My Chances of Getting into a Top Med School

[Nymphicus]

Moved to WAMC.

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[SoulinNeed]

Despite the sociological jargon and language you are using, thinking that prestige should not be important to some people, both in and out of the medical industry is a naive view to have. I can't even tell if you are being serious honestly. Not every medical student wants to be a primary care physician. Some want to dabble in public health, public policy, medical economics, medical technology, politics, bioethics, global health, the list is really endless. To say that going to a certain institution will not help in EVERYTHING except research is rather silly. It's not even a matter of rank, as I would agree rank is relatively arbitrary and changes from publisher to publisher. However, the more recognized the institution, the more doors it can open. You can't blame those with ambitions to want to seek those opportunities out. To name these individuals "weak-minded" in such a heated manner seems so heavy handed I can't tell if you are trolling or not.

The vast majority of US MD students, even at "bottom tiered schools" are not entering Primary Care, and you know that. Secondly, you have to define "well known" to whom? Like I said, a school like Case Western is considered a top school, but very few in the general public have ever heard of it.

To be honest, though, I don't mind going to a school that's "prestigious". Prestige means history and legacy, and you can apply that to most US MD schools. However, and I think we agree on this, when you start to define medical schools by arbitrary rankings that pre-meds, students, and residency program directors can't even agree on, then it becomes a problem. All it will due is place unnecessary pressure on future pre-med students. In law it may be necessary because you can argue that you're screwed if you don't attend a top 14 school, but we don't have that problem yet in medical school, and pre-meds should understand that.

 

[MedPR]

Don't worry. I had two harvards for dinner yesterday. Pretty good.

Only two? You must be poor.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using SDN Mobile

 

[pasiley]

A 31 ACT isn't competitive for Rice University.

Yes it is.

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/rice-university

This is exactly why people want to go to prestigious schools, people who go to top schools usually are never questioned about their abilities or have their abilities down played.

 

[pasiley]

Rice University also offers a substantial amount of financial aid, need based and merit based. They're an incredibly rich school. Money is usually not a deciding factor for (competitive) people interested in going to the school, so I've heard.

OP might not be telling us the full story, but whatever the case, it's over. What's done is done.

I know of people who have parents that make a lot of money yet refuse to help pay for school. A girl I graduated with is over a 100,000 in debt because of she couldn't qualify for financial aid because her parents made so much yet refused to help her out.

Not everyone has parents willing help out with tuition even if they can.

In addition, many low income students do not understand the financial aid process well and simply do not apply to "top schools" assuming they cannot afford them.
http://www.npr.org/2013/01/09/168889785/elite-colleges-struggle-to-recruit-smart-low-income-kids

 

[torshi]

Despite the sociological jargon and language you are using, thinking that prestige should not be important to some people, both in and out of the medical industry is a naive view to have. I can't even tell if you are being serious honestly. Not every medical student wants to be a primary care physician. Some want to dabble in public health, public policy, medical economics, medical technology, politics, bioethics, global health, the list is really endless. To say that going to a certain institution will not help in EVERYTHING except research is rather silly. It's not even a matter of rank, as I would agree rank is relatively arbitrary and changes from publisher to publisher. However, the more recognized the institution, the more doors it can open. You can't blame those with ambitions to want to seek those opportunities out. To name these individuals "weak-minded" in such a heated manner seems so heavy handed I can't tell if you are trolling or not.

For certain individuals which is fine, but it seems like a general consensus that the majority are lacking the fundamental and logical thought process in regards to why they truly are picking a school, it's all about rank solely based off of laziness, it's not just jargon, everywhere I go I hear it, and don't try to deny it, you have too. It's not until hopefully medical school and beyond people start to realize, but then it's too late.
What you just mentioned is obvious and I'm not oblivious to the notion of going to a top school "opens up more doors," but that also is a generalization, there are many people who come from non-top schools, but we only hear about the ones that do. Anyways, again it's the majority that's the problem. If anyone is asking about going to a top school they're most likely not the future leader in any field, it's meant for certain people.

We can't deny the fact that ranking systems devoured our basic awareness in terms of what to really aspire for, it's sad.

They are weak-minded because they think like others. Where's different perspectives, why does everyone think the same? And I can blame them, I have witnessed face-face some individuals "ambitious" desires to go to a top school solely based off prestige and name - the same person who calls D.O's a run in the mill piece of sh** with BS chiropractor work.