Please Help! Michigan vs. Penn...

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
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<p>So I've flip-flopped the past few weeks and it's really getting close to May 1st now...
I have a kind of different situation here. Any advice?</p>

<p>I got into Michigan (Honors Program) and Penn. Cost is about the same for both schools. I've thought for a while that I'd be going to Penn, until now. The thing is, at Michigan I'd have to live at home....which I'm not keen on. I'd have little social life compared to living at a dorm at Penn. But as a premed, I feel it would be easier on me to maintain a good GPA. Basically, all I've heard about Penn premed is how hard it is. I'm not saying Michigan wouldn't be hard, but I haven't heard many complaints here. But I also feel like I'd be giving up a great opportunity to get away from home and grow up a bit.</p>

<p>Sorry I kinda rambled, but I have no clue right now.</p>

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<p>dude if all is equal… go to Penn… East Coast > Midwest…plus you dont want to live home…</p>

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<p>This is a very important point if you’re dead set on getting into the best med schools. I’m certainly no expert, but it would seem that Penn premed is harder than UM premed. This is fairly arbitrary, but, from my understanding, you have a better shot at med school if you have, say, a 3.6 from UM than a 3.4 from Penn.</p>

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<p>That’s exactly what I’m struggling over, but I don’t want that to be the biggest reason I go to mich
oh and location doesn’t really matter to me. I mean I liked Philly and I love Ann Arbor.</p>

<p>Any other opinions? I could really use them</p>

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<p>Michigan is better overall collegiate experience. Don’t listen to bearcats! Just out of curiosity, did you receive a large scholarship to U-Penn?</p>

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<p>Don’t listen to novi. He’s a Michigan/Midwest slappie… Living home first year of college sucks, and it’s always good to go outside of your comfort zone, live elsewhere and experience the difference.</p>

<p>HOWEVER, if you intend to keep as high of a gpa as possible for pre-med, it is easier to beat out your competition at Michigan than at Penn. There are quite a big proportion of dumb kids at Michigan (mostly instate to fill quota or diversity admits who got in because of their skin color over people who are more qualified(even though the university would not openly admit that))</p>

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<p>^^^He doesn’t have to live at home, Michigan does have dorms. I know people who lived in A2 their whole lives and still lived in a dorm while an undergrad at U-M. I wonder why you left the east coast bearcats? You ***** about the midwest every chance you get. Perhaps you should have stayed there and attended school from home!</p>

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<p>“The thing is, at Michigan I’d have to live at home”</p>

<p>Novi, DO YOU READ? OP CLEARLY stated that as a deciding factor…</p>

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<p>@rjkofnovi: I probably didn’t make it that clear, but my parents are forcing me to live at home if I stay here. And as far as the money goes, I got pretty good FA from Penn making it roughly (a few thousand higher) the same cost as UM</p>

<p>As far as the social issue goes - I don’t know how much of my gpa I want to/would sacrifice for a better social experience. I wouldn’t be a hermit, but I still don’t think I’d get out as often living at home.
I’m still not sure, but I’m kinda leaning toward Mich right now…</p>

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<p>“I probably didn’t make it that clear”
No dude, you made it perfectly clear that you’d have to stay home.</p>

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<p>scooter…some things to think about.</p>

<p>-You right it makes no sense to go to Penn, get juiced(as Bob dylan would say) and not get the grades, and end up having difficulty getting into med school.</p>

<p>-My gut would say Michigan would be a little easier, but I’m not sure and have no data.</p>

<p>-If your goal is really to get the grades, you parents will probably help. They’d notice if you came home drunk, were not studying, and might be nice to talk to when you’re stressed.</p>

<p>-I’d encourage you too look into the following:</p>

<p>–Class size for Pre-med courses at Michigan vs. Penn. Average Grades in these courses. Whether the tests are multiple choice. Will you have the resources to learn(ie TAs and Profs)
–How good is the University of Michigan at accepting thier own students? Some
Graduate Schools really value diversity in terms of where the students graduated from. In the “Ask the Dean Topic” there was even something about this. Read the link below:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ask-dean-topics/509647-do-top-grad-schools-admit-applicants-less-selective-colleges.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ask-dean-topics/509647-do-top-grad-schools-admit-applicants-less-selective-colleges.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;
The point is, as a Michigan Resident, you may have a better chance getting into the University of Michigan Med School from Penn than from the University of Michigan…just something to think about and do more research on.</p>

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<p>On the same topic as my previous post…an interesting article in the Michigan Daily talking about the the difficulty of Michigan Students getting into the University of Michigan Medical School…</p>

<p>[Courtney</a> Ratkowiak: An uneven admissions field | The Michigan Daily](<a href=“http://www.michigandaily.com/content/column-university-medical-school]Courtney”>Courtney Ratkowiak: An uneven admissions field)</p>

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<p>"“No dude, you made it perfectly clear that you’d have to stay home.”</p>

<p>What isn’t clear is if the OP is getting a scholarship to Penn. Assuming he is, is it enough to make Penn comparable to Michigan cost wise including room and board, or just tuition? Not sure why your folks would insist you live at home otherwise.</p>

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<p>from my personal opinion, i think that you’re better off going to Penn. part of growing up and going to college is being out of your comfort zone. if you stay at home, you won’t get to fully experience that. college is your first taste of the real world and i think that that experience isn’t something that you would just want to sacrifice. Penn is an amazing school and if you have the passion and ambition, you should still be able to maintain a high GPA and get into med school. i say, don’t take the easy way out and try something new; it’ll be a much more eye opening experience that you won’t get from staying at home.</p>

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<p>i would personally choose Penn over Michigan. I’ve been to Penn and they have a good social scene. not as good as Michigan’s but its still cool. and i wouldn’t want to stay at my parents’ house for college, that’s social suicide depending on how strict your parents are.
go to Penn</p>

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<p>"The University isn’t living up to that. Its in-state interview percentages are simply embarrassing … the University interviewed just 181 Michigan residents, compared to 620 non-residents, in 2008…</p>

<p>And the final admissions numbers follow the same pattern. Only about 46 percent of University students who matriculated in the Medical School in 2008 were actually from Michigan."</p>

<p>46% in-state is “embarrassing”? Had U-M Medicine admitted 74-85% in-state like MSU/WSU, it would probably ranked outside the top 50 instead of being 6th.</p>

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<p>@jack: very interesting links - thanks!
As far as I know, class sizes for premed, prof accessibility, etc. is pretty much the same; some people are negative about it, some positive. It’d be awesome to go to Mich med school from Penn, but a majority still come from UM undergrad right?
@rjkofnovi: Cost at Penn (incl. room, board, tuition, everything else) w/ FA is only a little higher than tuition at Mich. Parents don’t want to pay extra (no FA from UM) for “no reason”, since mich is right here…</p>

<p>So here’s where I’m at right now in my head. I see UM as a bit easier for me, though I feel like I’d underestimate it. And I’m not downtown or anything, so I can’t see how I’ll get out as often as I’d like.
At Penn I’d get out a lot, but I honestly don’t know how well I’d do. I want to work hard, but if I slack off a little, I don’t want that to be the end of my hopes for med school.</p>