I got into Northwestern, Indiana University Honors college, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and CaseWestern and Claremont McKenna
I am leaning towards Indiana as they have accepted me in the honors college and giving me research opportunities in my freshman year. But I am torn between Northwestern and the UC’s. I am planning to study pre med. can you give some advice. What college would be the best in s pre med standpoint, and to get into a med school in the future.
Northwestern is definitely the most renowned for pre-med, and would probably be in competition with Berkeley. I would say if Northwestern is affordable for you, I would choose that. Don’t base your decision entirely on med school, because the fact of the matter is, you have to spend four years in undergrad. Do not let that be a school you dislike.
@teen2college - you should go to Northwestern. And second choice would be UC Berk. The others do not compare. Take this with a grain of salt but I worked at a top Bulge Bracket IB and a mega PE shop. Without revealing my identity, my MBA is from Stanford. The opportunities coming out of a top school like NU are unmatched. And you never know how your career path / goals will changes - go with a top college that provides incredible opportunities (and instant credibility) and don’t look bad. Indiana U is a mistake when you have these other choices. Just look at the SAT average of Indiana (1240) vs. NU (1500). That’s over 250 points! And the acceptance rate (8% overall, 6% RD) vs 75%+ at Indiana. How could you turn down NU (one of the top prestigious universities) to attend a very average state university. If it were Michigan or UVA or Berk, I’d understand. But, Indiana is a second rate public university that shouldn’t be entertained with these other options. At the New York investment banks, Indiana grads can get jobs but they are often middle office or back-office and looked down upon by other grads with more prestigious backgrounds (ivies / duke / nw / gtown, stanford, mit, etc.). Let’s say this in another way…90%+ of Indiana students would never dream of applying or even being accepted to Northwestern. I think you should heavily consider NU or UC Berk
Thank you for your response. I am waiting for financial aid from NU. It is my top choice, but will be too expensive for my present situation.
if you’re sure you want to follow the pre-med path, berkeley is famous for being notoriously bad for students who choose to do pre-med because of the grade deflation. cleveland clinic is right next to case western which makes it appealing to students who want to follow the pre-med path because of the internships and volunteer hours available. claremont mckenna is strongest in the economics/political science areas, but i’m sure it’s still a great school to attend in preparation for medical school.
i think northwestern > case western/claremont mckenna > iu-honors > berkeley
(i don’t know much, if anything, about davis, so i can’t really place it on the list or provide my opinions about it.)
Net price of each school?
What is your state of residency?
Pre-meds should consider lower net price to save money and avoid debt before going to expensive medical school. Staying in or near the state of residency can make access to interviews at in-state public medical schools more convenient.
But also, most frosh pre-meds give up the idea after grades or MCAT are too low to have a realistic chance of getting into medical school. Of those who do apply, fewer than have get into even one medical school. I.e. pre-med is a competitive weed-out process everywhere. So consider which college and major you will like if you do not go to medical school (pre-meds can do any major, but have to take the pre-med courses as well).
I am a CA resident. UCB would be ideal for me. But I have been told it’s not helpful towards a premed track. The IU program offers a lot of focused pre med advising, research opportunities. It’s affordable because of scholarships I am getting. I have fin aid for Case, CMC too. Though NU is my top choice, the price tag is prohibitive unless they give me aid.
Is there a significant price difference between the affordable schools?
As a California resident pre-med, you will likely face higher than average medical school costs if you do make it to medical school. Because the UC medical schools do not have enough spaces relative to the number of California pre-meds, many have to go elsewhere, meaning expensive. UC medical schools’ in-state cost is not that cheap either (compared to in-state public medical school tuition in TX or NM, for example).
It’s really about what you do with school. If you have top grades, you could get into medical school with any of these schools. If you get mediocre grades, non of the schools will help you. Medical schools get applications from people all over the country and there’s no one school they give preference over another…unless it’s a state medical school and the applicant is in-state. What’s going to matter is your grades and MCAT scores. You’re better off having less debt now because medical school is going to cost a lot of money.
We are in-state for Indiana, and know several pre-med students admitted to Northwestern and other top 20s who chose IU because they were Cox or Wells scholars at IU. The open doors for research, the funding etc. all made IU irresistible opportunities. Depending on what your specific scholarship and research opportunities are at IU, it could be a good choice.
Yes, IU is starting to train the research students from the summer, 2018, even before school officially starts. I was selected into a special program to do this. I have to decide soon. Yes I think I cannot go wrong with any of these schools if I can maintain the GPA.
Thank you for your insight into these schools.
I think northwestern, Case Western, and McKenna would be the top 3 choices in terms of resources and opportunities.
Congratulations ! Northwestern & Claremont McKenna are super selective schools.
Until you know whether or not Northwestern is affordable, you should investigate your other options. CMC & IU-Honors are great options as is UC-Davis.