<p>Yep got until May 1st. Going to go visit and see where else I get in. Who knows, Miami might give me a really competitive scholarship or I might get into UMD Honors. But I know where my current favorite is!</p>
<p>There are Scholars and Honors programs at UMD, the latter being the tougher to get into. Honors is the cream of the crop, ivy-quality applicants. My understanding is that there are several score of these each year. UMD doesn’t offer much merit, but it is possible for some Honors students to pick up 2 to 12K, making UMD cheaper than Barrett. There are a few full tuition to full ride scholarships for the ultra-competitive. Plus there are departmental scholarships. Don’t know your stats, but you did say you were hoping for Honors.</p>
<p>Scholars is most likely then, but I doubt I would pick scholars over Barrett. I have pretty good stats but not Ivy quality, not top 25 quality to be honest. Nobody from my school gets into these kind of schools.</p>
<p>Major change!</p>
<p>Changed my major to Biochemistry. Will pursue a minor in business if possible.</p>
<p>Why is UMD impersonal? 37,000 students at UMD compared to 77,000 at ASU.</p>
<p>What’s the problem with the location in College Park?</p>
<p>Maryland is the best choice for GU or UMD med school prep.</p>
<p>I have a correction, too: UMD Honors students number close to 1000 each year.</p>
<p>ASU has Barrett which makes it more personal. I think that makes up for the large size. I would be living with people of my major, would have exclusive access to research and internships, would have special honors classes and advisors, etc. I just think honors at ASU is better than regular at UMD.</p>
<p>Actual UMD campus is nice but areas around it are sketchy. I doubt anybody will try something on me but the area concerns my parents. PG county is just unpleasant overall.</p>
<p>Why would UMD be better for Georgetown prep? I can see an advantage for UMD med. I’ll see what my stats are in college but aside from UMD, Miami, & GU, I’d be aiming for some schools like UW,
UCLA, UT, USC… Luckily cost wouldn’t be a factor if my undergrad is <$30k.</p>
<p>Don’t you think it would look strange to Georgetown or other schools that someone from Maryland went to ASU instead of Maryland? UVA for OOS, but ASU? They may think you got rejected at Maryland, or you just wanted to attend a hugh party school like ASU.</p>
<p>I expected a better reason than that. If I have solid ECs and a good GPA and MCAT score it’s not going to matter where I went to school.</p>
<p>Re #28: OP isn’t choosing ASU over UMD, he’s choosing Barrett over potentially UMD Scholars or UMD regular.
Since Barrett is considered the top public honors college in the country, no, it wouldn’t look strange to any med school that a student offered scholarships would choose to go there. It’d really help 
in fact. And the perks aren’t to be discounted. ASU knows its reputation and it pays attention to the Barrett students because, let’s face it, the others aren’t necessarily what the faculty would hope for.
In addition, it’s an opportunity to discover another part of the country.
Compare financial offers but yes, Barrett is much better than UMD regular.</p>
<p>Also, graduate and professional schools are not concerned as much about the worst students at your undergraduate school as they are concerned about the best students (the ones applying to graduate and professional schools). PhD programs are generally thought to be more sensitive to undergraduate school ranking/prestige/reputation (but in major, not so much overall) than medical (or law) schools, but top ASU graduates do go on to top PhD programs in their majors.</p>
<p>Got the expected $13,000 per year! Will likely visit in February and make the decision. Also, last 2 years I would get ~$14,000 off since dad works at GTown. Total cost over 4 years is roughly $60k.</p>
<p>Edit: would be $14,000 off total.</p>
<p>Congratulations!
I’m sure Arizona will seem nice in February when coming from the East Coast…</p>
<p>Definitely will! It’s 70 over there and we have 6 inches of snow on the ground. Definitely one of the positives… Dad is still obsessed with me going to Georgetown - I don’t think I even want to go there at this point.</p>
<p>* I can always go to Georgetown or Miami for medical school if I have good enough stats.*</p>
<p>Do NOT (I repeat), do NOT, get your heart set on any particular med school…particularly a school like G’town’s SOM. </p>
<p>Getting “good enough” stats is often not enough. G’town gets about 12,000 apps and only matriculates less than 200 med students. That means that they probably only interview about 500 students out of those 12,000 apps…and then final down-selection happens. That means that they’re only interviewing about 4% of their applicants…and accept about half that they interview. So, plenty of kids with “good enough” stats never even get an interview. </p>
<p>Going to ANY US MD schools is fabulous. This country doesn’t have any “so-so” MD schools. They’re all excellent and anyone is lucky to be accepted to any of them. </p>
<p>As Pizzagirl has said it several times: </p>
<p>*Med school is exactly the same for every future doctor – the future dermatologists, psychiatrists, and brain surgeons do exactly the same thing as the future family medicine docs. You learn a specialty in residency, which is after med school. </p>
<p>If your goal is to become an everyday family medicine doctor, there is little difference in going to an elite med school or not. You’ll make the same amount of money (Blue Cross Blue Shield doesn’t pay you extra if you went to Harvard Med) and your day to day life and activities will be the same. Medicine is a “flat” field; not a huge amount of prestige differentiation. In that regard it’s unlike law or business.*</p>
<p>she’s right.</p>
<p>get ready for the freezing rain tonight, tbb, and then there’s the sunny and high of 19 on Tuesday! </p>
<p>Q: what’s not to like about MD weather this year, tbb?
A: It’s not Green Bay or North Dakota weather!</p>
<p>And I hear you about College Park: is there a longer strip of ugly town outside of Nevada or Texas?</p>
<p>I like UMD’s campus and academics, but I can see a lot of people falling for ASU and that weather, esp if you’re a body builder.</p>
<p>Ah, I won’t. I’ll classify those as “dream” schools. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for pre-meds to apply to 30+ schools and get accepted to like 2. I do know that all are good and you will definitely learn how to be a doctor at any US med school. I can be picky when I get accepted to multiple schools.</p>
<p>A question - does school rank have an effect on matching to a competitive residency? I’m most interested in some of the surgery residencies.</p>
<p>“Aspiring” bodybuilder. 
still 30lbs to go if I want to compete at the amature level. You can bet I’ll be using the Barrett gym daily…hopefully the dining hall has an unlimited option…</p>
<p>I’ll enjoy the 20 degree weather by the fireplace as I watch the Packers game. Supposed to be below 0. Nobody in MD should complain, but we still will.</p>
<p>Downside: you won’t get snowdays :p</p>