<p>I was accepted to both MIT and UChicago. I'm leaning towards becoming a pre-med, but I'm not 100% sure (more like 90% sure). If the debt I incur is the same for both schools, would a bachelor's degree from UChicago or MIT benefit me more in the long run if I go into medicine? What about if I choose another field?</p>
<p>I would like some insight from current and former MIT students, please. Thanks in advance. :)</p>
<p>The education aside, the MIT degree itself will open more doors, but it’s more helpful in non-medicine careers. In terms of premed, you will do well with a good GPA/MCAT from both schools. If you are looking at the very highest schools (Harvard or top 5,) MIT might help a little bit. However, I remember asking this question about the difference between MIT and a non-HYP ivy in admissions, and an MIT counselor said MIT would not be an advantage.</p>
<p>I think the one place MIT could be an advantage at would be Harvard if you do all the right things. If you are getting a 4.9-5.0/5.0 GPA, Johns Hopkins and UCSF are very realistic.</p>
<p>Obviously, if you are interested in engineering, MIT is the way to go. And there are some pretty wild interdisciplinary projects at MIT (“programmoing” cells, etc.)</p>
<p>If being in a liberal arts atmosphere is important to you, then you might really dislike MIT. The humanities core at U. of Chicago will be more intense than at MIT. </p>
<p>Math, physics, and econ are probably equally as rigorous at MIT or U. of Chicago, though MIT physics has a unique Junior Lab experience–not sure, how relevant that would be to a premed, though.</p>
<p>MIT’s campus is in a safer area than Hyde Park, but you probably already knew that.</p>
<p>Also, in terms of debt, a good-paying consulting position (McKinsey, BCG) or Wall Street position will be easier to come by with a degree from MIT, though I’m not going to say that you can’t get one with U. of Chicago degree. Many people work at these places for a couple of years to help pay off debt before going to med school.</p>
<p>^i agree with the above.</p>
<p>but … if you are pretty set on med school, you may want to consider neither, and go to a state flagship or similar, which may be very gpa friendly and would allow more time to prep for mcat and do well on it. and also more importantly keep the debt down.</p>
<p>i think the mit counselor is correct that mit will not be an advantage in med school admission, if anything that would be minor. you are expected to compensate for somewhat lower gpa from schools like mit by scoring very high on the mcat.</p>
<p>Thank you, collegealum and itsme, for your advice. While it was a hard decision to make, I ultimately decided to go with MIT. :)</p>
<p>And, collegealum mentioned that getting a 4.9-5.0/5.0 would place an MIT pre-med in a very good position for med school. From what people have told me, an almost perfect GPA at MIT is almost impossible. Does anyone have any insight on the matter of GPA at MIT (since GPA does play a factor in med and grad school admissions)? And any tips for survival at MIT? Like, extracurriculars, study abroad, student associations, jobs, internships, grades/GPA? Any advice/information would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.</p>
<p>No – collegealum was saying that a 4.9-5.0 at MIT puts you in a good position for the very top medical schools, not for medical school in general. The average GPA of medical school applicants from MIT is a 4.5, which is a great GPA, but generally achievable, and that will be more than adequate to get you into medical school.</p>
<p>There’s no single path to medical school, but it’s typical for students to get a UROP and get involved in research, and to volunteer at hospitals (e.g. at Mass General). There’s also a student-run ambulance for the campus health center, so some pre-meds get trained as EMTs (I think) and work on the ambulance crew.</p>
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<p>It’s not impossible to get a 4.9-5.0. If you are able to ace a couple of core classes, there is no reason you can’t reproduce that performance every semester. Most people can’t ace one of their core classes, however.</p>
<p>Best advice someone gave me was from a guy who was chem E who went to Harvard Med. He had a 5.0/5.0 GPA.</p>
<p>He said the first two years all he did was study. Then, the last two years he relaxed a bit. Technically, he was in a frat the first two years but pledging wasn’t intense there. And by “all the time”, I’m sure he meant that he was completely engrossed in studying and that every time there was a project or test imminent he would drop everything and try to get it perfect. </p>
<p>Interestingly, at the time the first year was Pass/fail/no record. However, it’s probably not good to try to turn it on when you are on grades. Also, your background is not as good as it could be. Remember Malcom Gladwell’s (The Outliers) principle: small differences multiply quickly. </p>
<p>Finally, they say that your grades are hidden on pass/fail/no record, but top med schools like Harvard and Johns Hopkins demand to see them anyway. So it’s pass/no record, but not really.</p>
<p>Also, one tip to raise your GPA a point or two is to take research on grades.</p>
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<p>Yes, exactly. I know people with 4.3/5.0 from less prestigious schools than MIT (Northwestern, Duke), and they were able to get into the state flagship medical school. Of course, these people were very good on standardized tests so they were likely to have aced the MCATS (but if you get into MIT, you are probably good at acing standardized tests.)</p>
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<p>Really? Are most students aware of that? Do other highly competitive post graduate programs (Rhodes, Fulbright, NSF) insist on seeing “no record” grades?</p>
<p>Well, my info is like 15 years old now since I’m an alum, but it was not very well-publicized. I heard about it through word-of-mouth.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about the NSF asking for it, though.</p>
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<p>My D applied to a variety of top med schools (except for Johns Hopkins) from MIT last year and not a single one asked to see her first semester P/F grades. Harvard Med definitely does NOT ask for them.</p>
<p>The guy who first told me about it was a student at Harvard Med who had just graduated from MIT, but maybe things have changed. </p>
<p>Also, I wonder if it’s dependent on whether you take orgo as a freshman.</p>
<p>When I graduated, it was only JHU that asked for them (Harvard no longer did), and I thought I had heard a few years ago that JHU had stopped asking for them as well. It was once the policy for them to ask, but my understanding is that they now respect the P/NR grading system.</p>
<p>^^They may have decided not to ask for the hidden grades because P/NR is only one semester now. It used to be two semesters.</p>
<p>I didn’t know MIT used to have the Pass/No Record system for the entire year. Huh. That’s interesting.</p>
<p>Mine was the first year P/NR was first semester only (class of '06). We were also the first class required to live on campus freshman year.</p>