A Difficult Quandary...Any Parents Available?

pafather
Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:03:59 +0000

I would definitely recommend attending Univ of Arizona free over having to pay for Duke or Cornell. However, you should understand that at Arizona you will need to be much more self-motivated, because your friends at Arizona will be much less motivated than you are (i.e. peer pressure is quite different at the schools). Furthermore, state schools tend to have much less grade inflation than Ivies or similar schools. Some people actually fail classes at state schools.

I attended the University of Florida as an undergrad (which is comparable to Arizona) but was fortunately able to maintain very high grades and received a fellowship for a PhD at MIT. My daughter wants to attend med school, so she turned down Princeton and CalTech to attend Case Western with a scholarship that mostly covers tuition, so we could afford med school (fortunately she is doing very well). Our family is old-fashioned, so we think debt is particularly a bad idea for a girl who wants to work part-time or not at all while she has young children (i.e. my daughter).

Do not assume that because you attend Arizona it will be very easy to achieve a 4.0 GPA (it may be, but in such a case you would be highly unusual). Maintaining a high GPA is essential for med school. Furthermore, make sure you thoroughly prepare for the MCAT exam. I agree with the others that no one really cares very much where their doctor attended undergrad (or even med school, as long as it is in the US). I know many doctors who are still burdened by med school debt even now when their children are ready for college. Avoid debt as much as possible.