Title. I’m in high school now and was just rejected/waitlisted from 18 schools except UConn and Case Western and I’ll probably attend Case Western. They’ve given me a $35,000 per year scholarship, which is nice. I plan to be premed with the goal of getting into a top medical school. With this in mind would it be a good idea to try to transfer after my first year to a T20?
Thank you for the advice!
There’s only one way to guarantee that you hate Case Western- and that’s to plan to transfer before you’ve even picked your classes!
Why wouldn’t you go into your freshman year determined to have a fantastic time- great professors, interesting classmates, fun activities, maybe a cool part-time job?
Do that. So no, you shouldn’t transfer from Case Western. If you get there and after giving it your all, you just can’t adjust- come back and we’ll be helpful. But now?
If you don’t want to live in Ohio- what’s wrong with U Conn?
It’s not that I don’t think I would like Case Western, it’s that I’m attending college for the specific goal of getting into a top medical school. I understand Case is built for premeds, has research opportunities galore and the Cleveland Clinic, but it’s not the most prestigious school and I’m worried this would count against me in top medical school admissions even if I do really well there.
No. It’s not a good idea to transfer after your first year. Your high school record will be what is used to determine admission after only one year of college.
Why do you think a T20 college will be any better than CWRU for a potential premed? What do you perceive as “special” relative to what CWRU will offer you.
I’m a huge fan of CWRU. Both University Hospitals (on campus) and Cleveland Clinic (close) are there. The school is very well known for its STEM offerings (going back to its roots as Case Institute of Technology).
I’m hard pressed to think of any reason why you should enroll at CWRU with the intention of transferring. You need to be all in…join clubs, seek opportunities, develop relationships, etc.
If you get there and really hate the place, then think about transferring. BUT you will need an academic reason why you are applying to T20 schools from CWRU. “I want to attend a higher ranked college” won’t fly.
Think about the advantages CWRU has to offer you! Start looking forward to attending. It’s going to be great!
Why do you need to go to a “top medical school”. Students from all MD and DO schools can residency match to just about every specialty. The name of the college on your undergrad diploma is not considered very much my medical school admissions.
@WayOutWestMom can add to this.
Maybe I’m misinformed but I was under the impression that medical school prestige mattered quite a bit for matching to competitive specialties.
It won’t…how you do on all of your tests will matter more, starting with the MCAT and GPA and LOR, and volunteering, and patient facing work…for admission to medical school. The name of your undergrad school doesn’t move the needle.
For residency, all of your shelf exams, then Step 1 and Step 2. And LOR as well, elective rotations, membership in honors associations…those will be the main considerations for your residency match.
Coming from a T20 undergrad won’t move the needle for you much.
No. Read my above reply for what really matters…and
@WayOutWestMom will surely add to my information.
Students from almost every medical school match to “competitive specialties”…both MD schools and DO schools.
So - you shouldn’t transfer - you haven’t even started - and you got into one of the top in the country.
And where you go for undergrad will matter little, if at all, for med school.
Would you consider Vanderbilt a top medical school, cancer center? It’s one of the top ranked.
Look where their first two year residents went in Radiology - below. After treatment, I was curious - so pulled the list, person by person.
I’m sorry you got turned down to 18 schools but my guess is those schools give you zero extra chance at getting into a med school and highly ranked residency. Then again, normally when I go to the doctor, I’m not looking at where the degree was from - but that’s another issue.
So you have Case - it’s affordable, it’s smaller, it’s in a great city. And you’re saving $140K which could pay for med school. Getting rejected at the 18 might actually have been an unknown gift.
Good luck.
Vandy 1st Two Years of Radiology Residents - undergrad school attended
Auburn
CWRU
Florida A&M
Florida State
Fordham
Lipscomb
Luther
Murray State
Northern Illinois
Pitt
Princeton
Tulane
Tuskegee
U North Carolina
U Puerto Rico
U Tennessee
Vandy (2)
I think it is an absolutely terrible idea to start college with the intent of transferring. This mindset can stand in the way of you creating meaningful friendships, developing relationships with professors, getting involved in ECs etc.
There is no way that Case will hinder your ability to get into med school – in fact I expect that an ambitious student will be able to seek out wonderful opportunities both at the school and in Cleveland itself.
Though I think your time could be better spent, if you decide to throw in a few transfer applications nobody here can stop you. But I strongly advise you to start out at Case with the assumption that you will spend four years there.
Case is great for pre-med. Enjoy and do well.
What are your waitlist schools?
I’m assuming the other 18 schools that rejected or waitlisted were all/mostly T20? Applying again next year would most likely be futile. Re-applying to schools that rejected you typically doesn’t work.
This is an interactive databased where you can select a specialty and see what factors program directors list as important and how much they value it.
Note there are some specialties (cardiology, gastroenterology, cardiothroacic surgery, interventional radiology, etc) are missing because those are actually sub-specialties that require advanced fellowship training beyond residency.
I don’t see a single specialty where a PD doesn’t list grades, exam scores, LORs from physicians in the same specialty, class rank, MSPE, and doing an audition rotation at the desired program at the top of the list. “Graduate of a highly-regard med school” is near the bottom for every specialty.
And “graduate of a T 20 undergrad” is near the bottom of considerations for medical school admissions.
Am I correct @WayOutWestMom
It just says “highly regarded”.
Since Top 20 is made up phantom category used sell magazines…..
Medical schools don’t use it
My waitlist schools are Emory, NYU, Tufts, Boston College, Hopkins and Duke
Wow - a lot of schools are WLing.
Are all of them full pay?
One could argue and it would be an individual call, but that Case @ $35K off is a better bet than those schools.
While you may think Case has little name recognition, the same could be said for Emory and Tufts. BC is Jesuit so that’s a whole other thing.
But hopefully you saw the list I put up prior from Vanderbilt - I admit I was surprised - and one of the residents who handled my appointment before the Dr. came in was not from a named school at all.
Really you have all great names - and Case really stands toe to toe with all except maybe the last two reputation wise - but reputation doesn’t = your career success, etc.
You’re likely in a great spot as is. And bonus - you get to go to the Rock Hall - which is incredible!!! I’d buy an annual pass!!!
PS - I started looking up more residents - and there’s a U Mich and UNC but also a Philander Smith, UCF, UTK, Colorado and Utah - that was the year 4 residents.
So if you’re going to be a Dr., you’re going to be just fine.
One could actually argue - would a less expensive school make more sense - med school ain’t cheap.
Good luck to you.
Go to Case, save the money. There is very little chance of you getting into a T20 as a transfer. And just as little of a chance of you getting into at T20 medical school. You are putting the cart before the horse big time here. While its great to have ambition, you need to take it one step at a time and prove yourself. And since your parents need to carry the bulk of your undergrad, their budget matters.
NO. Absolutely NO.
First of all, Case Western is a very good university, and is specifically very good for premed students. You are already in at a university that is an excellent choice for a premed student.
Also, the ranking of the university where you got your bachelor’s degree is not important for admissions to medical schools. You grades will be important, including your grades in tough premed classes. Your MCAT scores will be important. Your experience in medical environments will be important. Your letters of reference will be important. Both getting medical shadowing opportunities and getting good letters of reference will be helped if you know your professors, and staying at one very good and moderate sized university will help you to get to know your professors.
Also, medical school is very expensive. The scholarship that you got from Case is a BIG DEAL. This is going to help you quite a bit when it is time to pay for medical school.
No one in my immediate family is an MD nor DO. However, three people in my immediate family either have graduate degrees that are medicine-related, or are currently studying for a graduate degree that is medicine-related. One got a bachelor’s degree at a university ranked somewhere in the 100 to 140 range and then got two closely related and medicine-related master’s degrees at an Ivy League school. One got a bachelor’s degree at a university ranked in the 100 to 140 range and is about to get her DVM at a university ranked in the top 5 in the world (she will be called “doctor” in about 6 weeks but her patients are large animals). One attended a small university in Canada that you have probably never heard of and is currently getting a PhD in a biomedical field at a very good university that is ranked in the top 20 in some rankings and top 30 in most rankings. All of them report that the other students in the same graduate programs came from a very wide range of undergraduate schools. I know two doctors who got their MDs at highly ranked universities and who told me that the other students in their program came from “all over the place” (this is an exact quote from one of them).
Let’s suppose that you do complete your bachelor’s degree at Case Western, and then let’s suppose you get accepted to a “top 20” university for your MD. In this case, you will probably find that quite a few students in the same MD program, possibly a majority, came from universities ranked about the same or lower compared to Case. They really will come from all over the place. What they will have in common is that they got a high undergraduate GPA in very tough classes, they had very good medical shadowing experience, they got great scores on the MCAT, and they had great references.
Case is also a good size for a premed student. It is large enough to have quite a few excellent professors and a range of majors and classes available, but small enough for you to get to know your professors. It really is an excellent choice.
If you get accepted to any of your waitlist schools, I still would not go there unless you get comparable financial aid that you got at Case, and even them maybe not. Case Western really is that good, and the $35,000/year merit aid really is going to be important over time.
Your premed classes are going to be full of very strong students. I think that you will be surprised (and maybe stunned) how many strong students you are going to meet. You will be competing with these students for grades in tough classes. At least some and possibly all of your premed classes are going to be tough. You are going to have some very tough exams (almost certainly tougher than anything that you have ever seen in your life).
You should show up at Case ready to attend every class, sit near the front if you can, always pay attention, and stay way ahead in all of your studying and homework if you possibly can. If you are ahead in your work, this will help you pick up just a little bit more in every class, and you will want to learn as much as you possibly can and do as well as you possibly can.
You have a great opportunity coming up in September. Congratulations and best wishes!