<p>Duke Full Tuition Merit Scholarship Vs Rice/Baylor, which one should I take? (I'm only a finalist for RB right now, though, but the decision is coming up soon). I personally like the Duke campus, location, and general feel better, but I am also amazed at the prospect of having a guaranteed seat in a top medical school. All help would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>NO QUESTION: Take the full tuition deal with guaranteed seat for medical school. Are you kidding in even having to question this?</p>
<p>I guess I didnt make it clear (Sorry about that): Duke is offering me a full tuition merit scholarship, but no guaranteed seat in medical school. Rice is the school that is offering me the guaranteed seat.</p>
<p>Take that Duke money and run with it! If you like it better, then don't hesitate. Duke's medical school placement is very good.</p>
<p>I would go with Rice U. Rice is a phenominal top 20 school, and the fact that you get a guarantees spot in the medical school is awesome. That means that you'll rid yourself of all that stress for taking/studying the MCAT, and applying to med schools. The only way I would go with Duke is if the price difference is significant.</p>
<p>ru kidding, u have a guaranteed spot in a top 10 med school, wat ru smoking?</p>
<p>that is an unbelievable deal, there is NO guarantee u will make it to med school at Duke, they hvae a high placement, why go through all of that stress, it isn't worth it, the compeittion is ruthless at both, and there are plenty of pre-meds that drop out after a semester</p>
<p>go to Rice, and call urself a doctor in 8 years, adios</p>
<p>btw, who needs those bad relations in durham</p>
<p>Pre-med is a tough haul. Rice/Baylor takes away SOME of the stress. You will love Rice. Go for it.</p>
<p>Any FA at Rice?? Need or merit?</p>
<p>Duke University.</p>
<p>Let's see. By going to Duke you save a heck of a lot of money, you go to one of THE most prestigious universities in the nation, and as long as you maintain a half-decent GPA, you have a VERY good chance of getting into medical school.</p>
<p>you should go to duke with me so we can be pre-med buds :) or i suppose you could go to rice which is a good school and a guaranteed seat is awesome, unless you think you'll be bored staying in the same area, i decided not to apply to any 8 yr programs for that reason and chose duke over wash u and johns hopkins, all 3 have great med schools and opportunities for undergrads to do research and internsips at the sixth ranked hospital in the states, also, when you think about it, you've been admitted to duke (with a full MERIT SCHOLARSHIP, one of their few) and possibly the 8yr Rice/Baylor program, something tells me you'll have a very good chance of being accepted to the best med schools in four years if you decide to attend duke, hope that was sorta helpful, i swear i could become an admission counselor for duke because i think it is awesome, well if u want to talk more let me know and i'll give you my myspace or email, later</p>
<p>R/B if you are offered. You might PM some of our texas members, but I read somewhere else that you can likely earn in-state residency by the time med school rolls around -- saves thousands.</p>
<p>Baylor is a private school</p>
<p>you are correct bball, but the great state of Texas supports in-state residents with $$. In-state med school tuition = $6.5k, where OOS = $20k. I'm a big fan of Duke, but Rice is a wonderful school as well, and guranteed admission to med school is the route I'd recommend, even for the additional costs.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bcm.edu/osa/osa-financial.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.bcm.edu/osa/osa-financial.html</a></p>
<p>
[quote]
Baylor is a private school
[/quote]
Baylor Medical, not Baylor University. They aren't related.</p>
<p>i say go with Duke, because you wont have to pay for school for 4 years and that helps take off the burden. Also what makes you think once you start atttending school you won't change your mind about whether going to med school is what you want to do or even the career path you want to pursue? With duke you wouldn't have spent any money and it's a fantastic school with in itself.</p>
<p>thanks for the update bandit -- I see from the history thread, that BCM separated from its Waco connection in '69.</p>
<p>DUKE</p>
<p>reasoning:</p>
<p>Most med programs still require of you to take the MCAT, so only some of the stress will be eliminated not all. I know some places state that you must get a 30 or higher to still keep your spot. Even though you will not be required to score as high, you will still need to put in some studying.</p>
<p>It's pretty clear that you're a very intelligent kid and I dont see major problems of not getting into med school in the future. I mean only a small handful of people get a full ride to Duke. </p>
<p>So therefore, assuming that you keep your current work ethic up you should not have immense difficulty getting into med school no matter where you go. Therefore, take the full ride, simply study just a bit more for the MCAT than you would originally have to, and you should be set.</p>
<p>A Duke scholarship means you're at the top of the applicant pool at a top feeder to top medical schools. Also, I don't what scholarship you've been offered but the Robertson and ABDuke come with summer programs and research opps that guarantee you graduate with an incredible resume. This is all to say that go to Duke and there's a good chance you'll have your choice of med schools.</p>
<p>Have you been offered any merit aid to Rice? If you are determined to become a physician you should be comparing both the opportunities offered by each university and the total costs of your education, including medical school. The last I checked the tuition at Rice was about 10k less than the tuition at Duke (I have written checks for both). If you receive any aid from Rice, the costs of undergraduate education might not be substantially more than at Duke, even with a full tuition scholarship. The most significant difference in the cost of your total formal education, however, will come from differences in medical school tuitions. Just as Rice is the least expensive undergraduate program of its quality, Baylor Medical School may be the best value of any top 15 medical school, especiallly if you can become a Texas resident during your undergraduate years. You should compare costs of the medical schools that you might consider as well as the bottom line for undergrad.</p>
<p>The undergraduate programs at Duke and Rice are both outstanding, although based on personal experience with both I would give a slight edge to Rice for undergraduate instruction in engineering and the sciences. The average GPA and MCAT scores at Baylor Med and comparable medical schools are in the 3.7/33+ range, so even with a degree from a school as respected as Duke you are likely to need both a GPA of 3.4 to 3.5 and 33+ to have reasonable chance of admission. In the basic pre-med science courses at Duke you will be competing for a good spot on the curve with a very competitive group of pre-meds and a lot of spooky smart engineers. Duke does not inflate grades, especially in the sciences.</p>
<p>Notwithstanding the renown of Duke Medical Center, the medically-related research opportunities for undergraduates might be somewhat broader at Rice. The Texas Medical Center, the largest medical complex in the world, is about the same distance from the Rice campus as Duke Hospital is from the Clock Tower. Rice science and engineering profs collaborate extensivley with the hospitals in the TMC, and Rice/Baylor scholars have direct access to the faculty at Baylor Med. </p>
<p>Duke offers very few merit scholarships. As others have pointed out, your achievement puts you in select company and you probably would be very successful at Duke. Be mindful, however, that in three years you and many outstanding students from schools like Duke, Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Yale, Stanford, etc. might be hoping that your grades and MCAT scores will be good enough to interview for a spot at Baylor Med.</p>