<p>For med school admission GPA and MCAT matter a ton more than reputation of school unless you’re applying to your undergrad’s medical school. Part of the reason for this is the way USNews ranks medical schools. They take into account admissions selectivity so it doesn’t matter if the kid with a 2.9 got it from Caltech or Podunk, it will still hurt them in the ranking. Only when scores are equal may you get the nudge from attending a more elite school, but even then, there’s where the MCAT comes in as an equalizer.</p>
<p>That being said, some perspective is needed. Admission to med school does not solely rely on GPA and MCAT. To get into most of the best medical schools you will want to have research, clinical based internships under your belt, good recommendations, and great interviews. This is where attending a Top 30 school could come in handy (as they tend to have more resources to prepare/steer you for these aspects) as opposed to a not as selective a university. This probably explains why the good medical schools have many kids from top universities. Also, the GPA concern shouldn’t be so huge because even though you are in a more academically talented pool at a top university-two factors work to your advantage. These factors are grade inflation, and taking premed requirements at other universities. Grade inflation generally helps seeing as the average gpa at privates is roughly a 3.3 as opposed to a 3.0 at publics. At top privates it can go as high as 3.5. Granted, as anyone who attends top schools will tell you, the “correction factor” is probably not enough to counter the increased difficulty given the academic depth of the student body. However, something few people know before coming into college is that you dont have to take all your orgo, physics, and bio classes at your home university. Taking them at a community college or at an easier university during the summer works just as well. As long as you don’t take all or most of your requirements at another university this won’t count against you in medical school admissions. Also, these courses will provide the talented student the required knowledge to still do well on the MCATs. </p>
<p>As long as finances are not an issue and you enjoy the school, with careful planning attending a top college will increase your chances of admission to medical school-not decrease it.</p>