<p>That's a tough decision. Indiana is not one of the top 4 or 5 Publics, but it is a very well regarded university in a great campus and college town. Furthermore, you are premed and medical schools don't really care where you go to college, they are more concerned with GPA and MCAT scores. Your reason for wanting to go to Indiana is flawed. You can definitely be happy at Dartmouth and you will make a lot of new friends. But I also I tend to agree that getting a full ride to Indiana makes it the more rational choice.</p>
<p>It would obviously depend on how much debt you're going to be in by going to Dartmouth, but you might find that you have a better opportunity to show medical schools how good you are by going to Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Being a premed myself at one point, I can tell you Dartmouth is not worth the extra debt if you plan to goto medical school. There's not a single medical school that you can't get into from Indiana. Elite schools are overrated for premeds, I also worked at an admissions office in biological/life sciences studies in my midwestern college, and I was involved with the admissions process.</p>
<p>College name matters to a certain extent, like if you goto Saginaw Valley State U, you had a 4.0 and you scored a 27 on the MCAT, admissions officers will question whether you are really prepared for medical school. Admissions folks at medical school will know Indiana's name, so it's really up to you. And frankly, going to Indiana and getting a 3.8 beats getting a 3.3 from Dartmouth. (I have no paper proof, but that's how it worked in the program i worked in)</p>
<p>Please know that the feelings you are having now are similar to those of many others leaving one stage of life and entering another, which I think you sense.
I vote for proceeding to Dartmouth. Most students end up being very, very happy there.</p>
<p>Is there any way to retrieve your scholarship from Indiana? Even if you have declined their admission, it might be worth talking with them to see if there is any chance of still accepting it (after all, it is only mid-May). The difference in money would be a HUGE factor for our family, especially in light of your intended enrollment in medical school.</p>
<p>That said, you will not keep in touch with many of your high school friends beyond the first semester no matter where you go. Sad, but true.</p>
<p>The reason I chose going to a top private school over a state school with my friends is because I felt the private school would prepare me for graduate school better. It may not help my chances of getting into graduate school, but I feel the environment and rigor will help be better prepared for graduate school, and the work I will do after it.</p>
<p>I suggest going to Dartmouth with an open-mind. If you expect it to be horrible, you will most likely perceive it as horrible. But if you give Dartmouth a chance and have some optimism, it will help you see the positives of Dartmouth rather than just the negatives, enabling you to live there with a good mind through your four years.</p>
<p>Med school will depend almost entirely on your grades and MCAT scores. I don't believe that an elite college name equates with better application numbers for you. Don't be afraid to try something new away from your high school friends, but don't think that Dartmouth will give you a better shot at med school than Indiana will.</p>
<p>In fact, maybe you can research which undergrad program has more successful med school applicants.</p>
<p>I think it would be a horrible idea to choose IU simply because one plans to go to med school. Of course the logic seems tempting. </p>
<p>"1)Dartmouth is more expensive than IU.2) More or less, it doesn't matter what undergrad you attend because they don't really care in light of other factors(i.e, MCAT, ECs, GPA etc).3) Med school is really expensive and in light of 1)&2), it would be irrational to attend Dartmouth as one would build up even more debt." </p>
<p>This reasoning is flawed simply because many many undergrads change their goals at least once, if not many times, throughout college. Who knows? Maybe you'll find engineering to be your passion after you experience introductory mechanics with that wonderful professor. Or you may become a linguist after your first study abroad experience. The point is, there are so many outcomes that making a choice as important as which college to attend based on one career option is limiting. </p>
<p>Even if you become a doctor, having double debt from undergrad and medschool isn't really crippling because a physician's salary is really high such that you should be able to pay back. Sure, you'll still "lose" money when the other option of attending IU is taking into account. But it would still have been worth it because at least you'll know if you had changed your career, Dartmouth's name would have served you well, making it the risk averse choice. </p>
<p>And, finally, if you like Dartmouth, then your choice was wise. Its better to be happy for 4yrs at expensive school than be depressed at a school that you don't really want to attend for any other reason than getting a full ride there. </p>
<p>Anyways, your choice has been made. Hopefully my post would give you other factors think about, should you want to transfer.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>I would respectfully disagree with lkf....I would bet that the overall success rate for medical school acceptance is better from Dartmouth. I actually think it would be over 90%, and perhaps 100%. In fact, all other things being equal (GPA, MCATs, etc.), I would think the acceptance to medical schools across the board would be higher from Dartmouth. </p>
<p>Although I dislike elitism, and would discourage people from attending a school they may not like or fit in to simply because it is an 'Ivy League" school, there is something to be said for name recognition when advancing to graduate school. Additionally, I agree with student14...if you end up changing your career plans, all bets are off anyway....</p>
<p>i cannot disagree more with you. Even if Dartmouth does have a 90% med school acceptance rate, which I highly highly doubt, it doesn't mean just because you goto Dartmouth you'll get into medical school. Elite schools have high med school acceptance rates, relatively speaking, because the students are capable of scoring high on the MCAT, and generally of higher caliber, not because of the name. </p>
<p>A good friend of mine's brother went to MIT, got a 3.1 gpa(which is very respectable), got rejected from all medical schools, and ended up having to do a post bacc program, granted he got in afterwards, but I'm fairly certain that he would have done quite well had he gone to a school where competition for grades isn't as stiff. I think MIT's med school placement rate is about 70%, so his case isn't at all uncommon there, or frankly at any school.</p>
<p>just to add, </p>
<p>If you were to not go to med school, Dartmouth will probably give you more options, and doing bad at Dartmouth is better than doing bad at Indiana.</p>
<p>Don't look back. You made a great choice. Have fun at Dartmouth.</p>
<p>keefer...i understand what you are saying and i agree that a 3.1 is a tough sell...maybe a less competitive school would have been a better option for that person. And, I also agree that to some extent the people at Dartmouth et al probably have better MCATs etc and are 'self selected'......but still, with 2 relatively identical applicants, the kid from Dartmouth gets the admit to medical school over the IU grad.</p>
<p>CDK, I disagree. If two students from different universities apply to Medical school and they have identical grades in similar majors and similar MCAT results, the tie-breaker will not be the university attended but their ECs, work experience in hospitals, recommendations and essays. There is no advantage to attending a better university when applying to medical school.</p>
<p>I feel somewhat intimidated replying to someone who has 10,855 posts....but.....with 'relatively identical' applicants, I still would hold to my original hypothesis...</p>