I’m in a sort of dilemma. It has always been my dream to get into medical school and I have finalized my undergrad choices down to the University of Michigan and Furman University. I know University of Michigan is much more competitive, but has more research. On the other hand, Furman offers a more personalized education, is less competitive, and has a higher percentage medical school placement. To add to this tough decision, I have been offered a full ride to the University of Michigan. So anyways, can anyone help me to better clarify the pros and cons of going to either school. Also why is Michigan’s medical school placement rate only 55%. Yes, I know they allow anyone who wants to apply to medical school to apply, but I was under the impression that everyone in Michigan on the pre-health track is considered a competitive applicant. Why do so many people at Michigan not get into medical school despite being offered all the incredible resources?
Not everyone from Michigan is competitive applicant. Since the school doesn’t pre-screen applicants (via withholding a health profession committee letter or making it clear that the committee will not recommend them), applicants who are not competitive will apply.
(Yes, people who have no business applying to med school do every year, because everyone thinks they’re the exception…One adcomm on another discussion board talks about having applications with MCAT scores in 10th percentile and below 2,0 GPAs coming across his desk. People are endless optimistic and utterly clueless.)
Additionally there are all sort of things that can trip an applicant up–poorly written personal statements, sloppy secondary essays, shallow reasons for wanting to go into medicine (money, prestige, parental pressure), a lack of due diligence in researching what schools to apply to, lukewarm LORs, insufficient service to others, poor interviewing skills, boorish behavior on interview day…the list is endless.
Applying as a competitive applicant does not guarantee one will be gain an acceptance. In fact, some 12-13% of applicants with GPAs >3.9 and MCATs >517 failed to be accepted into med school last year.
https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstablea23.pdf
For an unscreened pool, 55% is actually very good and higher than the national average med school acceptance rate of 40%.
BTW, U Michigan is the #3 largest supplier of med school applicants in the entire US–815 applicants for the current cycle. (Only UCLA and Florida supply more)
https://www.aamc.org/download/493728/data/factstablea2.pdf
D2 spent 2 years working for U Michigan SOM before she left her job to begin med school herself. U Mich undergrad is fiercely competitive, but the med school-- and all the opportunities it offers-- is right on campus.
If U Michigan is truly a free ride for you (free tuition & fees, free room & board), go there. work hard, avail yourself of the all the resources the university has to offer, and graduate debt-free from college. Your future self will thank you.
Medical school is horrendously expensive (average tuition is now $60K/year. With fees, books and living expenses, the costs can easily run $85-100K /year.) And unlike undergrad, there is very little merit aid and you’ll be taking out HUGE loans to pay for your education.
This is a no brainer. Full ride at Michigan and don’t look back.
I can’t see a full ride to Michigan is going to fail in med school application. And I am surprised that Michigan even offer a full ride, it’s a public university you know.
University of Michigan meets full need for all accepted instate students…so it’s not surprising to me at all that a student could have a full ride there.
In addition, they have a smaller number of competitive merit scholarships.
The school is well endowed, and very generous with need based aid.
To the OP…take the Michigan offer. It’s a great school, and your cost to attend can’t be beat!
Ignore medical school “placement” rates. There is no agreed definition as to what constitutes a pre-med student, so many colleges apply their own definitions which make their placement rates look good.
A full-ride at Michigan is amazing; congratulations-and matriculate!
While you will get an excellent education at both, unless Furman is offering SUBSTANTIAL merit money, going to Michigan makes more sense. Furman has great research resources and incredible rates for med school acceptance but you pay for that unless you are getting good merit. If you are already an excellent student and you will work hard, you will likely be part of that 55%. Save your money for med school.