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 Johns 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, and be relatively close to home. With BS/MD programs that are out of state, I would be far away from home. With the state BS/MD, I would feel that I’m turning down better offers from Baylor (ranked #21) and Miami (ranked #48?) at the expense of living close to home for 7 years.
What’s the best course of action?
Consider the following with each option:
A. GPA and MCAT score requirements to maintain the MD school admission guarantee. Are they high enough that if you meet them, you would have a good chance of medical school admission the regular way (though with the guarantee, you would not have to deal with the application process and the uncertainty), or do they give some slack below that threshold?
B. Total cost and debt of undergraduate plus the MD school that you would have the guarantee for. See https://services.aamc.org/tsfreports/ for medical school tuition and fees (not including living expenses).
C. Total cost and debt of undergraduate only, if you do not go to medical school.
Answer the questions above.
Among your choices, it seems that Rice or UMiami would be best bets if you’re dead certain about medicine and won’t change your mind. If you do change your mind, both are excellent universities.
UGA Foundation Fellows is a good compromise if you’re not as certain and want to keep more doors open.
Vibe is very different, with UMiami and UGA being both big “rah rah” schools and Rice being more studious and having the residential college system.