so i got into both ui chicago and iu bloomington for biology and i am planning to go to med school and follow the pre med track for the next four years. i am a high school senior and these 2 schools are both out of state, however are all decent for biology. my brother lives close to chicago, meaning i would live with him and commute around 30 minutes everyday, saving expenses on dorms and having the comfort of a home, however i would also love the college experience before i shove my face harder into textbooks for another 4 years after. both uic and iu bloomington have good medical schools, and i’ve heard that uic is close to one of the largest medical sectors in the nation and has many open doors for opportunities, but i feel like i could get the same thing at bloomington, but i am still not sure since it’s a very suburban college town in the middle of indiana… i got direct admission to the college at bloomington but also got a scholarship for around 30k at chicago. if anybody knows if there’s tremendous grade deflation at any of these schools (or inflation 
) and the opportunities and what you would choose if in my shoes, please help a confused kid out. i would like to also build a strong portfolio (research, experience, HIGH GPA ) thank you!
Please, please take pre-med out of your college choice equation. Choose the college based on what you would like your undergrad experience to be like. I will say…commuting an hour a day doesn’t sound appealing to me…but that is your choice to make.
You can fulfill the required courses for medical school applications at either of these colleges.
As a potential pre-med, you absolutely need a Plan B because most with a pre-med intention when they enroll never apply to medical school…and of those who do…less than 40% get acceptances.
Keep in mind also, that medical schools should you get that far…will likely cost over $100,000 a year by the time you get that far. And medical school is funded with loans, loans and more loans…or the bank of mom and dad. So…you want your undergrad loans to be very low…or none.
Did you apply to any more affordable colleges in your home state?
Can u afford IU ?
I’m personally not a fan of commuting. If so stay home. Apply locally
If you can afford to attend IU, I’d go there. For the experience of college.
Many live home and it’s fine. But to me, going away to college is a special experience. And I’d do that if financially, I was able (no loans).
Bio / pre med - doesn’t matter where you go for the most part.
Good luck.
Are UIC and IU your only two options?
For UIC, the SY23-24 estimated costs for someone majoring in bio are below.
If your family’s health insurance would cover you, then the health insurance fee could be eliminated. So basically, UIC has given you free tuition (congratulations, they definitely seem as though they want you!). 31% of first year students at UIC live on-campus (per College Board). There are about 4,141 first year students (after doing the math on the entering class), so about 1,284 first year students living on-campus at an estimated cost of $15k, which includes both a room & your food (you’d still have to pay for food if living with your brother plus commuting costs…so may not be that big of a savings to live with your brother). So although UIC is a primarily a commuter campus, there is a chunk of students who are living on-campus. I don’t think, however, that it’s going to have the feel of the traditional college experience as a number of people think of it. Were you invited to the honors program or any special programming as a result of your scholarship?
IU’s costs will come out to be about $52,890/year.
I don’t think either school are particularly inflationary/deflationary in terms of grades, but I don’t think that’s the main point here. First off, is IU affordable for your family, without having any loans? If not, I wouldn’t go there.
Are there any other schools that you’ve been admitted to that are residential in nature that cost less than IU?
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