<p>Decision Advice? Doesn't qualify for FA at Harvard.</p>
<p>Harvard is an excellent place to be for undergrad. Wash U is too, but it’s not Harvard. It’s up to you, or really whomever is paying your tuition, whether Harvard is worth the difference in tuition. I’m sure that doesn’t help you very much, but I don’t think anyone here can make the decision for you.</p>
<p>I personally think you should put more weight on the fact that you have half off your tuition at WashU. than in the medical scholars program. Ask yourself only if Harvard is worth paying the difference, not really the medical scholars program unless WashU is your dream medical school. The reason I say that is that the medical scholars program at WashU isn’t even guaranteed admission into the medical school unless you meet the following criteria:</p>
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<p>If you can get a 3.8 GPA (assuming science GPA is 3.8 also) from a top 10 college like WashU/Harvard and score a 36 on the MCAT (assuming you have the easy stuff like volunteering, research, and social skills for the interview out of the way) your pretty much guaranteed admission to a decent medical school. Put it this way, if you can do what they require of you above, you are 100% guaranteed to be a doctor at least (get an MD from somewhere, just a matter of where). Meeting the above minimum requirement is no easy task in any sense. The reason I say this is because unless going to WashU Medical School is your dream, you will have a decent chance at getting into somewhere just as good without problem (the “minimum requirement” for this program is higher GPA than average applicants to UCLA, UCSF, and similar caliber med schools). </p>
<p>My advice is if money isn’t an issue definitely go to Harvard. It’s Harvard, as shallow as it sounds, you’ll have the name for the rest of your life, the alumni benefits, the “Harvard experience” (whatever that is). If you can get a 3.8 and a 36 MCAT at Harvard(and again assuming you have all the non-number pieces of your app in order), your problem won’t be going to medical school, it’ll be deciding which ones to not go to. </p>
<p>source: [University</a> Scholars Program](<a href=“http://admissions.wustl.edu/faq/Pages/USP.aspx]University”>http://admissions.wustl.edu/faq/Pages/USP.aspx)</p>
<p>In this case, Wash U is the obvious choice. With half the tuition free, it is no brainer. An applicant with 3.8 GPA and 36 MCAT (which are significantly below the average of Wash U medical matriculants) from Harvard has less than 30% chance to get into Wash U Medical School. 3.8 GPA is not very difficult in Wash U if you choose the courses wisely. MCAT 36 is also not very difficult if you have solid grounding in STEM subjects. Even if you fail to reach 36 in your first attempt, you can always do it again. In addition, good GPA and MCAT are not sufficient to get admission to Medical School. Applicants need to spend a lot of time and effort in extracurricular activities to show interest and dedication to medical profession for medical school admission. Many end up spending the gap year padding these non-sense activities. If you are pre-admitted to one of the top medical schools in the country, there is no point to grind through this process.</p>