<p>Not only my D., but every one of her pre-med friends at her state public UG (no top 50 at all) got accepted to multiple SOM and my D. actually had hard time deciding between 2 top 20s (while she had applied to only 8 schools). More so, the adcom of the SOM that she had finally selected had called her pre-med advisor expressing a great hope to have her and one of her pre-med friends as Medical Students there and apologizing at the same time for inability to offer any Merit award because of unbelivable caliber of applicants coming with advanced degrees (including PhD from Harvard, several Masters of Science (some from JHU), lawyers…etc).<br>
D. had 2 aceptances in her hands couple of hours after midnight on the day that SOM could let them know (I believe it is Oct. 15 or 16). One of them was a personal call from the Dean of admission.<br>
Importnace of the UG rank and reputation seems to be a myth…at least in many many cases around us. D. had many frineds in her private HS who had MD parents. And these families do not care at all where their pre-med kids are going to UG, as long as it was a cheapest (in many cases free) option. They did not want their kids to deal with loans the way that they had. I have talked to several of them.<br>
Paying for UG in case of the top caliber student who is planning to attend a Med. School seems not a good idea by many (most) around here who get acceted to Med. Schools relying strictly on their hard working ethic.</p>