It's after the deadline and I've committed to two schools... Help

College Search & Selection
1

<p>It's a long story why this happened so plz just help me choose. I'm being forced to choose between UGA and GT. I either want an MD or a PhD (research) in Genetics.</p>

<p>UGA-
Pros: high gpa (med school), genetics major and department (grad school), less stress, quaint college town, easier to shine, honors student, CURO, could apply to Foundation Fellowship for my last two years bc I wasn't selected originally (basically UGA's equivalent of PS at Tech), great study aborad program
Cons: have to pay room, board, and books, so-so reputation, Greek life is too wild/time consuming for me (uga's a huge party school), most of the student body isn't up to the academic standard that I'd like</p>

<p>GT-
Pros: president's scholar (premier scholarship, ~50 per year, full-ride, multiple retreats and trips per year, funded study abroad, networking, advising, special seminars, special treatment by faculty), potential Genetics research opportunities at Emory, sororities are more academically focused and not nearly as wild, better reputation, easier to get doctor shadowing experience in ATL hospitals, people actually care about school
Cons: engineering school, hustle and bustle of Atlanta, high stress and tons of work, VERY difficult to earn high gpa (HUGE con for med school), extra technical courses (physics, calc, comp sci) which are all very difficult, bio department is smaller/less diverse than UGA's bc they invest everything into BME (hence no genetics department)</p>

<p>I feel like I want to pick UGA, but it seems wrong to throw away PS at Tech. UGA is $55k more expensive than Tech over the course of 4 years plus study abroad costs. This isn't a problem bc my family definitely has the money I just don't want to pass up the nonfinancial benefits. My main concerns about Tech are low gpa (bye med school) and urban environment.</p>

2

<p>I would go to GT anyways. If you think graduate school is hard, then I don’t think you should attempted medical school. I know many doctors (one who is a Yale grad) and during your medical school years you do nothing but study and participate in ECs (doctors are required to be well rounded. I’m not sure if it’s required everywhere but it is at Yale.) You won’t have any time for anything else.</p>

<p>That being said, I would go to GT just for the fact that it is so academically challenging. It will help prepare you in the long run. If you can keep your GPA up there, I’d say you would do fine in med school. The fact that you will have a network there is awesome-- I wouldn’t pass that up. That has the potential to greatly benefit you in the future. If you manage your time correctly you’ll be fine. </p>

<p>Anytime I get stuck while looking at colleges, I put academics over everything else (unless it effects my safety.) That’s the main reason why you’re going. Not to party and have a ton of fun, but to walk out of there in 6+ years knowing you can pursue something you love. </p>

3

<p>*If you think that undergraduate school is hard. Sorry, not graduate. Medical school is graduate school, my bad.
*attempt </p>

4

<p>I would go to UGA. You’ll be in Honors AND CURO. I don’t think these kids are hardcore partiers - and in any case, you don’t HAVE to party. UGA’s Honors program is one of the best in the country. The kids there are overachievers so don’t worry about their academic credentials. The college town setting sounds more appropriate for what you want in terms of environment.
What will matter for med school is your GPA, not the name of your university.
Stop stressing about Presidential Scholars: what you got at UGA is just as good and will get you to med school.</p>

5

<p>Dont understand the bad talk about UGA, its a great school with a good reputation</p>

6

<p>It isn’t giving her full tuition either. Even if you have an okay gpa at GT, you can get to PhD.</p>

7

<p>Congratulations on both offers.
Like most shared, you should seek to challenge yourself in college, and if it comes too easy, then it might not benefit you in the long run.
A PS will be a great thing on your med school application. You do not have to major in Biology , you can choose any other science or non-science major that you enjoy as long as you take your pre-med classes.
In all, for the same reason you might want to attend UGA for high GPA, compared to GT, most medical schools do understand the grade inflation at various colleges and some might put that into consideration. So MCAT, extracurricular, research etc becomes important as well at that point.
In all, choose a college that will BALANCE & FIT your plans.
Best of luck to you.</p>

8

<p>Honestly, I would choose GT. Not only is it the better school with the better reputation, but I also have friends there who love it and wouldn’t trade their experiences for the world!</p>

9

<p>@hrs2015 Good advice! and OP, go to Tech <em>because</em> its hard…it will prepare and test you for what is ahead…and I would not give up that study abroad year either…
(as far as the Tech campus, my D and I toured that school and I was truly amazed by the great campus and emphasis on green and leafy areas…it did <em>not</em> feel like it was situated in a large city…) </p>

10

<p>@Etuck24‌ , I’m only upset about UGA bc I got into an Ivy League school. There is nothing more frustrating than getting into multiple dream schools and being forced to choose from your safeties.</p>

<p>@BrownParent‌ , the Zell miller scholarship pays for 100% of my tuition at any in-state public institution. So at UGA id only pay room, board, fees, and books. This cuts the poster in-state price of attendance in half. </p>

11

<p>Are you worried your final-final choice will rescind their offer if they find out you double-deposited? </p>

12

<p>Tech already knows I deposited bc I asked for PS back may 2. But they think I deposited to UNC… Long story.</p>

13

<p>I’m still not sure why you didn’t pick UNC though since your father has the money and offered to pay and you said the “honors” issue didn’t matter so much. Also, you said you wanted a college town and that after 2 years at GTech you knew you didn’t want to stay.
I’m not sure I understand, or do I summarize your other thread wrong?
All offers are good. It’s frustrating you didn’t get sufficient FA to attend Cornell (I think) but you had three really good choices. Now you’re down to two, right? And you have a while to decide.
Don’t choose on prestige or other factors. Visit. Meet professors and students from the programs you got into. Visit labs. Ask questions. After the visits, you’ll know what’s right <em>for you</em>. It’s immaterial that someone’s brother or sister or cousin likes it at GTech or at UGA. What matters is how <em>you</em> feel.</p>

14

<p>He could afford it. But if I went to med school all those loans would be on me. He said he would pay for the majority of my med school if I stayed in Georgia so I was basically forced. And yea Cornell gave me $0. The whole “ivies give good FA” thing is utter BS.</p>

15

<p>It’s not total BS just because it didn’t work out the way you expected…If your family can cover all of these expenses “no problem” then maybe there’s a reason you didn’t get FinAid. FinAid isn’t awarded to people just for getting into the school.</p>

<p>Honestly, it’s a toss up between the two, but I do think that it is foolish to say that it’d be easier to stand out at UGA. Even if you’re at an honor’s college, you’ll still be one out of 25,000. UGA will likely award you with a higher GPA, but Georgia Tech offers it’s own advantages to think of. Seeing as GT is already the more respected choice and is cheaper, I’d go that route.</p>

<p>Also, I think it’s kind of dumb for you to be afraid of the courseload at Georgia Tech, and yet in the same breath say that you were upset that you couldn’t attend Cornell/UNC. Cornell/UNC is a rigorous environment as well, and if you went there you’d still need to put the pedal to the metal. I’m 100% sure you understand that. So I don’t see why you can’t expend the same effort at Georgia Tech.</p>

<p>That’s just my $.02, I understand that UGA has obvious Pro’s as well (otherwise you wouldn’t be having this issue), I just wanted to make some stray observations :D</p>

16

<p>sugarandspice: not sure whether this has been mentioned yet, but what you’re interested in would be a MD/PHD and those are typically fully funded. So, you don’t pay tuition and you get a stipend to help cover living costs. Only straight MD programs require loans. </p>

<p>The Ivies give excellent financial aid. It’s financial aid not “merit aid”: earmarked for people who don’t have enough money to attend the school (income of 60k a year or less for a family of 4, then progressive amounts up to 180k). I’m guessing your father makes 200k+ and thus doesn’t qualify - otherwise he couldn’t pay for UNC. So Cornell was right to expect him to pay his EFC. That’s what the EFC is for.</p>

17

<p>OP said that she was interested in either an MD OR a PhD. The PhD would be funded; the standalone MD would not. Besides, thousands of students start college thinking they are pre-med (or pre-law, or pre-anything) and change their minds. Keeping debt down to a reasonable level is always a good idea.</p>

<p>It sounds to me - just as it did in your last post - that you really want to go to UGA. You seem to like the environment better (small college town vs. large urban environment), it has the major that you want (although you certainly don’t need to major in genetics in undergrad to do that for a PhD, but besides the point), and overall it is a less stressful environment than GT. I don’t think it’s at all ridiculous to want a less stressful environment - sure, medical school is a stressful place, but lots of students go from UGA to medical school just fine and you don’t have to be in a stressful, competitive atmosphere to succeed in medical school.</p>

<p>Also, UGA being as large as it is there are probably plenty of students who don’t party, drink, or participate in Greek life. (However, I’d like to add that those things are fun and don’t preclude students from doing well in college and going onto great grad/professional schools. You may discover that you like parties.) I also wouldn’t assume that UGA students don’t care about school or academics - there is a such thing as work-hard, play-hard.</p>

<p>On the other hand, if you are pre-med you will have to take calculus and physics anyway. Also, Atlanta isn’t really a “hustle and bustle” city (I’m from there and went to Spelman). It can be pretty quiet being a student there, to be honest.</p>

<p>If your family is comfortable paying the room and board costs for UGA, are willing to do so, and that’s where you really want to go, then go there. Don’t feel bad about it. Nobody ever said you had to go to the most prestigious school you got into; UGA is a great school with a good reputation; you seem like you believe it’s a good balance of education and your social orientation.</p>

<p>I’m biased, though, because I would pick UGA over GT every time. When I was selecting colleges, I wanted somewhere that had a good academic reputation but somewhere I could ALSO have a good time.</p>

18

<p>I’m thinking she wants a MD/PHD because of her research interests, which she’s been pursuing for 2 years at GT (and likely led them to offer her the PS = profs are eager to work with her). A straight MD wouldn’t fulfill the same research interests. And MD/PHDs are funded since they’re, essentially, medical research programs.</p>

<p>^I agree with juillet you don’t need to be in a stressful college environment to succeed in med school. In fact, one may posit the opposite: students who aren’t burnt out, have had time to grow and “find themselves” in a more comfortable atmosphere, and have learned to push themselves on their own may do better (I don’t have research info on that, but I think the idea isn’t un-arguable.)</p>

19

<p>Cornell gave all costs except 2k per year to a student I worked with this year, so yeah, you are uninformed.</p>