Hello,
My daughter got accepted to Upitt and Loyola (Chicago) in premed track. Her goal is to become a doctor. We plan to visit both the campuses. Looking for guidance in selecting the college.
Below are the offers.
UPitt majoring in neuroscience. No scholarships. The tuition comes to 57k
Loyola also majoring in neuroscience. With scholarships the tuition works out to 42k.
On top of this, assuming 12k for food, travel, books, etc.
As parents, I will be paying for the college and am comfortable paying extra. But looking for the best path for success.
Just to put it in very blunt terms, for med school admissions purposes, the overriding question in cases like this is where do you think you can get your best grades. And in turn people tend to get their best grades where they are happiest (and well prepared, but I assume she is well-prepared for both of these colleges). So as a possible pre-med, it isn’t taking your eye off the ball to pick the college where you think you would be happiest overall–that IS the ball, because of the connection to grades.
Then another thing to consider is paying for med school, which is very expensive, so saving on college costs is helpful for most families.
Finally, it is critical to understand that most people who start off thinking premed end up doing something else besides medical school. So you need to be happy with your college choice even if you decide not to pursue med school.
Fortunately both of these are still going to be excellent colleges with a lot of good options if she decides not to do med school. The cost situation is a little confusing to me, though. And then where she thinks she would be happiest is entirely subjective. But again, just because it is subjective does not mean it isn’t important.
How does your daughter feel about the core courses at Loyola? They are fairly extensive, include theology, and IMO, one of the biggest academic differences between these two schools.
Loyola is also smaller than Pitt, right on the lake front, and has a more contained campus (although also integrated into the Roger’s Park neighborhood). It has a much different vibe. I think it will be clear to her which she prefers after visiting!
Extensive core or general education requirements outside of the student’s academic strengths can mean more grades lower than A that can be detrimental to medical school admission chances.
I’ll be contrary here. My kid attended a Jesuit college with a strong core requirement. She was a STEM major and she LOVED the courses outside of her STEM major heavy math and science required courses. She looked forward to the change of pace these courses offered.
So…try to view the core requirements in a positive way…because they can be!
Plus, the Jesuits really do have higher education as a well oiled machine.
That being said…this student can easily be a pre med intention at either of these colleges.