<p>I need some advice. I'll be applying for colleges in the following school year and I'm still undecided on the subject of which school to apply for. I was planning on applying to Cornell Early Decision and UW, among many other colleges as a safety, but I don't want corner myself into any type of binding contract without being entirely sure of myself. I've made up my mind, though, and I'm going to do premed.</p>
<p>I don't want to sound cocky and too sure of myself, but I'm pretty certain that I can get into UW. I have a full-ride scholarship to any college in the state of Washington so I don't really have to worry about paying for it. Cornell, on the other hand, not so much. I've heard fantastic things about their financial aid, but it looks like I would have to take out some loans to supplement the cost of tuition(?). I don't want to be incurring thousands of dollars in debt just yet--no I'll save that until medical school. =[</p>
<p>I just want out of this blasted state. Thanks, but I've seen enough of Washington! One of the benefits of going to Cornell is that I'd be thousands of miles away from my friends and family. Strangely, I find that notion very appealing! Besides, I've already fallen in love with Cornell.</p>
<p>The thing is, I want to go to UW's Medical School (yes, I know, it's a big dream) and an overwhelming number of people that are accepted are Washington residents. Would I still be a Washington state resident if I go to school in a different state? Would I still get the reduction in tuition fees? Should I stay and develop relationships with professors here?</p>
<p>Any thoughts? I know this a long post, but thanks for reading this.</p>
<p>Doing undergrad at the same school you plan to do med at will generally have absolutely no influence. I’d recommend going with the place you feel you could most accel at. A good GPA is pivotal to med school.</p>
I know, but I’d imagine it wouldn’t hurt to send in recs from professors there. Thanks to the both of you for the advice. Any thoughts on the financial issue?</p>
<p>there are plenty of FAFSA calculators online…</p>
<p>look at the cost of attending cornell and pull out your tax returns for this year…</p>
<p>ask your parents for help if needed…i feel like UW might be a better place to boost your GPA without the same level of competitiveness that you find at cornell (though only slightly less)</p>
<p>MakeLove (uh…): Do you think you’ll do better at Cornell or at UW? If you think you’ll do better at UW, then go there. If you think you’ll do better at Cornell, then go there. Despite common misconception, med schools do not care where you go for undergraduate (as long as the university you go is not crappy it’s fine.)</p>
<p>However, how certain are you in pursuing MD? If you’re not certain, I would go with Cornell.</p>
<p>I would go to UW.
Chances are, you would do better at UW, UW would be cheaper, and, quite frankly, your undergrad school is going to be irrelevant ten years from now when you’re looking for a job.</p>
<p>Actually, the common misconception is that med schools do not care where you went for undergrad. As someone who interviewed at 13 medical schools and have seen a lot of interview/class rosters, I can tell you that they do care. It won’t matter for a school like Washington Med but for many of the other top med schools (especially the top Northeast med schools), it is easier to get an acceptance or interview if you attend a top college. </p>
<p>Obviously, there are other factors like money and fit that you have to consider when choosing a college but I do not think you should choose a college with the intention of getting into any single med school. The acceptance rates are usually in the 2-5% range and the odds are just not good enough for that. I attended Cornell undergrad, had a 3.9+ GPA, 35+ MCAT, interviewed at 5 out of the top 10 med schools in the country, and I still was not even offered an interview to Weill-Cornell Medical College muchless an acceptance.</p>
I’ve heard that Weill’s relationship with Cornell undergrads is a bit cold in contrast to that of other top med schools with their respective undergrad colleges.</p>
<p>Uchicago premeds do pretty well (around a 80% acceptance rate to med school I think). Generally, acceptance rates tend to follow the quality of the student body. The only school where I’ve seen a discord b/w the quality of the entering freshmen and the med school acceptance rate is MIT. MIT’s acceptance rate to med school should be over 90% (like Harvard or Yale). Instead, it’s around 75% (which is Cornell levels).</p>
<p>People at UChicago, WashU, MIT, Cornell whine about how their schools are more difficult than other top schools (like Stanford or Harvard) but there is zero data that I’ve seen that actually supports any of those claims. The hard data on Cornell and MIT are available online. Outside of freshman year, nearly 40% of the grades given out at MIT are A’s. The median grades for Cornell is available online as well. The point of all of my posts is to find actual data instead of just parroting what the students complain about. The only difference b/w Cornell/UChicago/Hopkins students and Stanford/Yale/Harvard students is that the former is a group of whiners. Wait until they get to med school and find out med school is 4x tougher than the “grinding academics” they had in college.</p>
<p>UChicago’s business placement is undoubtedly, one of the country’s highest. Its law school placement is definitely improving. However, UChicago’s med school placement is still lagging behind. It is made more difficult due to the hard grading of its science curriculum, where median grades are often somewhere between C and C-.</p>
<p>UChicago never publishes concrete data regarding its med school placement, but it is generally perceived as a school who rarely sends students to top medical schools (but frequently sends students to medical schools in general).</p>
<p>The problem with the thread you posted is that it contains no data. The OP says that Chicago is not as successful at getting its students into med school as its peers. Not only does the poster not give any data on its peers (most of whom do not even post their med school acceptance data online), he doesn’t even give data for UChicago itself! Post the percentages and let us decide whether those are good. I’m not doubting what you’re saying but I like hard data.</p>
<p>Secondly, the OP was bemoaning the fact that UChicago med school applicants aren’t cut any breaks on their GPA. Why should med schools give them a break? I have just shown that:</p>
<p>a) UChicago is not grade deflated compared to its peers.
b) Most of the students at top med schools come from its peers (at my med school 70% of the students come from a Top 20 college; this doesn’t include schools like G-town or Berkeley that lie just outside the Top 20). In other words, if your entire applicant pool consists of students from Harvard, Cornell, Notre Dame, WashU, UChicago, etc. why should the UChicago kids be given a break on their GPA? You are not special just because you come from UChicago. 50-75% of the kids interviewed at top med schools come from Top 20 colleges. How do I know? I went on over 10 interviews. I’ve seen a lot of interview rosters. For my own med school, we are given interview rosters every week for the students interviewing so I know what schools the interviewees are coming from. The fact UChicago kids aren’t cut a break on their GPA doesn’t mean UChicago is a bad premed school. It just means it’s not harder than any other top school (those schools aren’t cut a break on their GPA either).</p>
<p>Duke and Princeton have also posted their med school data online (with average GPA of around 3.55 for accepted applicants). So, there should be no excuse for a UChicago kid not making it to med school because they are cut as big a break on their GPA (or even more!) as applicants from its peers. This all goes back to premeds blaming their failures on their school or supposed grade deflation (which doesn’t even exist). It’s time they take responsibility for their own ineptitude.</p>