Okay, so we have somewhat established here that a student who dominates the LSAT, regardless of undergrad situation (and assuming top 1-5% of their class), has a fighting chance at gaining acceptance to a T1 law school.
Does the same hold true for med school? Can an elite MCAT score from a state school student carry them to a tier one, Ivy-level medical program?
Eager to hear any and all informed opinions. 
While law school admissions is very heavily stats (LSAT and college GPA) based, for medical school admission, stats are just the basic academic qualification to avoid immediate auto-rejection. Many other criteria are considered in medical school application reading and (for those who pass application reading) interviews.
https://www.aamc.org/media/6091/download shows that even the top right box applicants with >3.79 college GPA and >517 MCAT have an 82.9% chance of admission to a medical school (not necessarily what some people may consider a more “elite” one). All medical schools in the US should be considered “elite” in terms of admission selectivity, most applicants get 0 admissions, and most who get admitted get 1 admission.
Some of the most popular and selective medical schools are the ones with lower or no tuition, since many medical students prefer to end up with $120k-200k instead of $400k medical school debt.
If you are asking specifically about whether college name matters, it is generally considered not that important compared to other factors in medical school admissions, as long as the college is a reasonably reputable 4-year school (i.e. not a community college or a disreputable one like some of the for-profit colleges). Students who took pre-med courses at community colleges may be expected by medical schools to take upper level courses in those subjects at a 4-year school to confirm their academic strength in those subjects.
Thank you so much @ucbalumnus - this is exactly what I needed to hear.
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Not the same for medical school at all.
MCAT and GPA and sGPA really are first screeners. If a med school applicant meets those bars, then their application will be more completely read.
@ucbalumnus has it right.
MCAT and GPA are just the first screener for med school that prevents an applicant getting dropped from consideration.
Name of the graduating institution carries little importance for med school admission. (See p. 14 of Using MCAT Data in 2024 Medical Student Selection which is a survey of med school admission officers about the importance of variety of factors in making admission decisions.)
Medical school admissions are holistic in that once the basic academic metrics are satisfied, other considerations are given very significant weight.
As for “elite” med schools–all US medical school should be considered elite because most applicants (>60%) get zero acceptances. Of those that do get an acceptance only, 33% get more than 1.
Med school rank does not influence job opportunties–unlike law school. All physicians are virtually guaranteed full time employment upon completion of residency training.
@WayOutWestMom Wow, this file is enormous! A very helpful resource. Thanks v much!
And recognize that there is no gate-keeping at the undergrad level for Law School. There is no “committee letter” from faculty endorsing a kid’s application for law school. Kid scores poorly on the LSAT and has middling grades? The law school advisor (if there is one at this particular U) will likely tell the kid that Yale and Chicago aren’t happening, but here’s a list of 5 law schools which aren’t huge reaches/waste of an application fee.
Not so with med school. At some undergrad U’s, if a kid can’t get endorsed by the committee, nobody is going to stop the kid from applying but it is a huge red flag that med school is going to be a bridge too far.
The key to understanding why this is so is that med school education is relatively flat. Which is why the joke is “what do you call the guy who graduated last in med school class?-- Doctor”. Obviously there is gatekeeping along the way… and board certification, obtaining a residency, a fellowship in certain fields, etc. But there are many law schools with abysmal bar exam pass rates, abysmal employment outcomes (grads who can’t pass the bar often end up as paralegals- a field which does not require a 3 year JD degree), etc.
So law school is a caveat emptor situation- everyone needs to do their homework before considering that path. Med school is less risky- if you get in to a US med school and don’t flunk out, you are likely to end up as a doctor. Maybe not dermatology or interventional cardiology… but an MD gainfully employed. Having a JD does NOT mean you’ve got a career as a lawyer ahead of you. There’s more to it.
And folks who don’t understand legal hiring often say “I don’t need to be a partner in a BigLaw firm. I’m OK getting a job as a federal prosecutor”. These jobs are HARDER to get- and more prestige conscious- than many other jobs in the legal profession!
It’s hard to flunk of a US med school. The 6 year graduation rate is 96.1% ( SIx years to allow for multiple degree programs like MD/MS, MD/MBA. MD/MPH and MD/PhD)
The #1 cause of med students failing to graduate is dropping out due to mental health issues. Med school is a pressure cooker and suicide is the leading cause of death for med students. (Cancer is #2.) Med students are three to four time more likely to report having depression and suicidal ideation than their age peers.
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