<p>Yes, people in midwest do not care too much about Ivy / Elite, at least not those around us and D’s HS is the most expansive in the area, including kids traveling from different state on a daily basis. By far most expansive. We aim at low or NO college / Medical School loans. I believe that most around my D. will end up with NO loans after graduating from Med. School. D’s HS was not catholic, the reason for it to be expansive, as catholic schools in our city are financially supported by churches. So, D’s school was about double, but she had tuition Merit award based on placement test to cover good portion of it, otherwise she most likely ended up going to catholic HS. He college tuition was zero (Merit award). there is no way it would have been zero at Ivy’s. But it was not even discussed as she blankly refuse to apply to any Ivy / Elite and basically the same happened when she applied to Med. Schools. Definitely less drama and more enjoying process.</p>
<p>Hmmm…3 posts above (MiamiDAP, kristin and, iwbb) said that he/she/her-D were graduated from a private high school.</p>
<p>I was once at CC’s prep school’s forum. Most parents there seem to have the opinion that the money spent at the prep school level gives their loved ones even more value than that spent at the private college level. One CCer even comments that the tuition for a prep school is much lower than what they spend on the maid.</p>
<p>It may be interesting to know that how many percentages of med school students are of the following background:
- prep school + provate college. (iwbb)
- prep school + public college. (MiamiDAP’s D, kristin)
- public high school + private college (DS)
- public school all the way.</p>
<p>If we add “private med school” or “public med school” into the combination, the result may be interesting as well.</p>
<p>Regarding:
“Most” around your D? Wow…Good for them. This likely indicates that their families have more resources than the average family in US, I think. (Somehow I have the impression that about 20% of med school students graduate without any debt. I might not remember it right.) I bet very few of them have their kids attend the community college for the first two years in college.</p>
<p>It appears to me that, when the parents, for one reason or another, choose a “more cost effective” education option for their loved one, no matter what education level it is (preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, college, or med school), they invariably believe that other families which choose a more expensive way have spent their money not in a financially sound way. Otherwise, they can not live peacefully with themselves.</p>
<p>We live in an area with some of the best public high schools in the state, but in a state with a struggling public school system. My family knew some immigrant families who saved money desperately in order to rent a small, very expensive apartment in our town in order to attend the public schools.</p>
<p>Once, one of them was very excited to meet me, saying that I’d be in the same class as her son. When I said I was going to a very expensive private school a ways away despite already living in the neighborhood for which she was scrimping and saving, she looked first baffled, then exasperated, then disappointed. I’ve never felt so awful about my tuition as I did at that moment.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/download/300448/data/2012gqallschoolssummaryreport.pdf[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/download/300448/data/2012gqallschoolssummaryreport.pdf</a></p>
<p>14.5% of medical students report no educational debt.
20.3% report $1-$100,000.
38.4% report $100,000 - $200,000.
26.8% report more than that.</p>
<p>Either MDAP’s sample group is very unrepresentative, or there’s some information unavailable.</p>
<p>My (Catholic, private, all-girls) prep school</p>
<p>Yay to all-girls Catholic prep schools…my mom, my MIL, and I all graduated from them! Life-long friendships!</p>
<p>My kids went to co-ed Catholic K-12. I think they missed out on some of the benefits of single-sex education schools. </p>
<p>anyways, my point was that rankings at private prep schools are not often comparable to publics (which is why many privates refuse to rank)</p>
<p>^it’s not even close to comparable. My high school class had a median SAT score of 1490/1600. My classes were so difficult that freshman fall was easier than high school for me.</p>
<p>Yeah, I still remember “home from college” night, where freshmen at their new colleges would come back to tell my high school’s seniors what college was like. Invariably, they reported that it was much, much easier – except for the MIT kids, but they’re another story.</p>
<p>In fact, thinking back over my schooling, I think I’d probably rank high school and MS2 as the five toughest years.</p>
<p>I’d say with a few exceptions that academically, undergrad was easier than HS. I think med school is harder than both, possibly because a) it really is or b) there’s enough time now between me and tough HS classes that I’ve forgotten how difficult they felt or c) as a semi-adult I now have considerably more life responsibilities than I had during HS or UG. </p>
<p>Although I can assure you, my HS would looooove the ego stroke that it’s more difficult than med.</p>
<p>And yes, mom2, I agree with you–I loved going to an all-girls school (despite my tendency to have more guy friends than girl friends) and would not hesitate to send my future daughter(s) to the same school I attended.</p>
<p>(I also think M1 was harder than M2 has been so far–but I might change my mind come this spring when I’m getting ready for boards, boo)</p>
<p>mcat2,
" Most parents there seem to have the opinion that the money spent at the prep school level gives their loved ones even more value than that spent at the private college level. One "
-The money (not much in our case because of Merit award) that we have spent on D’s private prep. HS (and her private k - 8 - that one was religious, middle school - 4 kids in a class) was absolutely the best thing that we have ever bought with our money. After this HS, we had no doubt that D. will do very well at ANY college of her choice, we did not see any reason at all for very top UG. In fact at several info sessions during D’s HS senior year, it was conveyed to us that since a large percentage of her HS graduates eventually will attend Grad. school, many families take the route of the cheaper public UG and better Grad. School (if it makes sense. In case of Med. School it is not needed as many MD parents of D’s friends knew and this kids are at our local low ranked Med. School, many for free)
In regard to all girsl school, D.'s school was co-ed and she really appreciated that. It also was very small. So, the entire HS (freshmen thru seniors) was very close socially, they mixed very well, no looking down to freshmen. Definitely, HS and UG both matched my D’s needs very well and she ended up graduating #1 (no ranking, no vals, no sals, however, only one person was listed with GPA=4.0 uw on class profile). The littlest money that we spent on D’s k - 12 have resulted in NO tuition pauments for her UG.
In regard to M1 vs M2, D’s blocks were all different in regard to difficulty level. The hardest one was heart/lung/kidney - the last block of the M1. However, she did not feel comfortable with her assigned group for that block which has made it more difficult also. She did not like heart/lung part either, while kidney are one of her favorite. Her M2 had only 2 blocks anyway and she is oficially done, she is MS3.</p>
<p>
It seems that her experience is very different from DS’s before college. His school is always very large from kindergarten to 12th grade. Even his kindergarten class is huge. (I heard at that time that it was the largest kindergarten class in our city.) This is because people/families keep moving into our city and it is always too late to build new schools, at all education levels.</p>
<p>It is only after he was in college that he ever met any students from a private school. </p>
<p>As it is said, there are multiple roads to the Rome.</p>