Hey guys,
I wanted to reach out to some people on here to hear their thoughts on which college I should pick. I have been accepted both to UW-Madison and the University of Michigan. I am a Wisconsin resident and am looking at a biochemistry major. Michigan for me would obviously be a lot more expensive, but money isn’t that big of an issue and with a couple scholarships I could probably still be debt free. However, I do want to go to medschool either at UW-Madison, Michigan, or Northwestern (my dream medschool). Would Michigan give me enough of an edge in my major to be worth the price or am I better off sticking with UW-Madison? Both of my parents want me to go to Madison being alums so I have been there plenty but something about Michigan just seems kinda cool to go. Thanks for all your help!
Where are these scholarships coming from?
My opinion: Michigan at an OOS rate isn’t worth the extra $$$ over Wisconsin.
I wouldn’t choose Michigan over Wisconsin even if going for a job - not given the major and tuition differential.
But for med school - zero edge.
In some ways, I’m surprised they let you apply to a more expensive school vs a UMN that if Wisconsin didn’t work out would be a sure thing at a lower cost.
Congrats on the acceptance but Wisconsin is a no brainer if the criteria is an edge for med school.
And b4 you feel bad - kids choose safeties over reaches each and every day - both mine did. Sometimes it’s cost or location or sports or what have you.
Congrats to you.
I have attended both (albeit as a grad student in an unrelated field, but still – I have some perspective here). UM will give you zero advantage in applying to med school over UW. The only thing that matters now is your performance as an undergrad. Both schools will give you an outstanding education, and since both have med schools, you might have opportunities to shadow or do some kind of volunteer work in a health-related field. If you are saving your money for med school and are in-state in Wisconsin, UW seems like the no-brainer choice to me.
Of course Michigan is a prestigious school across the board.
However, Wisconsin is well-known amongst chemists across the country to have a stellar and prestigious chemistry program. It is actually famous for it.
Also, like others have said, med schools don’t care about that anyway. So you should choose the school based on other factors (e.g. cost, what you like best).
First of all congratulations! You have two very good acceptances here.
I agree with other answers. You are comparing very good with very good.
I have attended meetings at both universities. I have worked with graduates from both universities. I have friends who have graduated from both of these schools. They are both very good. They are both very good for premed students. If you decide to do something other than medical school, then both of these universities will be very good for a wide range of other options.
When applying to medical school, or to other graduate programs, it will not matter which of these two schools you have graduated from.
If the price were the same, then I would have trouble deciding between these two very good universities.
Given that the price is not the same, and given that you are considering medical school as one option, then I would attend the least expensive of these schools and try to save any $$$ left over to help pay for either medical school, or some other graduate program.
I am also pretty confident that at some point you will be going home for Christmas/New Years in a snow storm, and being closer to home will be a plus.
If it were me, I would choose Madison. I went to medical school with many graduates of Madison, and they were all extremely well prepared.
Even if these 2 schools were the same price, I would have trouble choosing. Really it would come down to a coin flip, because they are both excellent in biology/biochem/chem/pre-med.
I understand that staying in-state can be seen as “boring” by some, but I disagree. College will be nothing like high school, and the student experience at Madison is outstanding. And you will save literally $200K by choosing Madison over Michigan. You can do a lot of exciting stuff for $200K.
Thanks for the advice! I didn’t apply to anywhere like UMN because I had automatic admissions to UW because I was in the top 5% of my class (new law this year!). I only applied to Madison Michigan and Northwestern because I knew I was into Madison and those are the only two schools I would have considered over Madison.
Thanks for the advice! Some are from Michigan themselves and others are from like random places not associated with any of the school.
Go to Wisconsin. Congrats on your acceptances. Name of school doesn’t matter for Med school. My student employee went to a local no name school you never heard of and is in Med school first year. Good luck.
If @Knowsstuff says to eschew Michigan, that’s like 100% confidence that it’s the right call as @knowstuff is the be all, know all and lover of Michigan.
I’ll answer your question with a question. Why premed?
Often HS kids think they need to pick something as they enter college and medicine is prestigious. Yet even within medicine many can only name a few occupations such as doctor or nurse so they often pick doctor. But these are far from the only ones in the health field that help people. Physical therapists, radiology techs, perfusionists, speech pathologists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, to name but just a few as shown on http://explorehealthcareers.org Careers that can pay well and take less than 11+ years of education and training plus the immense debt that comes with a M.D.
Calling oneself “pre-med” comes without a lot of effort or commitment such as filling out supplemental apps the way you do applying for nursing. Pick a life-science major or sign up for Calc and Chem frosh year and you’re on your way. The flip side is the attrition rate is tremendous. At many colleges there were probably 2 or 3 starting frosh year calling themselves pre-med for every one that actually ends up applying to med school, and of those only about 40% get in.
Until you’ve carefully considered the alternatives and have first-hand volunteer experience I suggest thinking of yourself at the stage of considering medicine. Do the volunteering and work with the career center to figure out what’s right for you. Which actually may turn out to be earning a M.D.
That’s really good to know thanks bro 
Sounds great! The advice does help a ton so thank you for the response!
Thanks for the response! That makes perfect sense about all of that with the different professions in that type of category. One of the big reasons I want to go into pre-med is because of my dad. He is a surgeon and he has actually let me work for him and shadow him during the summers. I have done surgery technician work in the summer and it fascinates me! I love watching how the surgery is done and I have always been super strong in STEM style courses so I thought it was a good fit. I’m also really big into sports so I have been really into orthopedics and feel like that would be a pretty good fit for me. I don’t know any of this for sure obviously it’s just my gut feeling right now but until I get there and decide to change course, I just kind of say “I want to go to med-school” as a general outline. Thanks again for your help!
Congrats! Two great schools! As everyone here explained the school doesn’t necessarily increase your chances of getting into med school, but your grades and scores do. If money is of little concern, I would consider what college I really want to attend and believe would be the best fit for me (fun, academics, environment, location, activities, experiences, food, entertainment, etc.) and which college I can succeed at both academically as well as socially. I’d also of course consider the thoughts of family who will pay. From there, I’d make my choice.
Good luck and, again, congratulations!
Thank you so much I’m super happy about the acceptances! But that all makes a lot of sense thank you so much for the response!
I second that advice. It’s not easy to get merit aid at Michigan, which puts you at risk of high debt. Medical school is ridiculously expensive, so any money you save would be a big plus. Your best chance for medical school is in your home state. State schools generally will pick residents as a priority vs nonresidents.