Hello! I’ve recently been accept to both Rutgers and Emory University. I am having trouble deciding between the two for premed. Rutgers has offered me a full ride to the honors program which is appealing, but I still have my doubt passing up on a prestigious school like Emory. If someone could help me using their experiences it would be appreciated!!
@sbpowerz Did you apply EA, ED, or RD to Emory?
Ask both schools where recent pre-meds have been accepted to med school. If you see a difference that is meaningful to you, use it to make your decision, but realize there’s no guarantee that you’ll get in to those places - esp if you don’t get the same GPA/MCAT those acceptees did.
If you don’t see a difference, seems very unwise to pass up a full ride.
If going to Emory requires massive debt, it seems unwise to pass up a free ride.
Rutgers. For free? Absolutely no question. You must live in NJ because it’s about the only place Rutgers doesn’t get love. Save your money for med school.
If you’re in at Emory then you applied ED and you made a commitment already to attend. Comparing packages is not only unethical it violates the contract you signed. I’d suggest you do what you said you’d do.
Is Emory affordable without parents’ or co-signed loans? Does the financial aid offer match your NPC results?
If you applied ED, the ONLY reason that signed contract isn’t binding is if financial aid is insufficient. Not because you got a better offer somewhere else. And if financial aid is not sufficient, you must first email FA at Emory, explain your circumstances, and see if they can help a little. Only then, if FA is not enough, are you allowed to turn down the ED offer.
The ED agreement is morally binding, but is not a legally binding contract. They can’t force you to attend if you change your mind. So you technically are not obligated to accept an ED offer just because it is affordable. However, dropping out of the agreement can mess with your plans to attend another institution if that one respects ED agreements at other places, and can mess with your high school’s future ED admissions if the dropped institution feels insulted enough by your decision. So if Emory was indeed an ED decision, and the aid package makes it affordable, you would need to be certain that Rutgers doesn’t care about ED commitments before you ditch Emory.
“Make sure your students know they can’t:
— Apply to early decision programs at more than one college. Many colleges now ask that counselors sign their students’ early decision applications, and NACAC’s guidelines bar members from signing more than one per student per application season.
— Fail to withdraw their applications to other colleges after they’ve been accepted to a college under a binding early decision program. The only acceptable reason not to withdraw other applications immediately is that the student is waiting to hear about financial aid.
—Try to get out of the early decision contract because the student’s mind has changed. The only acceptable circumstance under which to break the contract, according to NACAC, is the following: “Should a student who applies for financial aid not be offered an award that makes attendance possible, the student may decline the offer of admission and be released from the Early Decision commitment”
(from NACAC’s Statement of Principles).”
Thank you for your concern. Unfortunately, prior to starting this forum, we found the financial package that Emory offered was not sufficient enough for my family and after taking with the FA office at Emory they made my decision non-binding.
Wow, that could have left you in a lurch…
Fortunately, you really have an awesome choice: full ride to Rutgers Honors! 
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
You have your answer. If Emory won’t work for you, it’s a home run that you have such a great option!
It might be a blessing in disguise. But I know it must be hard to say no to a school like Emory.
And it may feel like an affirmation of your hard work. It is and you should be proud.
But what Rutgers (public powerhouse and top school) is offering you is just as amazing and validating.
It’s is like what they offer their top athletes. Except they are recruiting you for your brains, potential and character.
It will feel so much different for you in a few short years. “There’s nothing more deceptive than an obvious clue.” (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Congratulations on your success! If you are still interested in other similar situations, this is how we looked at our dilemma: my son’s goal is to go to a medical school in-state and public (because they are low cost regardless of the FA situation). U of Michigan has an extremely prestigious medical program that is also very affordable for in-state students. However, U of M prefers candidates from other schools (especially elite universities) over their own graduates. Statistically, my son would have a better chance to stay a premed (not change his major), a better chance to get at least one acceptance from a medical school and to be accepted to U of M if he goes to Johns Hopkins. I admit, for the first four years JHU will cost us well over $10,000 a year more than U of M (our EFC is about that much more than U of M’s cost). His goal is to maximize his admittance chances in grad school, because that is where the real gap in cost is. Not all medical schools meet the financial needs of their students and it’s much harder to be picky if you are accepted, let’s say, only by one of those schools.
On the other hand, anything can happen in four years, so … I don’t know! Good luck, whatever you guys decide!
So why the question?
I don’t think this is all that meaningful when the schools are Rutgers and Emory.
Had the OP done so, I highly suspect this is what they would have found. IME with students (and parents) it’s looking up such info for themselves that sways minds more than oodles of people telling them the same. They have a set thought already (or they wouldn’t be asking - esp with the later financial info we learned about). Changing it requires personal discovery. Looking at two lists and seeing that they are likely interchangeable can open minds.
The difference in cost is $275,000 and OP faces cost of med school after this. I’m an Emory grad, but that is a lot of money, especially for someone who finds it tight with the package already being offered. It was gracious that Emory already removed the binding part of the ED too. It’s nice to be upfront with these schools on things like this.
As to prestige: where you go to school is of lowest importance to med school adcoms
https://www.aamc.org/download/462316/data/mcatguide.pdf
see p 14.
Med school is crazy expensive and paid for by loans which have to be paid back. The interest on these loans will begin as soon as you take out these loans. Med school is 4 years, after is at least 3-5 residency training depending on specialty, longer if you subspecialize in fellowship. So for at least 7-10 years (more if you add in any college debt), you will not earn enough money to begin to pay these loans in any meaningful way. This education debt will haunt you for years to come after residency/fellowship. Just like Emory, Rutgers Honors will offer you the opportunities and resources you need to be a successful med school applicant. Whether you do become such an applicant is less dependent on the school you attend, much more on your efforts. Take the money.
Pre-med
If you want to go pre-med then think about:
- The cheapest reasonable college so you/your parents can use the money for med school
- The college needs to prepare you for MCATs but still allow you to get a good GPA
- Access to volunteering opportunities (e.g., near a hospital)
- Success in graduates getting into med school
- Options if you don’t go to med school
If Rutgers is affordable now with that big scholarship, then it is the standard by which you measure any other admissions offers. They have to come in at least as affordable as Rutgers to stay in consideration. Rutgers is a terrific university. Kick Emory to the curb, and move on.
I’m not sure why you think your son would have a better chance getting into UMich med by going OOS for undergrad.
While it’s somewhat true that UMich Med sort of likes to operate similar to a private med school, it still has a strong instate bias.
Of the 7500+ applications, only 17% were instate (about 1275), but they received 46% of the seats. Contrast that to 6150 applications were from OOS, but they only received 54% of the 168 seats.
Also, since it seems that med school is the goal, why would your son want to go to a Premed grind like JHU where he could more easily get weeded out? Or is he fine with not going to med school. (That’s totally fine, too).
Not seeing how going to JHU somehow increases your son’s chance for UMich med.
And it seems that you’re excluding the Mich med schools. Why?
I don’t think any of the med schools meet need
Instate is defined by parent residency, not where the student graduated.
However attending JHU would make it LESS likely a student would attend med school due to the high level competition for the pre-med spots.