I’ve been accepted to both and want to go to one of these schools for pre med, any help with this decision?
Dartmouth was ED wasn’t it? Isn’t your acceptance is binding.
@FalconloverxxXxx Honestly it doesn’t matter too much where you go to undergrad for medical school, but the fact that Dartmouth is an Ivy may look more favorable. While a 3.9 at a state school will always look better than a 3.5 at an Ivy, a 3.9 at an Ivy will look phenomenal in comparison to a 3.9 at a state school. So the question is really if you think you can perform at a high level at an Ivy. If you don’t think you can perform well at the Ivy it might not be worth it, as GPA is very important for med school (among many things).
But outside of prestige you also want to look at where you are going to be most comfortable and happiest. The opportunities will be available at either school, so while prestige-wise Dartmouth may be better since it is an Ivy, everything else considered it’s up to you to decide whether you can handle the academics at Dartmouth and which campus you fall in love with more.
“While a 3.9 at a state school will always look better than a 3.5 at an Ivy, a 3.9 at an Ivy will look phenomenal in comparison to a 3.9 at a state school.”
That would be true if Michigan were merely “a state school”. But Michigan transcends the label and is considered an elite university. In academe, Michigan actually receives a higher rating for undergraduate education than Dartmouth, albeit by the smallest of margins (4.4/50 vs 4.2/5.0). A 3.9 student from either school would be equally impressive.
But none of this matters. Dartmouth is most likely binding, in which case the OP must honor the agreement. I can think of worse things than going to Dartmouth! 
Unless the financial situation precludes Dartmouth in which case OP can renege.
Dartmouth is very generous with aid. I doubt they will not meet an applicant’s FA needs.
Dartmouth and the other ivy leagues are more known for their grade inflation. So go with Dartmouth.
ForeverAlone, the Ivy League grade inflation is a myth. Columbia, Cornell, Penn and Princeton are actually known for the reverse; harsh grading. Assuming the OP is not bound to Dartmouth, I would recommend going for fit.
Dartmouth is very small, located in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. Campus life, limited as it is, is all that the college has to offer in terms of social/entertainment activity. 50% of the students belong to fraternities. Personal attention is LAC-like, which is awesome of course.
Michigan is a large university located in a large college town. The university is incredibly diverse socially and intellectually. The options for research and hospital internships are off the charts. Like at any major research university, students have to work hard to take advantage of what the university has to offer.
Both are excellent, but in completely different ways.
Visit both campuses, research quirks about each school. @Alexandre gave a nice summary. I am not sure about the grade inflation @ForeverAlone mentioned- some ivies have it, others do not- I am not sure about Dartmouth (Brown and Harvard have it probably in the highest extremes, while Princeton is notorious for its grade deflation).
Are you instate? If not the finance reason for turning down Dartmouth ED for UofM is questionable and you should honor your ED agreement. There is no guarantee you will get a better deal from UofM. If you wanted time to choose between two universities or choose between financial aid offers you should never have applied ED to Dartmouth.
^ Agree - ED should be honored unless finances say otherwise
Yes and there is no way to guarantee that UofM will meet need unless the OP is in-state. Comparing unis is what you give up when you agree to ED and declare that the ED uni is your first choice. If the OP is instate and Dartmouth did not meet need then the OP may be able to say no to the Dartmouth offer and accept the offer from UofM. The OP already “chose” Dartmouth as first choice otherwise would have applied RD to Dartmouth. Discussing which one is “better” is not really up for discussion.
@FalconloverxxXxx Did you also apply ED to Northwestern? You said a comment that you were deferred but I wasn’t aware that you could apply ED to more than one school.
Thanks for the help!
Thanks for the help!
@hailbate please don’t give sweeping generalization advice like this again without looking into the facts. UM sends hundreds of premeds onto medical school every year. This isn’t MSU premed, in which your comparison might make sense, and Dartmouth isn’t HYP despite being an “Ivy” (which is, if you didn’t know, an athletic conference)
OP, getting into med school is quite difficult and something of a lottery, since K-12 is unlikely to prepare you well for “weeder” classes. Especially considering that Dartmouth and UM reputations are similar, you should perhaps more heavily weigh other factors - like a backup plan (what would be your 2nd career path and which school would best help you achieve that?), cost of attendance after you get the financial aid award, and even which campus you simply like better.
Then make a decision and don’t look back, because you can succeed at either place
Question to @FalconloverxxXxx : do you live in Michigan? Yes or no, that won’t be a problem for Dartmouth since it meets 100% of demonstrated need of every admitted applicant. It’ll be an issue if no b/c umich will pump up the price tag for OOS.
I though Dartmouth met need only if the family income was below ~75K unlike HYPS which does so up to 200K meaning Dartmouth could still be a financial challenge. . Could someone clarify?
@steellord123 UMich is still a state school, is it not? Yes it is prestigious, but are we really comparing an Ivy League school to a public school in terms of undergrad? I’d even say Cornell, while seen as the lowest of the Ivys, is probably more prestigious undergrad-wise than UMich. I love my school, but Ivys are Ivys. Yes it is an athletic conference but theres a reason why they are grouped like that. Their history speaks for itself and yes I’m sure there could be a whole other discussion about grade inflation and all that, and comparisons with grad schools is a different story, but looking from the outside at the undergraduate level, you won’t find many national rankings that put UMich above an Ivy, much less a mid-Ivy like Dartmouth.
Either way, prestige doesn’t matter too much for public medical schools, so I guess this whole talk about prestige of undergraduate institutions could not matter at all.
To OP, here’s a source provided by AAMC about what medical schools care about most for a med school application:
https://aamc-orange.global.ssl.fastly.net/production/media/filer_public/7c/fb/7cfb5f43-f9cd-4a5a-bdad-36e735b5844a/mcatstudentselectionguide.pdf#page=12
Deleted- misread post.