How to you guys compare the Pitt BSMD to Vandy’s premed? If you are admitted to both, will you be taking the Pitt BSMD for a price tag of $25,000/year, or going to Vandy with a close to nothing cost?
@pittorv I like the Vandy option, in your example! 
Banking on getting 3.75 GPA every SEMESTER is not…a great option. Yearly GPA? OK, but semesterly?
If everything goes smoothly for your child, then yes, it works out. But what if it doesn’t? 3.75 means the student would have to pull an average of slightly above A- in all his/her classes.
What if the student has a rough semester? Gets ill? Somehow mismanages an exam and does more poorly than expected? Then that guarantee goes away, and you’re stuck paying more money.
Yale at that low EFC is a great price and has more flexibility.
True, the 3.75GPA thing bothers me a lot. But on the other hand, if you want to get into a med school like Pitt Med, you need to achieve a 3.86 and above GPA not to mention the MCAT and all other stuff. Giving up a Pitt GAP opportunity would be real hard decision. But again, a close to 100k loan will not be easy for most of the working class families.
@pittorv: Yes, but if the OP’s kid fails to pull that high GPA, at Yale, they’d still get a Yale degree. At Pitt a Pitt degree.
Slight difference.
Don’t take a 100k loan for Pitt GAP when your kid can go to Yale for almost free and have equally good outcomes.
A kid who can maintain that GPA at Pitt can maintain that GPA at Yale and get into med school without GAP, and costs would be incredibly lower. (anyone who thinks skipping the MCAT is a deal-breaker doesn’t have what it takes to make it to med school. It’s a test, your child is a good test taker, it won’t be easy but it’s easier than maintaining a 3.75 GPA each semester as a premed and it certainly is not the difference between getting into med school at Pitt vs.not at Yale.)
In fact, considering half GAP students drop out vs. a minuscule number at Yale, I’d say Yale is the safer route to med school at this point. And a Yale degree will open doors.
I would go with Vandy. It may not make much a difference in terms of getting into med school, but the non-med school opportunities are better and the money saved can be used to good effect later on.
@Deming - I heard Pitt GAP decisions are out, did your S get it?
@Arwen1 It was stated on the acceptance letter that the 3.75 GPA is by the end of the Junior year, not each semester.