<p>What do you think of the Honors program at CU Boulder? Is it comparable to the Ivy League? Given a full ride at CU would you choose it over HYPMS if your expected contribution was greater than $25K/year for the latter?</p>
<p>One of my sons looked at Boulder. He really liked it and might have gone but it seems out of state students get little aid. I think it depends on the major. </p>
<p>For education for example there is no way I pay 25K a year for an undergraduate education. For engineering I would go to Boulder especially if I wanted to live in the mtn west where the ivy name is not so big or even rarely mentioned. </p>
<p>For law or certain types of business degree well maybe IVY is worth it</p>
<p>Agree that it would depend on your child’s goals.</p>
<p>It would also depend if you actually have the $25K or if you would have to borrow it. If you have to go into significant debt, the answer is go to CU.</p>
<p>C1 has been offered the Boettcher scholarship which guarantees a full ride to any college in Colorado - public or private. Wants to do Premed. HYPMS results are still a month away. $25k/year is certainly doable, but what about the cost of Medical school? Also, C2 is just a few years away from graduating from High School. If it were $10K/year instead of $25k/year it would be a whole different story.</p>
<p>Colorado isn’t known as having one of the top honors programs in the country. That said, it is a good, fun university. If your son is pretty sure about med school (many change their minds), the key things are GPA and the MCAT score. There is no need to go to an Ivy for pre-med and it is worth saving the money.</p>
<p>If med school is THE goal, then take the money. Med schools are (almost) all about grades and mcat scores, and the curve will be a lot easier in Boulder. Starting out at the top of the class is a no-brainer for someone who needs a lot of A’s on a transcript.</p>
<p>If your son is set on doing pre-med and is unlikely to change, then I would definitely agree with MomofWildChild say go for CU. If he studies hard for the MCAT, keeps his GPA high, and gets to know some professors well, he’ll be just as competitive applying for med school as he would from the Ivy League. I know plenty of people from my state school’s honors program who have gotten into top med schools without any problem. </p>
<p>On the other hand, if your son ends up wanting to go into a field where contacts are extremely important like business or academia, then he might have a harder time later on coming from CU unless CU has an especially good track record/professor in some specific area. </p>
<p>Of course, it’s all financially relative too. If you can’t reasonably afford the tuition, then it’s probably not worth taking out loans, particularly in this economy.</p>
<p>vig180 - I think you’re referring to UGA Honors - my son is looking strongly at that option (already accepted EA for honors) as well as Vandy, Furman, Wash & Lee, and Wake and interested in pre-med. We don’t know yet about merit $ for most places, but I suspect UGA will still be the best financial option(in state). That said, he has worked extremely hard (1/500,2330, NMF, Presidential Scholar nom.) Have your peers been happy with the pre-med advising/acceptance rate from UGA? The new campus for Med. College of Ga in Athens is also exciting. Does the Honors Program really make you feel a part of a smaller environment? Thanks!</p>
<p>My son turned down Yale (his dream school), Wash U, Stanford and others to accept a Morehead Scholarship to UNC in 2004. He never regretted his decision, graduated debt free and is now an MS1 (first year med student) at a top ten med school. He has three other close friends that graduated from UNC with him who are now MS1s at Harvard, Hopkins and UT Southwestern so UNC certainly didn’t impede their chances for a top med school admission.</p>
<p>Med school admissions is all about top grades, high MCAT scores and ECs that indicate demonstrated interest like medical research, shadowing a doctor, working in a hospital etc. Admission is enormously competitive and getting more so every day. The cost of attending med school continues to rise and makes undergrad costs pale by comparison. Tuition alone as an OOS student to top public med schools is as high as attending top privates which are all in the $40K plus range for tuition alone. There is some scholarship money but most aid is loans that are either subsidized with no payback or unsubsidized with deferred payback. Upon graduation most new MDs are looking at anywhere from $200-300K in debt BEFORE they head off to residencies and fellowships that will pay very little for another three to seven years.</p>
<p>If your S will not get caught up in the party scene at CU, it sounds like a no-brainer to me. Graduating with little to no debt before racking up the huge debt of med school is a very sound decision in these tough times.</p>
<p>UNC Morehead and Colorado (even honors) are not exactly in the same ballpark- and I’m a fan of Colorado!</p>
<p>Coupla thoughts, based on the following: went to and teach at HYPSM, went to med school at big state U (UW Salmon), D a very happy physics major at CU:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Depends alot on whether your kid is a homebody or wants to get the heck outta Dodge. HYPSM is a whole different experience than CU, where he will be surrounded by HS peers or clones thereof. </p></li>
<li><p>While students at the top of their Big State U class can do great, it is incorrect to claim HYPSM is irrelevant. Especially if he is interested in returning to CO for med school - those adcoms will want to diversify their class with CO residents who did their UG elsewhere, especially at top schools. Most of my in-state peers at UW did not go to UW for undergrad.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Flipside:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>While CU Honors is more Honors Lite than a rigorous LAC-like program, the research enterprise at CU is robust and there are many opportunities for undergrad research, and strong advising support for top students.</p></li>
<li><p>CU has a quasi-early access program for its med school: The Medical Scholars program ([PreHealth</a> Advising | PreProfessional | AAC Home](<a href=“http://www.colorado.edu/aac/medScholprelapp.htm]PreHealth”>http://www.colorado.edu/aac/medScholprelapp.htm))</p></li>
</ol>
<p>" This program is designed for sophomores (second-year students) and is a form of “Early Assurance” Program. Students selected for the program will be assured that, if they meet the continuing requirements of the program, they will be accepted into the University of Colorado School of Medicine (SOM) after completing their undergraduate degree at the University of Colorado.</p>
<p>The purpose of this program is three-fold: 1. To encourage these excellent students to do highly advanced work in their final two-three years of college and/or postgraduate study. 2. To recruit outstanding undergraduates to the SOM. 3. To decrease the cost, both in time and money, of the medical school application process for these students."</p>
<p>Congratulations on the Boettcher.</p>
<p>For med school, I’d take the money unless I was rolling in it. But a lot of pre meds change their minds.</p>
<p>That said, if the $100K is not hardship for the family, I would consider that studying among the top students in the Country is often a life changing experience. It was for me. Everyday I was around highly motivated and very intellegent peers who pushed me to step up my game. I chose a career I had never even heard of before entering college.</p>
<p>MOWC</p>
<p>I certainly won’t argue that one, because the Morehead is indeed held in the same regard as HYPS among Grad and Professional schools and even on Wall St. </p>
<p>I should have maybe been more clear in saying that two of the three friends that I mentioned were not Moreheads or Robertsons but had turned down schools like HYPS to accept significant merit money at UNC. </p>
<p>I guess my whole point was with the high cost of medical school, the very uncertain financial picture for future Physicians with all the talked about health care reform, and the extremely long time before a Physician sees any REAL money after racking up that huge debt, that coming out of undergrad debt free or nearly debt free doesn’t sound too bad right now. If mom and dad were going to help with undergrad their son would be far better served with their help for med school (and after) costs.</p>
<p>Since I don’t live in CO I am not familiar with their Med school admissions policies but here in Texas the top schools like UTSouthwestern are mandated by law to accept 90% in state students regardless of where they matriculated undergrad. This years entering class at UTSW had students from 65 undergrad institutions.</p>
<p>[Medical</a> School Entering Class Profile](<a href=“http://www8.utsouthwestern.edu/utsw/cda/dept21170/files/65445.html]Medical”>http://www8.utsouthwestern.edu/utsw/cda/dept21170/files/65445.html)</p>
<p>There’s such a huge bias on CC toward private schools and especially those of the HPYS ilk that it is often difficult for many to take a step back and truly grasp that you can get a great education and be very well prepared for med school at many places. I mean in reality the kids who went to H undergrad from my son’s class (at SM) had more exposure to TAs than he did at UNC and two friends from another local private school (GH) who both graduated from H are now at UT SA and Texas Tech med Schools which are certainly not Baylor or UTSW and helps to shoot down the pedigree theory a bit. </p>
<p>And for a slightly different perspective…the father of a dear friend of ours was a Department Chair at the Harvard Business School for many years and he often told us that among the faculty the lament was that it was a shame to waste Harvard/Cambridge on undergrads! That was the exact quote…:)</p>
<p>My C1 is actually a D who has her heart set on becoming a doctor. She would love to attend one of the HYPMS schools for UG. </p>
<p>As I have said earlier Boettcher scholarship is not just for CU. It can be used for going to any university in Colorado, even University of Denver where the COA can top $45K/yr. We are keeping our options open at this point.</p>
<p>My friends who have/have had kids at CU say that it has its share of smart students. Not every one is there just to party. It is what you make of it. BTW they have some nobel laureates in the Physics department. Their Chemical Engineering is held in high esteem. </p>
<p>While it is too early to talk about what-if scenarios before April my wife and I want to make an educated decision regarding D1’s education after we hear back from other schools.</p>
<p>Last year there was a kid posting on CC facing the choice between Yale (or Stanford, or Harvard, not certain I remember) and Colorado College with the Boettcher. That seemed like a closer comparison (and therefore easier decision) to me.</p>
<p>^have to disagree - the opportunities for a student with interests in sciences are considerably greater in Boulder. Previously noted Nobel laureates (4, to be exact - 3 in Physics), HHMI scholars, big engineering program, etc. My D’s advisor stopped her in the student union to see if she was going to do an honors thesis.</p>
<p>Interesting stats from the CU med school:</p>
<p>Class Composition</p>
<p>Class of 2012 – Entering Class Statistics:</p>
<pre><code>* 3,500 students applied to Colorado for the 2008 entering class
- 700 applicants came from Colorado, [Montana and Wyoming – WICHE states], and 90% completed their applications
- About 60% of the Colorado, Montana and Wyoming pool were invited for interviews
- 2,815 non-Colorado students applied and 1,278 completed applications, and 268 were invited for interviews
- 1,132 interviews were completed, providing 2 – 30 minute interviews for each student. Interviewers have basic AMCAS information - personal statement, extracurricular activities, honors and awards and Colorado essays
- 270 students were made offers of acceptance
- 156 students in the entering class, with a GPA of 3.72 and MCAT mean of 32.5 Q
- Age range is 17-42, and the median age is 24.2 years
- 18% of students came directly from college
- 1 student had a PhD and 17 had master’s degrees
- 68 colleges and universities in the class, and 16 states and 1 country were members of the class
</code></pre>
<p>Most interesting to me - only 18% straight outta undergrad.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Quite common nowadays. Waiting adds one full year of extra grades, and hopefully a boost. Allows time to retake MCAT. Allows time to demonstrate more interest to the field, i.e., research, medical lab rat, etc.</p>
<p>My sincere advice to DD was that pick a school that will complement your strengths and is the leader in your field of career. That is how I was able to convince her to apply to MIT than Yale in the early action. The education is going to stay with you forever, so unless you have to borrow the whole $50,000 a year to pay for the tuition it might make sense to go to HMSPY.
If you have what it takes to get into a top medical school from Colorado then you will be much better off anyway with a degree from HMSPY.</p>
<p>Just look around yourself and find out how many went to college and how many of those went to a college like HMSPY. You might realize the worth.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>On the other hand, UNC medical school, for example, has a fair share of HYP underads every year. If you have to be in debt for $160K prior to UNC med school matriculation, that’s a tough choice. But, I don’t think we can offer any meaningful advice here. It has so many tangible/untangible variables to one’s own situation.</p>