<p>I’m going to interject here because some of you guys seem to be talking past each other. </p>
<p>FWIW, I have have been directly involved with med school admissions for many years (I am the person idad is quoting above), my deepest involvement is with MD-PhD admissions (which are inordinately competitive, as you can imagine). While I obviously cannot say anything about specific programs and while it is always “dangerous” to generalize, there are some pretty basic approaches that are followed by many med schools.</p>
<p>First and absolutely foremost — you must excel wherever you are. Period. No matter where you go to college, if you are trying to get into medical school with a 3.0 average, you will have difficulty doing so. Impossible? No. But tough. You have to do well in your course of study.</p>
<p>Many schools do utilize a “first-pass” algorithm based on numbers (GPA, MCAT, etc) — it’s unfortunate, and maybe some folks from schools where there is little grade inflation get weeded out, but it does occur. It’s the only way for many places to make the huge applicant pool manageable. BTW, the algorithms can be quite different from school to school (as well as the cutoffs)-- any they are not just GPA-based. Note that more attention is being paid to the verbal/writing aspects of the tests AND non-science grades of late-- we hear the complaints about MDs who are unable to communicate with patients. We take this seriously.</p>
<p>Once students get through that first pass — virtually everything is on the table. Again, just like getting into college-- med schools can fill their classes with 4.0s. This is not what we want. Granted, we want to take people that can do well-- the first two years of med school are still very course heavy and challenging, but it’s not rocket science. Medical schools are under a ton of pressure to train many types of doctors – compassionate practitioners, talented surgeons, academics, etc, not to mention the next generation of health care leaders on all levels. Medicine is not a trade, is an intellectual and yes, often artistic pursuit— and many, many different types of people are needed to fill these roles. Admissions officers are trained professionals and putting together classes that can fulfill our important responsibility to safeguard the health of all citizens is a painstaking process. Part of the job of admissions officers is to know what an individual GPA means – and they do. Period. </p>
<p>My advice is straightforward – pick a college that will allow you to become the type of educated adult that you want to be. Find the place where you can fit in, learn, ENJOY YOURSELF and excel. No school is going to “keep” you from getting to medical school – <em>you</em> will keep yourself from going. And maybe once you get to college you will discover that you don’t want to be a practicing physician-- maybe instead a physician scientist (this is what happened to me)-- opportunities at one of the great research universities will make the difference in fulfilling that goal.</p>
<p>I will also add, that in my experience – the part of the process that knocks many students out of the running is the interview. These interview flame outs are very depressing, but they happen with some frequency . From graduates of all types of fine universities. Take them seriously.</p>
<p>Finally, regarding U of C students – we hold them in high regard here. My own daughter is a junior and will be applying to U of C EA. I am thrilled by this. She is not applying as a pre-med, but if she was, it would never, ever cross my mind to dissuade her to “better” her eventual med school chances. Not even close. </p>
<p>Good luck to those who are embarking on this road-- it’s a long and ultimately rewarding trip, but never compromise your educational goals to fit some “possible” med school yardstick. It’s not worth it.</p>
<p>JT</p>