I think despite the risk of sounding pretentious, I’m going to agree with donnaleighg partially. Hopkins is a more “elite” institution hands down, and that looks good to med schools and in general. I would make the financial sacrifice now and send her to (in my opinion) one of the best pre-med schools out there. GT may have great science programs, but Hopkins specializes in and is known for medicine. One of my friend’s sons is a freshman at hopkins and he loves it! Besides the vigorous academics, he’s involved in lots of activities on campus. Also, my nephew recently got his undergrad in biology with a premed track at Carnegie Mellon, and I remember my sister always telling me that he wished he could study abroad, but he couldn’t figure out how to make it fit into his schedule with the challenging pre med workload. That being said, I’m not sure your D would even get to enjoy the $12,000 for abroad because of her pre med track. If your D wanted to go into another STEM field I would say go to GT, but medicine is where Hopkins has GT beat. I think many people automatically suggest picking the full ride when there is one available, but I really do believe you have to make the best choice WITH your child, not for them, without focusing on simply the money.
Georgia Tech.
Good heavens! Take the Stamps!! Fabulous opportunities!!
@qwerty234 she would likely have to get a grad degree to earn the same amount that an undergrad from JHU will get …
It’s actually the other way around…
GT avg starting salary 68k
JHU avg starting salary 63k
A masters is worth a 5k bump.
this is a no-brainer: GT.
Sure it is, but it is also brutally competitive. due to its reputation nearly 1/3 of entering undergrads at the Hop are premed. Only the strong survive since no where near that number get thru the gauntlet to actually apply to med school.
Sorry, but that makes almost no sense. “Medicine” is not an undergrad major. Heck, a student could major in the Classics and apply to med school; just gotta take the prerequisites. (Hopkins has a great Classics program, btw.)
As a Stamps recipient, OP will get first dibs on everything that GT has to offer.
A student can go to the tippy top school for “premed” and still NOT get accepted to medical school.
In this case, the family could be $250,000 poorer too.
The Stamps at GT is a fabulous opportunity.
OP, GT will be able to tell you what every Stamps Scholar has done post grad. Ask to see it if you need reassurance. Amazing opportunities and they go on to do fabulous things after undergrad, including top med schools. This is a no-brainer for those in the know.
@supermom2 I can add to this discussion because my DD is a 4th year at Georgia Tech, two of her 4 roommates for the past two years are Stamps Scholars and one out of the two is going to med school, my DD is in Grand Challenges with 10 Stamps Scholars and I work as a college admissions facilitator and have had students at JHU.
The Stamps Scholarship Program is a very, very special program nationally especially since Roscoe Stamps is a graduate of Georgia Tech. Not only is it a scholarship program, but it has many national implications including attending the national Stamps Scholar Conference. Many congratulations to you and your DD because her receiving the scholarship means that she is the top .001(may be wrong on my numbers) of the entering freshman class at GT especially because the biggest part of the decision-making process is the activities your DD engaged in during high school, but also how she interviewed during the scholarship weekend. I have many student become semi-finalists, but it is really tough to become a finalist. Having this award and distinction on her resume will really set her apart from other medical school applicants because it is such a high honor. Nationally colleges know what it means to be a Stamps.
Chafee who runs the program at GT makes sure his students accomplish all that they want to. I am close to my DD’s roommates (I just returned from my annual spring semester visit) and I am just in awe of what her Stamps roommates get to do. The travel, conferences, special dinners, opportunities etc. is just amazing. Look up Nick Selby’s speech and any of his videos from a few years ago, he was a Stamps Scholar and is currently at MIT for graduate school. Calvin Runnels just was named a Rhodes Scholar.
Someone mentioned that they thought your DD wouldn’t be able to take advantage of study-abroad because of the pre-med track. That has not been the case for my DD’s roommate or any of her friends who are going to med school. Plus Stamps Scholars have extra trips they can go on during certain times of the year. I am always hearing about my DD’s roommates doing cool side trips. I know for a fact that my DD’s Stamp/Med School roommate did study abroad and is graduating in 4 years on the pre-med track. One of my DD’s sorority sisters had 18 medical school interviews, got into 5 (it may be more since I hadn’t talk to her mom since the ivies came out) including getting two full tuition scholarships to med school. This sorority sister went 3 study abroad trips during her time at GT and is graduating in 4 years this May.
I asked my DD about her Stamps roommate’s research and she said she did it at the CDC. You have to remember that the CDC in Atlanta also provides opportunities for research for GT students. Plus the Emory hospital is closer to GT than to Emory in terms of distance. Any of my DD’s friends/roommates who have wanted to do research have been able to at GT including her sorority sister I mentioned in the previous paragraph.
Just to give you an idea about some research done for the medical field, I suggest you look at the Petit Scholars program where I know some Stamps scholars are also a part of. http://petitinstitute.gatech.edu/petit-scholar/archive One of my favorite Stamps Scholar who does research is Maria Diaz Ortiz. You can read more about her here. http://www.ramblinwreck.com/genrel/091614aab.html I love the fact that Maria was also a cheerleader at GT while doing some great scientific research. Maria who was in my DD’s sorority is currently in med school at Harvard. This is a side point, but one thing that GT has for it over JHU is that it will give your DD more of a complete college experience in terms of school spirit, (with all the sports, stadium on Sunday) and the Greek system. She may want to do it or not, but either way that is an option for her if she wants to participate in it.
My DD has done two research projects, she has had friends get article credit for their research and have been paid to present at international conferences and all of my DD’s premed friends have done as much research as they want.
Two final points, one of my DD’s friends who was pre-med transfered out of JHU because she found the pre-med students very cut-throat and not supportive. I am not saying this is of all JHU students, but just wanted to share this friend’s experience. My DD and her friends have always commented on how collaborative the GT students are and how supportive the faculty and staff has been. GT is not an “easy” school, the students have to work hard, but the school has an interest in giving the student who is willing to work hard to be successful. A GT degree is very valued out in the STEM community. My DD is graduating with the highest honors this year and she did not have a GPA over 4.0 or SAT score over 2000 when she graduated high school back in 2014. Hearing her talk about engineering blows me away because she really knows her stuff.
I think the ability to have undergraduate expenses covered is really a great security blanket especially with med school on the horizon because you just never know what life will throw at you. One month before my DD graduated high school, the water supply line in our home burst while we were attending our son’s out of town college graduation. The damage was $550K and although we had a ton of insurance, the company refused to cover everything. I was accidentally significantly injured by our contractor during the rebuilding which meant I had to take off 6 months from work and then my husband suffered a massive pulmonary embolism last year landing him in the hospital. We had to use our DD’s saved tuition for all of these very, very unexpected expenses. I am so thankful my DD did not go to a full-pay private college because we would not have been able to pay for it the last 4 years despite at this same stage that you are at now thinking we had everything covered. You just never know what life will throw at you so with Stamps you don’t have to have any of those worries.
At GT, you DD will get a great education with all the research she wants and she will build a resume that makes her a competitive med school applicant. I recommend you visit GT and talk to as many people as you can about research, med school and any other relevant issues for you and your DD.
Wonderful post, itsv, but had to address the above point. While Emory undoubtedly practices at multiple hospitals, and may use a couple downtown, the main med school and health center is right on the Emory campus (and right down the street from CDC and the Children’s Hospital). That’s one of the complaints of some Emory Freshmen, who get stuck in a dorm that is not far from the ambulance entrance, so they can hear sirens all night.
@bluebayou is correct The Emory hospital that @itsv is referring to is likely Emory Midtown Hospital, which used to be Crawford Long hospital. (Fun fact: Crawford Long discovered Ether.) On the Emory campus proper are Emory Hospital, Emory Rehab Hospital and what was called Egleston Childrens hospital (Egleston and Scottish Rite, which is on the north side of town, are now part of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta) and on the edge of Emory campus is Wesley Woods Geriatric Hospital. There are many other hospitals in/around town that have been bought up by/affiliated with the Emory Hospital System.
@bluebayou and @jym626 I stand corrected. Every time I visit Tech, I pass that hospital and just assumed it was “the” Emory hospital. Plus I have bad feelings toward it. Back when my DD was a 2nd year she texted me that she was going to urgent care at that hospital. Somehow she got misdirected and instead ended up at the emergency room there. It became know as the “$1300 cough place” in our family if you get my drift.
It doesn’t look like Emory Midtown has an urgent care - just an ER. https://www.emoryhealthcare.org/locations/hospitals/emory-university-hospital-midtown/emergency.html
Even if the cost was the same I’d be inclined to take GT+Stamps, because Stamps is a really serious resume item that comes with a ton of benefits.
Northside Hospital and Emory Midtown are both near Georgia Tech. Stamps Health Services right there by GT also.
The CDC is a bonus if public health is an interest.
Northside Hospital is not near the Tech Campus. But, its easy to get to on MARTA. Piedmont hospital is closer to Tech than Northside, but no matter. A Stamps scholar will have lots and lots of open doors.
@jym626 There is a Northside cancer center less than half a mile from GT, I mistook it for the main.
Emory Midtown is just a half mile. Grady is only 2 miles. I’d say GT is a good location for pre-med shadowing, volunteering and so on.
As I said, a Stamps scholar will have plenty of opportunities. No worries.
There used to be a little metropolitan hospital on Juniper. Not sure its still there (update-- yes it is-- I checked the website)… The Old Ga Baptist hospital was on Boulevard. Its now called Atlanta Medical Center- but still functions as a hospital. These are near Tech as well.
One of the hospitals, maybe it’s northside (can’t recall) is opening a proton therapy treatment facility in town, @OHMomof2 . Is that what you are thinking of?
@jym626 I just saw it at [google maps](Google Maps)
I just noticed Mary Mac’s is still there!!! Gosh we went there when I was a kid a lot. Mot of my other younger days haunts are closed now 
Marymac’s has a new owner. It’s close, but not quite the same. Haven’t been in ages.