Thanks for the replies.
Drizzt. Your point is well-taken, but let me note that I am already at a post-bacc program and may have the opportunity to link after deferring for a year bc i'll be studying abroad. So the income differential argument doesn't really apply for me.
Does anyone know how many merit scholarships are given out amongst an incoming crop of med students? From this thread it sounds exceedingly rare.
I could see them being given quite rarely at a public school, but private schools (esp. the big rich ones) have to throw their money around somewhere, right?