Pre-med

Among the different kinds of graduate schools, medical school has the lowest admission rate by far, so much as that it is commonplace to see acceptance rates for public medical schools approach that of private ones (e.g. UNC Chapel Hill’s 4.2% vs. Duke’s 2.9%). While the prestige of the undergraduate college might tip the scales of admission slightly, an applicant’s choice of coursework and GPA are the most important factors. That said, elite colleges can boast of success rates of graduates gaining admission into medical school that are significantly higher than the national average of 43%. For example:

1. Harvard – 95%
2. Duke – 85%
3. UPenn – 76%

Elite colleges are able to devote more resources to pre-med advising, in addition to having a higher proportion of qualified students in their student body (it is not surprising to find many would-be doctors amongst the student body of such colleges). Not surprisingly, getting admitted into an elite college has been likened to getting into medical school.

When reading ranking for pre-med schools, bear in mind that pre-med is not a major. Here are a few such rankings:

• College Vine
• Ivy Wise
• Med School Coach