My D is trying to decide between these universities for premed (major undecided). Case and Pitt have on-site hospitals for shadowing but UMD premed advising seems organized. Will be in honors at Pitt and Scholars at UMD. She has scholarship offers from Case and Pitt and in state for MD so cost for all three is doable.
Are the net prices similar, or significantly different?
Which school would she like most to graduate from if she does not go to medical school?
If “best” is measured by rankings, reputation, med school acceptance, etc., I’d say Case is clearly the leader of those three. But that’s only one factor in choosing a school. All three are quality universities.
Any of those three would be fine both for med school competitiveness and any Plan B as long as she does her part. Since you say they are all affordable let her pick which one she feels she likes the best. It doesn’t matter if it’s merely due to liking the number of squirrels on campus TBH. Kids tend to do the best where they are the happiest.
That said, plenty of returning students have told me they really like having hospitals right on or next to campus - or wish they had them available - so that could give Pitt and Case an extra + on the comparison page. It’s definitely not a need to get into med school though. Med schools don’t care where/when the applicant got their shadowing and other experience hours. They just care that they have them. Summers and/or commutes are fine in their eyes.
What GPA does she need to maintain to keep the scholarships? Granted, a serious pre-med is likely to keep up their GPA, but if she drops the pre-med and her grades slip a bit in the new focus, will the places still be affordable/
Pitt is located and mixed in within UPMC medical complex. A real medical juggernaut that has been built over the years. Pitt Honors would fantastic and the pre med culture is very strong.
@privatebanker, Pitt medical school is highly ranked but what I am not sure about is if it will be difficult to maintain high science GPA as it attracts many pre-med students. One former student mentioned in another post the pre-med advising is stretched thin. Could you please give me more info about the pre-med culture? I was able to find information on UMD site on acceptance rate and committee letter process but not for the other schools.