<p>What would be your choice for a pre-med program with the follwoing options?
<p>Cost of attendence for the following schools is almost the same, close to $20000/-
<p>Is it worth committing $80000/- over the next four years for the university name as against a free ride at UCI? Any opionions</p>
<p>In my opinion, yes.</p>
<p>well the choice is ultimately yours. I really can’t say between your free ride and non-free ride school in general, but I do highly suggest that if you do decide to not go to UCI, choose Yale. It’s your best bet if you ultimately choose not to go to UCI (again, I don’t know, decision is yours) but of the ivies, it gives the best bang for the buck.</p>
<p>
Agreed. :)</p>
<p>The undergraduate Yale experience is worth much more than what you pay for it.</p>
<p>It certainly wouldn’t be worth it just for the name, but Yale would be a fantastic place even if no one had ever heard of it. </p>
<p>Still, the difference in cost is obviously huge. Only you can decide what’s practical and/or worth the money to you.</p>
<p>Well, my view is that Yale is definitely worth that. But it is ultimately your decision depending on your financial ability and willingness to pay that much. Although I personally would close my eyes and go for Yale;)</p>
<p>And that’s why I’ll be working working working this summer (like the last 2 years). I need to get a higher paying job…my lifeguarding/ swim lesson instruction gig will get me a pay raise - to $6.50 per hour! Biiiiiiig bucks!</p>
<p>baatasari - keep in mind you’ll incur some major debt for med school. A recent New England Journal of Medicine article estimated the cost of med school at $140,000 for public schools and $225,000 for private schools. If you decide to go to Yale for the “name brand”, hoping it will pave the way for you to get into a “name brand” private medical school, you’re looking at a total undergrad+med school indebtedness > $300,000. There are many excellent public medical schools in the country, especially in California. You have to think about what you want to do in medicine. If your goal is to be a practicing physician (primary care or specialist), then I’d go for the free ride at UCI and enter medical school debt-free. If you want to go into specialized medical research and need to get into a specific (and possibly highly competitive) medical school - then it may be worth the $80K to get the “name brand”. I was in New Haven this week with my daughter, and it is a great campus and town – but I’ve been to other great campuses and college towns that don’t carry the hefty price tag.</p>
<p>Whether you go to UCI or Yale/et.al. if you have a high pre-med GPA and score a 30 on the MCAT - you’ll likely have your choice of several excellent med schools to attend.</p>