So I’m in a bit of a dilemma. I’ve been accepted to
Rice/Baylor 8 Year BS/MD program (with $26500 merit scholarship at Rice + $4000 yearly stipend for research),
UMiami 7 Year HPME (with full-tuition undergrad scholarship),
my state’s 7 year BS/MD program (the medical college is ranked 75 in the country)
I’ve also been accepted to the University of Georgia’s Foundation Fellows program, which provides an $11000 yearly stipend. Students from the Foundation Fellow Program have regularly gone to Duke Med, Vanderbilt Med, and some have even gone to Harvard Med and John Hopkins Med.
My question is, what should I pick? My parents would like me to live close to them before I head off to med school/residency. With UGA, I would be able to have a shot at Harvard, John Hopkins, etc. with full resources of a state univ at my disposal while being close to home. With BS/MD programs that are out of state, I would be far away from home. With the Georgia BS/MD, I would feel that I’m turning down better offers from Baylor (ranked #21) and Miami (ranked #48?) to live close to home for 7 years.
What’s the best course of action?
As a dad of an only D going to college, I can understand why your parents would want you to be close to home. But I imagine they would want even more is for you to get the best possible education. Rice/Baylor, in my opinion, is one of the best BS/MD programs available - and if you were my kid, I would send you there without hesitation. Great undergraduate school adjacent to an excellent medical school in the world’s largest medical complex (Texas Medical Center). In terms of expense, the generous scholarship you are receiving there plus the fact that highly ranked Baylor is one of the cheapest medical schools, will make R/B a very competitive option in terms of costs for all 8 years. Being away from home means a little more time/money to travel to/from Houston - it is not that you can go home every weekend in GA. R/B over UMiami and over U. Georgia. Good luck!!
@RandomDouble, I thought I answered this thread but realized it was someone else who also got into one of the same programs you did, so I’ll paste again what I pasted over there:
No question: choose the Rice/Baylor program. Baylor is ranked way above Miami and Georgia Regents for medical school. Even if you change your mind about going to medical school, Rice University is ranked much higher than Miami and UGA as a national undergraduate institution. In terms of opportunity that program surpasses the other 2 by far.
Also, apparently at Baylor, you are able to get in-state tuition if you buy property - which you can then sell off when you graduate: https://rk.md/2009/baylor-college-medicine-pros-cons/. Congratulations.