Its starting to get closer to decision time and I have narrowed my school list down to only six colleges:
Furman - $41,000/year
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - $24,349/year
East Carolina University Honors College - $11,750/year
Wofford - $29,000/year
North Carolina State University - $22,358/year
Presbyterian College - $23,810/year
I intend to major in biology and be on the pre-med track. I hope to go to medical school in the future and I would just like some input on which college would provide me with the best opportunities to prepare and get me accepted into medical school.
All of them are within my range except for Furman and Wofford, but I am hoping to the cost down with additional scholarships and possibly go on a full ride by the ROTC scholarship through the Army.
Most colleges keep data on medical school admission rates. Look at each colleges pre-health programs/advisor websites and see if you can find their rates. Or give them a call and ask. This should give you an idea about how successful applicants are from each school. Also, reputation of the college does not matter as much as overall GPA, science GPA and MCAT.
Thank you for all of your feedback! I just have one other question. So even with the ECU honors college, would Chapel Hill provide better opportunities for research and internships?
The stats listed in post #3 are for the medical school at UNC. Which schools provide a letter of recommendation by committee for med school? Which schools have the strongest program with advisors/mentors? Contact the med. school advisors for each of your choices and speak with them directly. Think about the time commitment to an ROTC program. Med. schools care about your GPA, GMAT scores and letters of recommendation, (letters by committee are generally given more weight).
Do you already have some scholarships? In other words, are the costs you list what you will have to pay after FA, because looking at the numbers, I think several of those are just tuition cost, not full COA. I know Furman is closer to 60k all in. Be sure and check your numbers (unless this is after FA, in which case never mind ) I know plenty of doctors who went to Furman, Wofford and PC and all those have good results for premed - Furman and Wofford maybe more than PC. ECU has a med school and would be fine if you need to pick that for financial reasons. UNC is great option unless you are set on small school.
All of the schools are after the scholarships given to me by the school (I am still waiting to hear from a couple more school specific scholarships though) and I won’ be getting any financial aid from any of my schools. I do really like the smaller schools, but as of now they are just a bit too pricy. They all seem like they will provide me with excellent opportunities, that’s why it’s just so hard for me to decide.
Simply based on the information you have here, I would rule out Furman. It’s nearly twice as much as the other schools (more than that in the case of ECU) but you have some really other good options.
UNC and NCSU are both really excellent universities. UNC has more of a national reputation as a public university but NCSU is excellent, too. Presbyterian and Wofford are great places, too, but UNC and NCSU are better for the same money. So I would choose one of them unless you really know you want a small liberal arts college experience.
ECU is a good school. It’s a regional public. If I could look into a crystal ball and say that you absolutely, definitely, 100% were going to go to medical school, I would say go there - it’s the cheapest and will cut down on debt (or increasing savings) in prep for medical school. But I know SO many students who are pre-med until they change their minds. Going to a better-reputed school like UNC or NCSU - assuming you can afford it - will offer you better opportunities and resources both for applying for medical school and for preparing for other kinds of careers should you decide to change your mind.
So in my opinion, the real choice is between UNC and NCSU - after that, it’s more preference than anything else. UNC does have a better national reputation but that’s not necessarily that relevant. UNC might have more medicine and health-related research opportunities, which can help with med school admissions.
Now, the ROTC scholarship can substantially change things, although I suppose it would really only chance things if Furman was your first choice but financially out of reach for you.
^I agree. UNC-CH and NCSU are the two real choices there in terms of value, whether you end up premed or not (keep in mind that most HS seniors who intend to be premed change their minds once they discover new fields in college.)
Wofford and Presbyterian would be good choices to add to the mix if you win that ROTC scholarship, so come back to post about it if you do win it.
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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - $24,349/year
East Carolina University Honors College - $11,750/year
North Carolina State University - $22,358/year
I won’ be getting any financial aid from any of my schools
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What are your parents saying? How much will THEY pay each year?
ROTC may be a fine thing to do, but unless you’ve long wanted to go into the military, then I would prefer that you pick a school that doesn’t obligate you. You can always LATER decide to go into the military…as a free choice.
UNC med school’s ranking is irrelevant for this decision. UNC med has to consider all instate applicants fairly, regardless of where they went to undergrad.
) I know plenty of doctors who went to Furman, Wofford and PC and all those have good results for premed - Furman and Wofford maybe more than PC. ECU has a med school and would be fine if you need to pick that for financial reasons. UNC is great option unless you are set on small school.