DD is planning to pursue pre-med and has been accepted to several universities, here are the top choices in her list Rice, UW Seattle, UCLA, Case Western, and UMich.
Resident of WA. DD is interested in Rice, but tuition is very high ~90k/yr. Only Case has given scholarship. Case fees are reasonable with the scholarship.
As parents, we are hesitant to spend ~$400K on an undergrad degree, especially knowing that med school is going to cost even more. Is Rice truly worth the high cost?
How does Case compare? Would attending one of these out-of-state schools meaningfully improve her chances of getting into med school?
I would appreciate any insights, suggestions, or advice.
You can literally go anywhere to get into med school - your gpa, mcat and more will be what matters.
UW is big - would that impact her?
What would her major be.
If it’s a science, whether she’s in med school or not, she’ll likely end up in more school or a low paid job. I just looked at UVA for Chem - it was like $43K average salary.
Smart kid - but I agree Rice isn’t worth it if it would cause you hardship or you simply don’t want to afford it.
A doctor I know told me that the other students in his MD program came from “all over the place”. Another doctor I know said essentially the same thing. We have had similar experience with other very good graduate programs (including at least three that were in some way medical related, although not MD nor DO programs).
You are comparing five excellent universities. All will be academically very strong. All will be academically very demanding. All will have many tough exams and difficult classes before any student completes the premed requirements. All can prepare an academically strong and very determined student to do well in medical school. They however vary in terms of cost, and the impact that they are likely to have on your ability to help your daughter with the cost of medical school.
Even doctors have trouble paying off their medical school loans.
Most students who start university thinking “premed” end up doing something else. Quite a few of these forms of “something else” end up requiring additional education (master’s degree, PhD, or some other graduate degree). All five of the schools that you named are very good for a wide range of “something else”.
I think that Rice is excellent. However, Case is also excellent. U.Washington is also excellent.
No.
I do not think that your daughter’s chances of getting accepted to a good MD or DO program is going to change in any significant way depending upon which of these five very good universities she attends for her bachelor’s degree.
By the way, we would not allow our daughters to take on any debt at all for their bachelor’s. One was frustrated by this. She attended an affordable university (very good, but ranked a bit lower than anything on your list). She graduated with no debt, completed the premed requirements (she was pre-vet, the required classes are the same), and immediately got a dream job that she could only afford to take because she had no debt. She thanked me for not letting her take on any debt. This same daughter gets her DVM from a very good university in just a few weeks (yes the flight and the hotel are booked – we are excited).
I think that you should save some of your college money to help with some form of graduate school, whether an MD or something else. UW is a very, very good university, and so is Case Western Reserve.
Rice is great, but every school on this list is excellent. My older daughter (high school class of '13) chose Rice over UCLA in-state, and we were okay with paying what was then about 150% of the cost of a UC. But if we were making the same choice today… 250% of the cost would be a much tougher pill to swallow!
Maybe your best strategy is to first figure out which of the more-affordable schools is the winner - UDub or Case?
Then, if you want to consider spending the money for Rice, you can weigh it against a single front-runner, which will make for a more straightforward process of weighing pros and cons.
As fond as I am of Rice, I personally wouldn’t consider it worth that big a differential when the more affordable alternatives are so good - especially not with potential med school costs on the horizon, and potentially rocky times ahead for the economy as well. There are things to love about every school on this list - congrats!
Please read this thread if grad or professional school is a consideration. UW is an excellent college. Case would be $80,000 more costly over the four years.
Congratulations to your daughter, those are really impressive acceptances! Lots of good choices.
Here’s my take:
Since premeds usually find something more interesting as they get exposed to more subjects and professions while in college, if you can afford the 20k difference I’d go with Case because of their “whole university” approach (it’s the same at Rice) - she’s admitted to the whole university not to a specific major, making it easy to pivot to anything.
At UW, depending on major, it’s impossible or really difficult to pivot because majors are capacity-constrained or only admit as freshmen, especially the more popular majors like CS, Engineering… There are substitutions but I’d pick the guarantee I can major in anything, double major, etc. and have the support a top private university provides.
This would be especially important if she was admitted to Biology at UW (a major that has an oversupply of graduates and thus fewer professional opportunities, although those can be created by adding a DS or stats minor and/or lots of lab experience, for which you’d have to know how easy it is to switch to/add on at UW.)
Thank you for your insights. I am curious if your daughter went for Pre-med. If she did, did the Rice education improve her chances in getting into med school?
I can see vs a large school but a mid size school with strong students - yes a lot will depend on faculty and more but it could be CWRU would better prepare. Every student is different.
Is Rice a realistic option ?
You made it seem in the first message that you really don’t want to make that Rice investment.
I posted this on another thread. I’m a Vanderbilt patient. Radiology. I looked up the first two years residents. This is their undergrad schools. Later years - I looked up 4th year b4included UCF, Utah and Colorado in addition to UNC and U Mich. .
I don’t think the med school thing is as driven by the higher ranked name to the level people think. This is a top teaching hospital. Some schools you probably need to look up They’re not all top shelf. In fact most aren’t.
Auburn CWRU
Florida A&M
Florida State Fordham
Lipscomb
Luther
Murray State
Northern Illinois
Pitt
Princeton Tulane
Tuskegee
U North Carolina
U Puerto Rico
U Tennessee
Vandy (2)
No, she never considered going premed. Her Rice friends who did pursue that path have been quite successful. It’s pretty hard to sift out, though, whether Rice is just admitting very strong students who would have succeeded similarly wherever they went, or whether attending Rice gave them a further advantage. I think it’s clear that Rice prepares students very well for med school admissions and for success in medical education. But whether that’s any less true of any other school on this list is pretty hard to say. Of course, getting an edge vis-a-vis med school is only one of many reasons to value what a particular college has to offer.
Neither will help or hinder her chances. U-Dub if she wants to stay close to home, or I’d recommend the private, Case, which has a strong partnership with Cleveland Clinic, if funds are available.
How large are the General Bio1 and General Chem1 classes? How many TAs? Tutors?
Compare to the General Chem/Bio2 class size, much weedout?
How easy is it to change majors? Are some majors off limits/freshman entry only?
Ultimately, most (80%+) premeds change goals - they grow, discover other professions, etc. So the KEY factor is “which university will be best outside of premed?”
Another way to look at it is, which is most likely to be good for the student’s personality?
Thank you. These are excellent points. We also have been thinking about the class sizes. We are contacting students at these colleges to find out class sizes in addition to searching online. What is the most reliable way to check class sizes in these colleges?
Lots of good choices. 
They’re not all top shelf. In fact most aren’t.