Hello! I’ve been a longtime lurker on these forums, but I’m making my first post today because I have yet to make a college decision and the deadline is quickly approaching!
For background, I was fortunate enough to receive the Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholarship, which covers full tuition and provides a stipend for a summer experience. I also received a full tuition scholarship to my state school, OSU, as well as acceptance into the Honors Program and selective Biomedical Science major. In addition, I was admitted to WashU as a University Scholars Program finalist. I was selected as an alternate for that program. These are my frontrunners, but my two main choices right now are Ohio State and Vanderbilt because they are very affordable for my family.
My question is which school should I attend if I plan to be on the premed track? I will be majoring in Neuroscience at Vanderbilt, and did a lot of research on past threads. I’ve found that several students have advised potential premeds to attend their state schools due to the significant grade deflation at Vanderbilt, while others have asserted that Vanderbilt prepared them well for the MCAT and provided opportunities they would not have had elsewhere. I am, of course, prepared to work hard in college and sacrifice going out sometimes for studying. However, I would like to take the path of least resistance and am concerned that the rigor of academics at Vanderbilt would preclude me from developing other necessary components of my medical school applications, like shadowing, volunteering, research, etc. I also want to have some form of the traditional college experience, and not be constantly stressed or working. Ohio State might make this possible since the classes are (at least allegedly) less difficult than the ones I’d encounter at Vanderbilt. Still, I’d hate to pass up the great opportunities given to me as a CV Scholar and would really appreciate the input of current students or others with experience to help me make this decision!
At the end of the day if you are sure you want to go to medical school then Ohio State may be the better option. While prestige does matter a little bit to medical schools, you will most likely do better enough at Ohio State in terms of gpa to even it out. Also, this way just as you said, you would have a lot of time to focus on other aspects of your application including MCAT. Sure, Vandy is a great school but it will still be pretty expensive as I am pretty sure even just cost of living is around 20k a year.
Don’t pass up Cornelius Vanderbilt. It offers many opportunities and is the best “value for the money”. Yes premed will be hard there but it’ll be hard at tOSU too. In addition if like most freshmen you actually end up wanting to do something else, Vanderbilt will offer more resources and ways to branch off.
my son is a CV scholar (raising senior) and there is no grade inflation/deflation at Vandy. He has close to perfect GPA and scored 100th percentile in MCAT. You get As if you put in decent effort. He was able to research from first semester and engaged in several other ECs. Also, neuroscience is a popular premed major at Vandy and getting 3.8+ shouldn’t be too hard . Lot of research and volunteer opportunities at Vandy and medical school is next door to get clinical experience.
you have to live on campus all 4 years so room and board is probably higher that Ohio State. If finances are no concern I would go with Vandy.
Hi! Sorry to bring this thread back, but I found out I was accepted off the WashU University Scholars Program alternate list today and need to make a decision by Wednesday. WashU costs approximately 40k per year more than Vanderbilt but my parents are willing to cover the cost if it would be a better investment in the long-run by allowing me to attend a top medical school and have a relatively easier path as a premed. Any thoughts on WashU USP vs CV Scholarship? @srk2017@MYOS1634
The reputation of both schools is pretty similar… both schools are going to be a challenge especially for premed as your gpa is crucial… I would just pick the cheaper one which is Vandy especially since the difference is so much!
Stick with Vanderbilt CV - WashU is a good school, no doubt, but it’s not worth 200K more than Vanderbilt (and if you’re able to have a 3.8+97th percentile MCAT, you don’t need UPS for med school. Those terms are… unbelievable, almost a scam. If you have a 3.75 GPA+95th percentile MCAT at Vanderbilt you’re actually better off at Vandy than at WashU! And CV will facilitate tons of activities and meaningful involvement, at least as good as USP. So, not worth so much money.)
Thanks everyone! I was strongly considering USP despite the extremely high requirements because I didn’t want to give up a top medical school acceptance, especially since I am ORM which will make it more difficult to be accepted to a school of that caliber down the line. Still, due to the cost differential, I think I will attend Vandy and work to meet the same terms there as @MYOS1634 advised. Hopefully that will set me up well for med school admissions!
