I am considering Syracuse University for college but the tuition is expensive, and I will most likely won’t receive aid (if I even get in). My state’s university isn’t bad but I’ve heard that its pre-med track is not the best. Most colleges I’m going to be applying to are out of state, so tuition might be higher.
Generally, would it be better to spend more money for undergrad tuition or med school tuition?
There is no right, one-size-fits-all answer to this. A lot will depend on your family’s financial circumstances, but one thing is very important–
Pre med students need to minimize the amount of debt they take on for undergrad.
Why? There is no financial aid for med school except for loans, and, as I’m sure you know, medical school is horribly expensive. (It can top $100K/year at some schools or under some circumstances.) Med students will be taking on large loans to pay for medical school. Keep in mind that any undergrad loans in the student’s name will be accumulating interest for 10+ years before the student will be able to start paying them off. Newly graduated doctors need to complete a residency (3-7 years) and often a fellowship (another 1-3 years after residency) before they become an attending physician and start earning a doctor’s salary. Medical residents (and fellows) are paid very little (your high school teacher probably earns a bigger salary than a med resident) and most can’t repay their loans during residency–which mean that interest is continually accumulating and getting added to your base loan. Any undergrad debt can easily double or even triple before a pre med starts earning a doctor’s income.
Also keep in mind that there is no guarantee that you’ll even get an acceptance to med school. About 75% of freshmen pre-meds never even apply to med school. Of those that persist and do apply, 60% don’t get accepted.
Medical school adcomms really don’t care what undergrad an applicant attends. State college, private LAC, Ivy League–it’s basically only a minor data point in their decision. What’s much more important is the applicant’s GPA, MCAT score and the quality of their ECs, LORs and personal statement. Almost every college in the country offers the coursework needed to apply to med school. (All med school pre-reqs are common lower level classes.) Becoming a competitive applicant for med school is really on you and what you achieve during college. It doesn’t depend on what college you go to.
My advice–find a college that fits your family’s budget and that doesn’t require you (or your parents) to take out loans to pay for. The college you attend should be good fit for you socially & academically and offer a variety of majors besides pre-med that you might be interested in.
Taking out large loans (or spending big $$$) to pay for a pre-med program is foolish.
In general, it is not wise to get into a college that you barely can get in as a premed. You want to get in a college that you are in the top 25% of the applicants. Prestige does very little in premed intent, as med schools do not care where you go to a college, they want high GPA and Mcat. With that selecting criteria, you will benefit from:
While I agree that considering undergrad costs is important for premeds, I don’t think it is entirely correct that prestige does very little. GPA and mcat, yes, are more important, but it is well-known that many med schools give a bit of a preference to “their own” undergrads, as well as those from known rigorous-premed undergrad programs. My husband and many of our peers who applied were specifically told that their slightly lower than avg med-school-candidate science gpa would be viewed with the lens that they were in a tough undergrad program (with some known science grade deflation). The premed advising program had stats on med school admissions that clearly showed undergrads from our institution had slightly lower science gpas needed for acceptance than the national average.
OP: What is your state of residence ? Check out the tuition costs at your state supported medical schools so you are better informed of potential options & the cost of these state supported medical schools.
Typically, as written above by other posters, undergraduate debt is foolish for one set on going to medical school. However, plans change–so don’t say no to Harvard & Stanford before thinking about the value of those degrees in other fields. Many die hard pre-med students end up as economics majors.