<p>(this is also posted in the "College Search & Selections" forum)</p>
<p>Well I've narrowed down my choices to two colleges and I'm having a real hard time deciding which one to choose. I'm considering UMich and Wayne State Univ.</p>
<p>Here's my situation:</p>
<p>Michigan gave me some pretty good aid. The COA is covered mostly by grants/scholarships except for $5500/yr in loans and a small $500 gap (out-of-pocket cost). Also, if I change my mind about med school or never get in, I think having a Michigan degree would be much better for getting a job.</p>
<p>Wayne State gave me a full ride for NMF (not just tuition; this covers tuition + room & board + books + a laptop, etc). However I am not in their MedStart program. Michigan was my first choice for most of my search/application process, but free undergrad is pretty hard to walk away from especially since medical school debt averages almost $200k.</p>
<p>So my question is this: would a Michigan degree give me enough of an edge (if any) in the med school application process to warrant about $22k in undergrad debt? Or should I take the full ride and save money?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>(and before someone tells me to just search, I have, and the findings have been mixed to say the least)</p>
<p>While $22000 is nothing to sneeze at, in the grand scheme of things, that’s a very manageable debt load out of UG…and if you found a decent job while on campus, you could probably make a dent in that so you’re taking out even less in loans. I mean, even if you could throw a $1000/yr out, then you’re down to $18k…I took out about that much this year alone in extra loans to pay for residency interviews, and several away rotations.</p>
<p>I think (as usual) you should go where you’ll be happiest. That might take into account the money, but definitely don’t let prestige be your sole defining factor.</p>
<p>You’re right; I know that prestige will not matter much alone (i.e. it won’t make up for a bad gpa). I was just wondering if it would help to tip the scales at all - like if I could get say a 3.7 at either school, how much would it matter to them if the UG degree was from Wayne State or Michigan.</p>
<p>The fact that $22,000 does sound pretty manageable is what’s making this decision hard. I visited WSU already and it was okay…not great but not bad either. I’ll visit Michigan this friday, so hopefully a decision will become easier after that.</p>
<p>I agree with bigredmed. However, prestige does matter to some degree for med school but only when you are talking ivy league or peers ( MIT, Stanford, Duke, Chicago, Hopkins) After all, this group includes the top 5 schools in the country getting premeds into med schools for a reason. The schools you are talking about won’t make much of a difference</p>
<p>I’m not sure what “getting premeds into med schools” means exactly (that could operationalized quite a number of different ways), but I’m pretty sure that in general, the overall quality of the student bodies at these schools accounts way more for their success than anything the schools actually do (beyond being selective). It’s merely a question of sampling.</p>
<p>I don’t understand how people think that undergrad prestige doesn’t matter. I was looking at the facebook group for Dartmouth, Harvard, and Brown’s medical schools – all the students came from ivies and elites. I looked UMD’s medical school–everyone came from pretty good schools–none were from unranked schools. Why is this? I’m sure facebook isn’t the best indicator, but it shows something.</p>
<p>Undergrad prestige is not a guarantee of med school acceptance let alone top med school acceptance. Med school is very expensive, the return is more questionable than ever and is very long in coming. If you can get significant money to attend a less prestigious school versus going deeply in debt to attend a “name” undergrad it can be a wise choice and will not hurt one’s chances of getting into med school.</p>
<p>This may be because the students at those ivies are obviously very hardworking/intelligent and are strong applicants. If a student at an ivy has a 3.6 and is compared with a student at another school with a 3.9, I’m sure the 2nd student will look better. The first will not get leeway simply because he attends an ivy.</p>
<p>So… you’re thinking just because they’re generally more intelligent than others? I don’t know. I was reading on SDN where a student was talking to a Columbia med school interviewer (I think it was columbia) and they said they weighted ivy grades because they know how difficult it is.</p>
<p>jesus christ stop being naive people. of course it matters.</p>
<p>just put yourself in the shoes of an adcom member for a second. person A has a 4.0 at MIT. person B has a 4.0 at cal state fullerton. you cannot truthfully tell me that you would NOT take person A if all things else were equal.</p>
<p>obviously the extent that matters is quite small, but it certainly matters.</p>
<br>
Well the thing is it would most likely not be equal for person A and person B considering all the different variables. </p>
<p>But you do have to wonder if both person A and B are getting 4.0, 36 on MCAT, both doing plenty of research (published papers and conferences) and clinical volunteering, i would be curious about this cal state student.</p>
<p>well, one thing to consider is the opportunity at umich.
research is plentiful, even for undergrads.
plus, the overall quality of education is probably higher.</p>
<p>Then explain to me why my son and his three fellow UNC grad friends are at a top ten med school, Harvard, Baylor, and Cornell /Weill while his two friends from HS that went to Harvard undergrad are at UT San Antonio?</p>
<p>It may matter to some degree but is not a guarantee of anything nor a deal maker or breaker.</p>
<p>NO ***** sherlock. stop putting words in my mouth. the sake of this whole argument is riding on the fact that EVERY other factor is equal (gpa, mcat, EC’s, LORs, etc). OBVIOUSLY thats very unlikely, but how the hell could you compare them otherwise? have you ever heard of a scientist try to change multiple variables and draw a conclusion from it?</p>
<p>i never said that going to an ivy guarantees success. it doesnt mean anything if you dont work hard. but all things being equal, the ivy kid will win out every time.</p>
<p>it doesnt matter if im a college freshman. if i were on the adcom, i would favor the ivy student over the lower college student provided equal gpa, mcat, etc. that enough is alone to support that at least in SOME cases, college prestige matters.</p>
<p>Maybe you should try conveying your opinion a little more professionally, hmm?</p>
<p>The whole point of this thread, zzzboy, is that when deciding on an undergraduate school, prestige should be at the very bottom of the list of reasons because the scenario of being compared to an exact applicant (minus the UG school) will probably never happen. Stop picking at petty things (like how GoldShadow forgot a COMMA? are you kidding me?) and show a little respect to the people who have been around this forum a lot longer than you.</p>
<p>Don’t forget that the two applicants would not only have to be exact matches (which ALREADY never happens,) they’d have to be borderline candidates, too.</p>
<p>If a medical school had two identical candidates, it would either reject them both or take them both.</p>