getting accepted into a highly ranked medical school with a bachelors from a not so highly ranked school?
I never really gave much thought to my future and grades until I got into college. I did not study at all for my SATs and did not give much thought about the classes that I took in high school. I applied to both university of maryland baltimore county (UMBC) and university of maryland college park and was accepted into both. i decided to attend UMBC because I got a scholarship. Now I am one of the most motivated people that I know. I got a 4.0 GPA and great extracurricular activities my freshman year. I will keep it up and do the absolute best that I can to become a doctor. So my question is, if I keep the high GPA, keep the great extracurriculars going, do amazing on the MCAT by studying my butt off and do great in everything else, will I be able to be accepted into medical schools like UNC chapel hill, UT southwestern, Baylor, Washing U in seattle, U of chicago, etc even though UMBC is not as renowned for its academic credentials and does not have a national standing?
Higher Education (University +) - 3 Answers
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1
Its possible. UTMB and Baylor are all about the students' achievement and ability to retain you. Some of their students go to community colleges and later transfer there. However once inside its extremely competitive.
2
You will have a chance if your MCAT is high, some schools might be bias about your GPA because of your school, but if your MCAT is good they will look at you.
3
You got into UMBC on a scholarship and you hadn't given much thought about your grades and now you're pulling a 4.0? Very nice, clearly you have intelligence. Now, don't do something stupid like applying to a 'highly ranked' school. If you knew how schools were ranked, you wouldn't bother. There are two ranking processes: US News and World Report and the National Institute of Health. The US News criteria contain so many non-education issues that the Association of American Medical Colleges is trying to get them to stop. But if you think the number of parking spaces makes one school better than the other, then go ahead and select a school by their criteria. The NIH ranking system is based on the research dollars alloted to the school and number of Medicare/Medicaid patients treated. All medical schools are accredited by the LCME, which monitors every class at every school. If there is a significant change, either good or bad, inquiries are made. This assures that regardless of where you are educated, the end product is the same. So you can $16,000 a semester at a state university medical school or you can pay $50,000 a semester at a Big Name school--in the end, you'll get the same MD. Any idea of why the Harvards and Johns Hopkins of the world are considered "Big Name" schools versus the George Washingtons or Virginia Medical College? It has nothing to do with the medical school (again, the LCME assures that the education in all is equivalent). The reputations come from the residency programs and the medical centers that are aligned with the school. And once you get into medicine you'll understand that residency programs and medical centers have nothing--zilch--nada--to do with the medical school. When you begin to think about it, if schools like Johns Hopkins were so superior, only Johns Hopkins graduates would be considered for residencies at Hopkins. I worked at Hopkins for years and I can attest that very few Hopkins graduates were in the Hopkins residency programs. Once you get into medical school and begin to learn the ropes, you'll learn that where you did your undergrad doesn't matter. Once you get into a residency program you'll learn that where you went to medical school doesn't matter. All that does matter is where you did your residency. And residency program rankings do matter. And you're going to be surprised that many of the higher ranked residency programs are not at the Big Name programs. For example, there are two institutions that are world renowned for their Emergency Medicine residencies. They are equally ranked. One is UCLA, the other is your alma mater, the University of Maryland. Save yourself a hundred grand in student loan debt and stay within your university system until you select a specialty to practice. Then select the best residency program--if it is at a Big Name program that's okay. If it's at a lesser known program, no problem--everyone who cares will know you attended the better program.
