Please! UM vs UF pre-med. Please!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>So here is my dilemma and please please please give me your best input. at this point i really dont know what to do. Im still trying to decide between UMiami (UM) and UF. I want to major in biochemistry or neurosciences, and like alot of other people out there I want to be in the pre-med track. Here are my thoughts.. </p>

<p>Since start of this whole college decision process I had made up my mind that I did not want to take loans because I was keeping in mind that medical school was really expensive. As a result, I came to turn down UMich, Wake Forest, Emory and pull out of the Johns Hopkins waitlist, which truly hurt me because I love those schools, espcially Emory and JHU. So here I am today, trying to decide between the two schools that turned out to be the least expensive UF (florida resident), and UM (I got a scholarship). All I want to do is increase my chances as much as possible to go to an excellent medical school-- I know this is highly dependent on my grades and my own performance so I guess (correct me if I am wrong) it comes down to which one has a better national recognition? </p>

<p>I feel like UM would be better for me, being a private school getting more attention from my profesorss. I feel like its more up close and personal and that could make a difference in my performance eventually. However, I live in Miami and I would have loved to go out of town or even live on campus, but If i want to attend here and live on campus for at lease the first year I have to take a 25k loan, which I did not want... but Im seeing it as sort of a sacrifice... </p>

<p>What is keeping me from going to UF is the class size, and the lack of attention I might receive from my profesorss. I also dont know how good research opportunities are there considering it is Ganisville and Miami has a HUGE medical center... I would not be paying more than 5K for attending UF. </p>

<p>Basically I dont know what to do. I just want to pick the school that can get me into a recogniezed medical school like UPenn, JHU, Emory... I know these are very ambitious but it is something I am willing to work unbelievably hard for.</p>

<p>So, UM or UF? Should I take the loans? Please.. please please help. Any sort of input is greatly appriciated.</p>

2

<ol>
<li><p>How is it that on the 13th of May you still haven’t committed? Did you double deposit? If so I’ll let someone else savage you for this lapse of ethics.</p></li>
<li><p>Have you asked these questions on the Pre-Med/Med School forum here at CC? It’s likely those folks will have greater insight.</p></li>
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<p>3.The prevailing belief is that acceptance into med school is about MCAT scores and GPA, with only a trivial impact from “where” you went to school. It’s hard to envision how a candidate with a 3.8 GPA & MCATs of 11 from Miami is going to be viewed differently that a grad from Florida with the same statistical profile. Besides, having turned down Michigan, Emory and Wake Forest, one could argue that the “prestige train” left the station a while ago.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Medical school is expensive, the fewer loans you have going in the better.</p></li>
<li><p>I can’t speak about Florida, but I do know that Miami rightfully prides itself on providing research opportunities for its students starting with freshman year.</p></li>
<li><p>Neither Florida nor Miami will get you into Penn, Emory or JHU. YOU will get yourself into those schools.</p></li>
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