Easier college for future MD?

prof2dad
Thu, 03 Nov 2016 12:10:07 +0000

To the OP, if you want to target those medical schools located in your own state, “easier colleges” will be fine. Medicine is viewed by universities and medical schools as a public good. The admission policy tends to take a better care of their own residents and state college graduates because these new MDs tend to serve their own state residents in the future. Thus, you do not need to spend a lot of money on expensive private colleges if you are happy with those medical schools in your state.

In contrast, if you want to target those very top, elite medical schools, the strategy of choosing “easier colleges” often does not yield good results. Take Stanford as an example, about 20% of MD students whose most recent degrees are from Stanford itself; about 25% from Ivy schools, about 25% from the other top 30 national colleges, and about 20% from CA’s own state universities, mostly UCB, UCLA, UCI, and UCSD. This left about 10% of its MD slots to international students, other still-not-so-easy (beyond top 30) colleges, and “easier colleges.”