DecisiveCookie
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- Mar 7, 2024
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I am a Florida resident with 2 days left to decide my undergrad institute. I plan on majoring in biology and minoring in data science.
-With Vanderbilt cost is $30K/year after full tuition merit scholarship (Cornelius Vanderbilt). This comes with an honors program (I personally don't think is very useful because its already a private school).
- UF I make around $50K in four years after full ride +Other scholarships (National Merit, Presidential, etc, all Merit and not need based) (Comes with honors and research scholars program which gives priority for class enrollment and research - very good since its a big public university.)
- I am 100% on this take home $$ since I know tons of students taking home money in Florida with Benacquisto and Presidential. People who does not live in Florida do not know this.
I will be mostly in top 5% with the type of scholarships in both schools and ultimate goal is to go to T20 -T30 Medical school because I want to match into a competitive residency and potentially go into academia. What do you think the better option is?
I personally think I am capable of getting enough opportunities wherever I go and I don't need the private school level of abundance of opportunities. For example in high school I got NIH and NSF paid research internships.
UF PROS:
-Closer to home (can drive home once a month if I want)
-Bringing home money
-Better weather/ Nicest dorms ever/ No travel hassle (just a few hours from home)
-Slightly easier to maintain higher GPA
-I am bringing in 70 college credits from high school so a lot more flexibility/free time for extracurriculars.
-Better chance of getting into UF's no MCAT BSMD.
UF CONS:
-Less prestige, lower ranked? (I don't care much about this prestige difference, my only concern is if it affects med school admissions.
-Premed opportunities are very saturated. Very hard to get clinical/shadowing opportunities. Research is still possible, just more cold emailing, not a big concern. I can always come home for summer and get this done.
-Lower chances of getting T10/T20 med school??
-More rural area.
Vanderbilt PROS
- Much better med school and medical center on campus.
-Tons of clinical and research opportunities.
- Slightly more prestigious (for med school admissions?)
-Increased chance of admission to Vanderbilt Med school.
-Bigger city? I really don't care much about this though.
Vanderbilt CONS
-Can only bring 30 college credits from High School, which is still acceptable.
-Slightly harder/more stressful courses (especially weed outs) that makes it hard to get 4.0 GPA. 3.9 still possible.
-Farther from home
-Required to live on campus all 4 years with mandatory meal plan.
I will fortunately not need to take loans for Vanderbilt but money is money and if it is not necessary to be spent on undergrad, it can always be used for med school.
Also Vanderbilt is not HYPS or at that level so I personally don't think it is worth that much more than UF? Does anyone think otherwise?
Thank you so much.
-With Vanderbilt cost is $30K/year after full tuition merit scholarship (Cornelius Vanderbilt). This comes with an honors program (I personally don't think is very useful because its already a private school).
- UF I make around $50K in four years after full ride +Other scholarships (National Merit, Presidential, etc, all Merit and not need based) (Comes with honors and research scholars program which gives priority for class enrollment and research - very good since its a big public university.)
- I am 100% on this take home $$ since I know tons of students taking home money in Florida with Benacquisto and Presidential. People who does not live in Florida do not know this.
I will be mostly in top 5% with the type of scholarships in both schools and ultimate goal is to go to T20 -T30 Medical school because I want to match into a competitive residency and potentially go into academia. What do you think the better option is?
I personally think I am capable of getting enough opportunities wherever I go and I don't need the private school level of abundance of opportunities. For example in high school I got NIH and NSF paid research internships.
UF PROS:
-Closer to home (can drive home once a month if I want)
-Bringing home money
-Better weather/ Nicest dorms ever/ No travel hassle (just a few hours from home)
-Slightly easier to maintain higher GPA
-I am bringing in 70 college credits from high school so a lot more flexibility/free time for extracurriculars.
-Better chance of getting into UF's no MCAT BSMD.
UF CONS:
-Less prestige, lower ranked? (I don't care much about this prestige difference, my only concern is if it affects med school admissions.
-Premed opportunities are very saturated. Very hard to get clinical/shadowing opportunities. Research is still possible, just more cold emailing, not a big concern. I can always come home for summer and get this done.
-Lower chances of getting T10/T20 med school??
-More rural area.
Vanderbilt PROS
- Much better med school and medical center on campus.
-Tons of clinical and research opportunities.
- Slightly more prestigious (for med school admissions?)
-Increased chance of admission to Vanderbilt Med school.
-Bigger city? I really don't care much about this though.
Vanderbilt CONS
-Can only bring 30 college credits from High School, which is still acceptable.
-Slightly harder/more stressful courses (especially weed outs) that makes it hard to get 4.0 GPA. 3.9 still possible.
-Farther from home
-Required to live on campus all 4 years with mandatory meal plan.
I will fortunately not need to take loans for Vanderbilt but money is money and if it is not necessary to be spent on undergrad, it can always be used for med school.
Also Vanderbilt is not HYPS or at that level so I personally don't think it is worth that much more than UF? Does anyone think otherwise?
Thank you so much.
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