>
<p>How much of a chance do I have going to a "Poorly ranked" school of getting into an ivy med school? Let's say I have a 3.7 GPA and 38-40 MCAT. Using those stats and coming from a third tier (by US News) college. Please be honest, this is all I can think about.</p>
<p>I'm currently in the app process, NewYorkYankee, and I'm applying to a few Ivies. My MCAT's on the higher side and my GPA's on the lower side of each school's average, so in terms of numbers, I figure I'm a fit. However, there are a bazillion kids with my numbers and better, so in terms of getting an interview, it's going to boil down to our activities and our essays. Everything I've heard from my university, NYU, basically has been, "Numbers ain't enough." You have to show that you're interested in people and that you can do things other than schoolwork.</p>
<p>In short, giving a school name and some statistics about you says very little about your changes because there are some other very significant things that factor into the process.</p>
<p>Dude, if you can give them an index of 78 (and I don't think it's realistic to assume that), then yeah, you'll be competitive anywhere.</p>
<p>Notice:</p>
<p>1.) I am not promising you an admission.</p>
<p>2.) I am also not telling you that your school doesn't matter. If you were a 3.6, 35, and aiming for, say, Duke or Penn Med, then I think school might matter a lot more. If you were presenting an index of 60, then joint degrees from Harvard, MIT, and Oxford couldn't save you.</p>
<p>3.) A 40 on the MCAT is the 99.8th percentile. If you honestly think you're in the top 1/500th of all MCAT takers, then knock yourself out, but that's an unrealistic thing to assume.</p>
<p>I like all of these "if i go to a poorly ranked school but I get a 4.0 and a 40 how competitive will I be?" questions. Sure, we're going to tell you that you'll be competitive (that's obvious) but how likely is it that you'll get a 38-40 (99th percentile)?</p>
<p>"Schools" don't use the index officially. It's just a handy abbreviation.</p>
<p>A "good" index depends on the rest of your application (high MCAT scores can compensate for somewhat weaker extracurriculars) and what kind of schools you're aiming at. Generally I held that I wanted an index at least three points above a school's average if I wanted a reasonable shot at getting in.</p>