UChicago vs. UIC GPPA Medicine

College Search & Selection
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<p>kennedy, why you revive this thread? Does it mean that when you start the thread you were not accepted into UIC GPPA Medicine yet?</p>

<p>YES, UofC is a better school AND will provide you a better UG experience. However, if you choose UofC and trying to apply MD school afterwards you will need not only High GPA but also competitive MCAT. If you get an average GPA, like 3.0, you will not be able to apply for MD school, that is the risk. Please go to studentdoctor.net and observe the chance threads. There are many many good students that won’t be able to go to MD school, some times not even DO schools, if the GPA is under 3.0. Remember, you are competing with top students in the nation at UofC for those few A’s and we hope you succeed.</p>

<p>The option UIC is that if you get decent MCAT, you can stay in UIC med school, it is not the best med school, but it is not the worst.</p>

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<p>^yeah, i didn’t know that i was going to be accepted yet! I was just asking before just to get some thoughts rolling around in my head if i did get in…and now it’s real, so reality is setting in.</p>

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<p>thanks for all the advice @artloversplus, it’s been really helpful :)</p>

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<p>Take my DD for example a 3.5 gpa 33 Mcat Uof Chicago student, she may not be able to get into any MD schools. The GPA and MCAT only gave her keys to gain interview. In addition, she has to</p>

<ol>
<li>Take a gap year after graduation, it is almost impossible to apply for med school in Jr. year because interview requirements and secondary apps requirements.</li>
<li>Have good EC, shadowing, clinical exp, research etc. Lots of time consumed to spin that wheel.</li>
<li>Pass the interview which is very difficult and only 1/2 to 1/3 who got interviewed got accepted.</li>
</ol>

<p>As you know the In State med school (UIC) has the best chance for any IL students, so you may ended up in UIC anyway, or if you have a bad quarter, you will never get anywhere.</p>

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<p>I am sure your daughter will get into medical school, @artloversplus ! I wish her the best of luck!</p>

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<p>^ but everything your daughter has to do, has to be done anyway… UChicago helped her get an interview, too, right? With a 3.5 she WILL get into a med school, even if she needs to take an extra year (which is the norm!) If need be she could “pad” her GPA a little, too, take a couple more classes that she’ll do well in.
UIC really isn’t the best environment for a kid who got into UChicago, s/he’ll be in many regular UIC classes and the pace/level they’re taught at won’t be challenging; most classes will be like finding yourself in regular classes in HS with many unprepared students; it’s heavily commuter so not as many opportunity for growth and networking. Overall, while the UIC certainty may be appealing, I don’t think the intellectual and professional trade offs are worth it. </p>

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<p>Just a reminder that the OP is weighing the pros and cons of a UofC undergrad acceptance and a UIC GPPA acceptance. It’s a “bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” dilemma. Obviously if the question was comparing apples to apples (UG to UG experience or Med school to med school), UofC would probably win most every time. But the OP is comparing the advantages of UIC’s pretty-much guaranteed med school acceptance to the big question mark that would come after graduating from UofC (especially questionable given UofC’s rigor). And, while it’s not Pritzker, UIC is also not the equivalent of a fly-by-night caribbean med school. It’s in the same tier as Wake Forest and just a tad under Tufts. Certainly nothing to sneer at. </p>

<p>I agree, it would be a tough decision for a student who is SURE she wants to go to med school and (unless the geographic propinquity is a coincidence) stay in the Chicago area. </p>

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<p>D is in same boat as @kennedyiceit…accepted to UIC GPPA and other top schools. My view is that if you are pretty certain medical school is your goal, go to GPPA, don’t let your guard down and do extremely well and put yourself in a position to apply out if you want. Many GPPA students get into top medical schools and PhD programs. If you are middle of the road with your goal of medical school, choose UofC. UofC offers a very different undergrad experience from many other schools…you either fit there and feel you belong or you don’t. Make a trip to both schools, stay overnight and go to some classes. Talk with other students currently in GPPA or premed track at UofC…it will clarify itself to you!</p>

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<p>Good luck to your daughter as well @cytomom ! Thanks to everyone for the advice, this is going to be a tough thing to decide.</p>

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<p>^^MYOS, No my DD has not start interview yet, the apps submission starts June of this year. She is far from being interviewed and her prospect of being accepted is even more uncertain. There are plenty 4.0 UG students could not get into med school for years. Some one on the net was even thinking move to AR just because U of AR has lower IS admission standards. Then some one suggest him not to move to Little Rock as the city is full of carpetbeggers. You need to move to a remote county in AR for a year and make certain amount of salary to get preferred treatment.</p>

<p>Most med school acceptance rate is UNDER 10%, take GWU and Wake Forest for example, GWU receives 10K applicants and acceptance rate is 1% and Wake Forest is 3%(that includes all URMs, Legacies,Doners and other preferred applicants). To apply for med school is a crap shoot and a full time job.</p>

<p>No, you cannot compare Med School vs UG. They are different animals. It will be real tough choice for OP.</p>

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<p>Another consideration is financial. Let forget about COA in UG. The med school portion of cost for OP is MUCH lower than private schools which is mostly at 60k/year, while Florida International, a new med school, has a price tag of $100,000 a year.</p>

<p>So, if OP went to UofC for 4 years, it will cost another minimum of $250K to attend a “better” med school OOS. Or reapply to UIC for the same thing with a big question mark. Does that make any sense? </p>

<p>If OP want a different major to begin with without serious considering med school, then why spend the efforts to apply GPPA?</p>

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<p>@artloversplus: you’re extrapolating here wrt cost.
OP already said UChicago had been very generous with grants and scholarships. UofC meets full need and for lower-income student is known to calculate “need” so that work-study actually provides a bit more than what they’re used to in terms of discretionary income. Even if OP is upper middle class, we already know UofC will not cost as much as you speculate (250k).</p>

<p>Why would OP be certain s/he’ll want to attend med school and then change his/her mind?
MORE than HALF freshmen change from premed to something else… and some change again. Overall, almost 80% freshmen change their minds between what they thought they’d want to do as first-semester high school seniors and first-semester college sophomores.
If OP were to be one of these typical freshmen, UIC would be a bad choice over UofC.
(I know, OP probably isn’t typical. Proof: OP got into UChicago. :D)</p>

<p>I understand the power of one example - but it’s just one example. BTW your daughter sounds very accomplished. I hear your anxiety on her behalf, because med school is a tough process, but you can’t make it the be-all and end-all in this discussion. I don’t have affiliation (personal or professional) through either school so I admit it’s easier for me to feel detached wrt both solutions.</p>

<p>Nevertheless, your daughter went to UofC, not UIC - and there’s a reason. In terms of resources, opportunities, caliber of classmates, strength of program, alumni network, there’s simply no comparison. Even if you include GPPA - the GPPA students are only, at most 25 freshmen among 17,000 students. They’re a tiny minority. The classes they’ll take will be geared toward an entirely different profile of students than they are - the GPPA are “elite” compared even to the Honors Students at UIC, and they don’t take all their classes in the Honors College (which mostly offers classes in the Humanities.) </p>

<p>For your daughter, UChicago sounds like it was a good match, too. She may have a bit more trouble than she thought due to GPA but a MCAT 33 + 3.5 at UChicago is NOT going to force her into Carribean med school (beside UIC, has she looked into Drexel, Temple, Jefferson, UAB, SUNY Buffalo…? Won’t she try for UChicago’s, too, in the “why not” category?). I understand it’s an onerous and discouraging process. But I work with internationals, so from that perspective your daughter’s odds are pretty good :stuck_out_tongue: (statistically she has closer to 2/3 odds than to 50%.)
No matter what, your situation DOESN’T apply to OP, who already told us that he will not be taking the infamous “AP5Bio” class, may choose another major (at UChicago, the smart thing to do for a premed is to major in humanities and take the premed core alongside a NON STEM major), and may benefit from the extended network UofC provides. (If OP has an extended family of physicians and is upper-middle class, that extended network will matter less; but if OP is lower-middle class or first gen or URM, that network will make the difference every step of the way.)</p>

<p>I understand the appeal of the GPPA Med at UIC, but while I understand how it’d sway a UIUC or Lake Forest or SIU honors student, I can’t imagine a student - even a premed student - who’s admitted to UChicago and turns it down for that one certainty, unless they were afraid they couldn’t get a decent GPA at UChicago. </p>

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<p>Thank you for the great advice @MYOS1634 , it has been very insightful. One thing though, I probably will not major in the humanities and will likely major in a science discipline. Hopefully it won’t be too bad. :)</p>

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<p>That changes things a bit then, because it’s harder to have a 3.5+ in the sciences at UChicago. A combination of Humanities + premed core maximizes UChicago’s reputation (ie, it look very rigorous but protects GPA) toward the goal of an interview, but a science GPA makes things harder. So it really depends on how strong you are academically and in the sciences.</p>

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<p>MYOS
You did not read my message, the $250K is for MED SCHOOL not for UG. PLEASE read it again.</p>

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<p>I did read it and indeed it’s for med school, but I’m not sure what your point is. Med School costs a lot of money. OP knows that, I presume. Overall, cost of UG is relevant, but in this case it doesn’t seem to be a tie breaker, and med school will be expensive. Am I summarizing or missing the point?</p>

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<p>I am referring to Med school OOS or Private vs UIC med school COA, Please read the whole thing.</p>

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<p>So, OP, what did you decide, and why? This would be very useful for current students.</p>

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<p>@MYOS1634‌ , At the end of the day, I ended up picking the University of Chicago, as it was a better fit for me personally. I just felt more comfortable at UChicago than I did at UIC and if I end up not going into medicine, I think I will be okay. I just couldn’t give up the incredible atmosphere that I felt at UChicago! Thanks to everyone for all the helpful advice! </p>

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<p>congratulations…Welcome to Chicago and as you entering we are leaving, in hope not forever. :)>- </p>