<p>I amd choosing between MIT and WashU for pre-med right now. For WUSTL, I have a scholarship for which I only have to pay about $8000 a year, whereas for MIT, I won't get any financial aid. </p>
<p>I want to do pre-med, and having visited both universities, I think both have great pre-med programs. I want to major in Biology or Biomedical Engineering while studying Philosophy, Psychology, and Anthropology. </p>
<p>They both have an abundance of activities and clubs to participate in and relatively active Greek life, which I hope to participate in (although I do like MIT's greek life more because from what I saw it is more academically focused). I'm also a swimmer and both swim teams look great. The only difference is that WashU's swim team requires more time to be put into it and they are more successful. </p>
<p>Does anybody have any advice on deciding between the two schools? Statistics, facts, and links to websites about the success of pre-med students at either school would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Last year 94% of MIT seniors applying to medical school were accepted.</p>
<p>I agree with Karen that the cost differential is a big deal if you’re talking about medical school – unlike graduate school, medical school costs money, and they’ll expect your parents to pay for it (or for you to take out several hundred thousand dollars in loans).</p>
<p>At MIT, it will likely be easier to be in an FSILG, be on the swim team, and be academically prepared for medical school, just because everybody is so busy that the clubs and sports have a culture putting academics first. At Wash U, you would probably have to choose one, or maybe neither.</p>
<p>I would choose Wash U. Med School is going to be a big time money sucker. Plus, WUSTL’s premed program looks pretty good too. and the med school is great too.</p>
<p>But if money does not really matter or your undergraduate experience at MIT will be worth the money, MIT is by far the better choice.</p>
<p>I don’t think you should be choosing a school just for a major. You should choose the school that you feel you fit in best at, the one that you WANT to spend the next four years at. People change their major all the time in college. Don’t get too caught up in the whole “biology pre-med” thing. Both my older brother and I went to college with this in mind. Neither of us are doing this anymore. My brother went to WashU (Biomed Engineer now). I’m here at MIT (Brain and CogSci). </p>
<p>While WashU is by no means a bad school, MIT is definitely the better school academically. It’s worth your money. And if you are still thinking about med school, like molliebatmit said, 94% of MIT seniors applying to med school are accepted. If you are not thinking about med school, graduates of MIT have one of the highest starting salaries of all colleges in the nation -something to think about when dealing with your financial situation. </p>
<p>In regards to Greek life at MIT, I’d say you can’t get any better. Not only is Greek life a great way to access the party side of college, but like you said, there is an academic side to it. Affiliated people get so much help and connections from their brothers and sisters. At MIT, Greek life isn’t just about the parties. </p>
<p>Now talking about the swim team… contrary to what you may believe, MIT actually ranks higher than WashU in swimming. MIT has an entire wall full of All-American awards and we are in the top of the country on both the Mens’ and Womens’ side. With 15 people at NCAA’s this year, we were one of the largest teams there (more than WashU)! The coaching staff here at MIT is so awesome and we have killer facilities to boot! I don’t think I’m being all that biased here but I really think that your choice is clear. In light of everything that I have said here, it has to be MIT FTW!!</p>
<p>Shoot me an email if you have any more questions. I definitely have more to say if you are so inclined to hear it.</p>