<p>My S got accepted to Middlebury and Tufts, but we are in that middle class income stream - not alot of income, self-employed but with some assests tied up until retirement and so he received no aid (not complaining). However he receieved $15-20,000 of merit from lower level schools that are still good schools, but not quite the caliber of the other two. He plans on becoming a doctor so we have medical school in the future. The other schools he is considering are Whitman, Gettysburg and Washington & Jefferson. At these schools he would be one of their top scholars and has the possiblity of winning more merit money (he is being interviewed and we are waiting final numbers) as well as probable first choices for research and internships. He LOVES Middlebury and Tufts - dream schools for him. However he would be "middle of the pack" there with his statistics. It will be VERY difficult for us to pay full price at his dream schools - we would have to liquidate some retirementent funds. We are willing to do it, but we are close to 60 and just want to do the right thing for him (he is our youngest - no others to college). He has worked hard to get accepted to these schools - he's a great kid. Do you think that the opportunities available at the two top schools are worth it and where he really wants to go, or would it be better for him to be at a lower ranked school, with significant aid and he would be more of a "big fish..."? He says he doesn't want us to have to pay so much, but we know how much he wants the other schools. We didn't expect this to be so difficult! Thanks for your thoughts!</p>
<p>As hard as it is, I would opt for the lower priced school if your child is interested in Medical School. Undergrad is less important in this case if Med school is the goal. Good luck, its a hard decision.</p>
<p>Since your son is interested in medical school, do not go where he’s be “middle of the pack”… </p>
<p>He needs top GPA and awesome LORs from his profs… He’ll get that kind of notice if he’s a top student at his school.</p>
<p>Whitman is an AWESOME school! Has he seen the college?! It is, as you have have heard, considered a top LAC in the west coast…very similar feel to Middlebury w/out the overabundance of preppy feeling.</p>
<p>He is being flown out by Whitman next week for interviews - he was named a finalist for thier top scholarship. It will be the first time for him to see it. He is being heavily recruited by the coach there for his sport (as he is at the other schools) so that is a factor, too. We live in the Pacific Northwest and he says he wants to go back East to experience life outside of the NW. Whitman is the only one he has not yet visited - he may fall in love with it - I do know it is a very good school. I guess the good thing from all of this is that he has options!</p>
<p>Don’t sacrifice your retirment to fund his college eductation. Its a short term solution that you may regret especially given your age. Medical school is extremely expensive and you may want to assist him with that. Agree that Whitman has an excellent reputation.</p>
<p>Contact Whitman to find out what their med school acceptance rate is. I know that it’s VERY high for Middlebury and Tufts. He will have an edge in med school admissions if he goes to a better-ranked school. How much of an advantage is debateable.</p>
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This is contrary to what I’ve read in most other posts. Do you have some evidence for that arcadia?</p>
<p>^^Agree with Erin’s Dad. Experienced posters on the PreMed Topics forum only give a slight nudge to a handful of top colleges for Med school admissions (and even that’s debatable), none of the schools the OP mentions are in that group. Also, Med school acceptance rate is not a good measure of whether a school is good for premed as schools collect the stats differently. See this sticky thread for what matters in an UG school:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1122176-bluedevilmikes-ten-step-guide-picking-premed-school.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1122176-bluedevilmikes-ten-step-guide-picking-premed-school.html</a></p>
<p>Med School acceptance is a function of GPA, MCAT scores and community service. Also keep in mind that acceptance rates will be higher at schools that attract the highest scoring undergrads, but those same undergrads would get accepted if they went anywhere.
It is sort of a false statistic. Do know that the current trend is to do a few post grad years before medical school. Either work or a different graduate degree. The med schools like life experience. They devour sincere community service.</p>
<p>I can only tell you this–I volunteered in the admissions office for a top 10 university doing grad school admissions (it wasn’t a med school). They use a multiplier on GPA when evaluating your undergrad grades. The multipier was greater for the top-ranked schools than it was for lower-ranked ones. For example (I’m not going to disclose any any actual numbers on this website) a student graduating from Harvard with a 3.5 GPA might get a multiplier of .2, resulting in a GPA of 4.2, while someone from Bunker Hill Community College would receive no multiplier. The multiplier wasn’t entirely based on grade inflation, but rather on the admissions office’s evaluation of the rigor of the undergraduate program (which to my eyes looked to be entirely based on prestige). Middlebury was on a list of about 30 schools that received the higest multiplier. I’m almost certain that none of the other schools you mention were. So take that for what it’s worth. It may be totally different for med school.</p>
<p>med school admittance rates can be misleading since some top schools seriously weed-out and won’t write Committee Letters for students that they don’t think will get accepted. So, a 80%+ acceptance rate may not really tell you much.</p>
<p>And…all schools start out with X pre-med students and end up with about 25% of that number by the time med school app time arrives…so, again, the acceptance rate won’t tell you much.</p>
<p>My niece went to a very pricey name LAC…parents took out major loans for this because she was “pre-med” and they wanted the best for her. Well, her GPA wasn’t “the best”…she ended up with a 3.5, and wasn’t accepted to any med schools. If she had gone to Purdue or IU (her state schools) she probably would have had a better GPA.</p>
<p>I agree that Whitman is a fine school and if your son can excel there, his profs will take notice and write glowing LORs. </p>
<p>Med school admittance is based on 40% GPA, 40% MCAT, 20% Other (LORs, ECs, research, etc). You get so little bump/nudge from the undergrad name that paying lots of money is not worth it. </p>
<p>Now, if the difference is between a top school and some lowly ranked directional state school with a so/so science program, then that’s different…the problem won’t be the “name”…the problem will be a poorer education.</p>
<p>Here is a useful tool from our friends at FinAid.org that may help your family evaluate the financial (as well as some non-financial) information for these various institutions: [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Advanced Award Letter Comparison Tool](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid)</p>
<p>Thank you all for your thoughtful insights and links to other VERY good information. My son is carefully reading everything and has said how interesting all the comments are. He is doing some soul searching and feels like whatever his final choice - he will be attending a great school!</p>