I need help deciding between two schools (UM and LUC)..a little long i apologize.

College Search & Selection
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<p>Hello, I am a 24 year old undergaduate student from New York. I graduated high school in 2002 with sub par grades, and an even worse attitude towards school. After high school I attended community college for a year and achieved the same lackluster grades. I took a few years off afterwards because i knew i wasn't ready to fully commit to my education. After that time i applied to a state school(SUNY Brockport) and was accepted. I attended not really knowing what i wanted to do with my life, but i was definatly more mature and ready to really give school a try. I attended Brockport for 1 year and earned a 3.64 gpa, not wonderful but not bad. Now i was at a crossroads, I could go back to school, still not knowing what i wanted to do, as well as possibly wasting thousands of dollars (I'm paying for school myself, i don't want to ask my parents for money, i want to do this on my own.) or i could lose another year and figure out what i wanted to do with my life. I chose the later and have since spent many late nights disecting myself, trying to find the answer to what i wanted to do. What would my contribution to the world be? And almost out of nowhere i stumbled upon a book about medicine, I read it and haven't stopped since. I have been completely fascinated by everything about medicine, and for the first time in my life i know what i want to do. </p>

<p>I apologize if all that sounds a little corny but i really don't know how else to explain things.</p>

<p>so theres the back story. sorry. lol anyway i applied to a few schools and ended up getting accepted to them all. I've since narrowed my choices to; The University of Mayland College Park or Loyola University Chicago</p>

<p>the cost would end up being around the same...Loyola costs about $40k but they're giving me a $13,500 grant plus about $5k from federal grants bringing the cost to about $20k. I haven't heard anything from Maryland about financial aid, but a woman from the financial aid basically told me i won't get any scholarships or grants because i'm not a citizen of Maryland, so i can just count on the 5k from federal grants. </p>

<p>so the costs are relatively equal, at least not too big of a difference to dramatically sway my decision. </p>

<p>I can't come to a decision, I really don't know where to go. I like both schools alot. I like the idea of being in a city like Chicago, but i also like the idea of being on a big campus like UM. </p>

<p>I'm not sure what i would major in at Maryland(something in science)
and Loyola has a Neuroscience program that seems interesting.</p>

<p>what school do you guys think would be a better fit for someone who wants to go into medicine?</p>

<p>any thoughts or advice anyone can give me would be much appreciated</p>

<p>sorry for the long post but i just feel like i'm going insane trying to decide. </p>

<p>thank you,
Maurice</p>

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<p>Whew, you've got a tough choice here. It is hard to turn down a fine Jesuit institution in a truly great city that has its own medical school and nursing program. It is also hard to turn down a fine state university that has many students doing internships in research labs at the National Institute of Health less than an hour away.</p>

<p>I'm from the midwest, and I've lived in Chicago. Now I live in Maryland. The winters are colder in Chicago, way colder, and there is a lot more wind. Summers in both places can be beastly hot. And we have tornadoes here too so there doesn't seem to be much to pick from on this issue, unless you really hate the cold.</p>

<p>In your case, since you are paying for this yourself and you still have Med school to pay for, I say pick the one that is the very cheapest. Do the math again and account for books and travel expenses. Check into working opportunities in both areas for yourself for any part-time off campus job you might need/want. As an independent adult, you do have the option of moving to Maryland and working here for a year in order to acquire in-state residence before enrolling, but it looks to me like you don't want to wait any longer.</p>

<p>Good luck with your decision, and best wishes for a successful college experience!</p>

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<p>thanks for the advice!</p>

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<p>Investigate whether there is any way to get in state tuition at Maryland without skipping a year. For example, in Texas, if you own property, you can get in state tuition. (If this works in Maryland, maybe you could buy a condo.)</p>

<p>You would get a good education in both places. One question to investigate is, which is known for higher grades? Med schools care about GPA's. If Loyala is like Fordham and brags about never having grade inflation, go for Maryland.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>I was conflicted over those 2 as well. They're very good schools in very good areas, but polar opposites in many ways. I ended up going to Loyola for Chicago, but have since transferred to Maryland for the cost (I'm instate).</p>

<p>Loyola's a good school. The highly-rated med school is said to give some preference to its undergraduates, but there's a lot of competition. Seemed like half the Lake Shore campus was pre-med. It's a great place to live, great place to be, very fun (although the sports could be better), very helpful administration.
A few warnings: the already nearly 30000 tuition will likely increase over the next few years. They're committed to a number of construction projects (including tearing down the building half of Lake Shore's classes are held) and they've had endowment problems in the past. Also there's huge emphasis is placed on drinking.</p>

<p>Maryland's also a good school. It has very strong science programs. Many intern at the FDA, NIH or the many biotech firms in the area. There are a number of undergraduate research opportunities. If you're highly motivated and take advantage of those opportunities, you'd be in great shape for med school. The social scene is a bit more diverse and the sports scene very good.
A few warnings: Scholarships will be hard to come by as even most non-institution scholarships have residency requirements. Housing is stretched thin. As an OOS transfer, you may or may not be accommodated your first year, but certainly not any point after (on the plus side though: there's a lot of cheap housing in walking distance).</p>