<p>Title says it all! I really want to attend UChicago, but there is the option of going to UIC for the guaranteed med program...and I cannot decide! Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Well, I would base your decision off of the total “experience” per se. What I mean is, are you looking for a strength in something serious, like academics or status, or simply having something more relaxed, but rigorous nonetheless?
I’ve heard alot of hate on UChicago’s social scene and the fact that many students/professors prefer critical thinking to be meaningless argument. On the other hand, UIC is a commuter school and huge, so you have to honestly try to find friends.
…I don’t know where I’m going with this, but go for what you feel comfortable with and you know you won’t think ‘what if I went there instead?’</p>
<p>Congratulations on getting admitted to two very tough programs and into one of the most famous universities in the country!
If costs are similar:
If you can get into UChicago and UIC guaranteed med… you’re very likely to make it to med school (as long as you stay on track, obviously if you spend freshman year partying and getting Cs it won’t work, but I hope that’s not your plan).
Don’t trade the amazing experience that is UChicago for UIC - outside the GPPA Med program you’re very unlikely to be challenged academically and you can’t compare the experience of a residential campus with the experience of a commuter campus. Furthermore, if you ever change your mind about med school, UChicago will give you more flexibility, whereas at UIC you’re stuck.
Have you spent an overnight (“admitted student day”) at either?
Is there a cost differential for you? Where does your family live?</p>
<p>If Med school is your only and definitive goal, the UIC program should be a no brainer. U of C is prestigious and fun to attend, but their grade deflation really hurts med school applicants. My DD is in this dilemma, the AP5 Bios is a killer, only very very few got all A in it, just because of that, the sGPA cannot be outstanding. She decided to apply for Med School in the third year, by that time, the GPA is not in the level to apply even for UIC. She had an excellent MCAT, but she will struggle to apply for UIC, a reach at the best.</p>
<p>We are looking for lower tier med schools right now.</p>
<p>For those are unfamiliar with AP5 Bio courses in U of C, the classes are for those who had 5 in AP Bio to attend. It is a 3 quarters or a whole year program. Almost all Bio majors are in it and the class is cut throat through out, it is even more difficult than Ochem. In that AP5 Bio, only perhaps 1% will get A’s, to get all 3 quarters of A’s is almost unheard of.</p>
<p>In med school apps, not only they look at general GPA but also they look at sGPA which is GPA for sciences. It appear that if you wanted to apply med school from U of C, you need to be majored in a non-bio discipline and take the easy Bio classes to make up the Science requirements and do well on MCAT. </p>
<p>artloverplus, I’m sorry your daughter’s experience isn’t as good as she could expect it to be. Is she still a freshman?
Or is she a junior?
Remember that the combination is GPA/MCAT, science GPA/MCAT, and “other experiences”, which I assume UChicago offered aplenty. You may be too pessimistic.
In any case, all American med schools are good. And if your daughter wants prestige, she can still apply to the top residency programs based on her results in med school, and I’m sure UChicago will have helped a lot in that preparation.</p>
<p>Hopefully OP didn’t take AP Bio and/or didn’t score a 5. 
I would imagine, indeed, that it IS a cut-throat class.</p>
<p>BTW, a judicious choice at UChicago for a premed student is to major OUTSIDE the Biological Sciences division - to take the premed classes and any class of interest within the division such as endocrinology, immunology, or neuroscience, but to major in something else where they can show mastery and keep good grades, such as philosophy, economics, even Slavic languages or Computational neuroscience.
That is, to take advantage of the well-known “Core” philosophy to have a major that is known to be rigorous due to the UChicago reputation while bringing diversity to the med school class… all this while showing great strengths in the premed core, too, makes for a winning combination.
This strategy is especially effective for students who are strong both in science and in another field, and aim for top tier med schools.</p>
<p>No, my DD is in the 4th year and graduating this June.</p>
<p>Believe me, there IS a difference on MED school rankings. I have a tenant who graduated from one of the Caribbean 3 school and he was not paid much after his residency from Kaiser as a doctor. He had to struggle to pay back that $500,000 student loan. OTOH my classmate’s DD graduated from Brown PLME and she was paid a starting salary over $250K as a new doctor.</p>
<p>So ranking of Med School DOES MATTER. All the US med school costs about the same, the Higher ranking the better.</p>
<p>MYOS, you are absolute correct on the med school strategy in UChicago.</p>
<p>But kids are kids, they CHANGE their mind like a fashion. My DD was destined to be in neuroscience, a part of Bio department. First year, she took all AP5 Bios heads on, her grades are fine B or B+, but that is not for med school. At first she wants to be a research scientist, at the near end of third year, she changes her mind and start med school prep and it is too late to be considered for the top tier.</p>
<p>Hi everyone! Thanks for all the helpful information! I did take AP Bio, but not the AP test because the teacher wasn’t that great…so I plan on taking bio again in college. I won’t be majoring in biology however…probably an engineering major for me!</p>
<p>@artloversplus …besides this AP5 sequence, how does your daughter like UChicago?</p>
<p>And for med students, it does not end with passing the board test. There is Residency and Fellowship to compete after that. In Residency, you want to be in Major Cities, Sloan and UCSF are two came to my mind. For fellowship, you need to join those top of the fields. And graduates from Harvard and Hopkins does matter in that rat race.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, my DD LOVEs UChicago. She had all positive experiences in the class room and socially. She had LOTS of friends and met her boyfriend who could be her sol-mate in the future, they still go out after three years. AND more important Chicago is not a school “Where the Fun ends”.</p>
<p>@artloversplus - Hearing that the rankings of med school do matter is the most unknowledgable thing one can say. Sure, the name brand of some med schools may come in mind for special residencies but there are little to no differences on pay because you went to a low tier med school. The salary depends on your specialty and your years of experience in the field. I have met with doctors from no name, low ranked med schools that are doing as good as or better than doctors from “highly ranked” med schools. </p>
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<p>So ranking of Med School DOES MATTER. All the US med school costs about the same, the Higher ranking the better.
<<<</p>
<p>Rankings of US MD schools does not matter. Certainly not in the way that you think. You cannot compare a CARIBBEAN school grad’s experience with that of a US MD school graduate. And, as for the Brown grad, much depends on what her specialty is. Others with that same specialty who graduated from other med schools can get paid the same. WHAT is her specialty? And her place of residency would matter MORE than her US MD school. </p>
<p>My son is in med school and his med school is ranked similarly to Brown’s med school. However, even if he had gone to a lower ranked or unranked med school, we would not be worried about how he’d do as a practicing physician.</p>
<p>I am sorry to differ, bouncer.</p>
<p>Everyone has different level of involvement in medical doctors. Doctor from no name school COULD be successful in their practice. I have a friend and his wife, who did not graduate from a name school are very successful in their medicine practice, they make Millions and bought a mansion with 23 bedrooms, it was served as a political campaign party site. However, that is like saying Bill Gates who dropped out of Harvard and become the wealthiest person in the world.</p>
<p>However, from over all point of view, name school does carry its weight to OPEN DOORS. Otherwise why everyone applied to Harvard and JHU for medicine? Why not every top student go to a DO school or the Caribbean 3? The ones from prestige school gets the first crack at the better residency and fellowship opportunity. AND IN GENERAL, will provide a better opportunity for the future. Once they are out of the door into the society, that is a different matter.</p>
<p>To op, Uchicago does not have engineering (other than the new molecular engineering). Why even you apply?</p>
<p>m2c, if ranking in US medical school does not matter then why your son don’t apply for Moorehouse, he surely can get in easier than a Brown equivalent. Lots of ppl argue on CC that UG in X discipline(ie Engineering) does not matter between MIT and local state school, they are all BS in engineering. Then we found out he send his son to MIT equivalent. </p>
<p>In addition, I am not sure why there is a ranking for medical schools in the first place, as you described. </p>
<p>Ranking may matter by Tiers (NOT numerical) depending on your specialty, who you will work with, whether you want to get into research… and even then only for competitive residency and even then it still rests on what you did. Another way to summarize it is that it doesn’t matter much at all <em>in itself</em>. Sure there’s a “wow” factor associated with the name of your med school, but it dissipates real fast if you are at the bottom of your class. Yet even at the bottom of your class you’ll be a doctor so it only matters if you’re looking for a competitive residency and if you’re at the bottom of your class you probably aren’t.
What matters is that you took advantage of what was available - and clearly the richer, more famous med schools offer more opportunities for everything. Top Tier indicates “more opportunities, more experts in the field”.
So it matters indirectly but not directly. There’s no proof whatsoever that “where you went to med school” is an advantage in itself (ie., just the “wow factor” of the brand name, regardless of personal accomplishments.)
That same thing works with UChicago BTW - a student who attends UChicago has so many more opportunities than a student at UIC, s/he better take advantage of them and stand out. On the other hand, a UChicago 2.8 student won’t get into med school.
Carribean3 is NOT American BTW.
The goal should be to get into the best med school for you, but that may well be just one med school admission and thus the one that’s best for you is the one you got into. </p>
<p>If you want medicine, go for the sure thing. </p>
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<p>Exactly.
In this competitive society, you can call everything does not matter, you can call everything matters, it all depends on individual.If you are on the top of each step in your life, you will be successful. However, when we make recommendations, we cannot assume everyone is in top 1% of their “class”, so the recommendations must consider variations in different levels of success.</p>
<p>If nothing matters, then why parents spend 50%-1000% more to buy a house in a good school district? Why prep schools existed? Why they call some schools “feeder” to HYPS? Why HYPS important?
Why they send the kids to U Chicago and not to a community college then to a local state 4 year?
Why there are so called top tier med school? Why they bother to rank it?
Why there is competitive Residency and Fellowship?
Why there are doctors who has 5 clinics with 50 doctors working under them vs some one work as employee of a local hospital?
How many Gates and Jobs who did not finish college in the world?</p>