<p>Hi! I am debating between a full ride to USC (trustee scholarship) and Columbia University.
My goal is to go to Med School, and I am really confused!</p>
<p>Is Columbia worth the money? My parents can afford it, but they think I should save the money for med school. I also got a research grant and 2 guaranteed summer research opportunities at Columbia. And it's so hard to give up on that!</p>
<p>But I LOVE LA, and I live in California, so USC would be close to home. I also got in to the Thematic Option Honors program at USC, so I know I would be challenged there as well.</p>
<p>Go to USC. The way things are going in the world right now, it seems to make sense to conserve resources. I don’t mean to sound all “gloom and doom” but you have a great opportunity there, it is a great school, and you will save a ton on travel costs in addition to everything else.</p>
<p>When you are applying for jobs, the hospital will not care where you went for undergrad. I know it’s hard to pass up on an Ivy League school, but you will get a great education at USC, and you will be able to get into a great med school, and won’t have debt.</p>
<p>You will most likely get a higher GPA (which is good for med school) at USC while still being challenged. But Columbia is a great university. Make sure that you visit both to help you decide, and good luck!</p>
<p>D has decided to save her college money, attend either USC or Vanderbilt (she was offered great scholarships at both and hasn’t quite decided which she will attend), and then she hopes… go to med school at Columbia! I won’t pressure her but have to say I am very much in favor of this plan.</p>
<p>Also, I am sure you will be able to find great summer internships through USC, as well. Good luck!</p>
<p>Sigh, what a wonderful dilemma to have…
It depends on how comfortable your family will be financially speaking if you go to Columbia. If they’re living comfortably and can also afford to pay for your grad school fees, then go ahead with Columbia. It really depends what percentage of your family’s income will be used to pay for your undergrad education.</p>
<p>I know plenty of SC grads in med school right now. People think where you go dictates your post UG educational opportunities, when really it’s more about your GPA, test scores, recs and involvement than school. A good GPA and career at USC is so much better than an OK GPA from an Ivy</p>
<p>A note on the Trustee Scholarship at USC: The Trustee Scholarship is a full-tuition scholarship, not a full-ride scholarship. The Trustee covers tuition-only - you will still be responsible for room, board, books, transportation and expenses, and those items will add up to between $14,000 - $16,000/year.</p>
<p>Go to columbia no brainer. Like alamemon said, USC will still cost you some money even with that scholarship. Take columbia over USC in my general opinion. Also, columbia’s admission rate is the only other college besides harvard to have a percentage of less than 7%. Not many people on earth have your chance to attend. I don’t think you should pass it up, especially with those research opps already guaranteed too. Seems like a no brainer to me.</p>
<p>If I were you, I’d go to USC. It’s a full ride…and if you want to go to med school, it doesn’t matter where you went to undergrad. All that matters is your GPA, MCAT, and volunteer work. At USC and Los Angeles, you’ll be able to find lots of opportunities to work in the health field.</p>
<p>Edit:** Even if it’s just free tuition, it’s a whole lot cheaper than Columbia.</p>
<p>Housing is ~$15k a year while the CoA is ~55k at Columbia.</p>
<p>15 x 4 = $60k
55 x 4 = $220k</p>
<p>Columbia costs $160,000 more for the same piece of paper that says “Bachelor of Science in the major of Biology”</p>
<p>USC is a very respectable school and is prestigious if you live in Southern California. No Med School is going to accept an applicant solely on the reason that you went to one school over another.</p>
<p>You’re going to have major debt coming out of med school. Wouldn’t you rather have all that money you saved from undergrad to help pay it off?</p>
<p>Oh, and housing at USC is not 15k. Last fall semester I was charged about 25k in total. 20k was tuition, 3.7k was housing, and the rest was fees for classes, labs, the student health center, and programming fees to pay for the events that USC and the USG hold for students.</p>
<p>I was on the admissions committee for a top 25 medical school for 2 years. USC is a top 25 school and is well respected across the nation(east coast and west coast). Wherever you go, you will have to post some big numbers in college just like you did in high school. A 3.8 from USC and a 3.8 from Columbia are the same when you are applying to medical school. Of course, a 3.8 from a third tier school is NOT the same–but that doesn’t apply to you.</p>
<p>Why not save your money for medical school? In this economy, everything is uncertain. Money matters. Yes, USC is not “free” but a bargain with the Trustee scholarship. In medicine, you do NOT want to start your medical career in a great debt if you can avoid it.</p>
<p>Disclaimer…this is obviously what my family decided…so I am am biased. Our son is turning down a full ride from a top 100 state school and turning down Harvard to go to USC on the Trustee. Other important factor, of course, is the fact he actually LIKES USC more than Harvard. So, I think I should say…Fight on…:)</p>
<p>Best of luck in your decision making…obviously, wherever you go…you will be successful.</p>
<p>I have been a teeny bit misquoted! I am NOT advocating going to a full-pay school when a $42,000-per-year scholarship is available to an excellent school, I was pointing out that the scholarship is not a “full-ride.” I did not want the OP to be shocked to find there were costs involved with attending USC.</p>
<p>I have not stated that “housing is 15k.” USC’s cost of attendance for 2011-2012 is $57,876. $42,162 is tuition, the rest is (as I listed above) room, board (“board” is food), books, transportation and expenses. Many of those items will not be billed by colleges, but they will be expenses for the year nevertheless. The amount each student will spend will vary, but the estimates are pretty close in my experience. Especially for freshmen, the parents pay for many items (such as transportation), so the student is somewhat unaware. The difference between the cost of attendance of $57,876 and the amount covered by the Trustee scholarship, $42,162, is $15,714. That is not a “full ride,” but it is an excellent deal.</p>
<p>Yeah, I really don’t like USC’s “fee estimates” because they tend to make the school look a lot more expensive than it really is, especially for CA residents. (I think this is where the “spoiled” stereotype still comes in, sadly…)</p>
<p>When you don’t live in the dorms, cost of living goes down considerably. Tuition is the one fee you can’t budge on (unless you’re part time), but my “extra fees” when I left USC housing were, lower. Similarly, if you’re coming from somewhere in CA, you won’t be paying high transportation costs to get to and from school. I’m dealing with this right now with USC grad school, who quotes even higher prices for transportation and miscellaneous costs. All I’ll have to do is drive 15-20 minutes in the morning twice a week and my housing is pretty affordable.</p>
<p>What I’m saying is…try to estimate the costs based on your personal situation and don’t use USC’s inflated estimates as an indicator of its total cost. You will find it is still much cheaper than Columbia and worth more of your time and money – as someone said, you’ll end up saving money for the same piece of paper that all well-regarded med schools will consider equally.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone, this has been really useful. I think I’m leaning towards USC, but I am going to visit Columbia before I make my final decision.</p>
