Do Medical Schools Take Your Under-Graduate University Into Account When Considering Your Application to Their University?

[LiquidSoap]

I was just thinking and I got a bit curious. Do very prestigious universities, for example McGill (my top choice since it's in Canada and almost definitely the best in the country) look at your under-grad Uni when looking at your application?

 

For example, Person A went to their local university. The university's minimum grade acceptance to their Biology course regarding the student's high school marks is 70%, and the place doesn't have too much of a reputation. At the end of Person A's last year, his average mark was 92%. It's also good to mention that he was a completely straight A high school student, who was also awarded the IB diploma.

 

Then came along Person B. Person B traveled all the way across the country and attended a very posh and well-known university. Their minimum grade acceptance was 85%. Person B ended up with an average of 92% as well. Like Person A, he was also a straight A IB student in high school.

 

So, what I'm basically asking is, would I get a higher chance in getting accepted to my desired University if I went to a more, well, 'better" one?

 

I am a loooooong way away from making that kind of choice, however the question has been thought over in my head a lot lately.

 

Thanks to anyone who answers.

 

PS. The way I explained the question was probably really inaccurate regarding to the way universities actually work, but I hope I was able to give you a vague idea of what I meant.  

[Lynxarin]

I do not have an answer to your question, but I am also interest in knowing the answer

[orangetardish]

This is a question I've been wondering for a long time about too, and based on my research, I really think it depends on the grad program. I don't have much experience in University admissions, so would love to get a proper answer too  

 

Some uni's clearly state that the undergrad school does not matter. For example, University of Waterloo's Optometry program (which I think I'm interested in aha) states on their website, "The Admissions Committee does not consider the university of origin (where you’re applying from) in their admission decision nor do they have quotas from other provinces or countries." In this case, GPA and the prerequisite courses are probably everything. 

If there are two students with the same GPA like in your example, they would look at other factors. Grad programs need letters of recommendation, and obviously letters from more recognizable professors who are established in their field would be be looked better upon. 

 

But I don't think that there is a guarantee that a student from  'prestigious' undergrad programs would not be preferred because of the reputation that comes with the school/program name. The people who work on admission committees are human too, and some school names have a lot of weight. To be fair, schools like Harvard and other well-known and 'posh' universities are known for academic rigor, and success in that kind of competitive environment could be used as an indicator of how well you will do in grad school

 

I looked around on the Mcgill website for information on their medical programs and couldn't find much on the topic. But, for their information studies program, it states that:

• The School will take into account the character of applicants' post-secondary studies and their suitability for a career in information-related fields.

This is really vague, but it could possibly allude to the reputation of the undergrad you went to. Although this is not for medicine, it does show that the school could matter. 

 

In short, specific universities will have different requirements. Certain schools will offer advantages that certain other schools just cannot give. It depends on the program and university. When in doubt, call the school. I hope this helped

Edited February 7, 2016 by orangetardish

[NiCKEL]

I also heard that while admission might not consider it, it is often a factor when applying for residency (even farther away from where we are but still important because...well you need a job after all that work).