Please Help Make My Decision!!!

[turbomech7]

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Please, I Really need advice

I have made into two programs: Northwestern HPME (honors program for medical education) + USC Bac/Med as a high school senior. I dont have any idea which one to choose!!! Heres what i think of both:

USC Bac/Md
-8 year
-MCAT required with avg scores (negative)
-Given Full Scholarship without board for undergrad (very positive)
-need to maintain 3.3 GPA
-CLOSE to home + gotta love that california weather(very positive)
-lower undergrad and med school rankings (negative)

Northwestern HPME
-7 year, saves a year (positive)
-COLD env, far from home (very negative)
-no full scholarship but saves a year and with financial aid will run maybe a bit more than USC
-need to maintain 2.75 overall and 3.2 for science (positive)
-NO MCAT REQUIRED! (very positive)
-Stellar reputation as an institute and higher rankings ( positive)
-much fiercer competition

I have a genuine interest in becoming a great physician, possible with a future in research as well. As you can see I have two great options that I can't choose from and I am basically walking around the whole day weighing between one and the other. In USC, I get to stay close to home and get full scholarship, but in Northwestern I save a year and have to take NO MCATs.

Please pick one and explain why. THANKS for all your help!🙂

 

[turbomech7]

JUST LOOKIN FOR ADVICE FROM YOU MORE EXPERIENCED MED SCHOOL APPLICANTS/STUDENTS- THANKS!

 

[abw]

Go for USC.

Saving the money is definitely a HUGE plus - you don't want to have 7 years of private school tuition accumulating in loans (plus you'll probably go over the aggregate limit causing even more debt through higher interest loans)

I won't go into the ranking diff. between them because that's ridiculous. They're both amazing schools that most of the people here would die to get into.

Money issues aside, the rest of my reason for USC, you probably won't believe it, but you really have to trust me here. Something like 75% of die hard doctors-to-be don't want to be doctors by sr. year of college. This isn't because they can't hack it - there's just so much fun stuff out there to study and get into. And I know you're sitting there saying - that's not me, I KNOW I want to be a doctor. You really don't until you work your way through everything. Take the four years so you can get a decent lib. arts education and take some wacky (or even not so wacky) classes that you won't get to later on. Plus, there's the whole social aspect of it - don't give up a year of college. Please please please please don't give up your senior year of college.

 

[ready]

I don't know mich about either of the schools, but it seems like your only reason for considering Northwestern are an extra year, no MCAT and rankings.

As stated before, I really wouldn't worry about the rankings.

As far as the MCAT, that would be something to consider if you did poorly on standardized tests. I doubt that you do poorly on standardized tests or you wouldn't be making this decision. If you learn the material covered in your prereqs you should be fine (BTW what is average...national average of all test takers, or national average of accepted students)

A year as a year. I'm sure that as a HS Sr. a year seems like an incredibly long time. It really isn't and you might find that college should be enjoyed, not rushed through.

Just my opinions

 

[UCLAMAN]

Despite the coldness...Northwestern is one of the best undergraduate institutions in the nation. I think if you can brave the cold and being away from home that you should go with NU. Either way...you really can't go wrong. I am in a similar situation. What will I do if USC eventually gives me an accept? I'd say I'm still going to NU because I liked the curriculum there a lot better. I liked Chicago. I have friends there. Overall...I think it'd be a great experience for me. Then again its hard to find faults in USC's program too.

Is there some sort of "second look day?" I would recommend checking that out at both schools. Go where you feel you would thrive. If being close to home is that important to you then usc would be your best bet. I'd say you can specialize in anything coming from either school. So its really going to come down to where you felt the best IMO.

 

[ashkan33]

UCLAMAN,

you got accepted? when was this? congratufu#kinglations!!!!!!!!
there is a god.

 

[Dr. Dodger Dog]

Yo.... when i was in high school I had the exact same decision to make and I am going to graduate from USC B/MD this year. For me USC was a no brainer and I will tell you why.

Like you, I was a recipient of the Trustee Scholarship. Having to pay ZERO tuition was a real plus. USC is an undergraduate university on the rise. All of the departments are getting better and more student oriented, espeically the biology and neurobiology departments. You will see great changes in the next couple of years. The school spirit at USC is also unbelievable if you are into sports and things. I guarantee top 10 finishes in football the next few years... maybe even a national title... real exciting stuff. USC also gives you a 4 year complete undergraduate education so you can feel free to explore different areas of learning which I think is really important. I am a Psychobiology major and an Art History minor at USC and also have taken courses in the renowned music school as well.

From what I have heard, not many HPME students eventually leave Northwestern for other medical schools. However, at USC, about half leave each year... often for schools such as UCSF, UCLA, Harvard, Hopkins, etc. B/MD students are respected throughout the country and do very well in medical school admissions. Here at USC, B/MD students are considered the best of the best... the past 3 valedictorians have been B/MD students. Many of the leaders of community organizations, clubs, student government are B/MD students. I really feel that the university has been greatly improved by the medical program.

For me, USC was also close to home. Sitting today staring at an 80 degree day in front of me... unreal. When I interviewed at NW, I almost froze my butt off. Achieving average scores is not a problem for most B/MD students. The running joke among us is that the average mcat score for our group runs somewhere in the 35+. You gotta remember that B/MD students are often the best of the best and would otherwise be attending Harvard College, Yale, and other undergraduate institutions of that caliber.

At 18, I really did not feel comfortable leaving Los Angeles just yet. Moving away to college is a struggle and staying close to home is really undervalued at times. Now, on the brink of medical school, I am actually wanting to leave Los Angeles for a change of pace, yet USC is still one of my top choices along with UCSF. I was accepted to a couple of east coast schools but because of weather and location issues, i feel that I would be much happier at UCSF or even USC. The medical school itself is really improving. The new county hospital just broke ground and new research and teaching facilities are going to be built in a few years. Insiders believe it's only a matter of time before USC cracks the top 25 or even top 20 in the all-important US News rankings.

I don't really know what else to say. I am a Supplemental Instruction leader at USC for Organic Chemistry and so I am very familiar with the B/MD students for the past couple years and I can tell you that the people in it are amazing. There is definitely a collegial atmosphere among the students. Of course, you can never avoid competition with any group of pre-meds but generally B/MD students all work hard and get the top grades in the pre-med classes.

I feel really strongly about this so PM me if you get a chance. If you were from Chicago or some place like that, I would say NW might be a better choice, but if you are from close to USC... it really is an obvious decision. I have friends in HPME as well so I am quite familiar with that program.

 

[jayzway]

I really strongly advise you to do the Northwestern program. I have three close friends who went through it and loved it. They all have fantastic careers and matched at the best residencies. I also have two friends who did USC and did not really like it. Not taking the MCAT is a huge plus because it allows you to use that time to study abroad or do cool research, or whatever else. Northwestern is an amazing medical school and undergraduate. Not that many people in HPME apply out, but many from USC choose to, often because they want to go to a better school of medicine. Just my two cents, but I really feel that Northwestern is an amazing opportunity!