Cornell vs UT Austin vs. Emory vs Northeastern

[sapphirelvr7]

Hi so I'm new to this forum but I really would love some insight about being a premed (biomajor) at these universities.

I've been accepted to all four universities and I need some more info on premed life to help me make my decision.

Cornell: Biology and Society Major; Waiting on Financial Aid offer. ($65K/yr total)
UT Austin: In State; Health Science Honors Program, Biology Major ($26K/yr)
Emory: Applied late (no merit-based scholarship), Biology Major ($62K/yr total)
Northeastern: Chemistry Major; $11K/yr Scholarship, Internship/Co Op Opportunities at places like Harvard Med ($45 K)

Money wise UT Austin seems to be the best option, but I'm unsure because Emory is a smaller university and is in Atlanta which may have better opportunities for premeds? Also Cornell has prestige, is almost the same cost as Emory but I've heard is known for grade deflation and more difficult classes.

I'm looking for a place that has good advising for premeds, opportunities to succeed, and a higher likeliness to get a high enough GPA to get into medical school.

Any Insight would be really helpful!!

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[Apollo1]

UT - Austin.

 

[efle]

Hi so I'm new to this forum but I really would love some insight about being a premed (biomajor) at these universities.

I've been accepted to all four universities and I need some more info on premed life to help me make my decision.

Cornell: Biology and Society Major; Waiting on Financial Aid offer. ($65K/yr total)
UT Austin: In State; Health Science Honors Program, Biology Major ($26K/yr)
Emory: Applied late (no merit-based scholarship), Biology Major ($62K/yr total)
Northeastern: Chemistry Major; $11K/yr Scholarship, Internship/Co Op Opportunities at places like Harvard Med ($45 K)

Money wise UT Austin seems to be the best option, but I'm unsure because Emory is a smaller university and is in Atlanta which may have better opportunities for premeds? Also Cornell has prestige, is almost the same cost as Emory but I've heard is known for grade deflation and more difficult classes.

I'm looking for a place that has good advising for premeds, opportunities to succeed, and a higher likeliness to get a high enough GPA to get into medical school.

Any Insight would be really helpful!!

You can't answer this until you know the cost of the Ivy option. If it's going to have an expected family contribution similar to UT Austin, then you have two sides of a coin to examine:

• Going to a top school often means you'll struggle to maintain a competitive GPA while you would have easily kept a high GPA at the less competitive state option. See this data comparing Washington University in St. Louis GPAs to national average GPAs via similar MCAT performances, note the ~0.6 lower GPA for Wustl students (and realize 0.6 is HUGE, a 3.9 vs 3.3 is the difference between median at Harvard and below median everywhere).
• Going to a top school and doing well gives you a huge leg up in admissions to the best medical schools. See this AAMC survey of medical schools in which private medical schools rated selectivity of undergraduate institution among the factors of highest importance along side GPA and MCAT.

 

[sapphirelvr7]

Thank you! So does that mean private medical schools tend to care more about where you went to undergrad then public medical schools? Also If I go to UT Austin would that be an advantage when applying to TX medical schools?

 

[sapphirelvr7]

UT - Austin.

What would you say are the significant advantages in choosing UT over the others?

 

[efle]

Thank you! So does that mean private medical schools tend to care more about where you went to undergrad then public medical schools? Also If I go to UT Austin would that be an advantage when applying to TX medical schools?

Only private medical schools care about prestigious undergrads, public medical schools state that this is of low importance to them.

All the TX medical schools except Baylor are public, so you'd be fine going to UT Austin if you eventually hope for a UT medical school.

It's by no means bad to go to UT Austin to get into many medical schools - but often the people capable of Ivy acceptances are shooting for the most selective and prestigious medical schools which are all private, and there you would see some disadvantage.

And one more point I forgot earlier: The UT system is actually more grade deflating than Cornell is, keeping a 3.0/B average while Cornell has a 3.3/B+, though this may balance out with Cornell having tougher competition.

 

[Apollo1]

What would you say are the significant advantages in choosing UT over the others?

1. Cost. More and more kids are coming out of undergrad with debt; if you can limit it to the greatest extent possible, you give yourself more options down the road.

2. Prestige may look good for the tip-top of med schools, but many, if not most people & med schools couldn't care less about where you got your bachelor's at (provided that it's accredited). They care about you having the requisite knowledge to get the job done.

3. You're a Texas resident. Texas med schools are significantly skewed towards accepting Texas residents. They give you the best chance of getting into med school (provided your stats are where they need to be).

4. Volunteer opportunities are simply that: opportunities. A public school will have plenty of research labs running projects; thinking a prestigious school will have better opportunities is a false equivalence.

5. Academic Advising is what you make of it. There will be malignant personalities that never give solid advice in any program, just as there will be personalities that give reasonable, tempered advice.

 

[damvinhhungday]

ut Austin so Dell could be easier to get into

 

[SpeedySavior]

All graduating medical students, whether they went to a private or a public medical school, are all trained and prepared equally right? Correct me if I am wrong, please.

I could be horribly wrong here, I'm just interested. That's what I read and come to understand.

 

[efle]

All graduating medical students, whether they went to a private or a public medical school, are all trained and prepared equally right? Correct me if I am wrong, please.

I could be horribly wrong here, I'm just interested. That's what I read and come to understand.

That's the politically correct statement you'll see made in any official capacity anywhere - can't be saying any particular schools produce sub-par doctors. In reality though, residency directors do NOT rank all medical schools equally, and the highest ranked schools are all private with a few well-known exceptional state schools like UCSF, UCLA, UCSD, Michigan. See: US News Residency Director Scores