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<p>Are you sure about that? I tend to believe that 3.9 from a state beats 3.6 from Columbia, assuming that everything else is equal. Although there are indeed more people from the top schools who get accepted into prestigious med schools, I think the factors (MCAT, ECs) besides the GPA are at play here.</p>
<p>If what ChoklitRain said (that is, “3.6 at Columbia doesn’t beat a 3.9 at any decent university.”) is true, this begs a question:</p>
<p>Statistically speaking, is it easier to get 3.6 at Columbia than 3.9 at a state (a decent one) or the other way around? Here, let us assume that the stat (SAT or ACT, GPA) of the students we are talking about are at the 50 percentile of all the students who are admitted to Columbia. In other words, will most medical schools (excluding the top-20 ones) mostly likely reward or “punish” such students who chose to go to a prestigious school just because he gets a 3.6 there?</p>