<p>I used to be 100 percent against the medical field, but the more I think about it, the more I think it could be right for me. It's an exciting field that offers new things all the time and the chance to directly affect peoples' lives.</p>
<p>My question is this. If I do decide to pursue the medical field, would it be better to go to a decent public school for a complete free ride, and some more (7 or 8k over tuition room and board a year, going into the pocket... or more likely savings...) Or would it be better to go to a school with a little bit more of a name (ie Northwestern) but have debts <i>before</i> even starting medical school?</p>
<p>Sorry if this has been asked a billion times, but I really am new to this.</p>
<p>My vote is take the free undergrad education. Name of school really doesn't matter--at least that seems to be general consensus. Save your debts for medical school or another grad program.</p>
<p>while name might not be a huge factor, the quality of the premed advising and curriculum is, and bigger name schools tend to have more in that area than lesser-known ones. Do some research into the school that'd be giving you a free ride to asses their ability to prepare students for the MCAT, their med school placement rate, whether they screen their applications or not, etc. before you make your decisions. After all, given the massive amount of debt you'll incur once in med school, what's a bit more from undergrad?</p>
<p>I had the same questions as you. I ended up going to a state SUNY school, and graduated with no debt. I got into a good private medical school and now I have $140,000 in debt -- and believe me, I'm glad that I went to SUNY for undergrad.</p>
<p>I was on the admissions committee during my 4th year of med school, so I know that med schools do give you a "bonus" for attending a competitive college. Because my college (SUNY-Buffalo) wasn't anything special, I had to have a better GPA and more on my resume to get in. Students from top schools can have slightly lower grades. If your state school is a really great school (Michigan, Wisconsin, UC, UNC, Virginia, Illinois, etc.) then you will still look impressive.</p>
<p>Undergrad matters. There are med schools that specifically award you more "points" in their applicant calculations depending on the quality of the undergrad you went to. This doesn't mean that your sole decision should be the prestige of your undergrad institution but it should be within your consideration. Personally, an extra 7 or 8K is little to pay to go to a school that I really want to go to (if the school that you want to go to is the more prestigous one).</p>
<p>I agree with NCG...it should be something that is taken into the totallity of your decision. Picking any one factor over the others to the point of exclusion is not smart. If the school is the place with the best fit for you, (and for some people how much money they have to spend is a part of that "fit") then by all means go there even if you will incurr some debt. If you are considering between schools that you enjoy almost equally, then perhaps there is an advantage of going somewhere for free.</p>
<p>Well I'll throw the names into this equation, and let you guys get a little more specific.</p>
<p>Free school is UCF (either 4 years then go on to med school, or I could do 3 and automatically be accepted to USF's med school...)</p>
<p>Other schools in question are: Amherst, Northwestern (my two favorite at the moment), Brown, Dartmouth, Middlebury, and Colgate.</p>
<p>I'm predicting that we'll get between 25-30k a year in financial aid, and my parents said They'd put foward 10k on top of that... so that's between 5k and 10k a year in loans, meaning 20k-40k upon graduation.</p>
<p>Considering that I do want to go to a nicer med school than USF (nothing against it, I just want to get out of here at some point, even though I do plan on coming back to live here...) is a name like Amherst or Northwestern going to look a lot better than UCF?</p>
<p>Yes. Northwestern and Amherst will DEFINITELY look better than UCF, and will increase your chances. Of course you'll still have to get good grades no matter where you go. As far as going to med school straight from UCF, maybe you will want to go somewhere else? When I went to SUNY-Buffalo for college I assumed I'd just go to med school there, but I ended up not even applying when the time came around. Who knows how you'll feel in 3-4 yrs?</p>
<p>If you'll get that much financial aid and your parents will pay most of the rest, I'd say get the loans and go to the better school. $20,000 on top of med school loans is negligible. When I was deciding about college, my parents said they'd give me no support whatsoever unless I went to state school -- so I had no choice. It didn't end up mattering because ultimately I got where I wanted to go, but looking back I wish I'd had the opportunity to go to a better college than the one I went to. So, I'd say go for it.</p>
<p>Again, it sounds like you are only factoring in the name recognition. Are there other things about Amherst or NW that you like more than UCF? If so, I would go to them. If only for the name recognition, I'm not sure they're worth an extra $10,000 per year.</p>
<p>If you have the ability to get into a place like Amherst of Northwestern, then I think there is enough of a disparity between either of those and UCF to warrant incurring the debt. UCF is a very regional school and generally considered relatively weak. If the free ride were coming from a major Florida state school like FSU I'd be more inclined to suggest you take it.</p>
<p>That said, the opportunity to go straight into med school after three years is a very tempting one. However, if you do want to go to a 'nicer' (i assume this means more prestigious) med school than USF, I'd suggest you start playing the name recognition game now.</p>
<p>I've always loved Amherst. I love the idea of a LAC. I love the idea of being able to play DIII lacrosse. It's far away from home so I can get the whole "growing up experience". UCF is about 20 minutes away...</p>
<p>I'm not some prestige whore, like a lot of these CC Kids tend to be, but I do like the idea of attending a college with small class sizes and famous teachers.</p>
<p>I also like the idea of being able to major in something non-medicine... I'd love to major in philosophy or sociology... Amherst is spectacular in both of those.</p>
<p>And I love Northwestern for a bunch of different reasons... but hopefully you'll trust me that it's not the name I'm going after.</p>
<p>I'd suggest you check out Florida State...it's Sociology program (graduate) is rated at 42 in USNews while Amherst is 37. I'd further suggest that FSU would offer you an attractive package if UCF is offering a free ride.</p>
<p>This would enable a residential college experience, away from home, at a major university with a minumum of debt with excellent ratings in your interest area. Plus, FSU has medical school with an early entry Honors program.</p>
<p>Lastly, UCF just dropped to a Tier 4 in the latest USNews undergraduate rating. While it may be free, so to speak, just what are you getting for your money?</p>
<p>all my high school teachers and counselors have been saying that the educational quality of one undergrad school compared to another varies very little... they all say that you learn the same thing in your 4 years of undergrad studies basically no matter where you go... and a lot of my teachers have attended top universities (William and Mary, UVA, UNC-CH, some other top LACs that i cant remember the names of) one of my teachers even summarized the whole situation in terms of an academic stand point by saying "the only difference between Harvard and Radford is that the tests are much harder at Harvard, you'll learn the same stuff at both"</p>
<p>... i like to think that my teachers are right. and i'd hope that name recognition wouldn't be a huge part in med school admissions...</p>
<p>While in general I would agree with this principle, I would suggest there are levels of performance that do actually make a difference. For example, while a degree from one of the top 20 universities may make little difference overall and likewise an undergraduate degree from UF, FSU or UMiami may be essentially the same from a perception standpoint...if the UG is in one of the specialty areas of that school - particularly these Florida schools, it can well make a difference. For example, an Engineering degree from UF is worth more than one from FSU. Likewise, a meteorology degree from FSU is more valuable than one from UMiami.</p>
<p>Each university has speciality areas. I would offer that a cost-benefit analysis would reveal a decided benefit of FSU in Sociology compared to the same degree from UCF. A UMass-Amherst degree in Sociology would be of diminished value compared to the same degree from Florida State, if the UMass degree required greater cost. If cost were no object, however, the UMass degree may well be of better value. Of course, personal preference figures in and so forth.</p>
<p>You also need to understand that small changes in national ratings may not be significant (to the layman). Large differences, however, could well reveal a lot about the quality of the school.</p>