Full-tuition at LAC or Guaranteed Med Seat?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello all! The college process has finally come to a close. I've narrowed down my choices to two good options, but I am completely torn between them.</p>

<p>First is Kenyon College. I loved the campus and admissions officers when I visited, and also got a chance to meet a few professors, who were great. Greek life seemed more prevalent than I expected, but that is really the largest drawback I can find. I was also given a full-tuition scholarship to the school. Aside from personal costs, I would be paying $12,000 a year.</p>

<p>I was also accepted to the University of Cincinnati Dual Admissions Program, which guarantees me a seat at the UC Medical School four years down the road. I would be able to major in whatever I want, and if I so choose, I could apply out of the school if I want to go to a different medical school. While I didn't tour the campus while I was at UC, the campus is said to be fairly nice. I didn't receive much scholarship money, so I would be paying $17,000 per year.</p>

<p>Both of these schools are financially feasible. I am planning on pursuing medical school after college, and both options would allow me to study a variety of subjects during my undergrad years, which is what I really want in a college. Kenyon would provide a rural environment and a smaller student body, with more personal attention from professors and a different vibe on campus. Cincinnati is basically the opposite, in an urban setting with a larger student population.</p>

<p>My dilemma comes down to choosing between a liberal arts college with a good price or a guaranteed seat in medical school. All insight would be appreciated! Thank you!</p>

2

<p>I imagine the reason why you won those scholarships is because you have extremely high stats and were a great student in high school. You are highly likely to score well on the MCATs. I don’t think you will have any trouble getting in to med school as long as you continue to be the same kind of student in college. Since you want to study a variety of courses as well as premed, why not go to Kenyon?</p>

3

<p>I would contact UCinn, show them your Kenyon offer and see if they’ll increase theirs so the out of pocket would be the same.</p>

4

<p>Hard to pass up getting guaranteed med acceptance.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the responses–the greatest advantage to Kenyon is as you said, Apollo6, the variety of courses, which to some extent is available at Cinci. It’s just the student body is so different at each school.
Thanks for the input!</p>

6

<p>I think it depend on whether Cincinnati has a good honors college with selective LA courses only available to students like you. My D will probably choose a generous public university scholarship but only because the honors college is outstanding. Kenyon’s undergrads will be much more at your level than the average student at the other school.</p>

7

<p>[University</a> of Cincinnati - College of Medicine](<a href=“http://med.uc.edu/DualAdmissions/Requirements.aspx]University”>http://med.uc.edu/DualAdmissions/Requirements.aspx) indicates that, to hold onto your guaranteed medical school seat at Cincinnati, you need to get by the end of your third year (fourth for biomedical engineering students taking five years):</p>

<p>3.40 GPA with 3.45 BCPM GPA
MCAT score of 40 composite with no less than 9 on each section (60 maximum possible, each section out of 15) (this is the “new” MCAT, so a score of 40 on it is probably equivalent to a score of 30 on the current MCAT)</p>

<p>It does look like you need to manage your GPA and score highly on the MCAT like other pre-meds do, but if you meet the numbers, you have a “safety” which other pre-meds do not have. But you may want to make note of Cincinnati’s medical school tuition compared to other medical schools’ tuition: <a href=“https://services.aamc.org/tsfreports/select.cfm?year_of_study=2013[/url]”>https://services.aamc.org/tsfreports/select.cfm?year_of_study=2013&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

8

<p>I would honestly choose the guaranteed med school seat. To not have to worry about being rejected from all schools and getting into one school for sure if you have kept up your grades is honestly the best thing possible. So many people don’t get into even one med school with stats like that so the fact that you CAN is a huge deal. I would choose Cincinnati hands down.</p>

9

<p>Apollo6, after some research, the Honors College at Cincinnati doesn’t seem too bad. The average ACT is 31.6 for the Class of 2012, which fits into the middle 50% for Kenyon.
Thank you for the numbers, ucbalumnus! 2015 would be the first year of the new MCAT, so I would probably be in the first group to take it no matter what, so it might be better to go with UC. Thank you all!</p>

10

<p>Yes, that sounds very good for a public honors college. If you’ve visited and you feel good about it, that sounds like a good option.</p>

11

<p>I was also accepted to Kenyon, so I’ll throw in my opinion here.</p>

<p>Go to to Kenyon. If you had good enough stats to get full tuition, you will not have a problem getting into a great med school. Kenyon is cheaper, a MUCH better school, and the only advantage to Cincinnati is the med school acceptance (which I doubt you would end up taking). Unless you really want a large or city school, go to Kenyon.</p>

12

<p>D also was accepted at Kenyon but they only offered her 15K/yr making it the highest COA of her many acceptances. Like you she has a BS/MD acceptance (NEOMED - the only program that she applied to and I know from that thread you have that option too). She is also struggling with taking a full tuition offer at UMiami (Coral Gables) over the guaranteed medical seat. If she was offered full tuition at Kenyon it would be an easy decision for her. Go to Kenyon. You will get into medical school.</p>