The admit rate to med school for St Olaf and Midd students is only one piece of data the OP needs to make this decision. The money thing is huge, and to my mind, trumps everything else. The OP feels sure she wants to go to med school. Therefore, no matter which med school she attends, whether it is prestigious or not, she will need the $120K she will save by attending St. Olaf.
Because Middlebury can afford to ask for more and expect wealthy parents to pay it. St Olaf canāt (in part also because cost of living is lower in this region).
Though I hope not, the Chivas Regal effect may be a factor.
@circuitrider Iām not sure WHY a number of the midwest LACs, and some of the southern ones, are a lower sticker price, but it is a phenomenon we discovered in our search. Schools like Earlham, Beloit, Lawrence, Knox, Kalamazoo are often close to $10k less a year in tuition, and room and board are also typically less expensive (under $10k) than the $12k plus you see āout east.ā Centre is another ābargainā price, as was Sewanee, though it changed its tuition model to focus more on merit, as I understand.
I donāt know whether salaries can be lower because these schools are outside the NE corridor, and that contributes to lower salary and other costs, or whether there is some other flexibility in budgeting. But we were delighted to discover that, at some of my kidās options, the sticker price meant we would be spending at least $10k a year less. Earlham has a strong endowment and is doing lots of building, Kzoo had its most successful fundraising campaign ever, and is building new athletic facility, Lawrence has a gorgeous new student center and dining hall, so these schools are not operating on a shoe string budget. Even Knox, which had gone through some lean, belt-tightening years, is building a new performing arts facility and recently did a major renovation/restoration of one of its main buildings.
It was āfoundā money, from our perspective.
^^^I sure wish Oberlin benefited from the midwest lower sticker price phenomenon!
Massmomm: In my experience it seems that Oberlin has increased their price but also increased their merit scholarships.
The Midwest is the spiritual home of the popular big land-grant state university. There is no similar regional enthusiasm for the state flagship in the coastal Northeast, where people for generations are accustomed to sending their children to privates, big or small. There are several very fine midwestern LACs but they are in an environment where a lot of the best students aspire to go to Madison or the University of MN Twin Cities or the University of Iowa. The best students in the Northeast, as a rule, donāt aspire to Rutgers or UConn or the SUNYs or UMass Amherst. There is no prestige there compared to the privates.
That, I think, is why Northeast LACS can get away with charging 60K as a sticker price, and Midwestern LACS which are very similar to them generally canāt. And yes, cost of living and prevailing wage are factors. The Northeast is more expensive to live in than the Midwest or the South.