“Although you can choose any major before med school (provided you fulfill certain course requirements), these schools have particularly strong offerings in pre-med fields and have a high acceptance rates into medical school:”
https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/top-pre-med-colleges/
Additional schools:
https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/infographics/top-feeders-medical-school
Once you are out in the world, people don’t ask you where you went to college. It just doesn’t come up. I am an Ivy grad with a fancy pedigree and if anything, I keep it under wraps because people are intimidated or look at me differently—not always in a good way. I prefer people get to know me without knowing my background. I want them to say “she did a great job on that project” not “she went to x.”
For med school, also don’t worry about it. To get in you need top grades and MCATs, and it doesn’t matter from where. Where I live, some unis and colleges with more mediocre reps have agreements with med schools for seven year BA/MD programs. You don’t go to a so-called “top school”. but you are guaranteed med school admission.
I think it’s interesting that a number of the schools in the list above of colleges with good med school placement success are LACs. Probably ones that the OP has never heard of. I think that speaks to the importance of faculty guidance and interaction with undergrads possible at smaller schools as another positive indicator for med school acceptance.
General prestige of the undergraduate university is not a key factor for med schools, on the other hand. The admissions committees at med schools and PhD programs are much move savvy than the typical “man on the street” when it comes to the colleges that provide potential students for their programs. They are fully aware that schools like Juniata or St. Olaf are excellent schools even if they aren’t as well known as JHU, WUSTL, or UMich.
Also, to avoid disappointment in the future, I’d advise the OP that it is important not to confound popularity with admissions prospects. For example, while UMich (one of the “top schools” n the OP’s opinion at USNWR #27) has an acceptance rate of 26% compared to #34-ranked GTech (a safety) with an acceptance rate of 32% and #32-ranked URoch (another “safety”) at 34%. The GPA and test scores of admitted freshmen at the “safeties” are basically the same as, if not a little higher than, those of the freshmen at Michigan. The difference between the safeties and JHU and WUSTL is a little more pronounced, but comes down to a point or two on the ACT or .05 points on 4-point GPA.
For most students aiming for med school, net cost should be a major factor in choosing a college.
That’s good advice with respect to merit scholarships.
On the other hand, for need-based financial aid, the most selective schools tend to be the most generous.
At some of them, you pay nothing if your family makes less than $60K (which is higher than the national median income), and still can get some FA even with a family income over $200K/year. It all depends on your own circumstances, though. Run the online Net Price Calculators for any schools that interest you; carefully review merit scholarship guidelines that may be available.
https://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/threads/app-season-has-started-goros-guide-to-the-app-process.1261279/
Although there are many well respected adcoms who post on SDN, Goro is one who regularly posts and offers incredibly useful info to wannabe MDs. Although the above post is long, read it over and you’ll see what’s important to being a successful med school applicant are, in part, one’s GPAs. MCAT, and ECs, not where you go to college.
http://www.nrmp.org/match-data/main-residency-match-data/
Jumping way, way ahead on med career pathway, look at the results of 2016 NRMP Program Director Survey above. After med school comes residency training (ie a newly minted MD’s first job.) To get this first job requires, in part, one being offered an interview after applying, and two getting ranked by the program. The link above lists what factors are important to programs in deciding whether to offer an interview (Figure 1) and getting ranked by program (figure 2). To translate for you, what’s important in getting an interview (figure 1) is mainly dependent on how you did in med school, where you went to med school is not so important to the residency Program Directors. What’s important in getting ranked by a program (figure 2) is how you did in med school and whether or not a Program Director thinks you’ll fit in, where you go to med school again is not so important to the residency Program Directors.
So although not of zero importance, getting into med school and getting your first job post med school is much more related to your performance in college and in med school, not the schools you attend. So yes it’s okay to go to a non top school. Find a college (there are many) where you think you’ll fit as if you’re happy you’re more likely to do well GPA wise. Consider colleges where you will graduate with as little debt, if any, as possible as med school is incredibly expensive and most borrow their way through. Good luck.
Thanks, all. Most of you have been really helpful and I’m going to reconsider my choices. GATech has moved up in my priorities due to the in-state tuition as well as my in-state scholarships. Most of the reasonably dedicated kids from my school get into Tech, so I’ve had a lot of examples and such to show me the competitiveness of it. I’m looking for actual safeties now and I’ve found a few I actually wouldn’t mind going to.
I still will apply to WashU, ED probably, and UMich because I love the school, also Hopkins just to try because its my dream-school. Otherwise, I’m still considering my options, thanks to everyone for setting my mindset right.
You can’t go wrong with GT. Going with free tuition is even better.
The received wisdom is that medical school admission depends much more upon GPA and MCAT scores than upon the supposed “prestige” on the undergraduate institution.
In short, the path to med school differs from the path to a prestige-obsessed field like investment banking or high-end management consulting.