Though there’s no mistaking the Daily Beast method for a rigorous scientific investigation, Chicago’s “Smartest professors score” of 9.9 out of 10 makes me that much more eager for September to arrive.
There’s brutal grading in the first years in the basic premed classes.
OP can fashion a Chicago-like program at Harvard, or not. The appeal of UChicago is that you must take those hard classes, but it’s very bad for premeds.
90% is for students who make it through all the pre-reqs with a med school worthy GPA. But many don’t. (Everywhere, many don’t, but at UChicago especially since premeds can’t take easy classes to balance their oganic chemistry semesters, and may be placed in AP5Bio which can be devastating.)
No question Chicago is the riskier choice as pointed out by @MYOS1634
@Ramboacid pointed out the potential return on investment for taking the riskier choice. (potentially better doctor, genuine humanism, classical education, etc).
Can YOU make the riskier choice pay off?
Read the Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken”.
Do you have the self-confidence to take the road less traveled by?
^ It could well make all the difference.
^ I don’t think it’s choosing ‘the road less traveled by’.
But rather ‘odds of not finding my tribe at Harvard’ vs. 'Odds of not getting into led school from UChicago '. Only OP can estimate those odds.
I think the likelihood of an intelligent student, working diligently at UChicago, not getting into a med school is quite small. I have worked with a fair number of med students from a highly respected, not top tier, med school. On the average, the premeds I knew at UChicago were significantly more academically able.
Additionally, as I have posted elsewhere, the added benefit of having the Medical School campus across the street from the Quads is invaluable. It makes doing research so so much easier as one essentially has access to the lab 24/7. Or volunteering. Or whatever one wants to do at the Medical center. At Harvard, you have to get off campus and take public transportation to the Medical School. So going there several times a day, to tend to your incubating cells for example, will not be an option. Depends on what kind of research you are interested in doing.
I’m not suggesting you attend UC vs H. That is a choice only you will know in your heart and brain. But as other have said, no bad choices here.
I am not completely basing this off of my “tribe” at UChicago. While they are a significant foundation to have, I understand that I will have the opportunity to make friends more here as I would at Harvard.
More of the conflict for me has come in the pursuit of “pure” knowledge vs the pursuit of opportunity. I know that both places will prepare me for pre-med. If I am not going to make it into medical school, I don’t think it will reflect on the nature of the school, but more so on my own individual time-management and studying skills if anything.
In the end, with all the different schools/programs that I will attend on my path towards becoming a doctor, will one choice to go to a prestigious school like Harvard (not to say UChicago is not) for undergrad really have that much of an impact down the line? UChicago pre-meds end up at top medical schools like HMS, and Harvard pre-meds end up at state school programs (again, not to undermine the education of a state medical school), and vice versa. After all of this, the end result is practicing medicine for the right reasons and with the right passion. I want to choose a college that will do that for me, which is why I personally am leaning towards UChicago.
My only obstacle now is trying to counter my parents forcing me towards Harvard…
Thank you all tremendously for the advice thus far though! It has been great to consider many of these additional factors and to see other individuals and their opinions 
Have you decided?? Let us know what you go for and tell us why!
So at the end of everything, I enrolled at Harvard last night. The decision was extremely difficult for me, as I truly wanted to attend the University of Chicago for the next 4 years as many of you could tell. Ultimately, the choice came down to a spiritual/religious matter (very very long story), and in the end I realized after talking to my youth pastor that obedience (to my parents) will be blessed by God, even when it comes at a sacrifice (in this case, UChi). Both places are truly amazing, but I am excited for what is to come at Harvard in the fall! I will be concentrating in the Medicine and Society track when I attend so I can combine my interests of medicine, technology, and public policy all into one.
I mean this from the bottom of my heart, but thank you all for the wonderful advice and insight on my decision as I was struggling with it over the past two weeks or so. The fact that people who I barely know where able to provide amazing and thoughtful perspectives is honestly such a great thing. I hope this thread (and any subsequent topics) can serve as a guide for others who have to make a difficult decision like or similar to this in the future.
Congrats! Get there and do good work- you have a lot to offer!!
You will do well whereever you go. Don’t forget to enjoy college!