Is Undergrad Really That Important?

[GoldShadow]

<p>

obviously a good undergrad is better than a state school. more opportunities. more challenging thus better MCAT. it’s probably harder on your GPA but hey. 3.6 from Columbia beats a 3.8, 3.9 from a state. just look at how many people get accepted from top 20 schools into prestigious med schools. then look at how many get in from ohio state.

I think you are seriously misinformed. Are you even in college yet?</p>

<p>“State school” and “good undergrad” are not mutually exclusive. MCAT scores, GPAs, and medical school acceptance rates are functions of the student, not the school. Of course more people will probably get in from Columbia as opposed to Ohio State. It’s a selection bias; there are more strong students at Columbia than at Ohio State. This isn’t an argument for Columbia or against Ohio State. It’s an argument for strong students. The idea is that somebody with a high GPA and MCAT will stand a better shot at being accepted to medical school, regardless of school or major. A “3.6 from Columbia” is absolutely not going to get brownie points over a 3.9 from somewhere else. The idea that somebody would have a 0.3 grade point difference is ridiculous. A 3.9 at one school would probably have a 3.9 or close to it at another school.</p>

<p>Moreover, data actually indicate that a lot of higher ranked schools tend to be grade inflated (thanks to BDM for this):
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/3365648-post29.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/3365648-post29.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;