Premed: Pitt Honors or CWRU?

College Search & Selection
1

Hi all, recently I have gotten all of my college decisions back. I applied to some top schools, including some Ivies, but I was rejected from most of them. Currently, my choices stand:

WL at Vanderbilt (love the campus/environment/student body when I visited, but not banking on getting in; was top choice)
Pitt Honors with Chancellor’s Nominee Scholarship ($10,000/yr) and UPMC employee benefits ($3,000/yr)
Case Western Reserve University with $22,000/yr scholarship

I’m leaning towards Pitt, but are there any points to CWRU I should consider that I may not be aware about? I plan to major in Molecular Biology and hope to end up applying to MD/PhD programs.

Pros of Pitt:
Live an hour away from home
Previously lived at Pitt for summer programs, loved it
Invited back for research and internships at UPMC and medical school
5th in NIH funding for biomedical research
Really like campus, city, honors college offerings
Would graduate debt free

Cons of Pitt:
Too close to home?
May not have as much of an academic environment that I would like to have

Pros of CWRU:
2.5 hours away from home
Better rank overall
Cleveland Clinic
New environment = “adventure”
Very academic-focused

Cons of CWRU:
$23,000/yr more expensive than Pitt - would have debt
Have heard good/bad things about the city
Haven’t had the chance to visit yet

Again, I’m not too familiar with Case Western, so would anyone have any input on additional considerations for it? I’m almost ready to submit my deposit to Pitt but want to be sure. Thank you all so much!

2

Pitt. Grade curve reputed to be steeper at CWRU. Pitt is a great premed school. Also money saved will reduce med school debt. Difficult for even MDs to come up with over a $100K these days to pay off college.

3

I can only speak to the perceived environments as we visited both schools. They are both located in attractive urban areas with easy access to the downtown core. Perceived more school spirit at Pitt but liked students at both on visit days. As Pitt is a larger school there will be larger array of students (some less academically focused) - depends on what you need to thrive. We have taken Pitt off the list and Case is still on - but in our situation, Case is the lower cost option - also, S is not in pre-med.