<p>So I had been pretty set on going to the University of Alabama up until today, when I heard from Northwestern that they want to admit me off the wait list. I still haven't received any indication on what my financial aid would be at NU, but I know it couldn't compare to the full ride I have at Bama. I want to be a pre-med, and I have pretty lofty ambitions for med/grad school. I've heard NU's pre-med is brutal, and I know Bama has a solid record in biology with lots of opportunities for honors students. Which school would be better at preparing me for/getting me into med or grad school? Would I regret passing up the deal at Bama for the prestige in Evanston? Tell me what you think!</p>
<p>Is money of a problem?</p>
<p>The other thread was dealing Vandy vs Bama full ride. Take a look at the discussion.</p>
<p>I don’t know the particulars of my NU financial aid yet, but my guess is I’d have to go into at least some debt if I went there.</p>
<p>Sorry, I meant how much your parents can afford?</p>
<p>My EFC is around $40,000 per year, but obviously less than that would be more realistic.</p>
<p>tbh, if you get a big automatic scholarship at Alabama, just go there You will need to save all the money you can for med school.</p>
<p>simply put, if NU after the FA package is affordable to you and your parents are willing to pay for that without a loan, go NU, otherwise go Bama.</p>
<p>^^^^Agreed. I’d wait until you get the full FA package from Northwestern. If it is do-able with out major debt, I’d go to Northwetern, if the money doesn’t work then stick with AL.</p>
<p>do you know when you are getting your fa pkg? </p>
<p>what are your parents saying about how much they will pay for NU? You have an EFC of $40k (may be higher via CSS Profile).</p>
<p>How much debt would you have to take on for NU?</p>
<p>Med school is expensive, I wouldnt go into undergrad debt if you want med school.</p>
<p>This thread must be flame. LOL. </p>
<p>Thanks for the input, guys. The other issue is that if I can afford Northwestern, I still don’t know if it would be better for me to go there or stick with Bama since I’ve heard scary things about pre-med at NU. The sense I have is that it might be better for me to be a big fish at Bama than an average-sized fish at NU when it comes to applying for med school. Is this accurate?</p>
<p>It sounds like Northwestern would require a lot of debt. If it’s more than 30k for all 4 years then it’s not worth it. If you can pay cost of attendance without significant debt, then it’s a great school, but it’s not worth massive debt.
I also agree that while UA’s premed courses are significantly weed out, if you made it into the Honors College your odds of getting top grades are better than at NU since waitlist means you’ll be competing from the bottom of the applicant pool.
However, if you’re not sure about premed (half freshmen drop premed from consideration) AND Northwestern is doable without much expense, then choose Northwestern. It’ll take you farther.
( NU + Significant debt or premed = probably not the best choice.)
Alabama for free is better for a definite premed = med schools don’t care about your school’s brand name, just GPA + MCAT and Alabama Honors will prepare you well. Plus, premeds need to have as little debt as possible.</p>
<p>Did some googling, NU seems to make their sciences classes very difficult. Some top schools weed out pre-meds in initial admissions, NU weeds out in the intro classes. Though, pre-meds who do stick with it will almost always get in somewhere.</p>
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<p>that is often true everywhere for students with med school worthy stats…except UCs… </p>
<p>what are your HS stats?</p>
<p>will your parents help you pay for med school if they dont have to pay much for undergrad?</p>
<p>^I don’t understand this. If everyone who sticks with it gets into medical school, then medical schools wouldn’t have <5% acceptance rates with many people ending up with 0 acceptances</p>
<p>I’m a National Merit Finalist (hence the money at Bama), 34 ACT, Top 10 in state for National Spanish Exam, TN Governor’s School for the Sciences 2012, flute section leader in marching band (made up a community service project in which I and other members of the band taught kids about music), biochem internship at Vanderbilt (got recs from my PI and am going back to that same lab again this summer). High AP scores, etc. I really, really love being in the lab, so I’m looking at pre-med more from a biomedical research angle.</p>
<p>Oh, and my parents have said that they want me to pay for most of my education if possible, but that was before we knew where I was going to college.</p>
<p><<<^I don’t understand this. If everyone who sticks with it gets into medical school, then medical schools wouldn’t have <5% acceptance rates with many people ending up with 0 acceptances
<<<</p>
<p>I said…with med school worthy stats. </p>
<p>… at many/most schools, if you have a 3.7+ gpa (both cum and BCMP), and a 3X MCAT, you have about a 80+% chance of acceptance at at least one US MD school…as long as you have a reasonable app list (of course)…and you’re not a UC-only applicant.</p>
<p>the admit rate can be somewhat misleading at SOMs, because every applicant isnt subjected to that rate. a med-school worthy stats instate applicant applying to his/her instate SOMs, will probably have a 50%+ chance of admittance to one or more.</p>
<p>My son had very good, but not super-spectacular stats (he didnt listen to mom, and didnt study for the MCAT). He only completed 6 MD med school apps (not my idea)…and was kind of late getting his apps in…yet he was accepted to 3 MD SOMs …because he did have med-school worthy stats.</p>
<p>Heck…if you are a Miss resident with good stats, you practically have a 100% chance of admittance into UMiss SOM…as long as you pass the interview (the crazy test)</p>
<p>If you are a girl with good stats in Alabama, you have a super high chance of admittance into USA SOM (even if you are an oOS girl attending an AL undergrad…because the school is boy-heavy)</p>
<p>collegemaze…what is your home state?</p>
<p>What if OP went to NU, got like a 3.0, good MCAT and everything, would he get in to a US MD school?</p>
<p>Nope, a 3.0 doesn’t get you into med school.</p>
<p>OP: it sounds that what you’re interested in is more medical research. You can do that in several ways:
- MD/PHD. As the name implies… medical research. Best of all: it’s FUNDED. Yup, if you get into one of those, you don’t have to take those gigantic loans for med school. Of course, they’re super competitive.
- Top Research University’s Med School: at Harvard, even not MD/PHDs have a more research-oriented curriculum than clinical/practice. (Note that I didn’t say they didn’t get practice oriented classes!)
- “Regular” MD and then focus on one research aspect for residency.</p>
<p>You sound quite competitive so the NU classes wouldn’t be the worst for you.
How likely is it that you’d get research experience though? You should email and ask.</p>