USC (Trustee Scholarship) vs Rice

DoctorB98
Sun, 16 Apr 2017 15:50:51 +0000

I am a pre-med student currently deciding between USC and Rice and I have 15 days to do it.

For USC, I love the location and social-academic balance. It’s the complete college experience and it feels the most “me.” I also was awarded the Trustee scholarship, so it would only be about $17,500/year for me to attend there. However, my main concerns are that I’m choosing USC with heart rather than logic. As a pre-med student, will I get plenty of opportunities to shadow doctors and conduct research with professors, or will I have to fight hard to find these opportunities? Also, how is pre-med advising? I just don’t want put myself at a major disadvantage by attending there and then end up kicking myself when I can’t do the things I need to do for med school.

For Rice, I like the fact that students are practically handed research, shadowing, and volunteer opportunities because it’s across the street from the world’s largest medical center. I also like how small the classes are, allowing me to have close relationships with professors. Lastly, I was given an instate-only scholarship that gives me $7500/year including medical school coupled with a medical doctor mentor in the field that I’m interested in. However, Rice would still cost about $31,000/year which is gonna make me have to take out about an extra $14,000/year in loans relative to USC. I think that I could definitely be happy there, but I could also see myself happy if not happier at USC because I’m more of a Cali guy.

I’d appreciate some insight from anyone who has experience at/with either schools!