Please help me decide a college!

[Niraluv]

Hey!
A majority of the people on this forum are in pre med so maybe you all can help me decide which college I should go to. I can't decide whether it should be University of Georgia or Emory. Many people have told me that it doesn't matter if you go to the top-ranking school as long as you maintain a good GPA and a good MCAT score. So should I just go to UGA- save money and have higher grades or risk the GPA and go to a more competitive school like Emory? Also are state universities regarded as good schools when applying to med school or are they looked down upon when compared with competitive private colleges? Please help! Thanks!
Nira

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[pwrpfgrl]

Well, first you should go to where ever you think you'll be happiest. That said, i think it's been pretty thoroughly discussed around here that the bottom line is your gpa. if you have a stellar gpa from a state school, it's better (or at the very least, comprable) than an average gpa from a more competitive school. when i picked a college, i didn't know i would end up pre-med, so grades never mattered to me until i was almost finished with school. I went to a pretty tough undergrad and looking back, i wish that i had either 1)tried a lot harder to get those better grades or 2) not had such difficult classes/competition.

i guess the bottom line is go where you'll be happiest - if you'll be equally happy at either school, pick the cheaper one - and do well regardless of where you go!

Good Luck!!

 

[Random Access]

Some schools do account for the "harder school" thing, just so you know.

 

[Street Philosopher]

just go for the cheaper one

 

[loserman]

Originally posted by Street Philosopher
just go for the cheaper one

Word, just go to the cheaper one and do really well, it well look better then going to an expensive one and not doing so well. I went to ucla and friend of mine went to podunk u. he got a higher gpa and got into better med. schools so far.

 

[jwin]

it depends how lofty your ambitions are. if you want to go to stanford or harvard med, then you would be wise to attend the most prestigious undergrad school that you can. i(this is a generalization and based on the best statistical chance, of course there are state school people at stanford but many more are from prestigious schools) if your goal is just to make it into med school, i would say to go to your state school. you will have better grades and more time to focus on your ECs. emory also has the rep of having pretty rough grading and a heavy work load, so keep that in mind.

it also depends if you like to a challenge and the environment of a "top" school. some people are happier at a more difficult school that will challenge them academically and like to be surrounded by accomplished students. i have enjoyed going to my school because i have learned a lifetime of knowledge from the people around me who are all very bright.

just my 2 cents

 

[DCrew02]

Ditto, Go where you will be the happiest.
So many people change from pre-med to something else once they get to college because they realize there are so many professions out there.
Do not take the advice of psycho hardcore pre-meds that only care about numbers. that is the easiest way of falling into the miserable trap of being an uninformed, too competitive pre-med at school. i just graduated and college has been the best 4 years of my life...go to the school you think has the most to offer (not just a higher ranking).

 

[nkow]

I agree with everyone. Definately go where you will be happiest especially with those two schools. I have found they are quite different and most people i talk to say the same. I graduated from Emory and I must say that school spirit is something you need for your college experience, then run...no sprint over to UGA cuz we have absolutely no school spirit at Emory. Other than that, academically, Emory is great...great pre-med program (lots of good teachers) and lots of opportunity (CDC, ACS, Egleston, VA, Crawford Long, Emory...so it's like a pre-med's EC dream.) You really need to get a feel for the school...