Ivy vs. State School is a decision you have to make if you actually get that choice. Unless there is an Ivy admit you haven’t mentioned, I don’t see any need to make a decision yet.
In any case, if you go the state school route, there’s nothing that says that you can’t graduate early, and then, if med school admissions results aren’t satisfactory, try again the next year (and maybe do more research or pick up a masters as well).
Was typing my long response LOL they are no Sho Yano @PurpleTitan! Just very mature and motivated and actually love math and science. Never even looked at Cornell for who mentioned that THANK YOU will def. check. & we have made many mistakes along the way by not paying attention just going with the flow. Do not want to do that again. @muchtolearn an Ivy will cost more each year and will require more years so its a big $$$ difference for us. State school would barely cost us anything due to scholarships and the fact they only need 3 semesters max.
I see some people think we’re pushing or rushing but believe me don’t want them to be a Doctor. I think its too much school, too much $$$, and mentally draining to deal with the possibility of patients dying 
and the salary def. not worth it, esp. considering the cost of education and years of your life. I do not think its a good choice of a career esp. today. Our Doctor quit after Obamacare went into effect!!! However we have a child that is determined. I keep trying to talk them out of it but I think they will be a surgeon. They are however not sure about Ivy vs. State University. Want to make the best choice.
@GMTplus7 I did not know if they wanted to go to a Ivy League or higher level med school if they should go ivy for undergrad? However that being said we are very happy with the med school choices in our state. I just don’t want to be cheap and they pay for it for the rest of their lives because we didn’t send them Ivy as an undergrad. Some DR friends say that it all builds on itself so you should go to the best school you can get into.
If he is determined to be a doctor, I frankly don’t see much benefit to an Ivy/equivalent for undergrad.
However
The only thing I think of after reading this thread is The Tortoise and the Hare.
Who won?
You think state school would still get you into Ivy Med School with right gpa and MCAT? Wanted to decide somewhat on if they should consider Ivy because you need to do those SAT in Chemistry and Biology that you don’t have to do for State University. Also would need to make plans to visit schools over the summer – $ and time. Not to mention the special application and essays. Trying to get an idea now if we should bother.
LOL @HappyDaze good point but the tortoise will have to repeat a lot of courses they don’t like, which possibly those AA type courses could bring down the GPA, and take a lot more time and $$$, and that horrible weather! They may have giant issues with the weather up North. If they didn’t want to do medical school then a few more years of college would not be such a big issue. However if you want to do med school and all those residencies you can be in school/ residency for YEARS!!! You may find yourself later on feeling old wanting to stop because you are ready to be done with residencies so you may do something lesser to finish sooner. Time and $$$ are big considerations. I think I need to see if they could get into the highest level med schools with right GPA and MCAT score coming from state university. I did not look into that. & realizing typing this to you they may not be a straight A student in the lower level classes at an Ivy like they have been at the local college and if its simply GPA we need to think about that. I have some research to do but this is pointing me in the proper direction! I have a tendency to want to find reasons for state school because that is my selfish preference. I need to be more objective about what an Ivy can do for you.
If s/he has the grades, test scores and ECs, I would apply to both State schools and private schools and see what s/he is admitted to. Much of the time, the schools will simplify the decision for you.
If you have the choice to make, then the medical school acceptance rates are higher from Ivies, but it will be very competitive to be a top student. You should visit them and see what is better for your situation.
The Ivy approach is better for students who thrive on challenge and pressure, and rise to the occasion. If you need to be the smartest person in the room, don’t go the Ivy route. If you don’t handle pressure well, do not go the Ivy route. The competition and the work load are incredibly different from community college.
@Much2learn I was just talking myself into state school again LOL Okay realizing I need to look more into the med school part of this. They are very self motivated which worries me, they obviously overdid it in high school, they may work way too hard in an Ivy. They DO thrive on challenge and pressure but because they work harder then anybody else. Obviously very intelligent but they put in the work. They are very studious and dedicated. Lots of research ahead of me but I think yall have pointed me in a great direction of what I need to look into. Thank you!!!
I think having 90 college units does not give an excellent chance to be admitted to any school.
He may be admitted to some selective schools but not any.
Why having relatives living near the colleges is a factor for you or your son?
Why this preoccupation with Ivies? About half of the top med schools aren’t Ivies (same with the top undergraduate schools).
In any case, I think that the chips will fall where they may. For someone committed to the med school route, it’s hard for me to see the advantage of Ivies/equivalents. In any case, there are all sorts of options out there (like full-tuition scholarships at Emory/Duke/Tulane/MiamiBWake, etc.) as well as guaranteed admission programs.
You are sadly mistaken if you think some of your sons AP courses, which you deem to be CC equivalent are anywhere near top Uni’s or LAC’s classes. Graduating after 2 or 3 semesters leaves no time for research or any meaningful EC’s. That plan is almost a guarantee of a ZEROpercent chance of getting into ANY med school.
@HappyDaze, nothing says that you can’t do research & EC’s after graduation.
Of course, but in the OP they are giving timelines of graduating UG at 20 and starting med school at 21.
Check the policies at each schools as some schools do not accept college credits taken while enrolled in high school.
Harvard states
“@GMTplus7 I did not know if they wanted to go to a Ivy League or higher level med school if they should go ivy for undergrad? However that being said we are very happy with the med school choices in our state. I just don’t want to be cheap and they pay for it for the rest of their lives because we didn’t send them Ivy as an undergrad. Some DR friends say that it all builds on itself so you should go to the best school you can get into.”
I don’t think you understand. The doctor who goes to state school and a state med school doesn’t get one penny more from Blue Cross Blue Shield or Aetna than the doctor who goes to Harvard undergrad and Harvard med. The patient population is the same and the everyday lifestyle is the same. Med school is “flat.” It doesn’t matter all that much. What do you think would be so different about an “Ivy” med school?
And why do you call out Ivies specifically, versus just elite private school? The Ivies are not the best private u’s. They are merely 8 of them bound together in an athletic conference.
There are a lot of colleges between “Ivy” and “State School”.
And if this student is that brilliant, with high GPA and stats, there are also schools where he or she would get terrific merit aid.
I suggest you broaden your student’s horizons a bit.
Did I miss this student’s ACT or SAT score?
I’m not sure I understand the rush to complete college and medical school.
Any kid mature enough to be contemplating med school at age 21 ought to be figuring out his/her OWN plan for forging forward, perhaps with parental help on finances, i.e. how much can you afford in total for his/her education and logistics, i.e. a trip North to see if the weather is indeed a major factor or just a minor “nice to have”.
I’m baffled at a parent who claims to be discouraging med school on an accelerated path and yet seems so highly involved in the weeds here.
OP- if your kid is ready to take this on, explain that it’s time for you to back off and let him/her prove his maturity by figuring out how to execute the plan. Otherwise, you are just enabling some fantasy and magical thinking here.
The finances are your piece to own. But the research on how many credits and how to optimize admissions belong to the student. And there is more to becoming a physician than “book-learning”-- med schools don’t discriminate on the basis of age, but the type of maturity required even during training (explaining to a parent that their child has died during a surgical procedure; telling a child that a seemingly healthy 40 year old parent will not recover from a stroke) isn’t often found in someone without a lot of life experience.
For the cc regulars, I think the OP is using Ivy in the sense of top private colleges. I don’t think they mean to exclude JHU, Stanford, Duke, WUSTL et al. That is how I read it, anyway.
"I don’t think you understand. The doctor who goes to state school and a state med school doesn’t get one penny more from Blue Cross Blue Shield or Aetna than the doctor who goes to Harvard undergrad and Harvard med. The patient population is the same and the everyday lifestyle is the same. Med school is “flat.” It doesn’t matter all that much. What do you think would be so different about an “Ivy” med school?’
What is different are the admission rates to medical school.
S/he gets a lot more if s/he got into medical school by attending a place with a higher rate of med school admissions instead of saving money and getting rejected from a less competitive school.
For a student with this level of preparation, and the cost of medical school in the future, I think that going to the state flagship, but planning to spend 2 or 3 years rather than 2 or 3 semesters would be a good route. Organic chemistry for majors is listed as a junior-level course at a number of universities, but the chemistry majors typically take it in the sophomore year. After that, a fairly standard curriculum includes a year of physical chemistry with lab, a semester or a year of analytical chemistry with lab, and a semester or a year of inorganic chemistry with lab. The inorganic chemistry is not the freshman-level qualitative/quantitative analysis course, but one that uses group theory and quantum mechanics.
In mathematics, a reasonably good chemistry major will need multi-variable calculus and differential equations. A good chemistry major should add partial differential equations and boundary value problems, complex variable theory, and Fourier analysis. Abstract algebra and real analysis are nice to have.
In physics, the introductory sequence with lab is adequate for a chemistry major, but stronger chem majors will take higher-level physics as well, including classical mechanics (higher level than Phys 1), optics, modern physics, and perhaps quantum mechanics.
Spending 2 or 3 years at the state flagship has multiple advantages for a pre-med:
If your son goes to a top-level school, although he may be taking some general ed courses with the same titles as the ones he has already taken, he will by no means be repeating the work.