Some background first: I’m currently attending a top 20 school and around this time (grades released) of the semester, everyone at my school moans about how all of their “state school friends” are posting on facebook about making straight As, saying things such as “you can’t spell stAte school without an A” and such. Personally, I think that making straight As at any school should be something to be proud of and applauded for. However, I feel terrible because I finished first semester of pre-med with a 2.6 GPA, which is nowhere near the level I should be achieving in order to apply for medical school. I do recognize the numerous personal problems which led to this, but considering that the STEM classes at my school are generally very tough, my GPA may still be slightly subpar by the time I do apply. So my question is, will my UG school an its programs be taken into consideration when I do apply, and more generally, is it better to achieve at a higher level in a state school or perform at a lower level at a more challenging university, specifically for pre-meds?
To put everything into perspective, I chose to attend the private school over my state school because I wanted to be challenged and to learn and apply things at a deeper, more extensive level, but I would be incredibly disappointed if that decision misaligns with my future goal of attending a good medical school.
Let me start by saying that I think your friends are vastly exaggerating how “easy” grading is at your state school. (D1 graduated from a state school and D2 graduated from a top 30 private so I have some basis for comparison.)
Some things to consider–there will be more people in your pre-reqs classes at a state school and consequently more kids will get weeded out and the grading curves will be a whole lot steeper. Consider also that at your state schools, there’s always a large cohort of high achieving kids, all clustered in the STEM majors. Ones who could have been accepted at a top private U (and probably were), but elected for whatever reason (often financial) to go to the state U. (As an example, D1 had as a classmate in all her physics–and chem and math-- classes, a guy who was co-authoring journal articles with Kip Thorne at Cal Tech as a college freshman. Now imagine that guy setting the curves in your science & math classes.)
All in all, there’s no guarantee that you will experience better academic success at your state school.
Ideally you should achieve at a high level no matter where you go to school.
But generally speaking, the name of your undergrad does not buy you any GPA bump with med school admissions.
There are a tiny handful of exceptions, but it’s not something you can count on since it’s not universal. Also the bump, if given, tends to quite small. The name of your undergrad will never make a 2.6 GPA look like a 3.8 to adcomms.
Based on your other posts, you're a Questbridge scholar and received a very generous FA package from your college.
If you transfer, what are the financial consequences?
Transfer students are only rarely awarded merit and often get poor FA.
Will you be able to afford to attend another college without taking out excessive loans?
I actually have no intention of transferring due to the financial consequences you mentioned (graduating debt-free is too nice). However, I want to thank you for the comparison you made between state vs private schools because the “easiness” of state schools is a common topic around this time of the year, which may have misled me. I do know all the places where I messed up this semester, so hopefully I’ll be able to pull my GPA up to a reasonable number after a couple more years.
@NIGHTLOCK
I wish you the best of luck with your next semester.
I suggest that you plan to apply to med school after graduation. This will give you extra time to remediate your GPA and strengthen your application.
Remember the journey to med school is a marathon, not a sprint.
You got to quit all comparisons to others and start focusing on your own circumstances. Whatever school you choose, that is what you have. Learn to deal with your own situation without thinking that others may have it easier or harder - it is pretty irrelevant to you at this point, do not even read all that garbage on Social Media, it will make you only feel worse.
Just focus on having an A in every class going forward. It is possible with the certain degree of effort. Apparently you got to step up in your efforts! Do whatever it takes. If you feel that help is needed, seek help! If you feel that you understand everything, but have a tiny bit of doubt about understanding of one little concept - seek help, do not hesitate, your tuition is paying not only for the lectures, it is paying for all prof’s office hours, for all Supplemental Instruction’s hours! There are also informal group studies, students just meet up in impromptu type of sessions and discuss certain topics. Some have easier time with the material while explaining to others while these others have easier time understanding their peers vs profs during lectures. Just do not hesitate, do not feel that it is “beneath you” seeking help (and many feel so, believe it or not). Your goal is an A, liking class or disliking class is irrelevant, having easy time or having the hardest time in a class is also irrelevant, you just have to do whatever it takes.
Best wishes!
Thank you! @MiamiDAP for the advice. I plan on doing exactly as you suggested going forwards and many of the things you mentioned are extreme accurate with regards to how I felt last semester!
I belong to a couple of Facebook parents groups associated with my kids’ state undergrad. Yes, I’ve seen some posts about STEM students getting “all A’s,” but most of the “All A’s” reports have come from non-premed students who are majoring in non-STEM, non-academic majors. So, I’ve seen a bunch of “all A’s” communication majors, and PR majors, etc.
I’ve also seen a fair number of posts from bewildered parents who are wondering why their “child who never got a B during their entire K-12” is suddenly doing poorly in Bio I or Gen Chem I.
Premed is hard at every decent school.
my advice- you need to lower science courseload per semester- take one pre med class (gen bio, chem, etc) for the next semester and no more. Clearly you cannot handle pre med course- even if that means you can’t apply to med school after junior year. 3.5 from arizona state will have a better chance than 2.7 from ivies.
Another suggestion is if your school is known to have certain hard pre med classes and you know certain state schools offer easier pre med classes, it’s ok to take one or two pre med classes outside of your school during summer. It will cost you $$$, but could help with your GPA.
Also there are ways to boost your BCPM GPA- take easier classes like stats, or certain neuroscience classes, bio research classes, etc.
Also unless you are a URM, if you look at MSAR, most average GPA for accepted for med schools (not just harvards, ivies) is 3.7-3.8. Obviously there’s a range of GPAs and osteopathic schools are lower, but you need to pull it up to at least 3.5 which means you really need to well (like 3.7-3.8 in subsequent semesters) to bring it up