Sometimes I am a bit surprised if a candidate is not sure of going on bs/md route in a particular school, why did s/he even apply there and killing interview chance of one other candidate. I don’t mean candidates who got multiple offers.
@bsmdalien It is good to apply widely for BSMD. It is a complete crapshoot (BSMD) process. No one knows who will be called for an interview from which school in advance. Most BSMD applicants are risk-averse in nature. Did you konw in advance who will offer you an interview during BSMD process ?
@grtd2010 You are right but I mean candidates who after getting admission leave it saying not so good school.
@bsmdalien It depends on so many other factors - COA, merit-aid offered, curriculum, proximity-to-home etc. The schools also make offers to many more students than seats available, knowing well that some will opt not to join (know as yield management).
@ucmehta GPA 3.6 & MCAT: 511 is not enough for ORM males. Should aim for 3.8 and 516+. Need good ECs and research (if aiming for T20). Need something unique also which no one will advice here.
Hi everyone, folks on this forum have been so great and providing valuable perspectives/insights…hoping you can help us out with your thoughts. My D is deciding between Northwestern HPME and Pitt GAP. We are OOS for both, equal distance.
Northwestern:
- D’s dream school since a long time
- No financial aid; we could cover most of undergrad, D would need to take a full loan for the med school
Pitt GAP
- Full tuition scholarship for undergrad; D would need to take a loan for ~half of med school
Other factors seem comparable across the two. We have no one in the family from a medical background so these big loans sound like a big burden when you see how they compound. Appreciate all thoughts and recommendations!
@bsmdalien - Nothing wrong with applying for multiple schools and declining after getting acceptances. All the programs invite 2-5 times the number of slots and then depending on their acceptance rate make offers based on their yield rates. So no one is taking any anyone else’s chances!
Only thing you can do is request people to decide quickly for the schools who do additional interviews like AMC. My DS declined RPI/AMC as soon as the sent the acceptance (first round). He took longer time with BU but I don’t think BU has waitlist. They after admissions to 40 expecting 25 to accept but some years more do and they are OK with it.
@Ighosh - Why is Northwestern a dream school for your D?
I would go with Pitt. don’t fulfill dreams with loans!
If you haven’t already, you may want to refer to few points I mentioned yesterday in a couple of posts for someone who was debating between two programs.
@Ighosh Pure finance view, GAP will save you ~200K over HPME for UG (assuming 3 years of UG, GAP R&B cost). Plus savings of med school. that would be about 350-400K total difference over span of 7-8 years. Unless there is a definite research at HPME that intrigued your D, that kind of cost is probably not worth it, barring both are reputable med school programs. How much that savings would grow over a period of time is certainly significant and your D has less to worry about for same amount of loans otherwise.
HPME 7 years vs GAP 8 years, HPME even encourages a GAP year so that a year savings is irreverent.
Beside finance aspects, NU certainly has a vibe by lake that students like, social events are manageable and ofc city of Chicago is mere 15 minutes from Evanston campus. Not familiar with UPitt campus so can’t speak for that.
350-400k difference is over stated I believe. Since both med schools are comparable cost wise. The difference only in undergrad. Which I guess will be around 200k give or take, which may be compensated for financially in the grand scheme of things, as well as with other tangible and intangible benefits which can’t be quantified by money alone.
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350-400k difference is over stated I believe.
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NU UG costs 75K a year. that itself if 225K for 3 years UG (it is even conservative number, considering UG will finish in 3 years), minus UPitt R&B cost (35K for 3 years) as @Ighosh D has full tuition ride for UPitt UG.
As per @Ighosh, GAP med school loan is half then HPME for them, so the remaining 150-200K for med school savings.
so 350-400K is actually a conservative number, if UG goes 4 years it will jump another 60K.
Not sure about your numbers.
Full tuition need not mean room and board including. Let him calculate the numbers and share here if he wishes.
@PPofEngrDr - Looks like NU & Pitt med schools tuitions are very close, NU probably 10-15K more over 4 years. so it comes down to UG tuition and R&B. For a change, I have to go with @rk2017 numbers of $200K 
However I don’t think NU is worth $200K with loans unless the candidate is gunning for specific research at NU.
I may prefer Pittsburgh over Chicago, no offense @PPofEngrDr 
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Full tuition need not mean room and board including
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lol that is why deducting UPitt R&B (~12K a year, only UG tuition is free as per @Ighosh ) from NU UG cost (~75K a year), net ~63K a UG year savings
@srk2017 those numbers were right provided @Ighosh D is taking full loan for both med schools. As per @Ighosh post, they have to take only half loan for GAP SOM vs full for HPME, so that loan savings is significant for D.
In case I wasn’t clear enough by tangible and intangible benefits, the quality of undergrad, the location, the quality of fellow students, the quality of faculty and research, the facilities, the dream factor, the rate of speciality matches … I think 200k is a small price for all that over 7 years … Unless of course financially prohibitive.
@srk2017 We know someone who went through the HPME program 6 years back and heard excellent reviews of it. D also did a summer program there and loved the school/campus hence her dream school
@PPofEngrDr and @rk2017 Net difference in total cost to us will be ~$200K…Med school costs are comparable…half loan and half covered by us so not really savings per se but definitely a smaller loan amount for D.
@Ighosh precisely, student is responsible for loans so total savings for student is significant than parents.
As long as student is fine with additional burden, student choice triumphs.
@Ighosh - congratulations to your DD! very impressive! great choices. good problem to have. seems like a win-win to me. agree with everyone above. significant savings going to UPitt GAP. however, it wouldn’t be wrong either to go with NU HPME for additional cost IF 1) DD truly likes it much more than UPitt (as it was described as her dream school) and 2) it is not financially prohibitive (either in loans and/or affecting your family’s finances/retirement/etc.).