<p>Stony Brook is an option because we are very familiar with the town and he would become a NY resident after the first year. But I admit I really like Santa Clara but my son is uncomfortable or unsure of the type of research opportunities available to him there. From what I can tell online there are plenty. We plan to call next week to find out more details.
As far as UDub, I feel the same way - why pay OOS tuition</p>
<p>He has been waitlisted for Cornell but no, he did not intend to transfer to Cornell from SB. Their medical school is an option later though.</p>
<p>What I am hearing you say, Bluebayou, is Santa Clara is the best choice academically?</p>
<p>Negative. IMO, the best choice academically would be a UC. But, his chances are probably better to earn A’s at SCU. (SB is on an academic par with a Cal State and should not even be a consideration.)</p>
<p>Why do you say that it would be easier to get A’s at SCU than the UC’s - and is that all UC’s??</p>
<p>Also, he wants to get into a top medical school later (ie. Stanford, Harvard, Columbia, NYU, John Hopkins, etc). Which is more likely to get him there - UCSD, UCLA or Santa Clara U?</p>
<p>Entomom, yes, we are CA residents.</p>
<p>Fortunately for your son, the name-branding of your undergraduate school doesn’t do very much in the process. Unfortunately, none of the schools your son is choosing among will be likely at all to “get him” into a top-tier medical school. All of the schools you mention send absurdly small numbers of students to (for example) top ten medical schools – less than 10 a year from any of the UC’s, and probably proportionally less from SCU.</p>
<p>If your son wants to be absolutely mercenary about the process, the best way to get into a top-ten medical school is to obtain WA state residency. Going to UW probably doesn’t accomplish this, however.</p>
<p>Bluedevil, please elaborate. I do not follow the first two sentences - they seem to contradict each other. Why would becoming a WA state resident help him get into a top medical school? How does one get into a top medical school? - isn’t it by being a shining star as an undergrad?</p>
<p>–Undergraduate name recognition can be a small boost, but none of the schools in question have it. Fortunately for your son, it’s only a small one.</p>
<p>–Washington state happens to have a top-ten medical school (the University of Washington) which prefers in-state residents. While California has these as well, they are so selective that the in-state preference usually doesn’t help very much. The one in Washington helps a lot.</p>
<p>What does give him a ‘boost’ other than his GPA and MCAT? Is it getting involved in research as an undergrad? this is what he wants to do anyways. StonyBrook has a lot of research available as does UW. He can go to SB for very little $$ - he can even live w/ his grandmother for the last 2 years if he wishes. Plus he has a scholarship from them and is in the University Scholars program. At Santa Clara he is in the Honors Program as well. They look like they have research available also. It would cost a bit more there but would be less than the UC schools due to the scholarships offered from SantaClara. UW has not offered a dime but he is in the Honors College w/ a direct admit into the BioChemistry dept. Haven’t heard from USC fin. aid yet.
I fear the public schools, however, due to budget cuts. He would, however, have priority registration at SB. UW does not offer priority reg. for there Honors College which was disappointing (initially this was his first choice due to 1. it’s in Seattle , 2. it has a great med school that he can take advantage of as an undergrad. and get involved w/ research</p>
<p>Should we wait to hear from Cornell? - he’s waitlisted there. And still have not heard from GeorgeWashington U.</p>
<p>I mean, medical school admissions is a multifactorial process. Essays, interviews, extracurriculars, research, leadership, etc. etc.</p>
<p>It all depends on a lot of things, including how he feels about the schools and your family’s financial situation.</p>
<p>No single school will prevent him from getting into a top-tier medical school. Nor will any single school automatically help him. Some schools have reputations will help him mildly, but none of the schools you’ve mentioned (other than Cornell) are among those.</p>
<p>You do need to be aware that the odds from the schools you’ve mentioned are pretty abysmal. UC Berkeley has about 10 a year, so you can imagine that UCLA, UCSD, etc. are around the same ballpark. Santa Clara’s going to be worse than that – and probably a lot worse. Stony Brook is probably in that range, too. This isn’t necessarily because of the school so much as it is about the sorts of students who tend to go there anyway.</p>
<p>Washington, because of the in-state status of most of its residents, will probably be higher, and obviously Cornell will be higher.</p>
<p>In other words, no matter where he goes to school, if he puts his mind to it as he has thru-out (he is grad. 4/600) that he should be fine. So if he decides on SB due to local (LI,NY - beautiful), family member close by and that he can go for almost nothing, plus great research availability OR Santa Clara - he would be fine to get into a top med. school. I thought that I had read that Santa Clara does a great job getting the students into med school, hmmm?</p>
<p>That is what you are saying, when you say 10 are chosen from UC’s each year, that is for the top tier med schools not just A med school?</p>
<p>He wants to be a surgeon (at least that is his plan) - not sure that he needs to go to a top tier med school for that - SB has a good med school itself - it may not be top tier but it is very good. I figure that he would learn more about this along the way. </p>
<p>Any advice is greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>BTW, what is your background, bluedevelmike?</p>
<p>Decision10, if you are referring to University of California at Santa Barbara, it unfortunately does not have a medical school. In regards to your question about becoming a surgeon, no you do not have to go to a top 10 medical school.</p>
<p>EDIT: If I remember correctly, BlueDevil graduated from Duke Undergraduate, then went onto medical school and also graduated from law school?</p>
<p>Thanks Indianjatt. SB refers to SUNY-StonyBrook not UCSB.
Pretty impressive bluedevil medical school and law school, assuming you
completed both - wow.</p>
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</p>
<p>This is not quite what I am saying. What I am saying is that the name of the undergraduate institution is unlikely to be the determinative factor in whether he attends one of the medical schools you specified.</p>
<p>About 10 students/alums from UC Berkeley enroll in a top-10 medical school each year.</p>
<p>I am starting to think that he should just go where he would like to go, what makes most sense financially and stop stressing about it and if that is SUNY-SB (because that is by far the least expensive) than he should go and jump in and get involved and make the best of it. Also, he would complete his undergrad work there in 3 yrs. because they will
accept everything - his AP courses and college courses already taken at the local comm. college. And he could join the sailing club - FUN! Or if it is Santa Clara due to it’s size - small classes and he would get good counseling and also is in a great location.</p>
<p>Cornell will not accept his AP or college courses - they would still expect him to take all of there english, history etc.</p>
<p>I think that we will have to make another trip back to Santa Clara, StonyBrook and possibly UofW to compare them all. He has seen Santa clara but that was 2 yrs. ago.
He was just at StonyBrook last month but did not have much time to check it out but knows the surrounding area well. He has never been to Seattle.</p>
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<p>Cornell is a worse option for a lot of reasons – including cost and the fact that he hasn’t been admitted yet.</p>
<p>This however is not a valid reason for rejecting Cornell. Every top-tier undergraduate school is like this – and, for what it’s worth, most medical schools will expect him to retake English anyway. They will also prefer to see him spend all four years in college.</p>
<p>I didn’t realize that the med schools would want him to retake his English. He was planning on retaking his 1st class of each Biology and Chemistry because that is his major despite that he got A’s and 5’s on the AP exams and the fact that AP Bio was taken in 9th grade. All 4 yrs. in college - wasn’t aware of that either. UofW has sent him a preliminary transcript and has his status as a Sophomore already.</p>
<p>I read through a couple pages in this thread (beginning and ending 5 pages… sorry wayyy too long xP), and did not see any mention of Rice University, which is well-known for its engineering and architecture programs, of course, but also for its premed program, I thought. Am I mistaken? Can someone confirm or refute this?</p>
<p>Thanks (:</p>