So I am an aspiring doctor looking at different undergrad programs that would give me the best chance at getting into med school. In my research I have stumbled across MANY inconsistencies.
From what Im understanding, getting into med school is primarily about college GPA, MCAT scores, and clinical exposure/research experience. I have read that doing well and receiving a high GPA (around a 3.7) as well as doing lots of research and getting clinical experience is more important than going to a university that is extremely rigorous like Harvard. Then, I’ve heard that going to a rigorous school like Harvard is more important because it prepares you better for the MCAT and the difficult course load of med school.
One video I watched said that Med schools won’t really take into consideration the rigour of one’s school when looking at GPA. For example if I had a 3.4 at Harvard versus a 3.7 at UNC Chapel Hill they would prefer the student with a higher GPA regardless of where he/she attended. Obviously it is easier to maintain a higher GPA at UNC Chapel Hill than it is at Harvard.
Then again, if you look up best colleges to get you into med school Harvard is the first one to pop up, so I’m very confused as to what to focus on and look for in an undergrad school.
I heard Vanderbilt boasts one of the largest hospitals in the country, yet it hasn’t appeared on a single list of top ten schools to get you into med school.
Here is a list of schools that I have compiled which people claim to have high med school acceptance rates that are close enough for me to attend (I live in NC):
Duke
Brown
Emory
UNC Chapel Hill
Supposedly they have high average GPAs as well as lots of opportunities for undergrads to partake in research and gain clinical experience while successfully preparing you for the MCAT and med school coarse load.
If you can help me in any way or know schools that would be good additions to my current list please let me know. Thanks!
Add cost to your list of things to consider. Med school is super expensive. IMO, shoot for UNC and come out of undergrad with as little debt as possible. UNC is a great school.
I couldn’t agree more. Expense is definitely one of my top considerations. UNC is definitely one of if not my top choices just because I think it’s a safer bet than others. Thanks for your help.
Med school acceptance stats are useful to an extent, but you have to look at them in context. Some schools (Johns Hopkins for example, and probably some of the ones you list) keep their med school acceptance rates high by using a highly competitive internal process to determine which students they will endorse as med school applicants - and students know that applying without that endorsement is more-or-less futile. So the acceptance rate tells you nothing about what percentage of aspiring premeds did not make the cut to submit med school apps at all.
A school with a more egalitarian policy may have a lower med school acceptance rate, but that may not reflect that a particular students med school prospects would be worse there - they could even be better. It’s very tricky to analyze.
Look for schools you can fully afford, and where you’re above median in terms of stats, so that you’re well-positioned to compete for that high GPA… but not so far above median that the school’s reputation isn’t aligned with your qualifications.
I actually don’t think it’s obvious that it’s easier to maintain a high GPA at Chapel Hill than at Harvard, though. Harvard has lots of grade inflation and graduates a majority of its students with honors. But would Chapel Hill make more sense in terms of projected GPA than MIT, Caltech, or Harvey Mudd? Absolutely.
Nonetheless, don’t overlook smaller colleges with somewhat higher acceptance rates. Rhodes, for example, has a close relationship with St. Jude’s in Memphis, for research and internships. Also generous merit aid. If I were an aspiring premed with a particular interest in pediatrics and/or oncology, this would be very high on my list. Just one example.
UNC is a great baseline though!! If you have the opportunity to go there for in-state rates, that sets a very high bar for other alternatives to either offer a tremendous financial deal, a superlative education+“fit”, or both.
So what you are suggesting is to not necessarily look at that schools med school acceptance rate but more so the opportunities to get clinical experience and partake in medical research as well as maintain a high GPA? Is there a way that I can look to see if a particular school uses that “internal” endorsement process? Also, in addition to Rhodes, do you know of any other schools that partner with large hospitals or organizations where finding internships or doing volunteer work would be easier?
Right - a high med school acceptance rate can be a good sign, but not necessarily. It depends how many students had to be weeded out to achieve that high rate, and how many of those weeded students are similar to you in ability and effort. Of course, there’s a lot of guesswork involved in making that determination! But looking at where you land statistically relative to the student population, and learning what you can about their premed advising process and how many students apply vs. how many started out with that intention, will go a long way toward putting that one isolated number into a more meaningful context.
Still, a high number is better than a worst-of-both-worlds scenario like UCSD - cited in nrtlax’s article - where plenty of students wash out of premed and then the admit rate is still low for the ones who apply!
Thank you both! For UNC Chapel Hill, I believe I am at least one standard deviation above the median. My SAT is 170 points higher than their average SAT. Obviously there is a lot more to consider than just scores, but that would take too long to explain on this post. I have friends who got in with way lower scores and worse grades than me, so I am guessing that I am probably in the upper end of applicants, but then again I could be wrong. It is a very affordable school with IST and close to home, so I am liking it more and more. According to what I have found, of those that apply to med school that have above a 3.4 GPA roughly 70% are accepted. Either way its a great base line school i think.
Looking back on the Prepscholar website it actually just says, “The school states it doesn’t track specifics when it comes to med school acceptance rates for pre-meds. One source stated that 90% of UNC pre-med students who apply to med school get in, but take this with a grain of salt. Overall, UNC has a very good reputation across many health fields for both undergraduate and graduate students.”
For the 2017-2018 application year, UNC has 438 applicants. Out of those, 250 are white and 105 are Asian. You are competing against those in your category. I am sure there are a good number of EC spots close to UNC, but you are competing against hundreds of your classmates (plus those folks from Duke). State medical schools are always your safeties (that is why those folks from CA are in big trouble). Keep an open mind. You might change your mind after you finish organic chemistry. I don’t know your financial situation. Brown is the best place to do premed. Why? Relatively high GPA, you only need 30 courses to graduate, open curriculum, happy student body, undergraduate focus and best teaching (you need a good professor for your orgo class even if you are a genius). Duke is also a good place with relatively high GPA but with some distribution requirement. Assuming you can be successful in achieving high GPA/MCAT, your ECs in college is what really make or break your med school application. Your summer ECs(most important) are most likely either close to where you live or close to your school. If your school is close to where you live, you actually limit your choices. Read http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21630446/#Comment_21630446
@ucbalumnus is correct. Since 60% of applicants do not get in any medical school, there is no such thing as safety school. If you are targeting top 20 medical schools (by whatever measure you choose to use), then your in-state public medical schools are your safeties. One good student from our district went to a top 30 university (by either Forbes or U.S. News & World Report) and was the tippy-top student there (according to his family). The person has all the credentials you are supposed to see for a competitive applicant and targeted top 20 medical schools. No gap year for family reason. Guess what, the only interview he got was from one of our state medical schools and that is where he is studying now. Some states such as New Mexico have relatively high acceptance rate for in-state students … it is still not a safety for a non-competitive applicant.
Maintaining a balance is the key word here. You might have heard that burnout is a very serious problem for premeds and those previous premeds who actually successfully got into med school. This “PRE-MED MYTHS: GETTING INTO MEDICAL SCHOOL”(https://mailman.stanford.edu/pipermail/hotterthanhadelees/attachments/20081001/adb009a4/attachment.pdf) talk from Stanford has very valuable information in it. Although it is old, other than data, all the concepts in it has not changed. Good luck.
What do you mean by state schools are not safeties? Are you talking about getting into med school they are not safeties or getting into regular undergrad they aren’t safeties?
I have read the UNC has a “pre med” syndrome where everyone is doing pre med and few are making it through the difficult classes. If I were to go there I would major in engineering or biomed and complete all the prereqs to get into med school without the difficult classes that a bio or chem major would have to take. Also, since there are so many bio/chem majors at UNC its hard to get good letters of recommendation from professors.
LACs refers to liberal arts colleges. Several – such as Amherst, Bowdoin, Hamilton, Haverford, Middlebuy, Swarthmore, Williams – would be notable for their excellent health professions advising as well as for, for top students, their medical school early assurance programs (https://www.studentdoctor.net/2014/08/04/want-to-skip-the-mcat-check-out-these-programs/). However, all from this particular group enroll student bodies with entering profiles beyond that which you would encounter, on average, at a school such as UNC.
They’re talking about med school, as there are no med schools that are safeties. On the acceptance rates for med schools from a particular undergraduate institution remember there is no empirical data on weed out classes, etc. My personal opinion is that you take the acceptance rate as published, and go from there. If your getting C’s in courses it will become apparent that you might want to reconsider med school no matter what institution you’re at.