I won’t receive any need-based aid anywhere I am applying for undergrad (we’ve run the NPCs). However, I am fortunate enough to have the option to graduate from undergrad debt-free no matter where I go. My parents have given me a lump-sum of money which I can spend on either undergrad or grad school. I am planning on attending medical school after undergrad. Would it be wise for me to attend a T20 for undergrad, then take loans out for med school? The other option would be to attend one of my safety schools for virtually nothing, then use the lump-sum I was gifted on med school.
Go with the less expensive option whatever that might be if you are certain about med school. Also, for what it is worth, no one is assured of a top 20 acceptance so it could be a moot point. Regardless, if you are an outstanding student you may want to apply widely (to schools of variable selectivity - including the most selective) just in case you change your mind about medical school.
IMHO if you plan to go to grad school, save your money for that. You have essentially also been gifted the cost of attendance by your safety for undergrad and why not make the most of that opportunity? Congratulations!
It depends upon several factors including your undergraduate major & the particular undergraduate school involved as many pre-meds change their minds and never attend or apply to medical school.
Assuming that medical school is in your future, then I agree that earning a low cost or no-cost undergraduate degree is wise.
Thanks for all the replies. I just wanted to clarify a few things. First, I have a well rounded list filled with multiple safeties, targets, and reaches (all of which I would love to attend). Second, I didn’t mean to imply a guaranteed acceptance to a T20. I really meant whether or not I should ED to a T20, given that it may help my admissions chances and I would most likely be paying full tuition.
Knowing the schools that you are considering might allow more knowledgeable comments.
However, I agree with the other answers that you should try to save some and preferably quite a bit of college $$ in the bank or 529 fund for medical school (or for graduate school if you change your mind on direction – which is very common).
One issue to consider is that if you attend any top 100 (or even 200) university for undergrad and take premed classes you are going to find your classes full of very strong students. You most likely will be plenty challenged at a relatively affordable in-state public university. As an example one daughter referred to premed organic chemistry at “the most difficult B- I have ever seen in my life”. There are a lot of universities with very good and very challenging premed programs.
I also agree that attending a “top 20” university is not needed to get accepted to a very good medical school. Getting high grades, doing well on your MCAT, and getting some medical experience is important.
From my own personal experience, about half of my premed classmates were under-qualified and naive. These people are the reason for such low med school acceptance rates.
In your situation, I wouldn’t apply ED unless there were a single school with something so compelling to offer that full pay really makes sense to you. I personally doubt that a sufficiently compelling argument exists.
As I’m sure you know, it isn’t a binary choice between a full-pay super-reach and a virtually-free safety. There are many excellent schools in between, where you would likely get merit and spend some of your education nest egg, but not all of it.
Apply EA wherever you can, but don’t foreclose your options with an ED application. (The advantage exists, but isn’t as big as it looks at most schools, once you control for the higher number of recruited athletes and legacies in the ED pool.) Once you see what choices you have, and at what price points, then you can figure out what falls above and below the “worth it” curve.
In the long run, there’s nothing about attending a “T20” that will put you at an advantage for med school. But there are schools that provide more supportive premed environments than others. I’ve heard stories, for example, of schools where it’s normal for premeds to retake “weeder” classes for a higher grade, thus driving up the curve for the first-timers and perpetuating the cycle. I’d opt out of that kind of atmosphere if I could! Of course, it’s also not the goal to go someplace as “easy” as possible, because you want rigorous preparation for the MCAT and for med school. Rigorous+supportive+affordable is the ideal!
If you feel like, “I want to go to med school, but if I change my mind, I’d like to get scooped up by high-end financial-industry recruiters” then there are T20’s that would give you a leg up at that backup plan, for sure. Other than that, though, it’s all about whether the super-elite experience is worth having to shoulder six figures of debt for med school. Given the similarly-amazing experiences that can be had at a discount, it’s a hard case to make. Choose your targets and safeties well, and you will have great options!
My D had a somewhat similar situation. Her decision was to attend her instate option (which has free tuition for residents) if she did not receive a full ride or full tuition merit scholarship at a more selective school. Either way her education trust would be preserved for medical/grad school. She was awarded merit at a T10 LAC, but she would have stayed in state had that not worked out. The healthcare industry is changing so our opinion is that debt should be minimized if at all possible. Stressing that this was the best decision for our family; everyone’s situation is different. Good for you for considering the implications and asking the questions.
My answer is somewhat different. Med schools are very, very difficult to get into these days. Results will depend heavily upon your undergraduate GPA and MCAT scores, as well as the quality of your undergrad program and the type of research you do in college. In that regard, your choice of school does make a difference. Most of the schools on your reach list can prep you very well for that. I would also add Emory there.
If you already know those schools reasonably well, they I would strongly suggest that you go with ED. Among your reach schools, Columbia, Northwestern and Vanderbilt accept an unusually high number (I believe north of 40%) of their freshmen class from the ED round, so it’s clear that they value early commitment. Penn, in contrast, admits less than 20% of the freshman class from the ED applicants. Definitely something to think about.
You are very fortunate to not have to worry about tuition for many years, so you should tailor your undergraduate experience to your personal preferences, instead of relying solely on monetary concerns. My guess is that your goals (academic/professional or both) will likely change as you enter college, so you can make adjustments as you go. Among the top schools you listed, Columbia will be the most rigid, while Northwestern and Vanderbilt both allow a great deal of flexibility.
When I was your age, I got accepted to most schools that I applied to. Two of them offered me full rides, and I did consider them for a long time. However, my (not wealthy but super wise) father told me that he would support me with my top choice college, because he knew it could bring me many resources that other schools could not. I took his advice and attended my top choice, putting my parents in debt for 6 years. I was very, very aware of the situation, but I also knew that I would have a decent-paying job out of grad school. I interviewed reasonably well, I worked extra hard, and was able to pay them back soon after I got out of grad school. I then went on to have a highly rewarding career (20 years now and still going). In retrospect, the return on their investment has been enormous. To this day, I still pay them an “annual dividend” every Christmas. They do not really need it, but they love it!
There are wonderful schools that will have plenty of resources that won’t force you into debt. Lesser ranked schools don’t automatically mean fewer resources or research opportunities.
I think Pitt would be a safety for you, but don’t assume you will get into honors. They changed honors admissions a couple years ago from stats based to something more holistic and it’s been a bit of a head scratcher in the Pitt forums of why some get in and some don’t. That said, being in honors doesn’t add that much and isn’t necessary.
I agree. The reason I didn’t include Pitt in my safeties is because I know the selectiveness of the honors program. Being in honors definitely isn’t a deal-breaker for me (Pitt is one of my top choices because it is one of the few universities with a highly-ranked med school that wouldn’t cost 80k/year for undergrad).
U Pitt honors is a good title to put on a medical school application. It’s a real tangible accomplishment. Your best shot at medical school is in your own home state, because those schools generally give preference to residents and graduates of state schools. Having top grades in a state honors program would look very good for a Pennsylvania medical school.
You have very good stats and I suspect you will get into a fair number of places you have listed, esp matches and safeties, of course. I’d add U Rochester unless you are opposed to it for some reason. Students who like Case Western and Pitt often like it too and you might get merit aid along with being at a top notch school.
I’d apply EA or RD and see what financial offers are with merit aid from some of those schools. Then I’d make the decision where to go. Many get into med schools from your matches and safeties if those end up being favorable at decision time. They’re good schools. Money saved for med school will be money appreciated when you graduate med school, and if you change your mind, then you have a nice nest egg to get started on Plan B.