<p>Guys, I want to be a (pre-med) biology major.
I am a California resident, I CAN pay for the privates (though I'd rather not). However, are there some significant benefits to NU that warrant the extra money? I am aiming for a prestigious med school because I want to go into academic medicine. Hence, my GPA will matter quite a bit :/</p>
<p>No, you will be better off saving some money at either Berkeley or UCLA.</p>
<p>There’s no reason you can’t go to a prestigious med school out of Cal or UCLA. Personally, with private top-tier med schools costing close to $300k over four years, I’d save the $100k and stay in-state.</p>
<p>I agree as well, if you’ll be happy and do well at UCLA or Berkeley, there’s no reason to leave California.</p>
<p>Ditto to all of the above comments. It is just not worth the extra money…</p>
<p>I chose not to go to a private university for undergrad in favor of a full-ride at a public (UCSD, as a matter of fact) and just made it a mini-goal to attend a private university later on. Now I’m here and am even getting paid to be a student.</p>
<p>If you’re lucky, maybe we’ll see you over in the Chicago campus in 4 years at Feinberg!</p>
<p>Save your $$ for med school.</p>
<p>I believe you will do well either in Berkeley or U Chicago. The chance to get into a good private medical school from U chicago is much higher than from a state school, assuming a similar PGA and MCAT.</p>
<p>sdgolf</p>
<p>I’m not doubting you, but I’d love to see the data that supports your previous post.</p>
<p>People should realize that … compact cars and luxury cars can get you from point A to point B, however there are other reasons that people wish to buy the more expensive, luxury car.</p>
<p>If you only want to get from point A (high school) to point B (med school) and you don’t really care about anything else… (for example: the number of students in your class, possibly not getting a required course due to overcrowding, academic quality of classmates, having a personalized guidance advisor, being in a public school, etc) … then save the money.</p>
<p>If you do want that ‘luxury’ that money can afford, then take NU. </p>
<p>The UCs have an agreement with the community colleges that they will enroll a certain number of students every year as transfers. The great majority of those transfers were students who did not work as diligently in high school as the UC frost admits. Campus for campus, the quality of peer students will be much greater at Northwestern. </p>
<p>Still, there are benefits to living close to family and living in sunny California weather year around</p>
<p>I can not speak to UChicago-I know nothing about it. However…I am very familiar w/NU (Daughter attended/her BF (from Cambridge MA) studied Bio with intent to attend Med-School), as well as Cal/UCLA…and I would even include Stanford into this discussion, as I see NU and Stanford as similar environs academically/college experience-size of undergraduate class/sports–and as you are from California and you may not have visited NU but will be familiar with Stanford, and it will give you a point of reference.
Everyone of these schools will provide an education that can afford you the ability to score well on your MCATs. Because everyone of them attracts strong academically inclined students, your GPA will be a challenge at all of them. You have to decide if you want larger (Cal/UCLA) or smaller class (NU) sizes based on your learning style.
Then you will have to decide whether you want to experience a college outside of California-is that an important element in your decision making or not?
I can say…D’s BF ended up deciding against Med School, and instead is pursuing his Phd. He finished his studies in 3 years/scored either a perfect or close to perfect GRE score (I do not remember which). Point being…NU was a good fit for him,. Maybe it will be for you,too.</p>
<p>good question, I do not have data yet.
If you have time to study the facts about students at elite private medical schools, you may learn that a lots of them graduated from top undergraduate schools. Also better medical schools seem produce more specialists and more residencies at elite hospitals.</p>