I would take the free/scholarship offer. The undergraduate degree school "name" does not matter as much as the work the student does and what they learn.

Congrats to your DC, OP. A nice problem to have. If it were my DC, I would counsel him/her to take the UVM offer. Free is AMAZING. College debt is such a weight on your shoulders. All of the money saved for undergrad can go towards paying medical school which isn't cheap!

Anonymous wrote:I would pick UVA for $10,000 a year. Better school and for medicine it does matter where you go to undergraduate. If it were more, I'd say the free school, but otherwise let your child pick.

No, no! The OP will get a $10k stipend from DC towards the full OOS cost of attending UVA. The net cost to attend UVA will be $44k per year (at least--the cost will increase each year). That compares with $14k/year at UVM.

So let's break this down.

Tuition, room, board, and fees at UVA for this year was $54,172 (OOS). Taking out the DC stipend, that's a minimum of $44,172 per year for 4 years or $177,000.

I'm assuming the full tuition scholarship at UVM means you'd be paying room, board, and fees. Those totaled $13,782 this year. So, a minimum of $55,100 for 4 years.

That's a difference of more than $30k per year or $122k. That's a lot of money.

My personal biases:

(1) I do think UVA is a better school than UVM, with a higher caliber of student (on average). Do I think it's $122k better? Eh, probably not to me, but the answer to that question obvious depends in part on family income, etc. For my family $122k is a hell of a lot of money. For other families, it's not so much.

(2) Do I think going to UVA will *materially* improve her chances for admission to a good medical school? I sincerely doubt it.

So I guess the question I would ask is:

Do you have this kind of money, or would this be a real stretch for you?

Anonymous wrote:The only people who say that undergrad doesn't matter are those who went to crappy schools.

That said, UVA isn't all that. I'd go UVM in OP's case.

(Greater disparity between Lehigh and Dartmouth)

The only people who say that undergrad doesn't matter are those who went to crappy schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some friends of mine (from NY) have a child who was offered essentially a free ride at Lehigh to study chemistry. The child was accepted at Dartmouth, as well, and wanted to go there instead, no aid, or very little compared to Lehigh. So now she's at Sartmouth and the parents are mortgaging their house.

Take the money, kids.

Gonna have to disagree with you there. An Ivy versus a second tier school. That's nice of the parents to do.

+1

They probably just used the mortgage because there are great rates right now and they get a mortgage deduction on taxes. I would do the same for my kids.

I would pick UVA for $10,000 a year. Better school and for medicine it does matter where you go to undergraduate. If it were more, I'd say the free school, but otherwise let your child pick.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some friends of mine (from NY) have a child who was offered essentially a free ride at Lehigh to study chemistry. The child was accepted at Dartmouth, as well, and wanted to go there instead, no aid, or very little compared to Lehigh. So now she's at Sartmouth and the parents are mortgaging their house.

Take the money, kids.

Gonna have to disagree with you there. An Ivy versus a second tier school. That's nice of the parents to do.

And I'm going to have to disagree with you. Mortgaging the house was a very idiotic thing to do.

I would take the money. First only a small amount of students end up being premed. There is a ton of attrition over 4 years. And even if your DC stays premed, they may end up majoring In a non science. You dont have to be a bio or chem major to go to med school. I would save the $ for med or grad school. It's too good an offer to pass up IMO.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some friends of mine (from NY) have a child who was offered essentially a free ride at Lehigh to study chemistry. The child was accepted at Dartmouth, as well, and wanted to go there instead, no aid, or very little compared to Lehigh. So now she's at Sartmouth and the parents are mortgaging their house.

Take the money, kids.

Gonna have to disagree with you there. An Ivy versus a second tier school. That's nice of the parents to do.

Yeah, but chemistry? I think Lehigh would have been the better choice for a science major.

No debt vs. mortgaging the house to say you went to an Ivy? Stupid decision.

+1

How is DC so sure s/he will do pre-med? There were so many students who initially planned to go pre-med but later changed their minds. I think you have to look at the overall quality of education. In this case, likely UVA. You'll have the $10,000 from DC, plus what you can contribute and then make it up with loans. Can DC get an on campus job, such as being an RA from sophomore year? That will help defray the costs. It's not an all or nothing game.

The premed part makes this an easy one: go to the cheapest school, get great grades.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some friends of mine (from NY) have a child who was offered essentially a free ride at Lehigh to study chemistry. The child was accepted at Dartmouth, as well, and wanted to go there instead, no aid, or very little compared to Lehigh. So now she's at Sartmouth and the parents are mortgaging their house.

Take the money, kids.

Gonna have to disagree with you there. An Ivy versus a second tier school. That's nice of the parents to do.

Yeah, but chemistry? I think Lehigh would have been the better choice for a science major.

No debt vs. mortgaging the house to say you went to an Ivy? Stupid decision.

The free school