<p>In case anyone had any doubts about just how competitive it is to get into medical school, US News and World Report has helpfully compiled statistics</a> for the 10 schools with the lowest admission rate. Briefly, the schools with the lowest admissions rate (from lowest to highest) are: Mayo, GWU, Wake Forest, Stanford, Georgetown, Brown, Rush, Howard, UCLA, and University of Vermont.</p>
<p>It’s a good find, and it highlights the thing that I’ve been trying to tell folks. Admissions is not an efficient market. Selectivity and excellence are not very tightly linked. (Bearing in mind that all U.S. M.D. programs are excellent and selective at baseline, so we’re only discussing degrees here.)</p>
<p>This list has Stanford and UCLA, but it also has Rush and Howard and everything in between. In light of the math, I don’t think anybody should ever apply to schools like GWU, Georgetown, and Rush.* It just doesn’t make any sense.</p>
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<p>**I can imagine some situations where you would, e.g. if you live in D.C. and traveling to the interview would be really easy or something.*</p>
<p>^GWU may have such a low admission rate because their class is mostly filled by the combined programs they have? StB/GWU, GWU/GWU, … For that matter, how about AMC? They have a number of combined programs too.</p>
<p>I wonder what the SLU medschool admission rate is. Their combined program starts with 120 students enrolled? Isn’t it bigger than a typical medschool class size? Although the high attrition rate and almost half of the remaining trasferring out, they probably have to pick 60 or more for a 100 class size.</p>
<p>^ Usually, out of the many that enroll in SLU’s program, 30 or so matriculate to SLU Med.</p>
<p>Similar to undergrad admissions, isn’t part/(most?) of the statistical issue related to the fact that students apply to 20+ med schools., but can only attend one. UCLA receives the applications in the country for undergrad, but that does not make it more selective than Cal. Tulane receives nearly as many apps for undergrad as UCLA, but clearly is a LOT less selective than the top UCs; nor is it as selective as Emory.</p>
<p>Sure, we all can understand Mayo. I can almost understand GU and GWU – location, location, location. And, Brown: Ivy (brand), in the NE, and a whole lot less competitive than Harvard, Penn, or Cornell-Weill. </p>
<p>Some of these others might be considered matches/safeties (and yes I use the term VERY loosely). For example, someone who really likes the midwest and knows that Chicago and Northwestern are real stretches might apply to Rush. And, if said student is accepted to a higher-ranked school, they withdraw their Rush app.</p>
<p>Do y’all really believe that Wake is that selective? Why?</p>
<p>Right, obviously you can’t view this without paying attention to average/median MCAT and GPA. But from what I’ve seen, admissions percentages are much more telling than people seem to give them weight for.</p>
<p>But remember that these are admissions percentages, not eventual matriculant percentages.</p>
<p>So no, I still don’t see it. With some very isolated exceptions, I would never advise anybody to apply to Brown, Georgetown, Rush, or George Washington. There’s just no point.</p>
<p>Anyone have any speculation on those schools? Do they offer more merit money? International-friendly?</p>
<p>Any guesses on why Georgetown is so popular? DC? Top Catholic med?</p>
<p>Or GW?</p>
<p>Interestingly, both Brown & GW have 7/8 year programs. Georgetown is known for its SMP. Do those special programs provide extra marketing/branding which generates more apps? </p>
<p>While Rush does not offer instate discounts, it does favor instate residents. (msar mcat of 30).</p>
<p>Mid-tier + approachable stats + location = a billion apps.</p>
<p>Certainly location plays an important part. I’m willing to bet that Boston U and Tufts are close to being on that list.</p>
<p>Simply put there are so many colleges in Boston and DC (or very close to these cities - Wake has all the Dukies/UNC grads too) that a great many people apply there because it’s close, throw in the people who view these locations as a “destination” and you get a lot of people applying for very few spots. The numbers get further inflated by the fact that these schools typically matriculate a population that’s a step down from their admission cohort. So the data that gets reported in the MSAR is a fairly reasonable GPA and MCAT score for their matriculating class (or at least it was once upon a time when I was applying for med school…which seems like forever ago), further increasing their draw to applicants who find themselves on the margins of their state schools.</p>
<p>To further illustrate the point compare these private schools to some place like Creighton - a place where the entering stats are probably even lower, but if you’re from the coasts do you really want to move to Omaha, Nebraska? Being a native Midwesterner, I guess that you probably don’t. And if you care even an iota about prestige I can guarantee that Creighton is not on your radar simply because of location (though I’ll gladly debate you on why prestige shouldn’t matter).</p>
<p>Does anyone know anything about the Knox Rush program? How many students make it to Rush med school? I am debating between Knox and SLU med scholars. Could use some help.</p>