Ohio st or Northwestern for premed

<p>I want to do the premed track and major in biology. I live in a Columbus suburb and would probably get around a half ride to ohio st to go along with instate tuition. However, I think I have a fighting shot at getting into Northwestern if I apply ED. I dont think i will get any substantial FA from NW. Which school would you choose to attend in my situation.</p>

<p>tOSU. Save your $ for med school.</p>

<p>Ohio state</p>

<p>Obviously, each school sends students to Medical School. Just as obviously, the tuition gap is huge. Not knowing your family circumstances, I’m in no position to comment on what the difference in price would mean.</p>

<p>This being said – (and not meant as a knock on Ohio State), the difference in school reputation is huge. </p>

<p>If I could afford it, I recommend that my child choose Northwestern.</p>

<p>If you’re absolutely certain you’ll end up in medical school, I’d say choose whichever is cheaper, net of financial aid. I wouldn’t just assume that’s Ohio State. It depends on your financial situation. If your EFC is low, Northwestern’s FA will probably make it the cheaper choice. If your EFC is high, OSU will be cheaper. For medical school it really doesn’t matter all that much where you do your undergrad; you can meet the basic course requirements for med school admission almost anywhere, and after that all that matters is your GPA and MCAT scores.</p>

<p>If the costs are close, however, I’d choose Northwestern. Lots of people start college thinking they’re heading for medical school. Many of them change their minds somewhere along the way. Most college students change majors (or intended majors) at least once. That’s a reason to choose the stronger school, and Northwestern is all-around excellent. That’s not a knock on Ohio State, which has made itself a very strong, and very respectable, public flagship (and I say this as a Michigan man). But it is what it is, and that’s huge, with 42,000 undergrads and a student-faculty ratio of 19:1. In contrast, Northwestern has about 8,400 undergrads and a s-f ratio of 7:1. So you know where you’re going to get smaller classes and more individual attention from faculty. That may not matter so much for a pre-med, but in many other fields it makes a world of difference.</p>

<p>In my situation, ohio st tuition be around 6k a yr and northwestern 40k</p>

<p>Im inthe 200-250k income racket so the amount of FA from both schools will be little if anything</p>

<p>Go with the $$$. Med schools care more about your GPA and MCAT than anything else. NU has a pretty intense program and one of the hardest orgo sequence in the country, which could actually hurt you. A while back, some students would take Harvard summer school to transfer credits (only Harvard credits were accepted at that time); even that option was eliminated.</p>

<p>The financial difference is HUGE when taking medical school into account. Time to sit down with your parents and figure out if they plan to pay for undergrad completely out of pocket, or if loans will be involved, and if they plan to fund your med school as well. Not all parents fund graduate school, so not incurring undergraduate loans would be important.</p>