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Why is that mom2collegekids? Michigan premeds do well in terms of medical school placement, which would suggest that (1) they are receiving effective and sufficient advising
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Again, I have repeatedly said that UMich is an excellent school and fine for premed students.
While MIch med school applicants (NOT the same as Mich premeds) may do well with acceptances (NOT placement), that doesn’t really confirm the quality of advising. If the majority of those who receive acceptances are Mich residents, and they’ve been accepted to the state’s med schools, then that would likely happen with or without great advising. Even strong applicants from OOS would likely get acceptances as well as long as they had reasonable app lists.
Does UMich do Committee Interviews and write Committee Letters?
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"Michigan has a staff of just 4 people advising close 800 pre-med seniors. Can you imagine?"
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Where did you get the 800 seniors figure? Last year, 800 Michigan seniors AND alumni applied to Medical school. Of those, roughly half were seniors who used campus advising resources, while the other half were alumni who did not.
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@Alexandre That is not my quote. I would never say “premed seniors” because adivising “premed seniors” is usually too late since applicants apply during the summer after junior year. Any advising to seniors is too little/too late unless they’re doing a Gap/Glide Year. Anyway, all schools have the situation where some applicants are undergrads and some are alums. So, when looking at the number of applicants coming from particular undergrads (whether graduated or not), is comparable.
A school that has 4 premed advisors and roughly 150-200 applicants will likely be able to provide more guidance than one with 4 advisors and 700+ applicants. Is that hard to imagine? But, again, UMich is a top school, an excellent school.
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come junior year, most college students are, or should be at any rate, fairly independent and capable to gather relevant details about graduate school admissions.
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There’s a difference between grad school app process and med school app process. We’ve been thru…PhD app process, masters app process, and MD med school app process. The MD med school app process is nothing like the others. It’s more complicated and there are several details that are counter-intuitive which is why there are many missteps that derail an application cycle.
@TurnerT quote >>> Also keep in mind ND has about 8,000 undergrads and faculty of 1,200 whereas In Michigan has 30,000 undergrads with a faculty of 2600 and 5 times as many grad students.>>>
^^ That is another concern when an OOS premed is attending a school with a huge number of med school applicants. Do you think that the current and newly-graduated applicants aren’t bombarding a limited number of STEM profs for LORs?
@Alexandre quote >>>> you obviously aren’t familiar with Michigan. It has a large faculty, one that can handle undergrads with the same personal touch (or lack thereof to be honest) as most research universities in the country, private or public. Let us face it, research universities are not known for following up on undergraduate students. Students are expected to take the initiative. >>>>
I don’t claim to be a UMich expert. I’m just looking at this from an OOS premed to med school process, and the most-likely best path for success. You seem to think that I’m bashing UMich, which AGAIN, is an excellent school, a top school, an awesome school. UCLA and UCB are also excellent schools, but when an OOS premed is choosing an undergrad, there are certain things that may make one school better than others…even if those others are top schools.
And it’s not just a public vs private issue. I have repeatedly advised very good, but not tippy-top premeds, to avoid tippy top schools that are loaded with stronger premeds, because those “weaker” premeds will likely get weeded out. A couple years ago, a 4.0 premed from UTexas Dallas transfered to Vandy thinking the better undergrad would be better for a premed. Wrong. His GPA took a huge dive and is likely no longer MD med school eligible. This is not a situation where this student, if he had remained at UTD with a high GPA and had a successful med school app cycle, would be unqualified to succeed in med school.
The MD app process just isn’t always “fair”. My own son has said that if he had gone to a so-called tippy top school, he likely would not have had the 3.9/4.0 cum/BCPM GPAs that he had as a Chemical Engineering premed at his mid-tier flagship, and likely would not have emerged with med school-worthy GPAs. His MD med school dreams would likely have been dashed. Not fair, right? He’s the same person. Right? He’s doing fabulously as a 3rd year med student and spanked his Step I exam and shelf exams. But, a misstep could have meant that he wouldn’t even be there.
I’ll post more in a bit. But, please do not think that this is some sort of hit on the quality of Umich…no. UM is a fab school, no doubt.