<p>Two physician couple, one a low earner (me–peds), one a very high earner. Neither of our kids wants to go to med school though we both love our jobs. We’re on the West Coast but both are originally Midwesterners, both are state school kids, and I agree that that colors our opinions about college, grad school and debt. Our D went to a small private college but will transfer to a state school because she needs to be nearer home and because her smaller school did not have enough breadth of majors. Our S wants a big school, which probably means a public. Our kids get merit aid but otherwise we’re full pay. </p>
<p>Agree that there’s a regional factor, a debt factor and a personal history factor, though we were/are open to any kind of school for our kids and can afford it. The only thing we don’t have strong feelings about is prestige. I think that does come from our Midwestern roots.</p>
<p>I’m in CA. My doc’s daughter is a senior in HS right now, and in the process of applying to colleges. She is a top student (GPA was in the paper…included in the article about her athletic prowess). Her dream school: UC San Diego. She has no interest in Ivy League schools or really anything in the east. Wants to major in bio something.</p>
<p>My dentist’s girl goes to Loyola Marymount in LA, her 2nd choice. Her first choice was Chapman University, also in So. Cal.</p>
<p>*I have heard about the white coat ceremonies- I don’t remember one in my day. You already made it into medical school, why make a big deal. *</p>
<p>From Wiki:</p>
<p>WCCs originated in University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine in 1989,[3] but the first full-fledged ceremony was at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.[3]</p>
<p>So, it looks like the custom started after you went to med school.</p>
<p>Not doctors here, but we hit on each of these. We live in the SW and are paying full freight for a stellar high school education at Choate (where many kids have Ivy lust), but ChoatieKid’s dream U’s don’t include any Ivies though one of us attended an Ivy grad school. In the reach-likely-safety mix, Choate requires all students to apply to their state flagship; ours basically takes all comers, but it does have an honors college that looks better to us every day given that it would spare the 529 funds for grad school. We value education highly, but feel the best bang for our buck is a great high school education that will prepare kiddo well for any university. We’d love to see him go to U-Mich (our alma mater), but OOS tuition gives us pause when grad school may be in the picture and, ultimately, we’re not the ones determining where he should go. We’re trusting our son and Choate to craft the best list of colleges for his ability and passion and are not driven by USNWR rankings. We know he’ll do fine wherever he ends up. (He’s also considering one of the service academies.)</p>
<p>“WCCs originated in University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine in 1989”</p>
<p>No kidding?! I’m very surprised to hear that because I was at my sister’s WCC at Pritzker in 1995, and it seemed like a very established tradition at that time. I guess these things take hold quick.</p>
<p>I guess that’s why I don’t remember any white coat ceremony in the 80’s…But then I don’t remember much of ANY thing from those last two years of med school. Except not sleeping. And the first cases of HIV.</p>
<p>I am new to this discussion, but I find it very germane to our family’s discussions throughout 2013. Our daughter just started college this month. She would like to attend medical school, but we all recognize that this path may easily add $300K in graduate education expenses alone. In my own experience, it is often true that schools with great academic prestige open more doors and promote one’s professional possibilities in the field of medicine. However, it really seems that the order of priority is Fellowship program>Residency program>Medical School>College. So with this in mind, the senior high school year of college applications quickly evolved from the the allure (often vicarious) of prestigious university acceptances to the primary issue of best fit and optimal value. The major question for us was ‘What college can provide a solid foundation in the sciences while matching our daughter’s requirements for an excellent humanities program, honors curriculum, motivated student body, moral atmosphere, as well as pleasant campus and location?’ Fortunately, she chose a school which showed her a lot of love. She is delighted with her program and university. We are happy to save her 529 for the graduate program of her choice.</p>
<p>My husband and I are both physicians and our three kids are all at the state flagship (midwest). The oldest looked at privates and out of state publics but none of us (including my son) could justify the price. One reason is just being pragmatic Midwesterners raised by depression era parents who taught us to look for value. Secondly, when in training for years and years unless you come from wealth (we did not) you are really scrimping by which got us in the habit of being careful of our spending. </p>
<p>In our neck of the woods, attending an Ivy or such is more of a curiosity than a race that starts in the womb. In fact it is interesting that our flagship’s admission standards have become restrictive enough that people in our town are impressed that our kids got in as freshman. </p>
<p>It’s not all about the costs but the vast opportunities for research, faculty interaction, many fields of study, extracurricular organizations, diversity all factored into the decisions. We were both in academics for awhile so we appreciate that research in particular fosters learning and curiosity.</p>
<p>Speaking as a full pay private college physician mom, I’m not sure what we would have done if our children were (potentially) med school bound, which neither of them are. Always knew DS would go to STEM grad school (which will be funded) so knew that college was the last thing we would be ‘providing’ for him. Same holds for DD.</p>
<p>Thinking through, it’s quite possible that we would have advised/directed them differently if we knew med school expenses was on the horizon. Unfortunately, state flagship (even the Honors) is nothing to write home about.</p>
<p>BTW, another one here who graduated with large student debt from med school (>200K by the time I started paying it back 20 years ago), made low end of the MD scale in income for >15 years, then had to get creative in funding college for DS once I realized the 30K we’d proudly saved in his 529 was going to cover one semester :D.</p>
<p>Regarding MD moonlighting, I have known not an insignificant number who have done this so it is not an uncommon thing. As one such person told me, there’s a lot out there in the community if you start looking. Some of it is even kinda fun in that it’s different from my usual work and a lot of it fills a real need, esp out in the smaller communities.</p>
<p>Addendum: Not even sure what a white coat ceremony exactly is, but have a vague recollection of something involving a white coat (Pre '89 Pritzker grad).</p>
<p>OP: “Just an observation, but a number of the top students from our high school who are the sons and daughters of physicians are in the honors program at the state flagship.” </p>
<p>It really depends on what those students plan to major in, how much financial aid they will need, if they are mature enough to leave home, if they have family support, etc. </p>
<p>I am pretty sure that almost any university, including community colleges, in the nation has children of physicians in attendance. </p>
<p>I think a better question is: “where would a physician or Medical specialist encourage his children to attend if those children were in a Pre-Med type Major?”<br>
And the answer will most likely be as individual as all of the replies seen so far. </p>
<p>Though if you ask this same question on the Johns Hopkins University or Harvard University Boards: “How many of JHU or Harvard students of parents in the medical field and who are planning to pursue medical school were encouraged to study at these two schools as an undergrad?” Then that would be an interesting question. I would imagine the number would be high because those those schools, with the top medical schools in the nation, also have a higher than average acceptance rate into medical school… though they are also extremely competitive, so it is not easy to gain acceptance. </p>
<p>I know of several children of surgeons, physician, etc at both of those schools mentioned who started college in a science pre-med related majors. </p>
<p>Honestly, as competitive as medical school acceptance is, it is probably better to attend a school whose finances you can manage, where you can obtain the highest GPA possible and where you may have some sort of connections to help move onward. </p>
<p>Just because one or two families chose one path does not mean that is the best path for your situation.</p>
<p>*Addendum: Not even sure what a white coat ceremony exactly is, but have a vague recollection of something involving a white coat (Pre '89 Pritzker grad).
*</p>
<p>It somewhat resembles a graduation. Parents/relatives/friends in attendance. The students process in (and later out) of the hall. (The students even had a WCC rehearsal the day before.)</p>
<p>Each student goes up to the stage and a faculty member puts a white coat on the student. The white coat has the school’s emblem and the student’s name embroidered on it. There are guest speakers and a keynote speaker. </p>
<p>The students recite a pledge. </p>
<p>My son’s med school hosted a dinner the night before. Our family and our son’s Godparents (who flew in for the weekend) attended. We’re a family of engineers, so our son is the first to go to med school…so it was a big deal for my family.</p>
<p>From what I understand, most med schools host White Coat Ceremonies now.</p>
<p>The students are to wear the white coat (and professional apparel) on their hospital days.</p>
<p>*I think a better question is: “where would a physician or Medical specialist encourage his children to attend if those children were in a Pre-Med type Major?”
And the answer will most likely be as individual as all of the replies seen so far. *</p>
<p>Yes, that may have been the better question. The answers might vary according to how affluent each physician family is, how many kids each has, and how academically strong each child is.</p>
<p>My H and I were married when he started med school. At that time I think they just handed the students their coats and told them to get to class.</p>
<p>It’s probably different in different parts of the country. The NE has no confidence in their state schools. Other than that, I’d expect a lot of flagships.</p>
<p>My H and I were married when he started med school. At that time I think they just handed the students their coats and told them to get to class.</p>
<p>lol :)</p>
<p>What I thought was nice was that the SOM presented 2 awards to past graduates who’ve dedicated part/all of their medical careers to service to others. The award is named after a past grad who was murdered in Yemen during a volunteer effort there.</p>
<p>Further OT, I know, but are the white coats still short, or are they long “lab coats”? Ours were short, no name on them, which would have probably added to the cost of having several. If I recall correctly, they could be pretty disgusting after a day or two. In those days we did our own urinalysis, blood smears, stool samples, CSF cell counts, spun down blood samples, and sed rates. Does anybody know if medical students still do that?</p>
When my H was attending an Ivy medical school in the 70’s his tuition was $3150 per year. 10 years later, the same school was charging $12,500!! He did not have any student debt (all expenses paid by his parents).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Plus the physician’s family background, upbringing.</p>
<p>My kids are physician’s kids. Both H and I attended private schools from first grade so we sent ours to private schools from first grade through grad school. However, as much as my H loves his job, I am relieved none of my kids wanted to go into medicine.
Of our physician friends’ kids who have gone into medicine, a huge majority are daughters. Easy to go part-time later and easy re-entry into full time when the kids are grown.
BTW, my S is engaged to a physician with a huge debt load.</p>