Pitt Honors vs. Rutgers Honors -- Which is better for the pre-med track freshie?!

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
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<p>Hey guys,
So it's April-- college decision season. All said and done, I got accepted into several great universities. As someone who wants to be a doctor but doesn't want hundreds of thousand of dollars in loans, I narrowed it down to 2 school that have given me some very generous scholarships:</p>

<p>University of Pittsburgh Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences:
I got a full honor tuition (I'm an out of state New Jersey resident). This means that they are giving me full tuition scholarship as well as guaranteed admission to their honors college. Though this is a very generous scholarship, I will have to pay ~$10,000 for room and board costs.
The Pros As I See It:
It is a better rated school, I will get to explore a different state and environment, Better research opportunities, Affiliated with a really good medical school, reported medical school acceptance rate is 77% (compared to Rutgers' 59%)
The Cons As I See It:
It's very far away (5 hours via car vs. 45 minutes), I will not know anyone there (although that can also be seen as a positive), I will be paying $10,000 more to go here.</p>

<p>Rutgers New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences:
I am an in-state student so I received a Presidential Honors Scholarship. This includes full tuition as well as a $11,500 credit for room and board. It also guarantees me 4 years of honors housing and all the benefits that come with being an honors student.This generous scholarship means I will be paying almost nothing to go here. I will be paying, at the most, $2,000 - $3,000 a year in books and personal spending.
The Pros As I see it:
It's a lot closer to home, I know several people that are attending Rutgers, The big school will give me a very large selection of classes, My education will be pretty much paid for.
The Cons As I see it:
Pitt has better medical school acceptance rate, Pitt's overall ranking is higher, Better research opportunities are at Pitt. </p>

<p>Both schools are great and I know I'd be happy at either one but in the end it depends on:
---Which school will give me a better change to get accepted into Medical School? (which involves GPA and MCATs scores as well as research opportunities)
---Which school will I have an overall better experience at?
---Whichever college you recommend for me: Any experiences with which dorms I should choose as an honors housing qualified student (I understand they have special housing rooms).
---What are the benefits of each their honors programs?
---Any personal experiences at each of these schools that you can share? </p>

<p>MY STATS IN ANYONE CARES TO KNOW:
High School Unweighed GPA: 3.97
High School Weighed GPA: 4.51
High School Class Rank (3/4 of the way through senior year): Top 1-2% of 211
SAT Score: 800M 780CR 710W (2290 3 score / 1580 M+CR)
AP Courses: Calc A/B: 4; Calc B/C: 4; Physics: 3; Chemistry: 4; Statistics: 5; Bio: 4; Spanish: 3; (Also took AP Comp Sci A but didnt take the AP test)</p>

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<p>Do you/your parents have the $10,000 for the room and board without taking loans? So room+board+travel+books+personal expenses= more than $10,000(Pitt).</p>

<p>So will you have to take out loans over the $10,000 for room and board or will there be some part loan and some part your parents are paying?</p>

<p>And congrats on the scholarships!! If you interested in the finances of med school head over to a few of the med school websites and see what tuition+room+board+fees is for the med schools. Seriously.</p>

<p>And if you buy your books used (online use ISBN, amazon, half.com, ebay, b&n used) you will be able to keep the costs down on books.</p>

<p>CONGRATS!</p>

<p>Kat</p>

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<p>If I choose to go to Pitt, my parents will be paying the room/board/books/living expenses. That comes out to be ~$12k a year.</p>

4

<p>bump?? </p>

<p>^10 char</p>

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<p>Pitt has very highly ranked Med. School. However, D. did not care for city of Pittsburgh and withdrew after interview. If location is OK with you, why would not Pitt? 5 hrs by car is NOT far away at all.</p>

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</p>

<p>Are u serious? 5 hours is LONG and can be higher depending on traffic conditions. Remember to also consider the toll this has on the parents and not just the students. How many times are you gonna wanna meet ur children if it’s a 10 hour ride (5 hours to pitt and 5 hours back)? For the child it may be 5 hours but for the parents its 10. That can take up your entire day come to think of it.</p>

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</p>

<p>I guess it all depends on what part of the country you’re from and what you’re used to. Where I live 5 hours to go shopping at the big mall on the weekend is not at all uncommon. Or 5 hours to visit the relatives out on the farm/ranch for the weekend. Or 5 hours each way to go skiing for 2 days–happens all the time.</p>

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<p>I recommend Pitt if you can handle the 12k a year without any loans (savings?). 12k is still A LOT to pay for per year. </p>

<p>Research is really important. Ranking isn’t. If you feel like you can handle the money somehow, go to Pitt.</p>

<p>Rutgers is also a good school to go to. You might be competing for fewer research opportunities with other premeds, but if you’re prepared, this shouldn’t be a huge problem.</p>

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<p>Research opportunities in the biosciences won’t be a problem at all at Pitt because there are so many more of them to choose from to begin with. It has one of the largest biomedical research centers in the country and one of the nation’s best hospitals also right on campus.</p>

<p>And then there is the ease of getting to and from those research and volunteer opportunities because all the major bio and health science facilities are within blocks of any singular point on campus. The campus is very compact. This is the complete opposite of Rutgers which is spread out over different campuses in New Brunswick and Piscataway, connected by a bus-shuttle system, which in my opinion, is just miserable.</p>

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<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I stumbled upon this thread randomly. Never visited the site before, but felt compelled to reply.</p>

<p>I’m a med student at a Univ of Calif school and a Rutgers Honors Program alum. My advice comes with some perspective (so take it with a grain of salt, I suppose)–I took a few years off between college and medical school. The truth is that you’ll be fine whether you to Pitt or Rutgers. You’ve already demonstrated the qualities you need to be successful in your pre-med classes, like a sense of initiative and dedication. These are the same qualities needed to find research projects (should you choose to do so), so to me anyway, whether Pitt or Rutgers offers more or less opportunities is a moot point–you’ll find them either way and shine within them.</p>

<p>You’re point about med school acceptance rates is astute, but keep in mind that Rutgers has hundreds of pre-meds applying, many of whom haven’t earned the kind of grades/test scores that you have, so mileage may vary. I don’t know enough about Pitt to draw any conclusions, but I can assure you that there are many pre-meds at Rutgers who apply to allopathic med schools without much hope of getting in because they cannot fathom a career where they are not doctors. This is not a bad thing; sometimes it takes a rejection letter to pick up and move on with your life.</p>

<p>From what I know of the two schools, it seems that either way you’ll be stuck in large lecture hall pre-med classes with hundreds of other students. One school does not seem to offer an advantage in terms of instruction or support. (The pre-med advising is an area to look into, but both being large state schools, I can’t imagine they are that different.)</p>

<p>So, if I were you, I’d pocket the $8k or whatever a year you’d save by going to Rutgers and use that to spend summers or a semester/year abroad. That is, unless you want to get away from home–in which case, the additional money spent to attend Pitt is well worth it.</p>

<p>I know that med school isn’t the only factor in your decision making process, but I’d encourage you to keep in mind that your perspective may change in 4/whatever years time. Mine sure did. I can honestly say that after going through college, talking to peers who (obv) did the same, being a teacher, doing a bunch of random things with my life, etc., that you learn little of value in your pre-med classes. Instead, the real value of college is that it provides the luxury of time and, in your case, free cash, to explore a number of different things–living in a dorm and learning how to relate to others; traveling the world and understanding your place in the world; finding mentors who have failed and succeeded and can help you along your journey, etc. These things are all terribly important in life, and in the career of medicine, because they teach you how to critically think. Anyone can memorize and regurgitate liver function tests, but knowing how to use them and understanding the patient’s perspective when you order them and subject them to a bunch of incomprehensible and bewildering treatments is altogether different.</p>

<p>One last thing–you have your whole life to be a doctor. Imagine doing the same profession for 40 or 50 years. Even if that excites you, I still encourage you to use the time you have in college to explore different opportunities. You get busier as you get older, and it just becomes a lot harder to do so–even when you want to.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all of your wonderful, and detailed replies. I just thought I should have a short update…
I have chosen to go to Rutgers University on the full scholarship, and I have been EXTREMELY pleased with my choice.
It is conveniently close to home, which means that I will be able to see my friends, family, and keep my job as a waitress! Plus, I made some amazing friends on campus already, and just started a new relationship with a fellow Rutgers classmate just this week :smiley:
I am in the Honors College for the School of Arts and Sciences (majoring in Chemistry) and I will be moving into the Busch Engineering Science and Technology (B.E.S.T Hall) in just 7 DAYS TIME!!!
Overall, I paid $900 to attend college this year (this includes medical insurance, tuition, fees, housing, and a meal plan) so I am incredibly happy with my luck at getting this amazing opportunity. </p>

<p>If anyone has any questions about the scholarship, the school, the honors program, or B.E.S.T housing, please feel free to contact me, and I will do my very best to answer your questions.</p>

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<p>Glad to hear it’s worked out so well for you! Thanks for updating us and willingness to share your experience with future students.</p>

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<p>So happy to hear it is going well for you! And having only spent $900 so far is icing on the cake…will be so much more later when you don’t have any undergrad debt and looking at med school costs won’t be as daunting.</p>

<p>Keep your GPA up and have fun. Congrats again!</p>

<p>Kat</p>

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<p>Mssristi…I am a parent , and I think my daughter should seriously consider Rutgers. She was offered a partial scholarship to either SEBS or Arts & Sciences. She is an excellent student (not quite as good as you) who thinks Rutgers is below her standards, partially because her sister, who is a language major and is not as academically inclined, is carrying a solid B+ average through 2 years, and also the SAT scores for Rutgers are so low for admitted students. I see you are about to finish your freshman year. Is there anyway I ,or my daughter can speak to you ASAP ?</p>

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<p>If you click the member’s name, you’ll be able to see their posting history, the OP has not been active on CC since their post here last August.</p>