Deciding Between Programs

OP probably chose correctly. However, the figures in #32 are not telling me that UChicago college grads with the intent to attend Med School are less competitive than their counterparts in peer schools. That seems quite improbable in view of the rather small differentials in grade point averages between Chicago and the other schools and the quite comparable levels of intelligence and accomplishment of Chicago grads.

The explanation must certainly be that fewer of the kids attracted to UChicago culture are also attracted to the profession of Medicine, not that those so attracted won’t be proportionally successful. In a previous era I knew only a couple of kids at Chicago who aspired to be doctors. I myself toyed briefly with the idea and even took a course in vertebrate biology. This was a departure for me as a literary type, and I quite enjoyed it, in part because unlike literary studies it was so rooted in plain factuality. However, I realized in due course that these and related studies were not the ones near my heart.

I read these statistics as a further confirmation that Chicago is indeed rather different from the peer schools. They should be remembered the next time someone on this board denies that assertion.