<p>With less than three days until I have to make a decision, I felt any input would be helpful. I'm 95% sure I want to be a doctor. Harvard has given me full-ride for four years; Northwestern HPME has me paying $9,500/year. Both are great institutions, weather isn't great in either, and the social life isn't particularly great for either. In all, what is your opinion of where I should go? Sorry if this is another "Ivy League v. Med Program Thread:" I have talked to numerous CCers and read most of the thread readily available here, just wanted more input if possible. Thanks :].</p>
<p>By full ride do you mean a lot of need-based financial aid? Harvard doesn't give 'full rides'.</p>
<p>Well, I'm paying $1,000/yr, which with outside scholarships, essentially makes Harvard "full-ride." But, yes, my family did fall in the "under 60k" hfai bracket.</p>
<p>It really depends if you care a lot about whether you can get into one of the top-20 med schools. I totally understand the draw of Harvard; after all, it has a yield close to 80%. It's very difficult to turn down H. </p>
<p>But the reality is even with a H diploma, getting into med schools as good as/better than Northwestern med school is still pretty difficult. While I don't have the premed stats for Harvard, I found Princeton's:</p>
<p>While the stats is impressive relative to most other schools', the admit rate for any of the top-20 med schools is still low. Less than 17% of the premeds from Princeton got into Northwestern's med school. I assume Harvard performs similarly.</p>
<p>The thing is Northwestern itself is a pretty damn good school. The academic rigor are pretty similar in both schools (in fact, NU premeds would joke that they would take the summer class in organic chemistry at Harvard because it's supposed to be easier). I would also like to add that going to NU would probably give you a better undergrad experience when you no longer need to deal with the pressure of premed and can pursue your undergrad studies/research based on interest without thinking about how they are relevant to med school admissions.</p>
<p>First of all--You are in a great position here, and congratulations on your excellent acceptances. You're clearly going to be extremely successful in life.</p>
<p>It seems to me that if you are really so sure you want to be a doctor, there really is no choice but Northwestern, and the post above really helps illustrate that. Northwestern is not a slouch school, that's for sure. It's academically rigorous and its med school is great. But 9,500 a year may cause financial strain, though a letter stating that you'd really love to attend but that Harvard is giving you an offer that is really difficult to pass up may help things, possibly. If 9500/year is a lot of strain and you cannot get more grants or other outside assistance for that, then your backup is Harvard. What a great pickle to be in, seriously. Congrats again.</p>
<p>Final Decision: HPME. Thanks all for your help.</p>
<p>Yes!! Welcome to Northwestern!!</p>
<p>haha they should pay me for all this advertising I'm doing for them</p>
<p>good choice.</p>
<p>yes, good choice.</p>
<p>You made the right choice :) You're on your way already to becoming a doctor!!</p>