<p>I know this discussion has been a continued topic on CC, but why is prestige/rigor such a small portion of medical school admission decisions? I’m not going to rant, but it is highly unfair to compare a top 20 university to a school like UA-Huntsville. </p>
<p>When studying for my general chemistry final, I downloaded a few old exams from other universities as practice. I was absolutely astounded by how easy the exams were in comparison to previous exams I took. It’s not fair…will I seriously get no recognition for my hard work, and if not, why shouldn’t I transfer to a university where I could easily attain a 4.0 while never attending class or even purchasing a textbook for that matter?</p>
<p>Here’s a link to the joke I used to study for my final: </p>
<p>^Did you compare the same Chem. class? At D’s UG, there were many various first Chem. classes, you could take one for engineering majors, you could take one for nutrition majors and several in between. Why did not choose the easier class if you worry about not making it in the harder one?<br>
Yes, Chem. was the easiest out of my D’s UG science classes, she almost never had it below 100+%. But it worked very well. She was offered an SI position in this class and ended up teaching it for 3 years and did not have to prep. for Chem. part of MCAT because of that. You never know…maybe you should have taken easier class. I am sure that top 20 college have choices. My D.graduated from state UG. Not all science classes were easy at all, Orgo was a killer and most others, but she just took Gen. Chem that was easy for her and it still paying off in Med. School.
Her graduating from state UG did not have any effect on her Med. School acceptances, she had great choices and doing very well so far while surrounded by many from Ivy/top Elite college graduates in her Med. School class.
To answer your questions, if Med. Schools see that state public graduates are doing as well as others at Med. School, why to make them less eligible? That is what I see as of now. BTW, D’s Med. School class has several students with advanced degrees like PhD from Harvard, lawyers, Master’s of science. I do not know, maybe they had some advantages…but maybe not, I do not know their stats.</p>
<p>We southerners just have a different standard (just a joke here), but we do not welcome northerners to come here to attend our med schools funded by our money.</p>
<p>What MiamiDAP said has some truth in it. At a different school, the set of classes that are challenging may be different than the set of challenging classes at another school. However, generally speaking, a majority of prereq classes are challenging at most “self-respecting” schools.</p>
<p>OP, A year or two ago, a CCer who went to Emory had a rant similar to yours when he noticed that some of his peers who stayed in-state (southern/rural Teaxs where there is a dire need for doctors) for college struggled much less in their classes as compared to him (and their tuitions were paid by the tax money while he was loaded with loans.)</p>
<p>Also, you had the chance to choose a university to attend. Don’t complain because you picked one that seems “more difficult.” A 4.0 is difficult at any 4-year institution!</p>
<p>I’m only in high school chemistry and that exam is a piece of cake. However I don’t know the whole story behind this so I won’t comment on anything else.</p>
<p>Why would you compare exams from UAH to a top 20 school? Why not try comparing exams from top publics to a top 20 institution and then compare the difficulties for a more fair comparison? There isn’t any surprise to me that the exam is going to be easier at the lesser known college than at a college with higher caliber students.</p>
<p>I went to Emory (many years ago) and the first two years of medical school seemed easier for me and others who attended top private schools and were science majors versus my friends who attended public universities as judged by class rank. AAOA was about 80% private school attendees whereas our class as a whole was was 50% private school attendees. Of those matching in the most competitive residencies, >90% were private school attendees. Private school attendees also, as a group, seemed more interested and involved with research. Draw your own conclusions, I am simply stating one data point for my medical school class.</p>
<p>whs2012, It is very difficult to compare between college class. A friend of mine(Ivy league student) attend chemistry class at top 3 of the University of California, he thinks it is lots easier than the class taught in his school. Of course, he only talk about course material not exam.</p>
<p>I think the reason this seems fair is that the assumption that the person attending the Top 20 school will get a better score on the MCAT, seeing as they went through the course in much more detail. However, if this person going to UA-Hunstville pulls off a 40 on the MCAT, with having to put minimal effort into his/her undergrad courses, it just then #suckstosuck</p>
<p>Theoretically, your potentially more rigorous education will show through your MCAT scores or other standardized exams you may take.</p>
<p>The difficulty of classes varies widely not just from school to school, but also between professors. My undergrad had several classes that had different sections taught by different professors, and some were inevitably easier than others. Others you clearly got a better grasp of the material even though the average grades were higher/lower. There’s too many variables to go off of. You can’t judge an entire university just by a few random online sample exams.</p>
<p>I would also argue that professors that have more rigorous exams generally don’t make them available to the general public online.</p>
<p>Addition: your education is also what you make of it. Some people at “top 20” universities will get much less out of their education because of how much effort they put into it than someone that goes to an un-recognized school and does put a lot of effort into their education.</p>
<p>That’s an old exam and one from a summer class (which are rumored to be less academic which is why SOMs don’t like them).</p>
<p>We also don’t know what kind of exam this was. It’s only worth 20 points, so it doesn’t seem like a 'big test" or anything. Considering the timing of the test (Aug 6th), soon before finals, it could have just been some easy review that the prof threw out there for students to grab some extra points.</p>
<p>And this is just one prof’s exam. how do we know if all the profs have easy exams? Every school has some profs who have reputations for giving easy exams. That doesn’t indict the entire school, program, or anything. And, certainly, one lone exam from a summer class doesn’t indict anything. For all we know, the prof wasn’t even a full time prof. </p>
<p>Since I live near UAH, and know its students do get accepted to med schools, it seems that these kids must learn enough to get a good enough MCAT (along with whatever their GPA is), to be accepted.</p>
<p>In all honesty, I’ve had summer courses at a community college more difficult than that chemistry class. Here’s the link to ALL of the exams they took during that summer term:</p>
<p>I know it was my choice to attend a top university, but it was because I was always told that it created for a better app. If I would have known about this senior year, I would have went to a no-name university in the middle of Arkansas, because plainly, you can always study for the MCAT. Yes, attending a prestigious university will give me an advantage when it comes to studying (since I’ll have to study less), but it’s not really worth my GPA. </p>
<p>I understand that there are “degrees of difficulty” among courses at every university, but sometimes you have to use your brain. Why take the easier chemistry when a large majority of your friends in organic dropped or failed the course, because frankly, none of the organic professors are easy? Why take the easier biology when you hear horrors about biochemistry? If you are a science major, taking the easier science class in the beginning will always haunt you in the future because you won’t be accustomed to the rigor. My upperclassmen peers that were successful in the 100-level science courses with my professors generally were also successful in their upper division courses. Can’t say the same for my friends who took their lower-division courses with “easier professors”.</p>
<p>So basically it’s ‘not fair’ because you were uninformed and made what you consider the wrong college choice, not because there’s some fundamental injustice. If you had known and made a different college choice, then you wouldn’t be complaining and I wouldn’t be playing my teeny tiny violin.</p>
<p>Chemistry has not changed much over the past seven years, and as a result, I’m nearly positive the exams cover the same material. My point is, at least at my university, you would never get an exam as basic as that, even in the non-majors chemistry class. I just think it’s unfair that schools (and courses within colleges) can differ so much in difficulty.</p>
<p>Entomom, there is injustice. Since there is no way in correcting it, making a different college choice would have been the best decision.</p>
<p>The thing is, once you get to med school, you’ll realize that you have to like learning for the sake of learning and not for what GPA “reward” you get out of it. If a major reason you’re going to school is to jump through all the hoops to get the highest GPA to get into med school etc, I’d be surprised if you liked med school once you got there anyway. I think you have to be the kind of student who’s learning to learn and who happens to end up with an A in the class anyway if you’re going to get into med school and flourish there.</p>
<p>Your med school peers will be very smart. The curriculum will be very challenging–even if the depth isn’t a ton deeper than your upper-level undergrad classes, the pace will certainly blow those classes out of the water. Plus, there’s a good chance that what you’re learning during your preclinical years will no longer be the best practices or the newest information once you’re actually practicing, which is one of the reasons it’s important to cultivate a love of learning while you’re in college and in med school. </p>
<p>And this whole “it’s not fair thing…” You’re right. It’s not fair. But the thing is, that’s the way it is. Taking the easy way out isn’t going to change that. </p>
<p>It’s a bummer that you’re whining about the lack of recognition you get for going to a prestigious school rather than focusing on the intangible benefits you’re probably gaining by going there. I think you should try your best to enjoy the journey of undergrad and make the most of the resources available at Emory–because in the process, you’ll probably craft a strong application to med schools and will have had a ton of fun doing it.</p>
<p>Why don’t you transfer to (supposedly) easier college? They might even pay you to attend. (of course, wouldn’t that be “unfair” to the full pay students?)</p>
<p>i agree with the OP
students who get into a top tier colleges were the most qualified and competitive in high school. that being said, of course, everyone has the potential to be Just as competitive and qualified for top med schools once in college, but for the Majority, the top universities A’s mean a Lot different than say a state school’s A because grades in college are all based on relativity to those around you.
OP, i have the same encounters when i look things up and find powerpoints, exams, practice, etc. from other schools and the material is way too simple. the amount of material we learn and get tested on goes Way way beyond the scope of the MCATs.
i have a lot of friends who have transferred from other schools and say how unbelievably more difficult penn is.
and i have had teachers from state schools come and teach for the first time here at penn and tell us how different/competitive we are.
there was one prof i had from a state school and my lecture was her first at penn and it was an easy A…i looked at material from friends of mine who took her later and she made her exams and assignments successively harder and harder every semester.
of course this doesnt apply to EVERYONE at a certain school, it is definitely true for most.
and i remember taking a science (bio) course at a state school when i was in high school and i found it to be an easy A. and since high school, my standards of an “easy A” has DRAstically changed. Sorry if i sound like im ranting/elite-ist, i’m really not, i just think it’s not fair either</p>
<p>“Since there is no way in correcting it, making a different college choice would have been the best decision.”</p>
<p>-Of course there is a way, you have chosen the UG, you could have gone to a different one that has many choices of first Gen. Chem, you could have taken the easier class if you believe that you are taking much harder class than you need. Believe me, D’s easy Gen. Chem. is plenty enough at Med. School, she continue being very comfy with any material that uses Chem. extensively (like studying kidneys, as one example).</p>