Okay so I know enrollment deposits are due extremely soon but I’m stuck on which college to choose. Right now, it’s between SUNY Stony Brook University and Georgetown University.
Stony Brook has its own hospital, which is good since I am doing pre-med. It’s really cheap for me so I won’t be in debt when I get out of college and go to medical school. It’s also 45 mins away from my house. However, almost everyone from my school is going there. I don’t mind going there, but I fear that I won’t be challenged or happy since I am in the top 1% of my school.
Georgetown is amazing, but it’s super expensive and I got no financial aid. I’ll have to take out loans throughout college and medical school. However, I love the community there and know that I’ll constantly be challenged by my peers.
At this point, I’m trying to figure out aspects of Georgetown that justifies its high cost. It does have one of the most highly ranked medical schools in the nation, but I’ll have to pay around 70k for 8 years of school if I go to that medical school. Any advice on which school I should choose for undergrad? (I’m also considering NYU but not as much) Thank you in advance!!
A lower cost school where you are more likely to be at the top of the grading curve is likely a better choice for premed purposes.
Do you think the reputation/rank of your undergrad school matters when applying to medical school? @ucbalumnus
^^^
No, med schools won’t care.
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but I fear that I won't be challenged or happy since I am in the top 1% of my school.
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Lol…you’ll be challenged. Premed prereqs are weeder classes. Go to the SUNY and then report back 12 months from now. You’ll be telling us how challenged you’ve been.
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got no financial aid. I'll have to take out loans throughout college and medical school.
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Crazy to take out loans as an undergrad premed.
How much would your parents pay for G’town?
That’s true, I think I just feel that way because so many kids from my school are going to the SUNY and I kind of wanted to start fresh. My parents would pay for half of the cost of Gtown. If the school ends up giving me an unsubsidized loan, that would make things easier because the interest is what my parents would have a hard time with. @mom2collegekids
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It does have one of the most highly ranked medical schools in the nation, <<
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Gtown has a fine med school, but it’s not one of the most highly ranked.
Med schools have two rankings…Research…and Primary Care.
It’s #45 for Research and Unranked for Primary Care.
That said, it’s still a fine med school. However, attending G’town for undergrad is no assurance of getting into its med school. Usually there is no bias at all.
Stony’s med school is #59 for Research and also unranked for PC.
I see absolutely no reason to go into debt for G’town as a premed. ZERO
You won’t get an subsidized loan because you have no need. Even if you got one, it would only be for a couple thousand. (You meant to say subsidized loan, not unsub)
The max sub loan is $3,500, so not nearly enough even if you qualified. $2k would be unsub in this case.
But, you don’t qualify it sounds.
Your parents would have to cosign the remaining $100k of loans and they won’t do that
Did you get an aid pkg? Was there a loan in it?
Are you thinking of borrowing $30k per year? For undergrad? A premed?
Seriously, that is crazy. And a horrible idea.
ACT 32
4.5ish GPA
Sal of class
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because so many kids from my school are going to the SUNY and I kind of wanted to start fresh.
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You will have a fresh start because few of your classmates will be premed, particularly after the first semester or two.
Stony is a large school. You will hardly see your high school classmates.
26,000 students…do you really think you’ll be seeing your HS classmates much?
Are those your only two choices? I wouldn’t pay full price to go to Georgetown for pre-med. You’ll be challenged in both places. The major difference is school culture and peers. Both schools are quite harsh places for pre-med, you’ll be working hard. Best of luck!
“Stony Brook … is really cheap for me so I won’t be in debt when I get out of college”
HUGE, especially if you want to got to medical school later.
“… but I fear that I won’t be challenged or happy since I am in the top 1% of my school.”
You WILL be challenged. Pre-med is tough. A better way of looking at this: If you work very hard at Stony Brook, you have a chance of getting sufficiently high grades to get into medical school at all.
“Georgetown is amazing, but it’s super expensive and I got no financial aid. I’ll have to take out loans throughout college and medical school.”
You are assuming that someone will be willing to lend you enough money to go to medical school at all. This might happen, or might not.
"but I’ll have to pay around 70k for 8 years of school "
This starts out as $560,000. However, it will grow for several reasons. There will be interest on the debt. The costs of university will rise over time. You could easily end up paying $1,000,000 by the time that you pay off the loans (assuming that you ever manage to pay off the loans). This debt will haunt you for years, and possibly for decades.
“I’m trying to figure out aspects of Georgetown that justifies its high cost”
There are none. NOTHING justifies this high a cost, especially when you have a great alternative.
SUNY Stony Brook is a great choice. If you can do this with no debt that is fabulous. Congratulations, this is a great opportunity!
You can’t borrow much for undergrad. If your parents won’t cosign your undergrad loans for G’town then this question is moot. those loans will NOT be subsidized.
You can borrow the following amounts w/o a cosigner…
Frosh 5500
Soph 6500
Jr 7500
Sr 7500
Now, ask your parents if they’ll cosign the rest of the loans. If they say, No, then there’s nothing more to say.
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but I’ll have to pay around 70k for 8 years of school "
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Private med school will be closer to $100k for 4 years…$400k for med school alone.
Are these your only two options? You mentioned NYU… how much did they offer in aid? I personally would NOT do sticker at Georgetown with with Med School aspirations. Your debt is going to be WAY too much.
I have other options, such as Vassar, Colgate, Brandeis (with scholarship) and RPI (with really good scholarship) but I’m not really looking into those since I would like a really urban campus. Thank you! @Earthmama68
Wow… that really put things into perspective for me. I think I’m just extremely disappointed that I got into one of my top schools but can’t go now because of money. I’m just trying to be hopeful even though at that price, it’s pretty hopeless. I wouldn’t want all that debt for the rest of my life. Thanks! @DadTwoGirls
Campus town is an overrated factor when picking a school, IMO. The vast majority of your time as a pre-med will be spent ON CAMPUS with extracurriculars and in the library. And it’s not like Vassar and Brandeis are far from urban centers. You could easily do a day trip into the city from these schools if you wanted to get away from campus.
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know that I’ll constantly be challenged by my peers.
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As the mother of a med student, I have to chuckle at this.
Even though you will be challenged at Stony as a premed because the prereqs are weeder, the idea that a premed would be striving to be “constantly challenged” is short-sighted.
Would you want to be so-challenged that you ended up with a GPA that isn’t med-school-worthy? How much would you love that?
Being a premed is very stressful. The fear of dropping below - say - a 3.75 BCPM GPA and cum GPA is like the sword of Damocles.
I don’t care that you’re used to getting all A’s in high school. College is much harder. My son’s stats were a bit higher than yours. He went to our state’s flagship. He had to work constantly to keep his GPA high. If he had gone to a G’town-like school, it’s possible that his GPA would not have been so high.
Seeking constant challenges is almost sadistic.
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Campus town is an overrated factor when picking a school, IMO. The vast majority of your time as a pre-med will be spent ON CAMPUS with extracurriculars and in the library.
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Very true. You’ll rarely leave campus or have much free time.
Either way, parents want sub loans, so they’re not going to cosign the big unsub loans that would be needed. Parents may not even know that they’d be required to cosign those loans.
I know it’s frustrating to have spent so much time applying to those schools, all for naught.
Your parents made the mistake of not running the NPCs on each schools’ website. They would have seen that you got no aid. They then would have learned that you wouldn’t get sub loans, either. And they’d have learned that they would have to cosign those big loans.
Remember…the dream is becoming a doctor. The dream is NOT undergrad.
Shine at Stony, get into a med school, shine at your med school, and get into a top residency.
At NYU I got 40,000 in loans...which doesn't sound promising but its more than I got at other schools. And I really want to get involved with internships off-campus, hence why I would prefer a city campus. @WildestDream
I think I phrased it wrong, I just want to be in an environment that pushes me to go out of my comfort zone and pursue new things. That’s what I saw from so many of the students at Georgetown and I just know they would push me to be better versions of myself. There are probably people that would do that for me at Stony Brook but I didn’t feel that way when I visited. Your points are all valid though! I might have to sacrifice happiness for a more practical option for undergrad 
@mom2collegekids
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NYU I got 40,000 in loans...w>>>
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Look again…YOU didn’t get $40k of loans. YOUR parents were given most of those loans. Those loans would be your parents, not yours.
Unfortunately, premed is not really compatible with being pushed out of your comfort zone any more than necessary. Your undergraduate years will be spent worrying about your grades according to the following scale:
A = acceptable
B = bad
C = catastrophic
D = disastrous
F = forget about medical school
The risk of a grade lower than A will deter you from seeking academic challenges.
“At NYU I got 40,000 in loans…”
These are LOANS. If you want to go to medical school, avoid loans for undergrad.
“I just want to be in an environment that pushes me to go out of my comfort zone”
One example of this is called “pre-med”. It is HARD. I have known several pre-med undergraduate students. They travel with books (big ones and bigger ones). In every quiet moment they study.