Rice vs. TAMU for pre-med

[thumper1]

@MomHeretoHelp

All factors equal, Does going to Rice (with its brand name) help him have a chance at Top 20 med schools in US

Why does he need to go to a top 20 medical school. Regardless of his medical school (should he get accepted) he will graduate as a doctor.

And even at less prestigious medical schools, graduates do match to competitive specialties. DO grads do as well.

[WayOutWestMom]

@MomHeretoHelp

Crazy thought - All factors equal, Does going to Rice (with its brand name) help him have a chance at Top 20 med schools in US? This may be due to brand name or the number of different clinical activities performed at TMC or quality of research done at Baylor.

Not really because, first of all, “all things” are never equal.

Secondly, med school admissions do not highly value the “brand name” of the undergrad attended. Grades, MCAT score, ECs, personal statement, secondary essays, LORs all carry more weight than undergrad attended.

There’s no real consensus on which med schools are Top 20. Even US News no longer uses that type of ranking (mostly because almost all of the formerly top 30 or so med schools no longer share data with US News so any US News ranking is just a guess based on federal research grant funding–and we know what’s happening with that!).

But TX has at least 2 Tier 1 Research-focused med schools-- Baylor and UTSW.

Also, @thumper1 is correct. Matching into competitive specialties is up to the student. STEP scores, pre-clinical and clinical grades, class rank, LORs from specialty mentors, specialty away rotation evaluations, honors like AOA and Gold Humanism Award, publications/conference presentations/posters/etc, personality fit–these are determined if a med student is eligible to enter a competitive field. Even DOs match to ophthalmology, dermatology, cardio-thoracic surgery, ENT, orthopedics and other highly competitive specialties every year.