Need Help Choosing A School (Biology/Pre-Med @ UNC, ECU, Campbell, NCSU)

College Search & Selection
1

Hey guys! I am stuck in where I would want to go to school at. I have been accepted to NC State, ECU, UNC, and Campbell. I have gotten ROTC scholarships for ECU, UNC, and Campbell. I am interested in becoming a doctor, and I am conflicted in where I would want to go for my bachelor’s degree (in Biology). I know that UNC is very prestigious, but from what I’ve heard, grades are very difficult to keep up with. It is probably better to keep up with grades at ECU or Campbell for my pre-reqs needed for pharmacy/medical school, respectively. If for some reason that I did not end up graduating with a Biology degree, I feel as if UNC would be the school to provide me with the most success of just a bachelor’s degree. I am stuck on where I want to go to school. To summarize:

Campbell - Full scholarship, tough pre-med track, not a lot of majors
ECU - Majority scholarship, not as tough pre-med track, lots of majors, not as prestigious as UNC
NC State - Scholarship (if they have room), lots of majors–engineering, biology, etc; more average.
UNC - Majority scholarship, tough pre-med track, great school for any undergrad programs, best campus.

At UNC, I know that most of the students are at the top of their class and even most of those people struggle with the biology/pre-med courses; students often change their majors since they are unable to keep up with a good GPA.
I’m not exactly sure how the bio program/pre-med track is at ECU, but it seems to be that it is not as difficult, though don’t get me wrong, it’s not easy. I heard that Campbell’s bio program/pre-med track is pretty difficult as well, but it has a smaller class size. At NCSU, I heard that the bio program is pretty good.

I am a great student and most of my friends are going to UNC, but I’m not sure how well I’ll do in comparison to the other students at UNC, especially in the biology department as many students strive to become doctors there; I am quite smart, but some students are just absolute geniuses (Not saying that I am intimidated or scared, but it is something to consider) and sometime still struggles. I am mentally strong and I try my absolute best when it comes to academics. I have wanted to go to UNC my whole life.

What schools do you think will provide me with the most success? What would you do? Not sure if this means anything, but I have had a 4.5 GPA and I am ranked within the top 10% of my class from a competitive high school. I am glad and blessed to have received ROTC scholarships to the listed schools, but I am just stressed out on what school to attend.

2

I’d go with UNC CH or NCSU.
Both are very strong academically and would offer you good chances either at med school or at other careers.
Note that you’ll have to serve after college, so you won’t be able to go to med school straight away, and your assignement may well have nothing to do with anything medical. You’ll have to get back to studying after your tour of duty so it’ll be quite difficult and you’ll have to keep your motivation going.
You don’t have to major in biology to go to med school and in fact as far as I can tell, majoring in chemistry would probably cover more ground (you need to take 2 semesters of biology* vs. 5 semesters of chemistry/biochemistry). A chemistry major with a statistics minor would probably be the most serviceable.

  • Even if you took AP bio and can get credit, an important part of being premed is knowing that you shouldn't.
3

True, I’ve been thinking in between attending UNC and NC State. I was also taking in the consideration of GPA, in which I believe is tougher to achieve at UNC (for pre-req courses) than it is at NC State. I know that I will serve after college, but I believe that the military will provide an educational delay for medical school. How does the academic rigor/classes compare between UNC and NC State?

4

Don’t worry about prestige that much because what matters more is GPA and MCAT/PCAT. (Do you want to do medicine or pharmacy? Because there IS a difference I think pre-req wise. If you are thinking pharmacy, definitely do UNC-CH)

Luckily for you, the costs are not a huge deal due to the scholarships. I don’t think there’s a huge difference between UNC and NC State. Go to the school where you LIKE (fit, feel, vibe, whatever) and where you feel you will thrive as a student and achieve a good GPA. I’m not saying you shouldn’t go to UNC because it would tank your GPA, but if you feel like it’s really tough and you’re going to be swallowed up, you should look towards NC State.

5

I suggest that you reword this to say “I believe that the military occasionally provides an educational delay for medical school.” It is far from guaranteed. I definitely would not plan on it.

6

@NROTCgrad, you’re completely right, I’m just hoping for the best. I’m just saying that it is a possible option that the military has. I didn’t realize at first how I worded that until it was too late. Though, like you said, it is far from guaranteed.I just hope I choose the right undergrad school first

7

You might want to do some research on the ROTC programs at the individual colleges. Some programs expect more participation than others. Also, some colleges give credit for all of your ROTC courses, but others give almost zero credit. Make sure that you know what their policy is.

For what it is worth, you can get into med school from almost any college. My sister is a physician and got her undergrad from a fairly obscure state school (probably roughly similar to ECU).

Good Luck.

8

Good luck, and I feel ya! My daughter looked at all four of these schools and UNC is a hard opportunity to turn down. Campbell was great if you want small and we got the feeling like they would really do anything to help students and academically it would be very doable, but it was just so small. State is a great school might be a little easier to stand out there than at UNC, but who knows for sure. My daughter actually decided on ECU-HC, she likes the “eastern NC” feeling and the HC seems to have a great small community feel within a large university, but socially no one can believe she turned down UNC and NSCU for ECU. 10 days and counting! Let us know which one you end of picking!

9

@brsu54 which school did you pick?