High school students interested in going to medical school are often advised that where they attend college will not have a significant impact on their chance of admission. Here is data that suggests that isn’t true. Data from Notre Dame is below
Notre Dame 2023
286 applicants
243 accepted
85% admit rate
Average GPA 3.77
Average MCAT 512.4
Medical schools admissions include 4 U Penn, 3 Johns Hopkins, 8 U of Chicago, 5 Vanderbuilt, 7 U of Michigan,15 Georgetown, 3 U of Virginia, 9 Washington U St. Louis, 10 Northwestern, 4 Boston University, 6 Tufts, 3 NYU, 12 Case Western, 5 U Pitt, 5 Emory, 36 Indiana University, 5 Rochester, 3 Baylor, 9 Ohio State, 2 U of Wisconsin, 16 Cincinnati, 4 Cornell, 6 Columbia, 1 Harvard, 2 Duke
If you google “AAMC GPA MCAT” you will find a grid of medical school admission percentage with GPA and MCAT as the variables. Looking at all colleges with Notre Dame’s GPA and MCAT
AAMC 2021-2024
GPA 3.6-3.79
MCAT 510-513
56.7% admit rate
Very large difference in admit rate (50% relative and 30% absolute) with the only variable being undergrad attended.
The highest admit rate on the AAMC grid is
AAMC 2021-2024
GPA greater than 3.79
MCAT greater than 517
82.9% admit rate
Notre Dame not only has a substantially higher admit percentage than students with similar GPA and MCAT, but it is higher than students with highest reported stats. For perspective on GPA, 20% of ND students have a 3.9 GPA or higher
Digging a little deeper amplifies the outcomes, at least for Indiana residents. Google “AAMC 50 college” to see a list of the number of medical school applicants by undergrad. Comparing Notre Dame vs IU Bloomington and Purdue you can see that ND has a similar number of students applying to medical school with approximately 1/5 as many students. I tried to obtain the admit percentage from Bloomington and Purdue without success. Assuming they are above average at approximately 50%, that is an approximate 10X difference in admission when corrected for number of students. Both Bloomington and Purdue are very popular choices for premed in Indiana, so I don’t think the number of Freshman premeds could explain this difference. A lot of this is likely due to weeding out students which is something ND doesn’t do (98% first year retention and 96% percent graduation rate).
A common response disagreeing with this will state that most physicians didn’t attend a school like ND. Of course this has to be true. The US News top 20 schools graduate about 40,000 students per year which is about the same number of spots available for medical school and obviously not everyone is premed. Looking at doctors who have made it through the process introduces selection bias. Assuming the numbers for ND, Bloomington, and Purdue are correct then Bloomington and Purdue will produce just as many doctors as ND. Surveying physicians doesn’t include the students who didn’t make it. 2,000 students producing the same number of doctors as 20,000.
Notre Dame 2023
286 applicants
243 accepted
85% admit rate
Average GPA 3.77
Average MCAT 512.4
Medical schools admissions include 4 U Penn, 3 Johns Hopkins, 8 U of Chicago, 5 Vanderbuilt, 7 U of Michigan,15 Georgetown, 3 U of Virginia, 9 Washington U St. Louis, 10 Northwestern, 4 Boston University, 6 Tufts, 3 NYU, 12 Case Western, 5 U Pitt, 5 Emory, 36 Indiana University, 5 Rochester, 3 Baylor, 9 Ohio State, 2 U of Wisconsin, 16 Cincinnati, 4 Cornell, 6 Columbia, 1 Harvard, 2 Duke
If you google “AAMC GPA MCAT” you will find a grid of medical school admission percentage with GPA and MCAT as the variables. Looking at all colleges with Notre Dame’s GPA and MCAT
AAMC 2021-2024
GPA 3.6-3.79
MCAT 510-513
56.7% admit rate
Very large difference in admit rate (50% relative and 30% absolute) with the only variable being undergrad attended.
The highest admit rate on the AAMC grid is
AAMC 2021-2024
GPA greater than 3.79
MCAT greater than 517
82.9% admit rate
Notre Dame not only has a substantially higher admit percentage than students with similar GPA and MCAT, but it is higher than students with highest reported stats. For perspective on GPA, 20% of ND students have a 3.9 GPA or higher
Digging a little deeper amplifies the outcomes, at least for Indiana residents. Google “AAMC 50 college” to see a list of the number of medical school applicants by undergrad. Comparing Notre Dame vs IU Bloomington and Purdue you can see that ND has a similar number of students applying to medical school with approximately 1/5 as many students. I tried to obtain the admit percentage from Bloomington and Purdue without success. Assuming they are above average at approximately 50%, that is an approximate 10X difference in admission when corrected for number of students. Both Bloomington and Purdue are very popular choices for premed in Indiana, so I don’t think the number of Freshman premeds could explain this difference. A lot of this is likely due to weeding out students which is something ND doesn’t do (98% first year retention and 96% percent graduation rate).
A common response disagreeing with this will state that most physicians didn’t attend a school like ND. Of course this has to be true. The US News top 20 schools graduate about 40,000 students per year which is about the same number of spots available for medical school and obviously not everyone is premed. Looking at doctors who have made it through the process introduces selection bias. Assuming the numbers for ND, Bloomington, and Purdue are correct then Bloomington and Purdue will produce just as many doctors as ND. Surveying physicians doesn’t include the students who didn’t make it. 2,000 students producing the same number of doctors as 20,000.
Statistics: Posted by DPEMD — Sun Aug 25, 2024 10:04 am — Replies 2 — Views 101