<p>My niece has been admitted at a very, very low ranked college (tier 4) with a top named scholarship (cover ~75% of the attending costs, honor college, abroad study) along with a possible kicker of being assured a slot in the medical school four years from now. We won’t find out about the assurance until April I think. With her stats, she could be admitted to the likes of Emory, Duke and Vandy. So, the question is, should she go to the unknown school, or should she attend one of the better known undergrad schools and later apply to med schools like most of everyone else? What is the odd of going to a 4th tier undergrad and get admitted to the top 20 med schools, since they assure her a slot but they don’t require her to attend? Is it harder to go to ROAD residency from a low ranked med school? Really, I don’t know much about medical schools and her family knows even less than I do. Any insight would be appreciated.</p>
<p>It’s been decades since I did this, but it seems the most important thing is being prepared for the MCAT, and having a high enough GPA. Assuming you can take the required courses anywhere, and under almost any major. But in retrospect, I cannot reccomend anything that limits you from changing your mind about what you want to do. I just can’t imagine REALLY knowing when you graduate from high school.</p>
<p>^^ Agree about what she wants to do four years from now. Again, the medical slot is unbinding on her. It’s not the BS/MD program. So, if she goes there, major in whatever she wants and still like medicine, she won’t have to worry about admissions; but she will worry about residency. On the other hand, if she changes her mind, it’s different ball game. I’d appreciate input from those who experienced it one way or the other. I’ll print the thread and show it to her parent, after translating it (now, this is the dangerous part) :-)</p>
<p>I think we would need to know the med school name before we could comment. It may not be as bad as you think.</p>
<p>I don’t know all the tiers, but son in law got into a wonderful state med school from Loyola of New Orleans. He is now a resident at Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>I guess I’m wondering how well she will she be prepared for anything else, if she changes her mind.</p>
<p>Note: I’m a current med student, not a parent</p>
<p>The med school you go to doesn’t limit which residency you can get - at the level of med school, rankings don’t really matter and are only really an indicator of research funding, etc.
Go to whichever option gets you the best chance of getting into A med school (ANY med school). Period. Admissions is such a crapshoot, you should do whatever you can to increase your chances early on. An early almost-guarantee is better than a so-called “better” undergrad and no almost-guarantee of admission.</p>
<p>Med school is not like law school or some other graduate programs. There are only a very few med schools that might in some way limit their graduates’ ability to get residencies. Sometimes a student has highly developed research interest and wants to go to a particular school to work in a particular research program. At the other end of the spectrum, there are a couple of med schools that specialize in primary care, and a lower percentage of their graduates going into highly selective specialties.
For the great majority of people and med schools, though, it doesn’t matter a bit. What does matter in med school is how well you do - the top percentage of any med school in the country is pretty much competitive for any specialty.
For what it is worth, I went to a no name 4th tier masters’ level university, did very well, went to my state med school, graduated in the top 10%, and did well in the residency front. Yes that was 20 years ago, but as Icarus points out that is still a ggod path to med school - sometimes it is a good idea to be a big frog in a small pond.</p>
<p>A guaranteed non-binding slot to an accredited US medical school?? And money for undergrad as well?? </p>
<p>TAKE IT!!! </p>
<p>Her clerkship evaluations during her 3rd and 4th years of med school will determine her residency slot. Medical school “prestige” has very little to do with the vast majority of residencies.</p>
<p>Your Step 1 and Step 2 exam scores matter in your residency applications, too.</p>
<p>^ +1 million - they count much more than the school you went to. Step 1 scores and your grades in the rotation of the specialty you’re applying to are the most important factors. Your med school and other things like basic science grades, etc are far down on the list.</p>
<p>My DD is about to begin the process of med school apps, many of her HS friends went to UK schools with 6 year programs and they will come out with an MD; DD did not know what she wanted at the time, but had she known, you bet I would take that offer- MCAT prep $1800, MCAT $200+ and time to prep, AAMCAS Fees, Secondary fees $50-100/each, travel costs for interviews, needing to start over on the same type of crazy process as the first college apps, YUCK.</p>
<p>Pre-admitted to med school, priceless</p>
<p>As an MD, I’m less than enthusiastic about the BS-MD programs, there are very, very few 18 year olds who are truly ready to make that choice, and for some of those programs, there are various “penalties” if you change your mind - a powerful incentive to stay locked into the program. Also, and this is a subtle thing, the average age of med students has been rising for years, and the 6 year programs generate physicians who are 2+ years younger than their peers - that difference in life experience can have an impact.</p>
<p>I do understand that the OP was asking about a non-binding program, which is the best of both worlds for the student, I think.
The only question I think the student should seriously consider is what are her prospects, majors, etc, coming from the 4th tier college, if she chooses NOT to go to med school. My uni was basically an old teachers’ college - for those of us who can remember those - but my fallback plan was optometry or possibly pharmacy school. Many of those masters’ level unis have good nursing programs, occasionally they will have speech pathology. Nursing can be a super career for someone interested in science or even business with a caring perspective, but who doesn’t want the time investment of post-grad professional school. I’m begging both my kids to consider CRNA or PA, but no scientists here.</p>