<p>I disagree with crouton's comments. NU may very well be worth 100 k a year if that's where the individual wants to go. It is all about name recognition in many instances. U of Chicago consistently ranks higher than Northwestern, however Northwestern has a more recognizable name and U of C could just be like University of Omaha or University of Milwaukee,etc to a lot of people. All these Universities are excellent and undergraduate work is not much different in any of them. The difference is Graduate school and coming from certain schools, certainly carries more weight at the time of your acceptance to a Graduate program.</p>
<p>Notsomuch...NU doesn't have an undergraduate business school.</p>
<p>Notsomuch: You obviously are very well qualified and might be eligible for merit money at Wisc. Opportunities and quality are equal at Wisc. and NU. Forget the perception of prestige. Your character will matter more than the decal on your rear window. Explore any merit/honors programs at Wisc., save your money for med school, and use some of it to help your mom.</p>
<p>If you are a Wisconsin resident, have you looked into the Medical Scholars program at UW- Madison? About 400 people apply each year and 40 are accepted. It guarantees you admittance into their med school if you keep a minimum grade point after 3 years (also saving you another year's tuition.)</p>
<p>Medical school costs $160K - something else to think about.</p>
<p>"Kellogg School of Management anyone?"</p>
<p>Kellogg School of Management is a graduate business school</p>
<p>however, kellogg is beginning to introduce a kellogg certificate program to undergrads, who, if accepted to the program, will be able to take a few graduate-level kellogg classes and receive notation of doing so on their diplomas.</p>
<p>It will be indisputable that a northwestern's kellogg-certificate program will be seen as much more prestigious than a degree from the ross school of business at umich, however the program will be small and highly selective, so it is not really comparable to the larger business program at umich.</p>
<p>Given that the odds of getting into UW with a 3.4-3.5 gpa and under a 24 ACT are less than 20% and the Wisconsin papers have been full of complaints of residents getting rejected often with much higher stats, I am calling BS on that claim unless they have some VERY unusual other things going for them or are in an underserved minority group.</p>
<p>Or they are a power forward who can score and a strong safety.</p>
<p>It's a good question and will be a tough decision. I also had uncommon savings for somebody my age and probably could have decided upon a less expensive option. My 18-year-old self, however, wouldn't hear of it, and I ended up spending 4 excellent years at NU.</p>
<p>I had a wondeful and fulfilling experience, both academically and socially, but that doesn't mean that, in your case, it's worth the extra $120k in tuition, books, and cost of living, especially if your goal is medical school.</p>
<p>I ended up at an Ivy for my master's and will start a PhD program at a decent program in the fall. Do I think that Northwestern played a hefty role in these successes? Absolutely, as a student with my grades from a lesser school probably would not have been given the benefit of the doubt to the extent that I have. </p>
<p>That being said, my MA classmates graduated from schools as wide-ranging as Harvard, University College of London, and Georgia Tech. </p>
<p>If your choice was between Northwestern and Indiana State, I might say that it would be prudent to consider shelling out the extra cash for the better professors, smaller classes, and stronger alumni connections. Wisconsin, however, while not as selective as NU, will give you every bit as high quality an academic experience, assuming that you can cut through the bureaucratic red tape that ultimately goes along with being one of 30,000 students. </p>
<p>From a purely academic point of view, your pre-med prerequisites will not be any easier at Wisconsin than they would be at NU, and medical schools are well aware of this.</p>
<p>I would encourage anybody who desires to go to Northwestern to do so, as it was absolutely the right place for me, and it was an investment worth making. That being said, ~$200k can work hard for you if invested prudently, and as somebody who had similar sums at that age, I would take a long, hard look at the cheaper option before making a final decision.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot WildLion; the most thought provoking advice I have read.</p>
<p>Some people may disagree with this statement, but I feel that ANYONE that is admitted to NU or the Ivies could easily find a full ride or at least full tuition at a lower ranked university. And no, I'm not talking about Hamburger U or Western Alabama State Community College - there are many schools on the top 100 list that would gladly have a top 25 caliber student come study for free. PM me if you want the details of my financial offers.</p>
<p>200000<em>(1.05)^12 = 359k
200000</em>(1.08)^12 = 504k
200000*(1.11)^12 = 700k
if 200k is invested until you're 30 at a 5%, 8%, 11% annual interest rate</p>
<p>I'm sure everyone on this board is perfectly capable of plugging those numbers in, but they illustrate a point: you should consider saving and investing some of that money. Correct me if I'm wrong (I haven't taken any econ classes or the like), but isn't a 5% annual growth rate pretty conservative? Just buy a CD? My guess is that you would make closer to the 8% or 11% figures if you had someone smart investing that money for you. Of course this is neglecting capital gains taxes and probably a million other things, but no matter how you look at it I believe having someone properly invest 200k for you now would drastically increase your financial security for the rest of your life. </p>
<p>Of course, this neglects the fact that you want to go to med school, and the fact that NU wouldn't take all 200 grand from you over 4 years. Even if you have 80k left after undergrad, you would still finish medical school with perhaps 100k in student loans (assuming roughly 50k in costs per year). </p>
<p>IMO, it would be much better to graduate from Harvard Medical School with a generic undergrad degree debt free than to graduate from HMS with a NU undergrad degree and 100k in loans.</p>
<p>Anyway, like I've said... I really don't know much about money... but I think the consensus of everyone on this message board is that you should take the financial aid offers from all of your colleges and discuss them with a good financial planner. Being 17 or 18 like me, you probably don't know anything about money either.</p>