<p>D get into Harvard, Yale and Princeton. She also is accepted as University Medical scholar at Washington University at St. Louis. Wash U give her half-tuition scholarship, while we don't qualify for any financial aid at HYP. She want to be a doctor in the future. Any advice? Thanks.</p>
<p>First of all, congratulations! It’s an awesome accomplishment for your daughter.</p>
<p>There are some knowledgeable parents here that have guided their children to medical schools successfully. Hopefully some of them will chime in. I am in the process of doing it myself. </p>
<p>Normally, unlike most people these days, I look at early acceptance and accelerated medical programs more favorably. But, WUSTL is a different beast, because of their stingy matriculation requirements (3.8+ GPA and 38+ MCAT, if I am not mistaken). If anybody can meet those requirements, your daughter should be able to. Having said that, the opportunities for pre-meds at HYP are hard to match. One cautionary note about Princeton is that their grade inflation control policies (no more that 35% A grades in any class) may be detrimental to pre-meds.</p>
<p>My friends daughter graduated out of Yale in Public Health and is currently doing her masters in Public Health at London School of Public Health. She scored a 39 on MCAT and will be applying to med-schools this cycle.</p>
<p>I can’t see how your daughter can go wrong irrespective of what she chooses.</p>
<p>Those are some mighty big names! Congratulations!</p>
<p>I believe the requirements are 3.8 and 36 which would probably get her into any other med school. I understand premed track is a bit hard at WashU to keep that GPA but I am sure someone who got into all those schools can manage it. </p>
<p>I have seen a lot of kids make their own choices based on whether they believe they want to work hard enough to get into another medical school when they give up programs like NU HPME or WashU combined. It does take a lot of effort to apply and interview after third year which is eliminated here. However, I suggest if one goes to Harvard/Yale/Princeton and gets 3.8/36, they can write their own ticket too.</p>
<p>In the end it will come down to whether you want to spend the money and whether your daughter feels she will be happier at one of the other schools. If you can afford it, I suggest you let her choose. If you can’t, the choice is simple.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1122176-bluedevilmikes-ten-step-guide-picking-premed-school.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1122176-bluedevilmikes-ten-step-guide-picking-premed-school.html</a></p>
<p>If you’re very affluent then let her go where she wants. She has what it takes to get into any med school.</p>
<p>But, if getting the half tuition award from WashU means that you can help more with med school costs, then that seems like a no-brainer for me.</p>
<p>Thanks for everybody’s input. With house income right on the line of $200k (before tax). $60k cost for Ivies is very significant for us. </p>
<p>Also, we are current live in St Louis, so go Wash U means that D miss the opportunity to explore the outside of world. </p>
<p>But I heard tons of stories about Harvard grad can’t get in top tier medical schools. </p>
<p>There are some posts from admitted university medical scholars in CC. They all stated that the program is not that hard, Wash U will work with you to even you can keep up their 3.8 GPA and 36 MCAT criteria.</p>
<p>At this point, we probably not going to consider Princeton due to their GPA issue. But D think she will be regret if she miss undergraduate experience at Harvard or Yale.</p>
<p>I would press WUSTL about their matriculation rate. I just did a quick check on the MSAR data for WUSTL for 1012. In 2012 a grand total of ZERO matriculated into their early assurance program. If that is the case, it is really alarming.</p>
<p>I Don’t know about Yale. A few years ago, the average GPA of the graduating class of Harvard was >3.5. In general Ivies (except Princeton and Cornell) are generous with their grading. An aptly named site called gradeinflation.com tracks the GPAs of quite a few schools over a period of time.</p>
<p>And yes, you can be at any school and go without an admission into medical school. As I pointed out in another thread, AAMC data shows that every year about 8-9% of applicants with 3.8+ GPA and 38+ MCAT go without admission into even one allopathic school. I always wondered what could be wrong with those applications or applicants!</p>
<p>^ Sometimes they are not in time or are aiming for top schools. If they apply early enough and play the same game people do for undergrad in terms of reach, match, safety, it is very rare not to get into at least school with those lofty numbers.</p>
<p>Most of them join next year.</p>
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<p>I find this difficult to understand. Why does attending H make it difficult? How is H different from Y & P? What are the sources of these stories?</p>
<p>*But I heard tons of stories about Harvard grad can’t get in top tier medical schools. *</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you mean by the above, but attending a top ivy isn’t an assurance into top med schools…no matter if its H, Y, or P. There are students on SDN from those schools that don’t have top tier acceptances…and some don’t have any acceptances. But, that’s not H Y P’s faults. The students’ apps may have had problems, the students may have only applied to top tier, or there just aren’t enough seats at the top tier SOMs.</p>
<p>From my D’s experience (third year Med. Student who never was aspired to go to ANY Ivy’s or Elite for UG and who ended up with very good choices of Med. Schools and ended up surrounded with lots and lots of Ivy and Elite schools graduates in her Medical schools class), I can tell that the most important part of UG experience is the best match between student personality and wide range of current and potential future interests and the UG school. D. still acknowledges that she probably went to the best UG for her. She graduated from public state and never felt ANY inferior to others in her Medical schools class. In additions to many graduates from Ivy’s and other Elite schools, her Med. School class includes PhD from Harvard, several Masters in Scinece (including from JHU), several lawyers. She was told several times during one on one review sessions that she is doing very well.
So, please, make sure to pay attention to your D’s personal preferences the most. My D. has spent lots of time choosing her UG. It included several visits, lots of talking to current students, overnights and even spending time with potential sport team, although she was not even sure about being in sport at college (she ended up droping an idea later). But I would like to stress importance of the personal perception, the feel of campus and current student body over ANY pre-med opportunities. Pre-med opportunities are absolutely anywhere, including low ranked, off the charts public state and even schools that do not have a Medical School (like my D’s school). D. ended up with so much EC’s that certain things she simply could not include in her Medical School application because her application would simply be too long. She had to have all ECs at her college since there were practically no summer opportunities in our home town.
Just keep in mind that the most important are college GPA, MCAT score, EC’s, developing as a person. Name of the UG does not play as much role as it seems while in HS.</p>
<p>Sorry to drag the thread further away from the question of the OP… I just wanted to make one comment on pre-med opportunities. Rutgers is one of our state schools. It is a fine research institution in its own right. Is it comparable to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, UPenn, Duke or JHU? Not even close. There are thousands of pre-meds at Rutgers all competing for the slim pickings in terms of undergraduate research opportunities. At the elite research universities, there are simply fewer pre-meds going after a lot more undergraduate research opportunities. And there in lies the difference. It is not to say that highly motivated kids don’t do well at Rutgers - they do.</p>
<p>^Absolutely not the case at ANY state public in our state - Ohio. As I said even univerisities that do not have Med. School, have plenty of opportunities, including some of the biggest colleges in the nation. D. could not get anything outside of her college. All it took is an email to person in change to get her internship at Med. Research lab at her college (state public). Research lasted 3 years (included D’s own written proposal for Research Grants and the presentation at the end). Was one of the greatest UG experiences in the area of D’s personal interest and a great LOR from the person in charge. More so, D. and some of her friends at the Lab were nominated by the person in change for Phi Betta Kappa. I am very confident that it played an important role in D’s acceptance to several Med. Schools.
Rutgers must be an exception. I am sure there are others like that. It could be researched. Another point to consider is that many pursue Research opportunities in a summer outside of their UG. D. has applied but was rejected despite of college GAP of 4.0 and great LORs. The summer research programs are definitely very hard to get in.</p>