I have been accepted as a transfer student to both Colorado College and the University of Pennsylvania. I live in Colorado and have the advantage of being only an hour away from home if I pick CC, however, Penn has the obvious appeal of being an Ivy League. I want to attend medical school after I graduate and I will pursue Pre-Med and either school.
What’s your stats including sat and/or act?
CC does very well in placing its grads into professional schools, including med school. Between CC’s small size (~2000 undergrads vs 24,000 undergrad + grad students at Penn) and the block scheduling, it’s easy for your profs to get to know you well so they can write strong LORs for you. From what I saw, the pre-med advising is pretty good.
OTOH, CC is rather limited in the types of bio research it offers and CC doesn’t offer science electives that are beyond the ordinary–although CU SOM opened a second med school campus in Springs last year–so the option of getting involved with research there may be an option.
Penn and CC are very different in environment, in the types of students each enrolls and the locale. (downtown major urban vs. laidback middle sized city). It all depends how & where you want to spend your next 3 years of college. Both will offer you the opportunity to complete your pre-med classes.
UPenn is a very good school, but you will face much stiffer competition for pre-med as well. You should choose Penn if you like the Urban setting and if you are at least top 25% of all admitted students as a premed.
OTOH, you can get much stronger connections at Penn if you change your mind on the premed track.
@artloversplus My highest ACT composite was a 32 and my highest subscore was a 36 in reading. I graduated as the valedictorian in high school, however, I am a first-generation and low-income student, which worries me as both schools have very elite students. The main reason I am transferring because I was attending one of the CU campuses and was tired of the un-academic atmosphere and lack of students who actually cared about school.
Which school is less expensive? Med school is very expensive and here is little aid except for loans. You really don’t want to be carrying undergrad debt if you can possibly avoid it.
Based on D2’s experience and that of several of her classmates, CC is not overly generous with FA. If you got a decent FA package from CC, I’d consider enrolling there over Penn. You’d be a reasonably competitive student at CC; I’m not sure you would be at Penn.
(Full disclosure: D2 decided not to attend CC; she went another college–a top 30 research U–that gave her very generous merit. My sister graduated from Penn.)
RE: going to school at CU’s non-main campus. One thing to remember when making your transfer decision is that once you get beyond the intro level freshman classes and get into your upper level major classes–people take college a whole lot more seriously.
I actually am a Daniels Scholar, which is a last dollar scholarship. Essentially all of my tuition including my books, room and board, as well as food are paid for at both schools. My scholarship also requires me to work (not work-study) and is designed to alleviate any financial burden from the student.
Then consider the learning environment you’d be most likely to thrive in.
There is a saying that the ACT/SAT has some correlation with MCAT, not exactly but loosely.
With an ACT 32, again, you are going to face stiff competitions with those 36 no matter where you go.
You have to find a school that you can thrive in, prestige does nothing to Med school application.
If both cost the same, which would YOU prefer?
If there was no med school after college, which University would you look back upon and think “those were three good years during which to learn”?
Does the one course at a time model appeal to you?
Would you rather have small, interactive seminars or larger classes?
What would your major be at each - have you looked at their respective requirements?
Would you rather discover another area of the country or stay close to home?
Have you been able to contact admission so they put you in touch with recent transfers?
@ChadVigil5 Obviously the competition at Penn will be tougher (on average smarter, more motivated students etc) but on the upside Penn and CC do not have the same success rates for top medical schools. Also the biomedical research opportunities you would have at Penn, you wouldn’t have at CC. Penn has one of the best medical schools and hospitals right on campus and some of the leaders in the field as professors/researchers/doctors. Undergrads have easy access to research opps in the medical school & hospital. A letter of recommendation from a Penn Medicine professor could go a long way for med school admissions. Regarding GPA you have to be smart about it. Do not overburden yourself with classes and space out the pre-med requirements as much as possible. Also while Penn doesnt have crazy grade inflation, it is not exactly super deflated either.
Unless it is a matter of money, I would def go for Penn.
So after a lot of consideration. I ended up picking Penn. Thank you, everybody!
Can you explain your reasoning? It may be useful to future candidates:)