Hello,
Got selected to Mizzou PAWs program and SLU PreMed scholars program.
Mizzou- tuition free for all 4 yrs and first year boarding free. Remaining 3 yrs will be out of pocket.
SLU- need to pay $10,000 /yr for tuition and can go from home.
Want to become a Pediatrician and with getting into Medical school becoming so tough, I am not able to chose.
Please help me with the decision.
You have to eat whether you are in St. L or in CoMo, so that’s a wash. How much will lodging for three years in Columbia be? Once you figure in lodging, they’ll be pretty close. Next, you really want to know what each schools medical school placement rates are. Each school will be able to supply you with that information. Last, the experience will be very different going from home versus leaving home and attending Mizzou. As a Tiger myself, who then went to optometry school, I can attest, for better and for worse, there will be many more distractions at Mizzou. In the end, I’d choose the program with the highest placement into medical school. Good luck!
Thank you so much, for your reply.
With scholarships, @Mizzou it will be around $15,000 for 4 yrs. Financially the difference will be $40,000.
@SLU they said that the acceptance rate is 60%, but I heard it is not true. Acceptance rate is 30% or below for med scholars. For Mizzou, I heard that finding spot for shadowing, volunteer, research is very competitive. People are saying to go to a small college and be on top rather than going to Mizzou. I want to make sure that I do a right choice.
Let me make sure I understand. You’re saying at SLU the acceptance rate into medical school is 30% and it would cost $40,000 more than Mizzou? If that’s the case, it wouldn’t seem that the extra money is buying you anything.
Acceptance rate statistics can be misleading though. For some schools it’s the percentage of those who start in the major. For others, it’s the percentage of those who apply to medical school. The latter leaves out those who dropped out or changed career intent. You’ll want to know in order to compare apples to apples.
If you choose Mizzou, their pre-professional advisers are good. You will have to make your own way though. Classes will be bigger and you’ll have more TAs in labs and recitation sections. Taking advantage of office hours and having good study habits will be paramount.
Pediatrics isn’t a high paying specialty and medical school generally only offers loans and no other aid. Keeping costs at bay will be important.
Thank you for making it clear.