@Ighosh Do you know that UG loans need a co-signer (probably parents) ? A student can not borrow $200k on his/her own guarantee. This loan amount will compound to nearly $280k at 5% compounded interest rate in 7 years ( assuming that s/he can start paying loan amount during residency). Add to that nearly $200k additonal loan for Medical School (assuming half contribution from parent) and interest burden on that until paid. Folks talk about debt so freely here like adding another 200k in debt. Do you want your kid under a heavy loan burden ? Go with less loan/debt option.
@PPofEngrDr your assessment from the student’s viewpoint is correct. @OldSchoolMD thank you - yes, good problem to have 
With no medical background, we have no good feel for how easy/burdensome these loans are to pay off…17-18 year olds dont always fully comprehend the gravity of a large debt…should we be the rational voice here?
@Ighosh - How does she feel about Pitt? did she get a tour of the campus when she went for interview? You should visit again and if she is interested in specific research or speciality explore those more. I don’t go by dream school concept (Except for Harvard, Stanford and MIT 
) I know kids hear from someone and gets attached to it. A willing student can find opportunities at any of the schools and top schools make it somewhat easier.
Since you are taking loans I won’t advice NU. I believe interest rate is around 7% and if your D does fellowship, you are talking about close to 10 years of full interest accumulation (4+4+1-3) and another 5-10 years partial interests.
@srk2017, @Ighosh A $200k loan compounded at 7% in 10 years grows to approximately $393.5 k. Remember co-signer is equally responsible for the loan. Students need a co-signer for UG loan. So you are on hook as a co-signer as well as your credit bearing capacity is affected.
@Ighosh like @srk2017 said earlier “don’t fulfill dreams with loans”, earn it and fulfill it.
that brings the topic, Hope for best and Plan for worst.
Worst plan is how student would pay NU loans if for some unforeseen reasons/circumstances (something beyond control of student and parents), things doesn’t work out as planned? Its higher than most mortgages, you have property to sell to cover mortgage, but student loans? Is it worth to jeopardize entire family stability if bailout requires, all parents retirement savings, property? what about any other child parents may have? Not trying to create fear mongering, but one should think very seriously about student loans w/o proper supporting framework.
@rk2017 A 200K loan may be a significant amount for the dream factor and other so called intangibles. These intangibles can not be quantified.
@srk2017 >> How does she feel about Pitt?
She did get a tour of the campus and the school. She had liked the SOM . No specific research interests or specialties in mind at this point.
@grtd2010 we would avoid loans during undergrad. @PPofEngrDr very true about unforeseen circumstances. We do have a younger child to think of. As @grtd2010 said, how much extra is a dream factor worth? I so appreciate all the viewpoints
@srk2017 BU SMED requires a full summer enrollment in 2nd year, so it is a (3.5 +4) program. But a 3.2 GP requirement for matriculation is probably the lowest- a dream factor for BSMD students.
@Ighosh - If she has no specific research or specialization or faculty she is interested, Pitt is clear choice. We gave up UPenn and JHU for Vanderbilt scholarship even though loans are not in play and we have only one child. Simply put it’s not worth spending $200K for premed and Pitt SOM is ranked higher in both research and primary care
Northwestern University (Feinberg)
19 in Best Medical Schools: Research (tie)
35 in Best Medical Schools: Primary Care (tie)
Pitt
13 in Best Medical Schools: Research (tie)
14 in Best Medical Schools: Primary Care
Not true, only half summer with the summer tuition which is half of normal rate. Most students end up doing only 1 mandatory course in summer 1 of sophomore year (6 weeks).
D never had a dream school, but BU SMED was her top choice in the direct med space for numerous reasons which I am not going over now.
@OldSchoolMD, thanks for your wishes… D applied only to R-NB for multiple reasons… if she has to take pre-med route, she decided to go through flagship state school to maintain good GPA, spend less money on UG, access to ECs (we live 20 min away from NB), any support she can get from us, etc… applying for 25 to 30 school during 4th year could be daunting…
@rk2017 , @NoviceDad thanks for your kind words. honestly, i dont know what is missing… i am trying to figure that out as well… Maybe the essay… dont know… applications were forwarded to SOM in many schools but got interview rejection after that… The randomness is not explainable… At the end, we are very happy with the outcome…
UPSOM is ranked higher than hpme and plme medical schools. But it’s undergraduate is not.
does undergraduate ranking matter in residency matches as med school admission is not a concern here for guaranteed programs. ?
@Mahikesh Rutgers-NB also gave a full-ride to your D.? The BSMD process is not logical so do not analyze too much. As you said, all you need is one acceptance. If you get large enough data set, a neural network can answer it.
@trustybsms Why would UG ranking will factor into residency director mind ? All US medical schools go through accredition by LCME. Unless some residency director admits it publicly or privately, no one will ever know.
@trustybsms - No one cares about your UG once you are in medical school. Where UG reputation helps is with research opportunities and medical school reputation helps is with residencies in other parts of the country. majority match regionally.
@trustybsms
No - undergrad prestige has extremely limited if not zero bearing on residencies.
@grtd2010 , She got only Trustee, which is 13K… Rutgers sees only stats… strange application… no LOR, no place to write EC etc.
@Mahikesh Thanks. Your D has very impressive credentials.