<p>Hello all, this is my first post in the Pre-Med forum. D has to choose between a full-ride at University of Denver and a full pay at Wash U. Would going to DU disdavantage her in any way when applying to top med schools? BTW she is also waitlisted at UPenn, Dartmouth, Cornell and UChicago. We don't know if any of the waitlists will turn into an acceptance in May/June. She has to accept the Boettcher scholarship by April 20th to get the full ride at DU. So we are in a quandary. Any advice?</p>
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<p>Nope - if she likes the school and can see herself doing well there, she should definitely take it.</p>
<p>Thanks Icarus. Any more opinions? How about bluedevilmike?</p>
<p>Disadvantage her in <em>any</em> way? Sure, I can think of a few. Disadvantage her enough that it means she should attend a school she likes less? Not even close.</p>
<p>Go where you think you’ll be happiest.</p>
<p>I know several DU grads currently applying or attending medical school. Unless she’s in love with another school, my vote is for taking the Boettcher!</p>
<p>Thanks Emily. Do DU grads generally have problems in getting admission to top medical schools? Many people talk about the importance of pedigree. That is why my wife and I are worried. We want to be sure we are not doing a disservice to our D by asking her to take the Boettcher scholarship and attend DU instead of paying big bucks to Wash U.</p>
<p>colodad</p>
<p>She will never regret it. Just having the Boettcher scholarship in her resume will take her to big grad schools. Besides DU prepares them all round and it is a good school - take the Boettcher!!! You will have no regrets!</p>
<p>Generally, “pedigree” is of minimal importance in med school admissions, and certainly overcome by doing well wherever you end up. Moreover, “top” medical school really doesn’t have any demonstrable effect unless your D is planning on some sort of extremely unique medical career. Even then, I’m not sure just how much of a problem it would be to not go to a huge name med school. </p>
<p>I think given the current options in place, unless her heart is completely set on St. Louis, the money has to talk (and maybe even the promise of some assistance from Dear Ole’ Dad during grad school <wink>). Full ride vs. full pay is an awfully big swing.</wink></p>
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Well, this is certainly an exaggeration if it’s even true at all. Having a scholarship on a resume is certainly not going to be enough on its own. It’s not even enough to close the branding gap with a major university. (Fortunately, that gap isn’t very important anyway.)</p>
<p>In fact, I can’t even think of where on a medical school application this would go. I don’t think medical schools will even know; even if they did, they certainly wouldn’t care very much.</p>
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<p>The point isn’t to go to WUSTL. I think if your D prefers DU and if it makes financial sense for your family, it should be perfectly fine. The point is that the name of the scholarship is <em>not</em> a positive reason to go to Denver.</p>
<p>Dammit…that explains it all. I was really counting on that “Class of 1960 Scholarship” I got as an M1 to take me to the residency spot of my dreams!</p>
<p>Haha – no, BRM, you earned that upper-choice residency all on your own. =)</p>
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<p>Again, I really want to emphasize that I think DU might well be the right choice. I really do.</p>
<p>Yes maybe not on the resume but child may get some personal one on one attention in college. Instead one of the same kind in many it may help that it prepares the child for future in some way. As for us all we know is that getting a scholarship as the Boettcher which is well recognized and held in high esteem it may be a wonderful choice. Personally, we know of a couple of students who had that and made it to med school and are very happy. Again it is your call colodad - if you have the money and resources maybe go for it if that is what your D wants - she needs to be happy. Prestige of undergrad education of which college she chooses should not be the deciding factor is all I can say…</p>
<p>Hope all works well</p>
<p>I can agree with the notion that specialized, one-on-one attention can help a lot. I don’t think it’ll duplicate WUSTL’s powerful advising team and highly streamlined system, which has the resources to be both very one-on-one and extremely experienced. (On the other hand, there’s no sense going to a school <em>just</em> for pre-professional advising. WUSTL would cost $160K a year; you could spend $300/hour on a professional consultant and save yourself 95% of that money. That wouldn’t quite be as good as a university’s own team, but it’d be close.)</p>
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<p>Again, I think DU is probably a great choice, especially if that’s the environment your daughter prefers. I just want to make clear that I think there are <em>some</em> things she’d be giving up. Not a lot. Not a major difference-maker. Not enough to swing the decision. But I can’t honestly tell you that I think Denver is going to completely be absolutely identical in every way that matters.</p>
<p>That is so true bluedevilmike!</p>
<p>BTW, D has also got into the honors program at CU Boulder. Thanks to Boettcher ([Boettcher</a> Foundation | Scholarships - Prospective Scholars - Scholarship Program Components](<a href=“http://boettcherfoundation.org/scholarships/prospective/components.html]Boettcher”>http://boettcherfoundation.org/scholarships/prospective/components.html) ) she has a full ride to CU as well. Is CU better than DU for med school admission?</p>
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I doubt it. My understanding is that DU is smaller?</p>
<p>Wow!!! That is good. CU Boulder has a phenomenal dept. Know of people in the top med schools now… prepares you really well…</p>
<p>I do not think school size matters… it is the quality of education. look how many great undergrads berkeley and ucla produce - and all successful!! I would say go with Boulder…definitely for pre med if that is what your D is interested in…Trust me it is a GREAT school! And honors that is GREAT!</p>
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Despite being arguably the most selective two public universities in the country, Berkeley and UCLA have absolutely *horrible *results in medical school admissions. They report being barely above the national average for admissions rates despite having vastly above-average student pools to draw from; in fact, they’re probably considerably below the national average results-wise.</p>