<p>I was accepted to Harvard EA and was super pumped about going to Harvard, but I recently found out that I got a full ride to Duke and UNC, as well as a scholarship to Rice as a Rice/Baylor Medical Scholar. I also got accepted to Yale. I'm really torn between all these schools right now, and while I know Harvard is the number one school in the nation, my family would have to pay upwards of 40k for it... Is it worth it?</p>
<p>If your plan is to go to medical school, which will cost you or your parents a whole lot more $$, then choose the Duke or Rice/Baylor scholarships instead of making your parents pay for a UG education at Harvard.
Do a great job during your UG years, and reapply to H for med school.
Remember, for those planning on going on to grad school, the last school you go to is the one that counts.</p>
<p>Harvard and Yale are great schools, but so is Duke . . . and with the money your parents are saving every year, they could buy you a new car, send you on a nice spring break trip every year, splurge on summer vacations to some place exotic – or as others have suggested save for grad school. A free ride at Duke is hands-down the way I would go, and I’m saying that with a kid at both H & Y.</p>
<p>Harvard is an amazing place to learn and grow. Currently a senior there. Let me know if you have any questions.</p>
<p>I recently chose Brown PLME over Harvard and a few full ride options, and I admit it was a really hard decision. I’ll give you my advice based on my experiences but I should probably add that I made my choice without considering money (parents have enough money saved up for education and wanted me to choose where i want to spend the next 4-8 yrs without it being a factor). </p>
<p>Personally, I think that if your end goal is medical school (and you are almost 100% certain of that) BS/MD programs are the way to go. Ok, maybe not “any” BS/MD programs but definitely the top ones – Rice/Baylor definitely included. I could go onnnnnn about why I think that’s true but I’ll try to keep it to a couple main things: It’s less stressful, more enjoyable, more of a personal discovery process (learn for the sake of learning!!), and you can make your education what you really want it to be. Feel free to message me your email or something if you want my outline for why I chose the BS/MD program (I’ve already written it given the amount of ppl asking me “omg why didn’t you choose Harvard”)</p>
<p>However, if the finances are really a concerning issue, Duke isn’t a bad option either. The Robertson scholarship is great, and since you seem to want to do medicine, where you go to undergrad isn’t an end-all. </p>
<p>Honestly, if I was deciding between the choices you have I’d choose Rice, but it’s really about what is best for you and your family! Best of luck and remember that happiness and fit are the two most important things!</p>
<p>If what you have is the Robertson Scholarship at Duke, that’s an important piece of information – more meaningful than just the money. It’s not irrational to turn down Harvard or Yale for Duke + the Robertson, even if the money means little to you. And I say that as a big fan of Harvard and Yale (albeit more Yale than Harvard), and not such a big fan of Duke. If the money means something . . . well, there’s pretty much no economic argument for Harvard at near full price over Duke for free with a bunch of high-value extras and a superprestigious label. Paradoxically, the more you are intent on going to medical school, the less valuable Harvard is, because you will be spending a significant portion of your time doing stuff you could do anywhere, and probably worrying about protecting your GPA rather than taking risks to get the real value out of the university.</p>
<p>I disagree with northeastdeamin, but that’s not a crazy analysis, either. My main problem with it is that at least half the people who go to college thinking they want to be doctors change their minds. If you are good enough to have the acceptances and scholarship offers you do, you are a really good bet to succeed at whatever you choose to do. So don’t make decisions based on what makes one particular track easiest. You don’t need that. But . . . Rice is pretty fine, too.</p>
<p>Forget Duke. Go to HU and make your parents proud.</p>
<p>It depends on your parents. Would it be tough to get around the tuition of harvard, or yale? If so, then make the best possible decision for your family. Afterall, Duke is an amazing university (A bunch of friends go there, and they adore it! Paying full tuition too). Undergrad doesn’t matter as much as graduate school, if you want to be a doctor of some sort. I say if money is an issue, then reapply for graduate school instead.</p>
<p>But remember, whatever you do choose, stick with it and don’t look back 
That’d just be unhealthy.</p>
<p>“Undergrad doesn’t matter as much as graduate school.” </p>
<p>This sentence gets tossed around a lot, and it’s just not true. Every single metric points out to the opposite.</p>
<p>Having said that, Duke would most definitely be considered a top tier college.</p>
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<p>What in the world are you talking about? As I said above, I am a huge fan of Harvard, Yale, and their ilk for undergraduate education, but if you think the quality of your undergraduate degree is more important than the quality of your graduate degree, it’s time to check into rehab. I don’t know about available metrics, but to anyone who has spent any time out in the real world, what you said is the approximate equivalent of claiming that every single metric shows that apples fall up into the sky when they separate from their trees.</p>
<p>Rice Baylor is a pretty good choice for someone wanting to be a doctor. I know someone who chose this over Harvard and currently at Rice. I also know someone who chose Rice/Baylor over Harvard 8 years ago who is graduating from Baylor now. So this is not an uncommon choice since only 12 get the admission each year and some of them give up some other high profile schools to go to Rice/Baylor.</p>
<p>Duke is a great school. No reason to give up Robertson’s in order to pay 40k anywhere else. You will get into medical school even after.</p>
<p>If you were fullpay at all of these schools, I would tell you to go in the order of Harvard or Yale (I prefer Yale for premed) with other two choices being a toss up.</p>
<p>It is not black/white either way, it all depends on the school and fields.</p>
<p>For something like math and physics, most state schools are filled with excellent faculty and graduate students from Asia/Europe. It is your own work that counts, plus you and your adviser’s social networking ability. The school itself counts very little.</p>
<p>On the other hand, most of our state schools’ undergraduate math/physics teaching is nowhere near what is needed for top-level research. Hence where you had your undergraduate plays more.</p>
<p>I think you’d be crazy to give up a free education at Duke in favor of 40k at Harvard. Especially since you’re a medical scholar. Duke’s medical center is one of the best in the world.</p>
<p>“What in the world are you talking about? As I said above, I am a huge fan of Harvard, Yale, and their ilk for undergraduate education, but if you think the quality of your undergraduate degree is more important than the quality of your graduate degree, it’s time to check into rehab. I don’t know about available metrics, but to anyone who has spent any time out in the real world, what you said is the approximate equivalent of claiming that every single metric shows that apples fall up into the sky when they separate from their trees.”</p>
<p>First of all, I would appreciate it if you calm down a bit. Quite frankly, I find your scathing comments throughout this forum to be really unnecessary and condescending. If you want to give an opinion, then by all means, go ahead. But if you’re here to belittle members, then why even bother?</p>
<p>I did not say that the quality of an undergraduate degree is more important than that of a graduate degree. I apologize if I wasn’t clear in my comment, but what I meant to say by opposite, is that where you get you undergraduate degree does matter. Whether it helps you by having more opportunities, or by getting into a top grad school…etc, is irrelevant. What’s relevant is that the quality of your undergraduate degree makes a difference.</p>
<p>Again, I sincerely hope that you try a little harder to not be condescending, and part away from the dramatics of comparing a comment like that to apples defying the laws of physics. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that you’re trying to help, but surely you can do that in much more effective manner and a kinder tone.</p>
<p>I personally would pick Duke (but I may never be fortunate enough to make that decision).</p>
<p>Yab123: I’m sorry to have been hyperbolic and condescending, but you were the one who said that you had metrics to show “the opposite” of the conventional wisdom, which you quoted specifically as “Undergrad doesn’t matter as much as graduate school.” </p>
<p>There were any number of more measured things you could have said that I would have agreed with strongly. Where you go to college still matters. Where you go to college may affect where you go to graduate school. There’s a persistent myth that it’s more advantageous to be a top student at a mediocre college than to be a not-quite-top student at Harvard, and that’s probably wrong. The truism applies to things like law school, medical school, business school, PhDs, and not so much to various dubious master’s degrees. And which medical school doesn’t matter so much, unless you want to be an academic.</p>
<p>All of that’s true, but none of it is the opposite of what you attacked.</p>
<p>40k a year for Harvard or 40k for 4 years? If it’s for 4 years, go to Harvard, work the summers doing research or something, and take out a few loans. If it’s a year, grab the full tuition.</p>
<p>JHS: After reading my reply again, I agree that I didn’t convey what I wanted to convey. It wasn’t an “attack.” I think because I read so many misguided advices about how where you go to college doesn’t matter at all, I somehow misread the quote and thought it was another one of those comments. So again, I apologize for that.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, congratulations to the OP for getting into all of these wonderful schools. Personally, I wouldn’t choose the Rice/Baylor medical scholarship. If you can get into Harvard/Yale/Duke, I don’t think you’ll have any problem getting into a great med school in the future. (Harvard and Yale have about 93%-95% success rate for getting their students into med schools. I’m not sure about Duke’s, but I’m sure it’s quite high as well.) </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>40k a year for Harvard or 40k for 4 years? If it’s for 4 years, go to Harvard, work the summers doing research or something, and take out a few loans. If it’s a year, grab the full tuition.</p>
<p>D chose Harvard with very good financial aid over Duke Robertson, Brown PLME, Yale, and others. She’s never regretted her decision for a second. She’s taking classes she loves and not stressing too much over GPA while playing a sport she never knew existed and will become a varsity athlete next year.</p>