Undergrad, Medical School and Residency

[jennathecat]

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I Know I am looking a little too far down the road, but I just want to make everything right. I am 18 and I know I want to be a doctor. I also know that I need an undergrad degree first before I can go to medical school. Here's my dilemma. I was accepted to an Ivy league school for undergrad as well as to a couple of others, including a no-name, everybody-goes-there neighborhood school in Florida. The problem is to go to said Ivy League school I would need to get into huge debt, when going to my no-name next door school will be almost free for me. So I guess the question here is: if years down the road I want to complete my residency in Florida and practice medicine in Florida, do I have have to go to " big name" schools, like Columbia and Harvard, etc? Or can I just stay in Florida and go to lower-tier schools here without it negatively affecting my job search in the future?

 

[Ismet]

Moving to hSDN.

Where you go to undergrad has literally zero influence on where you get into residency.

 

[mimelim]

Moving to hSDN.

Where you go to undergrad has literally zero influence on where you get into residency.

For the sake of being complete...

Where you go to undergrad matters INDIRECTLY in some circumstances where you end up for residency. It is not zero.

However, for the vast majority of people, it will not matter.

Okay, now that that is out of the way...

#1 Stop saying Ivy League. Use the name of the school. Most of the country will see you as an elitist tool. Those of us affiliated Harvard/Yale/Princeton will assume you mean Brown/Penn because statistically, they are the ones that use the tag "Ivy League". Just as a general rule of thumb going forward, do not be ambiguous when being straight forward is just as easy.

#2 Debt is tricky to deal with, the vast majority of medical students will end up going into a certain amount of debt. To have undergrad loans as well can put you in a very large hole. Your first obligation to yourself is to go to the school that will best allow you to succeed. This means that it gives you ample opportunities to explore and grow and not be limited by your surroundings. If this is true at your state school, then you should be going there. If it isn't, then you have a serious choice to make, but I would look into as many scholarships as you can and then bite the bullet.

 

[sonofva]

Get out of Florida at all costs.

 

[Bamfu]

Assuming you maintain your residence in Florida, it really doesn't matter.

Just keep in mind that it is more difficult to get into most med schools if you're not from that state. Preference is often given to in-state students. You've got to go where you think you have the best chance to succeed, but honestly, I'd save my cash and go to the best Florida undergrad that would give me the biggest scholarship.

 

[Shinobiz11]

If I were you, I would go to the cheaper, easier school. Undergrad school doesn't matter at all, just get good grades.