<p>What are the schools in question - both private and public.</p>
<p>If you did not do medicine, what is your next choice?</p>
<p>If you are able to make up the 50k difference, what school would you choose? With an EFC of 0, you should be eligible for 5.5k loan in each year.</p>
<p>@texaspg
The private school I was referring to was Wellesley College and the public school UT Dallas. </p>
<p>However, I just got two more offers today: Dartmouth and Cornell. Dartmouth actually gave me slightly more money than Wellesley (parent contribution ~$11k, work study ~$2.7k, no loans!). Not sure about Cornell yet. What are your opinions now?</p>
<p>Also, yes I was given loans by Wellesley (about 2k a year), but having loans just means that I’m in debt, right? I still have to pay it. I don’t really consider that aid lol.</p>
<p>If I were free to choose any school (so far) without having to worry about money, I would be torn between Dartmouth and Wellesley. </p>
<p>If not medicine, I was thinking maybe international business law (my aunt has connections; she is also quite wealthy (not SUPER wealthy) and offered to help me pay for college because her own son is still only 7. However, my parents said that wasn’t such a good idea…). I’m also kind of considering engineering as sort of a backup plan in case neither law school nor medical school works out, but that’s not really a heavy consideration right now, and my parents do not approve.</p>
<p>Congratulations absentions! You have done well for yourself.</p>
<p>Dartmouth provides people internships during the school year at top companies (I understand you pay tuition just like going to college but you are being covered anyway) and is considered a good pipeline into any area of business you want. It will open doors.</p>
<p>Cornell is considered only slightly below MIT for engineering and their ranking in various areas of engineering (top 10 in most cases) proves that. I wouldn’t go there as a premed though since there is too much grade deflation but as a Texas resident, you will get into medicine with a 3.6 and 33 (may be 45 in future for you).</p>
<p>Wellesley is considered very good if you are ok with all girls school. You will probably have great contacts when you graduate and will also have access to internships etc.</p>
<p>Howver, if you UT PACT admission (did not see that anywhere) you might want to just breeze through 3 years and move on to UT Southwestern. I see people going there over Stanford. If you are going there only for undergrad, I suggest you are missing out on opportunities that come with going to a Dartmouth, Cornell or Wellesley. I might be in the minority here but I think 50k overall is a small price to pay to go to schools which might open doors for you.</p>
<p>Now is the Total 4 year cost difference is only 30K ish and UTD vs Dartmouth? I’d say Dartmouth for sure. 30K is not much, your parents may cover it or you can borrow that much. The difference in quality of school is too much to pass up. In Dartmouth, you have such a great connection that you can use for the future and it is world renowned college.</p>
<p>There are some really good advisors in finance forum who you should PM to see what your AID letters mean. I suggest asking entomom, thumper1, happymomof1 via PM or posting the numbers directly in a new thread to seek advise on what the different FA packages mean for you. Novices always interpret these packages incorrectly and so you should make use of your time over the next 2-3 weeks wisely to ensure you looked at all options carefully.</p>
<p>Yes, I’m also waiting on UT-PACT, but this question was assuming I don’t make it (which I don’t think I will). If I make it, though, I would definitely choose it (my parents LOVE it).</p>
<p>@artloversplus
Going to Dartmouth is around $11k a year for my parents. So it’s around $45k total. </p>
<p>Thank you all very much! Yes, I do need to figure out what all my packages mean.</p>
<p>OP, I was comparing Wellesley vs Dartmouth, you stated that going to Wellesley is 52K with loan, Dartmouth 45K without loan and UTD 10K for all 4 years. The Dartmouth package is only $35K more than UTD for all 4 years (missed by 5K in my previous post).</p>
<p>I’d say Dartmouth will be a very different experience from UTD for sure.</p>
<p>Thanks @artloversplus!</p>
<p>Which school is better for the sciences - Dartmouth or Wellesley? And which school would allow me to succeed more for medical school? (I know they have a slightly different grading scale - Dartmouth distinguishes between A+/A/A-, but Wellesley only distinguishes between A/A-.)</p>
<p>You may end up in Texas for medicine no matter where you go because that is where you will get in and can afford it unless some private outside of texas gives a major scholarship.</p>
<p>There is also a difference in how AAMC treats your grades vs how Texas does. An A+ or A will be an A in both places but an A- is still an A in Texas while it is an A- with AAMC. So your GPA will look good in Texas even if you get several A- grades since it will count as 4.0 but if you get B+, you have a lower GPA in Texas vs AAMC since B+ is also a B in texas while it is a B+ in AAMC.</p>
<p>@texaspg
Wow, that’s interesting. Where can I get more info about the Texas/AAMC grading scales? Like is there a website?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Also, in your opinion, which school is it better to be a pre-med at?</p>
<p>That is pretty much how grading works and you can take it from me unless you want to go look into it at AAMC application filing instructions and do the same with TMDSAS.</p>
<p>Premed is not a major and you can be one at any school. If you pick a major you want to study, then you can make a little more headway in terms of which school looks more appealing. </p>
<p>Are any of the schools paying you to fly in for admitted days? If so I suggest strongly to make use of it.</p>
<p>Here is a thought
Go to Dartmouth and Wellesley board and ask a question about which major you should select for med school. There might be some school specific nuances you should know and will give you more insight.</p>
<p>My DD went to Chicago and she took Bio major and after 2.5 years she decided to go to medicine, only to find that in Chicago, you’d better off choose a Non-bio major to apply Med School because the grade deflation in Bio department is very harsh.</p>
<p>How do you feel about the all girls aspect of Wellesley? Yet to hear you mention it but I would imagine you don’t apply there lightly?</p>
<p>@texaspg
I’m just a bit confused because I thought grad schools use whatever GPA you earn at the college you attend under whatever grading scale that particular school uses?</p>
<p>My parents want me to study math (although I’ve already taken a lot of the required courses for math majors (cal 3, linalg, etc at my current boarding school) because of its practicality. But I’m also considering international relations at Wellesley. I’m not really sure what programs are especially great at Dartmouth lol (I applied as a bio major but don’t think I’m going to stick with that).</p>
<p>@artloversplus
That’s a really good idea! But should I come straight out and say I really care about which major would be the easiest on my GPA? lol</p>
<p>@i<em>wanna</em>be_Brown
I’m actually completely okay with the all-women aspect. I think it could potentially really help me grow as a person and develop my leadership skills. The all-female factor is actually a huge part of why I can’t choose between Wellesley and Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Grad school app not equal to medical school app. Your GPA is recalculated based on the rules used by the Texas or AAMC app process. If you dig deeper, you will find people discussing science and overall GPA as two separate entities to complicate this further.</p>
<p>Did any of the schools to offer to pay for a trip to admitted days?</p>
<p>OP, you should choose a major you like the most with med school in mind, not to take a major easiest to sail through just for the sake of med school. Because you may want to use that major for rest of your life, if you change your med school direction. LOTS of premed students ended up without going to med school either because they got discouraged by weed out class, fail to accomplish the grade or change their mind once they are in college.</p>
<p>@texaspg
Oh okay. I will definitely do some research! I’m definitely going to focus on Texas med schools (UTSW being the main one) and maybe some other comparatively cheap OOS med schools.</p>
<p>I’m not entirely sure about Wellesley and Cornell (they didn’t mention anything about paying for transportation costs in the online letter), but Dartmouth said I did qualify for getting a refund for travel costs.</p>
<p>@artloversplus
Okay yeah. I’m definitely going to major in something I’m interested in AND will not make medical admissions an issue. Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m also still indecisive about whether to just go to UTD lol because of how much cheaper it is and their great relationship with UTSW.</p>
<p>Do you mean UTSW medical school? I believe if you come back with a good Dartmouth GPA you will be better off. The 35K extra is well worth it, IMHO. Some times go to a college is not only academics, the connection and alumni support are overwhelmingly better Dartmouth vs UTD. </p>
<p>Please rid yourself of this “relationship” between UTSW and UTD. UTSW has a relationship with the state of Texas. Texas residents who go to Dartmouth or Wellesley or Cornell will not have a harder route to UTSW than a UTD grad (and arguably an easier one since they are probably stronger students)</p>
<p>Agree. Unless the student has UT PACT admission, the proximity of UTD to UTSW does not get a student a leg up compared to attending undergrad anywhere else.</p>