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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yes, you have to earn your grades at W&M [b]but medical schools and other graduate programs recognize this, so a 3.4 at W&M is equivalent to a 3.8 at JMU[/b].

For a more quantitative measure the admit rate for W&M is 15-20% higher than the national average for medical school. [/quote]

This really does not sound true.  [/quote]

Grades at W&M aren’t any different than grades at similar institutions.  I think the average undergraduate GPA in 2015 was about a 3.35.  It’s almost certainly higher now.  W&M students get into medical school at higher rates than “average” because they’re generally much better than average students.  I’d be interested in seeing a comparison to just similar academic institutions.  My guess is that acceptance rates would look very similar.[/quote]

Average GPA may now be above 3.5.  W&M (and UVA) have among the highest average GPAs for public schools.  The highest average undergraduate GPAs tend to be at private schools.  I believe schools like Brown are above 3.8 now.

We looked at data for this a couple of years ago and what you say is mostly true.   Schools with better students generally have higher acceptance rates to medical school.  I kept the data points below for high and low rates in recent years based on data from the schools.  The average is about 40% of applicants are admitted to at least one accredited school:

W&M:  65% to 50%
UVA:  60% to 52%
Michigan:  58% to 54%
Berkeley: 57% to 51%
UCLA:  51% to 45%

All of these schools have quite a few applicants based on data I saw.  As I recall, though, UCLA had a significantly higher number of applicants than Berkeley, which might explain why it rates are a bit lower.  Many schools only report stats with asterisks like "of students with at least 3.6 GPA in core courses" or of those receiving a recommendation from a committee, so you need to be careful in interpreting data points.

I think what you really want is a school where your kid is going to be comfortable.  Pre-med is going to be tough no matter where you go.

BTW, our kid has moved away from pre-med.  You should also consider that in choosing a school, as that is a common occurence.[/quote]

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