<p>OK we are in the final stages of our decision making process for D. Choice is between University of Denver (DU) and WashU. She has a full ride ( tuition, room & board, books, fees ) at DU but got almost nothing but loans at WashU. D wants to do pre-med. In DU if she decides to do a 5th year in a dual-degree program ( combined BS and MBA ) she will get free tuition for the 5th year. Also, she can even study abroad at no cost to us.</p>
<p>But we all know WashU is a great school. We have appealed for more aid at WashU and they have agreed to review her FA package. We don't know how much they will give us after review. Is WashU worth the $200K price difference?</p>
<p>She is also waitlisted at Dartmouth, UPenn, Cornell and UChicago. Unfortunately there is no telling if she will get off the waitlist in any of those colleges. Even if she does in May or June it will be too late since she has an April 20th deadline for accepting the scholarship at DU.</p>
<p>If it helps, my son is a very happy sophomore at DU. The classes are small and the professors are very accessible and helpful. He loves the resources available in Denver (jobs, internships, cultural life,sports, restaurants etc) and the fact that all kinds of outdoor recreation is available right on the doorstep.</p>
<p>there is no good answer here. . .but FWIW, I live next to washU, my kids graduated from the local high school where many are accepted to into washU, as well as other top tier schools (ivy’s). some stay, but most choose to move on to other universities and colleges. denver is one such school, along with colorado college. they have a great reputation here (amongst our GC’s) and no one fears they will get less of an education. a full ride scholarship is hard to turn down–i would not think twice about turning down washU for one at a school such as denver. that amount of debt is not worth it. BUT, it depends on what you are looking for, right? </p>
<p>We don’t mind taking out big loans for Med School but are wondering if it is worth paying that much for undergrad education. At the same time we are concerned if D will be at a huge disadvantage when applying to top med schools with an undergraduate degree from DU.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who responded. If only we can get some firm answers on that issue ( ie going to DU will not put our D at a disadvantage vis-a-vis somene graduating from Harvard, Princteon, MIT, Duke or WUSTL when applying to TOP med schools ) that will put our mind at ease. </p>
<p>boysx3, would you happen to know about undergraduate research opportunities at DU? How does it compare with UG research opportunities at CU Boulder?</p>
<p>There is a board for pre-med students, studentdoctor.net, I believe, that is similiar to CC but gears toward med school app (check pre- allopathic forums). Its not too early to check that out, and maybe ask re med school question there.
It is important, no matter where your undergrad degree, that you follow getting the right courses for pre med, prep for MCATs , volunteer in a hospital, shadow an MD(s) , get in research, and keep your grades competitive. These will be important, particularly MCAT and grades, in just getting app looked at. Then, if you are lucky, you are selected to interview. Not everyone even gets that offer. So do check out that site.
Also check each undergraduate school’s rates for admissions to med school, as well as how much they guide their students through that admissions maze.</p>
<p>Having gone through both the college and med school admission processes, the med school process was foreign to us and S- who is 3rd year med student- would do a few things a bit differently.
Good luck!</p>
<p>Also, it is one thing to have a 4/20 deadline for scholarship acceptance and and another to be firmly committed to attend prior to the 5/1 deadline. </p>
<p>We had a similar situation. I called the school that had offered the generous scholarship and found that, of course, son would not be held to anything required prior to 5/1; they hoped he would attend and would appreciate notice at the earliest opportunity if he changed his mind.</p>
<p>She will be a star at U of Denver and get great grades, which are necessary for medical school. I vote for Denver. For those same reasons, my son has chosen Santa Clara.</p>
<p>Take a look at the med school acceptance rates of each school. They are usually listed somewhere on the website- under pre- med advising maybe. </p>
<p>My inclination is that a WUSTL degree is not a significant advantage over Denver for Med school admission- the grades and test scores count most. </p>
<p>Having visited WUSTL I would say that I don’t think it’s worth the extra 200K. It’s a fine school, but not that fine compared to a full ride at Denver.</p>
<p>Med school admissions is really all about four things:a strong MCAT score, overall GPA and Science/Math GPA, strong medicine related ECs, and strong letters of recommendation. Where she went to undergrad is not going to hurt her, only her level of performance once she gets there matters.</p>
<p>Five years ago my son turned down Yale, Wash U, and other “more prestigious” schools to attend UNC on a Morehead scholarship. He is now finishing his first year at a top ten med school and unlike most of his classmates was not carrying huge undergrad debt BEFORE adding even more signifiacnt med school debt. Incidentally three of his UNC friends/classmates are now in their first year at JHU, Harvard and Baylor Med schools. Another friend from HS attended Harvard undergrad and is attending one of the second tier med schools in Texas;he didn’t get into the top two, Baylor or UTSouthwestern. </p>
<p>There are several students in his class from small church affiliated LACs in the midwest that I honestly had never heard of. DU is a far more well known school than any of the schools I mentioned.</p>
<p>Med school is VERY expensive and there is little to no scholarship money it is mostly loans. Save your money and help her with med school.</p>
<p>Actually D has also got admission to the honors college at the University of Colorado at Boulder, again a full ride thanks to Boettecher scholarship. Would that be a better school than University of Denver? CU is a state school but well known for its research. DU is a private school. I don’t want to rule out CU yet because it is a state school.</p>
<p>My son had been accepted to honors at Boulder but felt the campus was just too big–the dorms were big and not conveniently located, the classes were big, even the honors program was big.</p>
<p>He has had all very small classes at DU–his biggest class was about 50 and had 4 sections for smaller group discussion. Even in that class he never had problems going in to talk to the professor. Many of his classes have had about 12 students, almost all have been under 20 or so.</p>
<p>I think if your student is looking at med school, a smaller environment might be better from the perspective of getting to know professors for internships and lettrs of recommendation.</p>
<p>Any thoughts about these two schools? Especially academics? Our son got into both. He understands the block system. But did get a nice scholarship and honors program at DU. However he does not know what his major will be. He just knows he wants to be in Colorado!
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>As for DU vs WAsh U…I am a physician, and I can definitely say that getting into med school is all about grades and MCAT scores. So your child should go where she and you feel will be best for the family and individual circumstances.</p>
<p>The only thing that bothers me about CU is that most students move off campus after Freshman year. I really made it a priority that my kids have a school where they will stay on campus two years. I felt that they needed that time to mature before making decisions such as buying food, cooking it, making rent and such.</p>
<p>I also worried about eating disorders if my D was not on campus. It’s very easy to scrimp and not take time for meals when they are harder to procure. JMHO</p>
<p>Send her to DU or CU Boulder - will NEVER regret it! Both colleges have produced students for good Med schools. I presume your D works hard and is sincere. That is all that counts.</p>
<p>Agree with eadad 100%: “Med school admissions is really all about four things:a strong MCAT score, overall GPA and Science/Math GPA, strong medicine related ECs, and strong letters of recommendation. Where she went to undergrad is not going to hurt her, only her level of performance once she gets there matters.”</p>
<p>Most pre-med students are best served by following the merit money for undergrad and attending their state flagship for med school. DH went to Honors program at a Big 10 University; I took a scholarship to a small liberal arts college–we both met at our state flagship med school. It still took us 10 years to pay off our educational debts. Most of his department at a certain world-famous clinic also took this route–not a Harvard or Yale grad among them, but several Big 10 schools and small midwest liberal arts college grads are represented.</p>
<p>A top student at DU will get more internships, research opportunities, and mentoring than a middling student at WashU, even putting aside that med school is going to cost another $200k+.</p>
<p>I think this is a no-brainer, both educationally and financially.</p>