<p>My daughter was fortunate to get accepted to Stanford and USC with a Trustee Scholarship. Money is not a major issue, but she maybe interested in premed and high GPA is essential for medical school admissions. I think it might be harder to get a higher GPA in Stanford than in USC because of the tougher competition. She visited both universities and likes them both. Does the school prestige give her any edge in premed? Any advice?</p>
<p>Hmm, that’s an interesting one. I think one thing to consider is the size of the undergraduate population at the school. One thing that is important for med school applications is research during your undergraduate years. I think at Stanford, since it is smaller, she would have a better chance for better research. As great a school as USC is, if money is no issue, I can’t see not choosing Stanford. Another thing at Stanford is if she does change her mind about pre-med, she can change to any other major without having to “apply” to the major and be accepted. There are also lots of opportunity to double major or minor in something else, along with a pre-med type major. It’s also possible on the quarter system with good planning to spend a quarter overseas. I had an undergrad friend who was able to spend a quarter overseas and be pre-med and she got into several top medical schools and is a great doctor.</p>
<p>@mramadan. Congratulations to you and your daughter! If, as you say, money is not a major issue, then I would strongly recommend Stanford without hesitation. If, on the other hand, the family will greatly STRUGGLE to pay for the education…then I would recommend USC (full scholarship)…</p>
<p>…having said that, knowing a lot about what it takes to go into medicine…I will tell you that the odds of a high school kid who MAY be interested in pursuing a career in medicine is ultimately quite low (more from disinterest and developing other passions while in college)…</p>
<p>…of the kids who attend the top schools historically…that have “thought” about becoming “premed” FREQUENTLY change their minds. Hypothetically speaking…if there are 300 “legitimately” strong interest among entering freshmen…that number will shrink down to about 200 after the weeding out class called “college chemistry” (very different than baby AP chemistry)…after that, another 100 or so will be weeded out after the infamous “physics” and “organic chemistry” leaving about 100 still technically in the running at the end of 2nd year…</p>
<p>…now during these first 2 years…the students go through a LOT of soul searching to answer that very important question…do I really love medicine? do I have the passion/dedication/commitment/persistence to survive another 2 years of college plus MCATs plus 4 years of medical school (another $300,000 for private vs $200,000 for public) plus medical board exams plus 3 or more years of residency (3 being the minimal number) plus specialty board exams… and am I willing to sacrifice a lot of social life and am I willing to forego other wonderful exciting career options that are available to me NOW that I can pursue right out of college…</p>
<p>…those who still BELIEVE will start taking their requisite advanced biology courses and take their MCATs in the junior year…now, of those who still believe…there may be a variety of majors they may be pursuing…they don’t have to be BIOLOGY majors…as a matter of fact, many major in other sciences, humanities, economics, music, interdisciplinary fields, CS, and even engineering…</p>
<p>…now, by the end of junior year…from the 100 that were remaining after the sophomore year…these students will be assessing their overall picture of who they “ARE”…do I have the GPA, MCAT score, the wonderful extracurricular activities to get into medical school…and, if they do…what type of medical schools will I get into? Another larger group may decide I really don’t want to go into medicine…but academia or investment banking or law school or business school or writer or musician or software engineer or entrepreneur, etc…</p>
<p>…from the original 300 about 30 remaining (definite premeds) in the senior year will apply to medical school and have an excellent chance of getting in…so that is about 10% of 300 will pursue medicine and the other 90% will be pursuing other fantastic career paths that may be more “rewarding” either financially or holistically or spiritually…</p>
<p>The hypothetical “premed” scenario I have described to you along with the various trajectories seen in many of the finest students and institutions in this country are not limited to Stanford and its peers…but is even more varied, difficult, and unpredictable for other lesser known institutions…</p>
<p>Coming full circle…why did I talk about this to the OP and his D…so many intelligent students who thought they wanted to pursue a particular “career” coming into Stanford have changed their minds along with their trajectory of where they wanted to make the greatest impact in society…</p>
<p>Marissa Mayer came in as premed…fell in love with computers/cognitive science so majored in Symbolic Systems…graduated with BS in SS and MS in CS…CEO of Yahoo and was one of the major players in Google’s rise…</p>
<p>Peter Thiel came in as philosophy major…graduated with philosophy degree but went to Stanford Law to get JD…one of the co-founders of Paypal, Palantir, venture capitalist, hedge fund manager, entrepreneur, philanthropist…</p>
<p>Reid Hoffman came in thinking he was going to become a philosopher but he majored and graduated with degree in Symbolic Systems …co-founder of LinkedIn, venture capitalist, entrepreneur, author…</p>
<p>…these are only some of the examples of what can happen if you keep an OPEN MIND to what is possible during and after your years in college…</p>
<p>Hope this helps…</p>
<p>^Thank you for a great post.</p>