<p>If OSU offered you a full scholarship while Duke would cost your family around 30,000, where would you go? Also, consider that money not spend on undergraduate studies will be spent on med school.</p>
<p>If you are a top student at Ohio State, you would likely get better research opportunities, better internships, and better mentoring than if you were an average student at Duke. Add $120k (two years of med school) and it's a no-brainer.</p>
<p>This is a very clear cut decision - Ohio State.</p>
<p>If your folks are very weathly, go for Duke. Otherwise, OSU would seem like a better deal.</p>
<p>It would be a better deal if 1) you had the money already for med school; and 2) you weren't a top student qualifying for top scholarship money at OSU. If the latter is false, it could easily be the case that OSU is better straight up.</p>
<p>if your parents can afford it, go to Duke
if your parents can't afford it, get financial aid from Duke and then go to Duke. If FA office is being unreasonable, cry and whine about it until they increase your award (as top private schools often do, though I don't know specifically if Duke's office is very giving).</p>
<p>For premed, don't underestimate the number of bright, driven, and motivated kids at flagship state schools, especially one as large and excellent as OSU, that you will be competing against for top grades in pre-med classes. Kids who have made similar misguided financial decisions as you, or some kids who had serious financial concerns that their private school of choice couldn't meet, or kids that just didn't want to leave Ohio, plus the thousands of international students who are mechanically trained for the sciences. Plus, grades at Duke are easier. </p>
<p>Of course, this is not to say you will face less competition at Duke. If anything, it will be more (but probably negligible). You'll just have more opportunities, though, for a lot of things. More students are able to engage in research, especially in perhaps the most research-intensive region in the US. </p>
<p>State schools may open just as many doors, but to a fewer number of students. There is no guarantee that, just because you had an excellent SAT and HS GPA, that you will continue to be heads and shoulders above your competition at any given institution.
And should pre-med fail, or should you become disenchanted with the medical profession, Duke has better alternative options.</p>
<p>^ EVEN if you could get your, say, $15,000-$20,000 financial aid per year, you would still end up paying 4 x $30,000 just to graduate and then the whole 3-4 years at med school, which is even more expensive. A lot of people think that the "name" really matters but honestly if OSU and Duke are comparable in your mind (you like everything about both schools), you should go to OSU and save yourself the huge debt you'd be in after med school. Duke is actually a lot more competitive and your GPA there would definitely be lower. Med schools care a lot about GPA. </p>
<p>In short, i'd say go to OSU, get good grades, then go to a great med school and graduate with over $100,000 less debt than you would have if you went to Duke.</p>
<p>College is one of the best and most important times of life - beyond simply what it can do for your career. And there's no question on my mind that Duke is vastly superior in this regard. Duke if you can afford it.</p>
<p>OSU median GPA is like 2.8, Duke is 3.3, at least in 2001. I don't think OSU board of directors have had a sudden change in heart and decided to inflate the hell out of the students grades like private schools do.
Student quality, at the top at least (where OP will have to be) at OSU is nothing to scoff at, certainly lower-Ivy/Duke caliber, with a couple HYP types sprinkled here and there. However, student quality =/= how the school is really regarded.
If OP can do median at Duke, he'll be at a 3.3. To be at 3.3 at OSU, you'd have to do significantly above median. And it's not the typical "state school kids" taking premed classes, man. It's the ones that want to be doctors, engineers, scientists, ones that made similar decisions as OP would make if s/he decides to attend duke. Given equal GPA, I'm tempted to say that med schools will give favor to the Duke degree (i don't know the process first hand--will they factor in grade inflation? I know law schools don't).
There is no guarantee that one will do well, wherever one attends. No guarantee that 4 years from now (four of the most formative years of your life when you understand more about the real world) that OP will still want to be premed. What then? A LOT of people want to be doctors. Many don't end up becoming one, whether because of grades or because of changed perspective during college.
$200,000 is no small amount of money, even when it's reduced to $120,000 that you suggest. But look at the grand scheme of things. If you work, say, 30 years, it comes out to what, $4k a year (of course, very rudimentary and not factoring in interest). If you end up being a doctor, fine, it doesn't really matter where you go to UG or even where you go to med school. But what if, as statistics suggest, you don't? Will your Duke degree be work 4k more/year, or $350 more per month than an OSU degree? I'm tempted to say yes, by a wide margin.
And dude, seriously, don't discount the power of grade inflation, especially if you want to go to grad schools (law school, at least). Look up the numbers from registrars' offices.
Seriously, state schools are no cake walks. Being a premed is no guarantee. Give yourself the options. Youre only 18. Unless your parents are one of those uppermiddleclass folks that don't believe in private education, or are irresponsible and haven't planned for your college tuition, or believe in the power of independence and are forcing you to pay, you gotta go with Duke.</p>
<p>anyone else want to take a stab at this</p>
<p>OSU is a no-brainer. The vast majority of premeds at Duke (and most colleges, for that matter), don't make it thru the gauntlet due to competition for A's. Even though OSU has a lower average gpa, the competition for A's will be easier. Since med school is nearly all about gpa+mcat, go to the college where you can maximize your gpa. And, as mini notes, as an incoming scholar at OSU, you will have easy access to research, the other item needed for med school; and with research, comes close association with profs and recs.</p>
<p>Just compare SAT math scores (mean ~630) or ACT (mean ~28), and think about the competition for A's in Calculus, for example. Moreover, look at THE OSU's 25th percentile (the kids who are gonna bring DOWN the curve and score those C's...580 & 25. In contrast, Duke's mean math is a 730; 25th % = 680, which is OSU's 75th %. 25% of the kids at Duke missed one math bubble (780) or zero (800).</p>
<p>Funny thing about this question: 90% of parents, and 90% of docs are going to say OSU, and for most, it won't even be close. High school (and some college) students will think otherwise.</p>
<p>What's wrong with this picture? ;)</p>
<p>I am not a parent or a doc, but I don't think Duke is $120,000 better than OSU.</p>
<p>The question simply can't be answered without knowing your family's financial status. For some, $30K is nothing. For others, it's quite a lot. There's no one right answer.</p>
<p>And if you do wind up being a doctor, it's not going to make any difference -- insurance companies don't give Duke-undergrad-doctors more dollars for the same exam.</p>
<p>If Duke is going to be $30k, it means they would be giving the student $20k/year in aid. So we actually do know quite a bit about the family's financial situation.</p>
<p>P-Girl:</p>
<p>I strongly disagree. For anyone who is premed (or prelaw), maximizing gpa is paramount. Why compete with a bunch of 800's for A's?</p>
<p>Assuming that you may be weeded out of pre-med, what are your options? Will OSU serve you better in your alternate career choice? This is something all pre-meds should consider.</p>
<p>Bluebayou, I wasn't thinking from that perspective - I was thinking from the perspective of it not mattering once the person became a doctor.</p>
<p>@121314 - Just curious, what was your final pick?</p>