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Such statistics tell college applicants something about the strengths and culture of a school, in this case that St. Olaf is better than average at producing successful medical school applicants.
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@vonlost
The stats, unfortunately, do not tell college applicants that. Not only do schools manipulate their reported med school acceptance rates, they often highly influence who should apply.
And as far as being better than average…it’s not that hard for a non-Calif school to be better than average. The Calif schools, which produce 12% of the nation’s med school applicants have a lowish acceptance rate so it influences the overall national average.
@ColdinMinny
Again…undergrads do not “place” students into med schools. Mayo only accepted 1.8% of applicants. How many do you think we’re applicants from Olaf?
I wouldn’t be surprised if qualified Olaf instate students applying to UMinn are successful. Since only 18% of UMinn SOM’s applicants are instate, yet 84% of the med school are instate students, then instate students have a much easier time getting in.
I would be surprised if Admissions knows what the PreHealth dept is doing.
Either way, the school weeds, just like any other school. So, in that regard they are screening who goes forward. Sure, some stubborn student with a 2.8 GPA or lousy MCAT might insist on applying, but more likely the weaker students have been encouraged to move onto other career paths long before the end of junior year.
^ this is too categorical. As far as I know, the school doesn’t weed. The advising system is very good and classes small, so the environment is very supportive - and you can’t expect all would be premeds - up to a third of an entering class - to actually be motivated by Med school once they discover all kinds of other subjects and possible careers. And, like Carleton and Macalester , they have a partnership with Mayo (in particular, summer internships for sophomores and juniors.)
However, the point is moot if the student can’t afford it.
Op: for merit scholarships = show interest right now.
Look into Illinois Wesleyan, Concordia Moorhead, Gustavus Adolphus, Earlham.
Places where your state of origin would help because Of geographical diversity include such universities as Tufts, Dickinson, Skidmore, URochester, women’s colleges, Tulane…
Your ND status will interest a lot of east and west coast colleges.
Again, I know faculty at Olaf, and they truly don’t weed. However, I am also confident they tell some kids they don’t have a realistic shot after the MCAT’s come back, and they change their plans. But Olaf does a good job prepping kids for Med School. They have many students interested, and they have a good program to coordinate studying for the MCAT’s, etc.
Having said all that, I would still suggest the OP take a look/visit at Creighton. I was super impressed with their Pre Med program there, and we visited 3 times.
Finally, the ND geographic diversity is certainly a plus. Trinity U in San Antonio would love to take a talented student like the OP, and they do very well with Med School too.
Good luck!