<p>Hey eveyone. Im a senior who recently graduated from high school and I have an ambition to do pre-med in college (yea, I kno, take a number!). During many conversations with my friends, they would tell me, 'ohh shoot for an Ivy, you'll likely get into one,' and, 'you'll benefit so much from the networking you can do, you'll be more successful, blah, blah...' So I applied to 3 ivys and two staate schools; Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, University of Maryland College Park, and University of Maryland Baltimore County. I was accepted into all but Columbia (snobbish bastards). Because of the whopping 52,000 per year price tag on Cornell and Dartmouth, I decided to choose College Park. I'm fine with my decision, but many friends and familiy members continue to express disappointment that I didn't go to one of the Ivy's My question is this: On the path to becoming a doctor, will one who attended an Ivy league for their bachelors degree have a significant advantage over one who attended a regular state school? I mean, do Ivy league doctor hopefuls have better access to residencies and internships at more prestigous hospitals or something? (Note that I am only speaking of attending an Ivy league for your first bachelors degree, of course I'll work my tail off to get into a prestigous med school) Please, help me ppl!</p>
<p>It doesn't matter where you do your undergrad when you start applying for residencies. </p>
<p>There's always the chance encounter you'll have with someone from your alma mater who happens to be in a position of influence, and I suppose it's possible that at the more competitive residencies there's a concentration of Ivy undergrads, but it's not going to do much except perhaps make you more memorable to that one person...</p>
<p>honestly, from what ive heard from many people including my father who is a doctor is that for med school, it doesnt really matter where you go, or pre-med even. its different for law and all. but medicine, i think wherever you go, you will be a doctor either way. so yeah :]</p>
<p>many of todays modern societies great physicians did not necessarily graduate from Ivies, rather smaller colleges near them... if you exclude the history of a few greats in certain sub-specialties for instance neurosurgery, you'll find that most attended local universities and local med colleges and PRACTICE at what you consider great med schools... My mentor has met about 30 medical students from harvard, and says that he has never seen the weakest trained med students until he saw them... Again, my mentor is a neurosurgeon and he met these med students on their last year... so it does not matter where you go to school per-say... rather can you thrive in that school, gain connections, make changes, and get noticed so you can PRACTICE and obtain residency at a great place... its doesnt matter where you study, rather where you practice is going to make a greater impact...</p>
<p>Wow, this is really insightful. Thanks alot!</p>
<p>No problem Aturay12....</p>
<p>to be honest if you do undergrad at a prestigious place... it will benefit with connections... but you'd have to work twice as hard etc in standing out more... thus if you go to a smaller school with a strong program in whatever your majoring, you'll benefit more in which you can earn good grades and THRIVE making impressions on many people.</p>
<p>Unlike business (and probably law) medicine doesn't require you to go to Ivy league. Hell everyone needs a doctor and there's shortage of nurses; so medicine is always in high demand! I was once considering to be a doctor until I realize A) I dot like science, B) I refuse to to spent many years in school and wont start my career until my mid 30's.So I turn to business instead since some sectors don't require MBA and they only get it for either money or lessons. Remember physicians must go under residency then internment to become a full ledge doctor. That's why most the young ones are often either in their 30s & 40s because all that schooling then they retire 20-30 years later. Plus I hear they are cutting physician's pay check so it will be tough!</p>
<p>^^^syncastar, when an individual enters the field of medicine... money is the last thing on their mind... sometimes the idea of money is non-existent period... we enter this field because we love the idea/theory/philosophy on changing the world by aiding human beings.... So for us, the age factor is quite the last thing, and for however long we work isnt an issue because we work for the fun of it and for the enjoyment (though there are points where people hate it).... its a long track but its worth it...</p>
<p>this was exactly the question i was looking for or a thread for but i guess since u brought it up i will address it here:
is it better to go for a small undergrad college and get like 4.0 or prestigious undergrad and end up with 3.7 and apply to an IVY college. when applying for med school, do they look at where u got your undergrad? also do they hold prestigious universities higher over small schools? considering the MCAT score was same for 3.7 student at prestigous undergrad compared to 4.0 at small college, who would be more likely to get into a prestigous med school?</p>
<p>You should of went to cornell.</p>