Hello,
My daughter will go to college this September. She wants to be a doctor since she was 4. And here are couple offers she got: Emory $15000/year merit scholarship, U Michigan without scholarship, U Rochester $15000/year merit scholarship+$3000 research grant, U Pitt Honors program with full scholarship, NYU Honors program without scholarship. Now it becomes really tough decision for her and us. So which one should she go for?
Thanks,
I would probably say Emory. When I think of premed I think Emory or Hopkins. The amount of research that will be offered by Emory is insane. Then again I have bias since I also was admitted to Emory and am still deciding where to go.
Full ride to Pitt? So like 50k cheaper than anything else? 200k is a lot. Unless your family is in the very top income bracket, Pitt seems like the obvious choice; it’s an excellent school and has a great pre-med program.
Unless money is not issue at all, I would suggest to go to U Pitt and save money for med school. Also, one may be able to get better GPA in a lower tier school that would help the med school application.
If money is no issue, I’d say Michigan or Emory. However, if money is an issue, then Pitt for sure. I know a lot of people who go to/went to Pitt (I’m from PA 
) and did very well there/after they graduated.
The amount of merit does not matter (other than as a resume builder), what is the net cost of attending the school?
How likely is she to change her mind? Is she very good at science and math so not likely to get weeded out?
Hands down, Pitt. Medical school is extremely pricey. Why not get an undergraduate education for free? Furthermore, Pitt itself has an excellent medical school and many research labs there.
She is a very smart kid but a little bit lay back(so most of time never saw her spent time on study – this makes me a little bit nervous if she plays a lot in a not so competitive college), and is very good at science and math, wants to be a doctor since she was 4 years old, don’t know why though – maybe wants to help others?
Your discussion of the amt of scholarship is irrelevant – like SeekingPam said, it’s the net cost that matters.
A $40K scholarship at a $60K school will still cost you $20K to attend. A $3K scholarship at a school that costs $22K means it costs you $19 to attend.
UMich and NYU are over a quarter of a million dollars – why are they even in the discussion? In your situation, Pitt wins by a far margin unless you’re already a multi-millionaire and retirement is not a concern to you and your spouse b/c you’ve already saved enough.
Your worry about her possibly slacking at a not so competitive college – so why do you think she’d slack less at more strident college? Both will test her mettle. If med school is her goal, she’ll have to bust her a$$ to keep up the GPA. Many snowflakes see their pre-med dreams melt away after 1-2 semesters. (Our cynical joke about Chem 150 was that it created more new Psychology majors than any other class on campus)
To me, being a bigger fish with lots of support to succeed (Honors college at Pitt) is better than being a minnow at a place like UMich or NYU where no one will hold her hand – sink or swim.