Premed undergrad and rigor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s commonly said prestige does not matter, and most say cheapest option with highest GPA and MCAT you can. I get that logic.

I can also understand how high SAT/ACT led to prestigious undergrad schools which led to high MCAT and that’s the correlation to strong med school application success.

I could also see top schools covering more in-depth thus making MCAT prep easier or is it truly directional school orgo is same as T5 orgo and it truly does not matter?

Top schools matter for top school. T5 med schools tend to give a boost to top undergrads. Brown gets a boost, RPI does not.

[Anonymous]

My friend’s DS took a biology science class at a flagship. They had a participation grade using one of those handheld devices which they used in class. Come on, a participation grade seems like a boost.

[Anonymous]

What makes logical sense to me is it does differ. I say this because even within the same college kids are vying for particular professors that are deemed better or easier, some purposefully seek out easier summer orgo, etc. AP exams are standardized but certainly doesn’t mean all high schools teaching it are created equal. Just because the science class has same material doesn’t make it same difficulty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s commonly said prestige does not matter, and most say cheapest option with highest GPA and MCAT you can. I get that logic.

I can also understand how high SAT/ACT led to prestigious undergrad schools which led to high MCAT and that’s the correlation to strong med school application success.

I could also see top schools covering more in-depth thus making MCAT prep easier or is it truly directional school orgo is same as T5 orgo and it truly does not matter?

Top schools matter for top school. T5 med schools tend to give a boost to top undergrads. Brown gets a boost, RPI does not.

But another way of looking at this is Brown has among the highest average GPAs for undergraduate graduates and their students also tend to do well on the MCAT because they did well on the SAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Be careful with the schools that pad high pre med numbers- many are weeding out and only allowing those with near guarantee of acceptance apply.

For our family, the answer was easy: a top liberal arts college, undergrad research first semester, shadowing and hospital internships during the school year, outside college research afterwards and a Goldwater fellowship. Now at Harvard med.

Gap year and recent? Mine really doesn’t want to and is in a good place not to, but worries it’s now norm enough that it’s an advantage even if you’re ready so apply.

kid should speak with pre-Med advising. Top students do not need a gap. 35 and 40% of my kids' two different ivies go to med school without a gap year. gap years are fine but not needed nor expected. one of these ivies specifically tracks students toward gap year(s) if they do not do as well as expected after the first year in the premed/stem and would be advantaged by spreading out the difficult classes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s commonly said prestige does not matter, and most say cheapest option with highest GPA and MCAT you can. I get that logic.

I can also understand how high SAT/ACT led to prestigious undergrad schools which led to high MCAT and that’s the correlation to strong med school application success.

I could also see top schools covering more in-depth thus making MCAT prep easier or is it truly directional school orgo is same as T5 orgo and it truly does not matter?

Top schools matter for top school. T5 med schools tend to give a boost to top undergrads. Brown gets a boost, RPI does not.

Certainly! And far more than the T5 med schools do it; spent years on a committee for my T50-65 range med school; undergrad colleges are put into tiers based on rigor and get a slight boost over lower tiers--about 16-18 schools are considered Tier 1, 30 or so are tier 2-- and the major the student chooses is tiered --engineering gets more gpa leeway than others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What makes logical sense to me is it does differ. I say this because even within the same college kids are vying for particular professors that are deemed better or easier, some purposefully seek out easier summer orgo, etc. AP exams are standardized but certainly doesn’t mean all high schools teaching it are created equal. Just because the science class has same material doesn’t make it same difficulty.

med admission committees are not fooled nor do they miss this detail

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s commonly said prestige does not matter, and most say cheapest option with highest GPA and MCAT you can. I get that logic.

I can also understand how high SAT/ACT led to prestigious undergrad schools which led to high MCAT and that’s the correlation to strong med school application success.

I could also see top schools covering more in-depth thus making MCAT prep easier or is it truly directional school orgo is same as T5 orgo and it truly does not matter?

Top schools matter for top school. T5 med schools tend to give a boost to top undergrads. Brown gets a boost, RPI does not.

Certainly! And far more than the T5 med schools do it; spent years on a committee for my T50-65 range med school; undergrad colleges are put into tiers based on rigor and get a slight boost over lower tiers--about 16-18 schools are considered Tier 1, 30 or so are tier 2-- and the major the student chooses is tiered --engineering gets more gpa leeway than others.

I’ve seen a tier document somewhere, wish I’d saved it. Mine was debating between a Tier 1 and a school that is at end of T20 that was considered Tier 2. I had heard that about engineering, but didn’t know there was tiers for major too.

[Anonymous]

I started my 1st sem med school pre-reqs at my T10 and bombed, so I took summer 2nd sem classes at my state flagship and got easy As. Did that for the rest of the pre-reqs every summer.

T10 tests were a beast -- short answer and essay and drawing cycles from memory, while state flagship tests were easy -- matching and multiple choice with maybe one short answer.

I ended up choosing a different health profession, and my interviewer told me they were excited to have someone from [my T10 university].

So maybe consider other health professions if med school isn't in the cards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I started my 1st sem med school pre-reqs at my T10 and bombed, so I took summer 2nd sem classes at my state flagship and got easy As. Did that for the rest of the pre-reqs every summer.

T10 tests were a beast -- short answer and essay and drawing cycles from memory, while state flagship tests were easy -- matching and multiple choice with maybe one short answer.

I ended up choosing a different health profession, and my interviewer told me they were excited to have someone from [my T10 university].

So maybe consider other health professions if med school isn't in the cards.

I have no clue how things compare, but can say my child at a supposed inflation Ivy is working their tail off in pre-req. One B so far, the rest are A’s but comes with tons of effort and hours in the library, and not prioritizing a social life. This is a kid that picks things up easily, it’s HARD. The exams are very intense and classmates are all very smart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I started my 1st sem med school pre-reqs at my T10 and bombed, so I took summer 2nd sem classes at my state flagship and got easy As. Did that for the rest of the pre-reqs every summer.

T10 tests were a beast -- short answer and essay and drawing cycles from memory, while state flagship tests were easy -- matching and multiple choice with maybe one short answer.

I ended up choosing a different health profession, and my interviewer told me they were excited to have someone from [my T10 university].

So maybe consider other health professions if med school isn't in the cards.

I have no clue how things compare, but can say my child at a supposed inflation Ivy is working their tail off in pre-req. One B so far, the rest are A’s but comes with tons of effort and hours in the library, and not prioritizing a social life. This is a kid that picks things up easily, it’s HARD. The exams are very intense and classmates are all very smart.

Harvard? Yeah, I think the easy A rep no longer applies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s commonly said prestige does not matter, and most say cheapest option with highest GPA and MCAT you can. I get that logic.

I can also understand how high SAT/ACT led to prestigious undergrad schools which led to high MCAT and that’s the correlation to strong med school application success.

I could also see top schools covering more in-depth thus making MCAT prep easier or is it truly directional school orgo is same as T5 orgo and it truly does not matter?

Top schools matter for top school. T5 med schools tend to give a boost to top undergrads. Brown gets a boost, RPI does not.

Certainly! And far more than the T5 med schools do it; spent years on a committee for my T50-65 range med school; undergrad colleges are put into tiers based on rigor and get a slight boost over lower tiers--about 16-18 schools are considered Tier 1, 30 or so are tier 2-- and the major the student chooses is tiered --engineering gets more gpa leeway than others.

This is interesting, as I have seen people claim on here that "major doesn't matter; you can major in anything," but if majors are put into tiers, are "easier" majors receiving fewer points?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What makes logical sense to me is it does differ. I say this because even within the same college kids are vying for particular professors that are deemed better or easier, some purposefully seek out easier summer orgo, etc. AP exams are standardized but certainly doesn’t mean all high schools teaching it are created equal. Just because the science class has same material doesn’t make it same difficulty.

med admission committees are not fooled nor do they miss this detail

Glad to hear it. Does show those on here claiming all classes are created equal are incorrect. Those who are in admissions say otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s commonly said prestige does not matter, and most say cheapest option with highest GPA and MCAT you can. I get that logic.

I can also understand how high SAT/ACT led to prestigious undergrad schools which led to high MCAT and that’s the correlation to strong med school application success.

I could also see top schools covering more in-depth thus making MCAT prep easier or is it truly directional school orgo is same as T5 orgo and it truly does not matter?

Top schools matter for top school. T5 med schools tend to give a boost to top undergrads. Brown gets a boost, RPI does not.

Certainly! And far more than the T5 med schools do it; spent years on a committee for my T50-65 range med school; undergrad colleges are put into tiers based on rigor and get a slight boost over lower tiers--about 16-18 schools are considered Tier 1, 30 or so are tier 2-- and the major the student chooses is tiered --engineering gets more gpa leeway than others.

This is interesting, as I have seen people claim on here that "major doesn't matter; you can major in anything," but if majors are put into tiers, are "easier" majors receiving fewer points?

Majors aren't tiered in the same way as the schools. It's just that certain majors known for grade deflation might get a little boost. Med schools also love humanities majors, who have an equal or slightly better admit rate compared to STEM majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I started my 1st sem med school pre-reqs at my T10 and bombed, so I took summer 2nd sem classes at my state flagship and got easy As. Did that for the rest of the pre-reqs every summer.

T10 tests were a beast -- short answer and essay and drawing cycles from memory, while state flagship tests were easy -- matching and multiple choice with maybe one short answer.

I ended up choosing a different health profession, and my interviewer told me they were excited to have someone from [my T10 university].

So maybe consider other health professions if med school isn't in the cards.

I have no clue how things compare, but can say my child at a supposed inflation Ivy is working their tail off in pre-req. One B so far, the rest are A’s but comes with tons of effort and hours in the library, and not prioritizing a social life. This is a kid that picks things up easily, it’s HARD. The exams are very intense and classmates are all very smart.

Harvard? Yeah, I think the easy A rep no longer applies.

From mine and their cousin, applies to both Harvard and Brown. I feel confident the same could be said for Yale who also gets lumped into this. I think it’s good to talk about, cousin would have taken things slower and protected grades more had they known, especially given gap year norm.