<p>OP, you are not mediocre and you are not whiny. You are displaying a lot more maturity than many adults on this site do.</p>
<p>You have two excellent choices but based on how you describe yourself I think you would thrive in a LAC environment–and Cornell College is a fine one. </p>
<p>Take a look at the Occupational Outlook from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
<a href=“http://www.bls.gov/ooh/”>http://www.bls.gov/ooh/</a></p>
<p>You can peruse a number of jobs, see brief descriptions, education required and median pay (not starting salaries).</p>
<p>You don’t need to go into college knowing what you want to do. It is a great time to take advantage of many different opportunities and find your interests. :)</p>
<p>Does your high school arrange job shadows/job fairs or tours of different employers in the area? I know the school year is wrapping up, but you might still find some options.</p>
<p>Also, I know my sons (high school students) are tired of the seemingly incessant assignments by this time of they year. I would tend to think Cornell College might provide a needed alternative learning model for you. But, of course, you could surely flourish at GT too. </p>
<p>Make the best decision you can with all the available info at hand and then embrace where ever you decide to attend. </p>
<p>The big ugly truth is you will probably need to change careers multiple times in your life. You may even change your major even if you feel you are certain. I think kids often put too much credence in the idea of knowing what they want to do at a young age. I will come! </p>
<p>I would suggest going to the less expensive school until that no longer meets your needs. There is no rule saying you need to follow one path. I know many many kids who changed schools for many many reasons. Once you are clearer on your path, I think you educational choices will clear up as well. </p>
<p>You are wise to consider cost I think. Our lives are filled with financial trade offs and difficult decisions like this. Either way you will learn a great deal from this experience… Might as well make it a cheap lesson. </p>
<p>I don’t know - while I think it would be fine for OP to go to Cornell College, I’m concerned that some of what you’re going through is Impostor Syndrome (google it), and that isn’t something to base a life decision around. </p>
<p>The fact is, you got into multiple excellent schools, which suggests to me that you’ve been pretty successful following a reasonably strenuous curriculum. It is beyond common for people to worry that they aren’t good enough for the opportunity they’ve been handed - that everyone else is going to be smarter, harder working, and more focused than they are. But the truth is, the other people haven’t figured it all out either.</p>
<p>Your concern for your parents’ finances is laudable, but it sounds like they’re doing fairly well for themselves, and you admit you don’t know the full story. If they think they can swing Georgetown, I’d take them at their world.</p>
<p>My advice is to go to Georgetown. Get counselling - loads of college students do it, and your parents will never have to know. Take advantage of resources like peer tutors, writing center, etc even before you feel over your head. And even if you start out as a pre-med, if you, like many, many students find that you aren’t doing well in some of the intro courses (which does NOT mean that you haven’t been working hard, aren’t smart, or don’t belong at that school), feel free to switch into a different major. If you just aren’t hacking it as a pre-med, your parents really can’t object to changing into another major - indeed, continuing as a pre-med may not be an option, at that point.</p>
<p>Above all, do not allow your parents’ life goals for you to define your own. Even if your parents say that they’ll withdraw support if you major in something other than their chosen field, no one can make you become a doctor if you don’t want to do it. There are plenty of career or education paths you can adopt right out of college that will leave you independent of parental support. </p>
<p>Well do you think that if you chose one of the more competitive schools you could buckle down and do the work? Is so, then I would go ahead and give it your best shot. If the honest answer to that question is "no, then I would pick the less competitive school, especially since you are considering grad school.</p>
<p>This is really a matter of how hard you want to work in college. You are the best judge of that.</p>
<p>If you think there is a good chance that GT will be overwhelming, explain to your parents that scholarships are often available only to freshman (not transfer students). Perhaps that could sway them. </p>
<p>The one-course-at-a-time approach is great for some students. I’m not sure it’s good prep for med school juggling, but that may be more your parents’ dream than yours. </p>
<p>What I’m reading here is that you are expecting to fail, and when you do, you just want it to cost your parents less money. What is this? You are a top student, though it has obviously taken a huge toll on you to be so.</p>
<p>My question for you, is what do you consider failing? If you get less than all A’s, then you’re a failure? Any college, actually, (even Georgetown) can be fairly easy (especially since you are obviously smart and hard working), as long as you don’t overdo it, and don’t demand perfection. What if…you had a B+ average? How about a B average? With a C sprinkled in here and there. That would be normal. Do you think you would be a failure then, to be an average student?</p>
<p>What would happen if you stepped back from this and looked at it as if you were watching someone else. What would you say? Would you tell this person to forget the parental pressure, forget even thinking about med school (that you don’t want to do anyways). What school do you think you might actually enjoy, and have a great experience at? Maybe they aren’t just those two schools, what about Wake Forest, CMU, Emory, NYU, or William and Mary? Okay, I know CMU is really intense, so maybe you want to back away from that school. But I’ve heard Wake Forest and especially William and Mary are wonderful (don’t know about the rest). Why not consider each school individually, forget the money (as your parents claim not to care), where would you be able to explore your options, enjoy yourself…even if you have a B average.</p>
<p>As an adult, I can say that grades often have very little connection to in success in life. We put so much pressure on our kids, and actually it only helps for your first job! If you don’t want med school anyways, who cares? Maybe there is nothing wrong with you mentally, you are just reacting to too much stress and pressure like any normal person, and you need to go where you will feel relaxed and happy, and start enjoying your life without trying to please everyone else! College truly can be the time of your life, as long as you don’t kill yourself with work. There are so many other things than studying.</p>
<p>I have to agree. If this were a case where the cost of Georgetown would devastate your parents, I’d feel differently, but if they can afford it. Busdriver’s post above is great.</p>
<p>I think that you should give yourself permission to go to Georgetown. Your parents can afford it. They know their financial situation better than you do. </p>
<p>Although you are obviously NOT actually a poor student, you are very wise to recognize that your anxiety and your habit of procrastination and pulling all-nighters can indeed cause problems for you in college. (At ANY college, I might add.) I agree with those who suggest that you avail yourself of all of the counseling and help available at Georgetown right out of the gate. Don’t wait until it becomes a problem. It will be confidential. You deserve to feel good about yourself and to live a life not restricted by crippling anxiety and self-doubt. Take it from one who has been there, and who received active, humiliating opposition from parents instead of support when I tried to get some help freshman year.</p>
<p>You certainly do not need to be a doctor. On the other hand, you can major in anything you wish, and as long as you fulfill the pre-med requirements, you can go to med school if that does turn out to be your desire. I would suggest that you start by taking a variety of classes to explore your intellectual horizons, but make sure that they include whatever you need to keep the med school path open. Schools have advising around this issue, so they can tell you what you need to take freshman year to stay on track. It may be only two or three courses out of eight, I don’t know. Try to select courses with differing sorts of burdens: ie, not all courses with a staggering amount of reading and multiple papers, or all courses with labs, or all courses with truly challenging problem sets week after week. Mix it up and keep the sheer amount of work time within reasonable bounds.</p>
<p>Although Cornell College is a fine place, I think that you might well find the DC experience much more varied and invigorating over time. (BTW, someone above suggested Wake Forest. I’ve been reading lately that they are known for grade deflation, so I doubt that it would be an ideal place for you at this stage.)</p>
<p>Best of luck. And do look up imposter syndrome.</p>
<p>I’d say visit both Cornell College and Georgetown, and see how you like them both. For the right student, one course at a time is a wonderful way to learn. (I wish I’d had that as an undergraduate.) </p>
<p>Consolation is right that DC is varied and invigorating, for the right student. But some students won’t care about being in the DC area, and won’t take advantage of the many things DC has to offer. Some students prefer the smaller, more intimate environment of a small LAC. A student who has anxieties might better overcome them in the smaller environment that gives her more individual attention.</p>
<p>If you visited Cornell College, you might find that you felt you had found your home, or you might find that Iowa is not for you. It’s worthwhile doing the experiment.</p>
<p>why isn’t anyone recommending Emory? I like the campus, Atlanta, and it has med school, lots of other research labs (NS is strong).</p>
<p>And if you are looking for a smaller college, William and Mary would be a great choice.</p>
<p>I think no one has been talking about them because the OP seemed to have them off the table, for some reason. Both would be excellent choices. I was actually thinking that W&M might strike a nice balance for him.</p>
<p>Please check directly with Georgetown because I may be out of date.</p>
<p>Georgetown did have some sort of program which allows its students who maintain a certain GPA to go to Georgeown med without taking the MCAT. I knew of someone doing this about 5 years ago. Things may have changed. Anyway, he chose G-town to avoid the stress of having to do well on the MCAT. Just something I think you should check before making a decision. </p>