<p>@artloversplus
I really feel for you and your d’s situation. It doesn’t seem fair, does it?</p>
<p>Yes, if someone gets a 4.0 and a 35 or 36 on the MCAT, then likely they will get into a med school, even if they attended a lower CSU. That said, I wonder if there are many such kids at lower CSU? I would guess a tiny number. Calif publics are still a bit old-school in the idea that UCs are “premed” and CSUs aren’t. And, when you consider how hard it is to be a Calif premed, why further handicap yourself by going to a lower CSU? At least if you attend a Cal Poly or a top CSU, you’d have more of a fighting chance. </p>
<p>As you have already concluded, your D probably would have fared better in the med school race if she had gone to a different undergrad (this is sad to consider), but I don’t think the choice was simply UChi or a CSU. Your D could have gone to a number of other schools: Creighton or Loyola Chicago or Tulane or Grinnell or SLU or any mid-tier school (with generous merit), and she would have likely gotten a better GPA and be accepted to a few MD schools. </p>
<p>I keep hoping that your D will get an II from a MD school because she deserves it. It’s not fair. You have spent a ton of money, your D did well, and you can’t help but feel that the results should be different. </p>
<p>I always get an uneasy feeling when I see prospective premeds looking for an undergrad to attend and they have their sights on top schools like ivies and UChi. And when they get accepted, they naturally celebrate and believe that this will be just the next step on their way to med school. But, then they find out that they’re competing with the best of the best.</p>
<p>When my son was a freshman in college, I ran into an old friend whose son was a frosh at Yale…of course she was thrilled that he was there. They were full-pay at Yale, while I paid very little for my son because of large merit awards. We both shared that our boys were premed. Her son and my son had similar high school stats. (I am nearly certain that she thought it was crazy for my son to go to mid-tier public flagship.) Within a couple of years, her son no longer had med-school worthy stats. They kick themselves for going that route. Naturally, they have concluded that their son would have had a better GPA at a school where he would have shined. I am not saying that going elsewhere would have been a cakewalk, it wouldn’t have been. It’s just that he would have likely had a few more A’s instead of B’s. </p>